I actually like it.

I agree with the earlier comments. I think this works pretty well. It's a dark song to begin with, so it makes sense that this would succeed.

I think it's beautiful.

I don't really like it but it's a good work... Well tried Chris

I heard this on my local radio station. Was iffy about a Michael Jackson cover, but I think this is hands down better than the original. I don't think Chris can do anything wrong, ever. I can't wait until the cd is released in March.

I think its great, sounds very real

Wow, I really wanted to hate this, but it's really not that bad. One thing for sure though... He should never play this song again, ever. If he turns it in to a regular thing (or god forbid records it in a studio) then yes, everyone is free to throw rotten tomatoes at him.

Hey! Chris put balls to this songExcellent!

Chris covers it pretty well, but it can't light to the original and everyone here knows that!

How can you lose respect for cornell because of this song? It shouldn't matter who sang it previously. The lyrics have power, especially coming from Chris Cornell. Beautifully done. Really puts Michael Jackson to shame. His music always sucked anyway...on a side note, i have a feeling Michael Jackson never went around breaking girls' hearts, if you know what i mean.

that was bad ass i love i hope he does more

I love it!!!!!

Thought it was a beautiful rendition....CC is a staple in our house and to hear him sing this, well.... we were quite surprised!! I liked it...quite alot actually.Just hearing his voice without all the instruments crowding it...was nice and a new experience.

Cornell could cover a Clay Aiken song and it would rock! Seriously, the man has a voice like no other and I wait in anticipation for each new piece of music that he releases. I thought that the cover of Billie Jean was incredible, it actually gives me chills every time I listen to it... everyone has opinions of what good music is, it's sad when others have their soul shielded from enlightenment..

I tell you what...I dig this song more than the original.How could anyone lose respect for Cornell after this?He has the most profound,distinctive and awesome voices in rock-n-roll.He totally reinvented Billie jean

After listening to this, I think that he could sing the theme to gummy bears and make it sound good. Chris cornell is a real musician; there are very few left. Most people are all studio. He sounds the best out of anyone i have seen live.

I'm a big Michael Jackson fan. When I first heard a cover had been done of Billie Jean I was a bit sceptical, but after having listened to it a couple of times I really like it, and I also think MJ is happy with the outcome...but the original still rules as the entire Thriller album does. The best ever!!

First off let me start by saying, MJ is definately not happy with this. Now this is just a random thought, but MJ needs money and that is the only reason he allowed suckie Cornell to do this cover. Initially it starts out sounding really interesting but then takes a sharp dip. Im just not feeling the emotions that he is trying to project through his voice. It sounds forced. I think its an attempt to gain a buzz around his new solo project, which is obviously working. This is one MJ fan that he didnt win over. VIVA MJ!

no matter what his voice is still your average radio alt rock garbage its not horrible but definately not worth while, maybe if you saw it live...but this doesnt even come close to mj at all not for a second...anyone could have done this in fact i am sure some frat boy with acoustic gutair has tried at open mic night atleast once or twice.... and gummy bears theme is classic

I'm really interested in covers of songs. Especially songs that I originally can't stand enough to listen to. It's artists like this that refine a work, and really make it shine. Jeff Buckley did this to Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Peter Mulvey does it with lots of songs, damn near everyone does it with Dylan's tunes, and I admire that. There's alot of really great writing that falls through the cracks because it isn't delivered in a way that reaches everyone. It's a sad tune. MJ sings it upbeat.. and although it sure made plenty of money that way, the meaning of the song was lost. Great artists see great work regardless of how it is delivered, and Cornell helped to translate that for us.-Luke.www.lukemacneil.com

ridiculous. i just listened to it a 2nd time & it's like a car wreck. it's so tragically bad it almost made me LOL...

[...] On the subject of Chris Cornell, check out his version of Billie Jean, which I discovered this evening…. [...]

We love it! Chris can rock any song!

hrmmIm an MJ fan and a fan of all music regardless of who performs it or the genre. Id just like to say that some of the comments here are the result of having to display and maintain the reputain you guys already have or can't deal with the thought of you liking a "Michael Jackson"? song.Anyway one other thing, not sure if this person ( "but MJ needs money and that is the only reason he allowed suckie Cornell to do this cover.") knew this or not but..you dont need permission, you simply cover it, sample it or whatever and pay your royalties. Parodies are another thing...in the end, I enjoyed listening to this.2 cents. thanks.

LOVE IT! I am really looking forward to his new solo album. I can listen to him all day. I'm not a Michael Jackson fan, but I do like MJ's version of this song. The thing that makes this a great cover is that CC transforms it into a song that is his own and I can't even think of the 2 versions as being the same song.

I have sang to it like 10 times in row fuckin' loves it

I don't think it sucks at all.

i also like it very much...

