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BlackChampagne Home Buy Crap! I get 5%. Direct donations to cover hosting expenses are also accepted. Site Information --What is Black Champagne? --Cast of Characters & Things --Your First Time. --Design Notes --Quote of the Day Archive --Phrase of the Moment Archive --Site Feedback --Contact/Copyright Info Blog Archives --Blogger Archives: June 2005- --Old Monthly Archives: Jan 2002-May 2005 Reviews Section Movie Reviews (153) Ten Most Recent Film Reviews: --Infernal Affairs -- 5.5 --The Protector/Tom Yum Goong -- 6 --The Limey -- 8 --The Descent -- 6 --Oldboy -- 9.5 --Shaolin Deadly Kicks -- 7 --Mission Impossible III -- 7.5 --V for Vendetta -- 8.5 --Ghost in the Shell 2 -- 8 --Night Watch -- 7.5 Book Reviews (76) Five Most Recent Book Reviews: --Cat People -- 4 --Attack Poodles -- 5 --Caught Stealing -- 6 --The Dirt, by Motley Crue -- 7.5 --Harry Potter #6 -- 7 Photos Section --Flux Photos --Pet Photos (7 pages) --Home Decor Photos --Plant Photos --Vacation Photos (12 pages) Articles See all 234 articles here. Fiction Original horror and fantasy short stories. Mail Bags Index Page Features --Links --Slang: Internet --Slang: Dirty --Slang: Wankisms --Slang: Sex Acts --Slang: Fulldeckisms --Hot or Not? --Truths in Advertising Band Name Ratings (350 Rock Bands Listed) FAQ -- Feedback A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z Hellgate: London --The Unofficial HGL Site --The Hellgate Wiki Diablo II --The Unofficial Site --Flux's Decahedron --Middle Earth Mod
	BlackChampagne -- no longer new; improvement also in question.: Billie Jean is not my singer Monday, September 08, 2008 Billie Jean is not my singer This weekend I've been listening to what I thought was an Audioslave acoustic concert. That's what it said when I downloaded it, anyway. Once I looked it up I found that it was actually Chris Cornell (the lead singer of the now broken up ? band) doing his solo thing, and that one of the songs from the acoustic concert was featured on his solo album, which was released earlier this year. (Which I was surprised to see in the Chris Cornell folder in my music folder; when the hell did I download it, and never get around to listening to it?) Since that song was a cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, and was a song I found notably awesome and very distinctive, and since I found a very good audio version of it on You Tube, I thought I'd share. The funny thing is that in the comments on the You Tube page, some people mentioned a David Cook version of the song = FTW. I'd never heard of the guy; I would have said he was that smirky white boy comedian everyone over the age of 23 hates, if I had to guess. I soon learned otherwise; he was an American Idol contestant who did his own semi-soulful version of Billie Jean on the show. (This year? Earlier? No idea. I'm guessing he didn't win, since I usually hear the names of the winners at some point.) Through the magic of You Tube, I was able to witness his 2 minute version, as had 4.5million people before me. Here you go: It's not horrible, as I automatically assumed it would be, given its genesis, but it's nothing special. He's not a bad singer, and could probably perform serviceably on most material, but for a song that gives a vocalist such a potential showcase like this one, he did nothing memorable with it. He's just a white guy with a white guy voice. He needs to start smoking or something, since his voice is vanilla. No rasp, no edge, no soul, and he's either lacking in emotional depth or can't channel it into his vocals, since there's no intensity or tone or inflection to his singing. He doesn't modulate very much, and he sounds overly-tutored and rehearsed in the way he holds the notes and does his octave changes. It's mechanical. Unspontaneous. Which is, of course, why he was a hit on American Idol and is now worshiped by legions of 14 y/o white girls from the suburbs. Since he's kind of soulful and seems faux-deep, but isn't actually, since authenticity and intensity would scare away the teenie-boppers who like this safe, watered-down style of pop. Or perhaps I'm projecting a bit? Labels: american idol, chris cornell, music Posted by: Flux # 2:48 AM Comments: One of the things I like about listening to Soundgarden and Audioslave is that Cornell's voice is basically another instrument unto itself. I realize Soundgarden grew a little bit as they released their later albums, but Badmotorfinger works really well because it's more...raw. Lookin' California but feeling Minnesota, Aahz #: 2:04 PM posted by Anonymous I'm sort of glad audioslave broke up. Their supergroup between rage's band and cornell's vocals wasn't as good as either original band. While I do like Cornell more with a whole band behind him, I think Tom Morello wasn't able to rock out enough on guitar (at least in their studio work) in audioslave until their last album. The breakup also led to the reformation of rage against the machine, who have been rocking live shows again. #: 12:56 PM posted by Anonymous Post a Comment << Home Archives May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2012

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