You could probably mash Jennifer Paige’s lone ’90′s hit “Crush” with damn near anything and achieve pop bliss perfection, but this pairing of the record’s summery instrumental with the vocals of Chris Cornell’s “Part of Me” (via Austrian DJ/ remixer DJ Schmolli) deserves some stand-out kudos.
Far more successful in fulfilling Cornell’s weird pop star ambitions than the entirety of the highly awkward, Timbaland-produced nightmare that is Scream, “Crush of Me”‘s breezy backing groove serves a pleasant base for Cornell’s gritty dismissal of a naughty little PYT (a role now humorously fleshed out through spliced-in snippets of Paige’s sultry ad-libs). Even that horrid “That bitch ain’t a part of me” hook manages to find a comfortable home in this brilliantly pasted-together confection.
With it’s creepy, insistent post-disco pulse (a still revolutionary blending of pop and soul), Jacko’s idiosyncratic vocal approach and it’s status as a superstar launcher, “Billie Jean” is often ignored for the dark song it actually is. I mean, here The King of Pop is vehemently denying paternity!! Leave it to Chris Cornell, fresh from a polarizing James Bond theme song and Audioslave split, to reinvent the song as a gloomy acoustic number and point out it’s underrated lyrical supremacy while also set off anticipation for what promises to be another standout solo project.
Pulled from a concert in Sweden, it’s simply Cornell and a guitar offering a dour warning as to why sleeping with groupies will only bring about trouble in the end. Will Smith was right: Girls are nothing but trouble.But while Jackson’s version treated the situation as some Studio 54- sequined nightmare he was sure to wake up from, Cornell’s rusty pipes conveys “Billie Jean” as the life-altering reality it was penned to be. From the moment Billie claimed him to be the daddy to the instance where she produces the photo of the kid whose “eyes were like mine” in front of his devastated girlfriend, Cornell watches his world slowly fall apart piece by piece.
Completely bypassing the flashy production brilliance of the original, Cornell builds all of his energy from the story. His voice, an admired modern rock treasure, starting off sullen before despair seeps in and he shows off his remarkable range, his pipes reaching sustained levels of volume that a craggly singer like him shouldn’t be able to reach without imperfection.
Does Cornell’s introspective bluesman approach top the paranoid funk of Jackson’s? No, Michael’s “Billie Jean” is too unforgettable and legendary to be trumped; but Cornell does peel back the smooth layers to expose a rawness Jackson was perhaps too egomaniacal to fully explore.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
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