I LOVE his voice.. it actually makes me fall in love with him.. and it kind of makes me horny and sad at the same time, I wanna have crazy tearfull sex, when I listen to this song.. I definitly feel it...

It's funny.....this blog was basically bashing Cornell...meanwhile, the majority of responses all praise this new song....WHICH THEY SHOULD, because anything and everything Cornell sings goes gold...anybody who knows how to play music or at least has an ear for it would definitely understand where i'm coming from.....Cornell owns music! woot!

It took a couple of listens....but I like it. A LOT! The guitar is a little dodgy, but his voice is beautiful, as always! It's not an embarrasement to him at all. It's almost worth leaving as an acoustic version....recording it might take out some of the rawness in his voice, which is what makes this sound so great.

Kind of depends on how permanent this Rage reunion is, doesn't it?

saying it sucks only means you worry that others might not think you're cool if you refer to anything Michael Jackson had something to do with as credible. It also means you're an idiot. This rendition is simply great.

Looks like it is in fact true that Audioslave is done. AUDIOSLAVE WILL NOT RETURN IN 2008!!!!!

Listening with your heart instead of your mind opens up a lot more oppurtunities to listen to music.

Come on, I can't be the only one who's lost respect for him as he's morphed from hard rocker to...whatever you want to call him now. I always thought Audioslave was pure crap. When they started doing Rage songs live, it was pure blasphemy--Cornell sounded rick-diculous trying to do those songs. Then a Bond theme. Now this. It's just sad. But maybe that's just me.

[...] Chris Cornell covers Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ Here. [...]

[...] Chris Cornell is…singing Billie Jean?         [...]

I think it's awesome, and also that the original idea of the blog was very unpopular.=)

if you thought it was original and didnt know who sang it, it would be an amazing listen, it shouldnt matter which artist sings. Sounds like people are trying WAY to hard to be a certain cliche "Yea im a hard out rocker this sucks" pfft you shouldnt be alowed to listen to musicDont try so hard like what sounds good... use your own judgement

Why would I be losing respect for Chris Cornell?He's is one of my all time favorite voices, greatly talented, beautiful and still successful after all these year. And he looks great.I really like this version of the song. Surprising.

This version rules. The man's got soul and this song has just as much balls to it vocally as freakin Rusty Cage did. When he sings "his eyes were like mine"... come on, how can you not love that? It's pure gut-wrenching soulful singing and it beats the crap out of any other singer out there. I smell pretentious critics and wanna-be badasses in the mix here, and I've got more respect for him for taking a chance with a song like this, than I would if he just kept making Black Hole Sun-type stuff for the rest of his career.

I heard it on Howard Stern - sounded pretty good to me. An interesting cover.

You can never really take Stereogum seriously -well, i can't. Props to Cornell -the only solo song I've heard from him is his stellar rendition of "Ave Maria." Then again, there's Audioslave...

Am I ever glad I stumbled onto this...I've always liked Chris Cornell, but lately I've been becoming a huge fan since Audioslave was started. Awesome tune.

This is amazing. Cornell is the best modern singer. It takes alot to make a song thatsa uptempo into an acoustic song, let alone a MJ song. Cornell's work is so expressive, and you can see him grow, mature, and age with his music. I mean hell, compare Jesus Christ Pose by Soundgarden on Badmotofinger to this. Trick question, YOU CAN'T. His name is still Chris Cornell, but he's changed. He's married, a father, sober, and HAPPY. He's a model of what musicians should be like. It's not just about writing music that sounds good on the radio. Honestly, he's got so much more talent than all these current rock singers. Talent does not equal popularity. It's a shame that there isn't as much appreciation as there should be, but hey, you don't have to be #1 on Billboard Charts for X amount of time to be a great musician.

god this is absolutely beautiful.

Yeah, the guy who wrote this review doesn't know ****. This is really unique and well done. Considering it's also live, and he sings it extremely well, this is extremely well done and professional. I was kinda hoping it'd be more upbeat and I agree that the original is moore upbeat but that doesnt mean that this isn't bad. It's just different.

John Zeiss' review is spot on. Cornell BUTCHERED this song with his over-emo rendition. If this leech was as talented as some posters here think, he would write his own masterpiece rather than doing what his ilk have done since time immortal, copying/stealing and trying to make a name/dime off of those far more talented.

Have you guys heard his Ave Maria cover?? It freakin blows down the house! That's when I knew Cornell was much more than a moniker to the alternative-grunge 90's.

Well, it's obvious those that are saying "This is better than the crap MJ churns out" don't know jack about Michael, or don't want to. That's because the original song is not a pop song. It's old school RnB. His next few albums infused more pop with his soul/funk/RnB roots.I'm sure if no one told you guys you'd probably say Michael Jackson started off in a pop group. Far, far from it. And when people say 'Pop' for Michael Jackson, it's not that crap you're hearing from Avril Lavigne. It's the true popular music, which extends to RnB and Hip Hop, and Pop Rock. The broad range.As for Cornell's version: It's pretty darn cool. Reminds me a little of Christina Aguilera's style right now though. Better than the Smooth Criminal cover.But seriously, it's extremely hard to beat the original bassline and MJ's vocals. Extremely hard. Oh, and don't even talk about what's the better live performance. Billie Jean's live performance totally wipes the floor of any live performance in the world. Simple, yet amazing.In any case, it's time for old schoolers like MJ and Chris to take it to the new talent of today. Seriously, it's just trash. Hopefully both their new albums will give music a wake up call.

This song puts the original to shame for the reason that this rendition brings out the prolonged drama that is the story, whereas, the original is JUST a pop tune.

This is an incredible song - now one of my favourites, where the original was OK, but I didn't "like" it very much. Cornell's version has such emotion and brings depth to the song.I just saw Cornell live last night, and he performed Billie Jean accoustically - it was absolutely beautiful. Jackson could never come close.

Wow, this thread is a year old and people are still posting to it, cool! When I first heard the Billie Jean cover, I didn't know what to think, it was so different. I have seen Chris Cornell perform it live several times this year, and I must say, it is not my favorite cover he does, but he adds something soulful and simmering to this song that no other artist would have ever dreamed of. Chris is a creative genius, no doubt.

I love it too! It was a great song in the 80's, it's a great completely DIFFERENT song now!

I agree w/ Pete:
"music critics are such bottom-feeder elitist second guessers at what is cool to like and what's cool to hate.this is good."

:0)

To say this version is wretched is quite harsh. He takes probably Michael Jackson's greatest hit and put his spin on it. I think it's brilliant. Anyone can just sing it the same way the original artist did.

horrifying

Well, he made it his own, anyway. Frig it's awful. AJ, what's amazing about it?

Let's get this crazy comment section rolling again, because that David Cook guy on American Idol just did this on the show. The judges all praised it as being really original, which must mean they're oblivious to the Cornell version.

I dont watch idol... but I can imagine that their version was equally, wretched.

Or as Weiner put it... horrifying.

Yay! The thread that never stops is back!

I have to laugh over the thought that David Cook 'ripped off' Cornell. So many on Idol have done note for note renditions of the most popular versions of songs and have never been accused of ripping anyone off.

I agree w/ dorminy- I think because Simon commented that nobody had done anything like that before, he led those that knew Cornell's version to think Cook was attempting to perpetrate a scam. But Seacrest did introduce the song as Chris Cornell's version. So there was no rip off, per se.

The only one I can remember not being labelled a ripoff artist by the masses for copping a musical style is Billy Joel. Not that I necessarily liked it all, he covered new wave (Glass Houses), Beatles (Nylon Curtain) Four Seasons/Doo Wop (An Innocent Man), and got away with it because he wrote such undeniable hits.

Oh my god!
I love your version of Billy Jean more than micheal's!
You Rock!!!!

I agree with the posting earlier, this version of Billy Jean is in the style of a Bob Dylan track. And at times hints at early Bob Seager and other western type music. The western flavor for this emotional charged song wraps this song like a warm sweater....I dig!

Here, Here, Terri!

I could not help but listen for the original beat that rocked the original but Chris did a great job. He's an incredible talent and I will follow his music always! Rock on Chris!

Great thread, and thanks John Zeiss for starting it with your post, but I couldn't disagree with you more. There are many people who remember the original song as standard pop fare they couldn't stomach, and what Chris Cornell did here was revive the song and make it completely new.

And Michael Jackson, if he's offended, is crying all the way to the bank, since he's collecting royalties on each and every sale of the song. I'm sure, given his current financial difficulties, he's grateful to Chris Cornell and also to David Cook, who in my opinion, did the best version of the three. Cook took Cornell's arrangement and tweaked it to make it more melodic, thus giving it a more mass-market appeal. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the fact that Cook even knew of Cornell's version means he's light years ahead of his fellow contestants.

Cook wrote and produced an independent album in 2006, Analog Heart, which got local acclaim in Tulsa but never went anywhere until he auditioned for American Idol and emerged as a serious contender. Now he's a frontrunner and his solo album, which is available as an MP3 recording on Amazon, has shot to the top of the charts. His iTunes sales of AI performances are blowing away most of the competition as well. I think he will have as wide, if not wider, appeal as Chris Daughtry. Not bad for a kid who's 25 and from a modest background and who appears to be genuinely nice guy to boot.

Cook has some real vocal chops and appears to be the rare rocker who actually knows how to support his voice well enough that he hasn't blown out his vocal cords like a lot of rockers do. His falsettos on the studio versions of the songs he's performed are stellar.

This song is a bullsh*t..