Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell revealed in a new interview with Indy Star that he has considered covering Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.”
“That version of ‘Billie Jean,’ which has ended up being repeated on singing contest TV shows all around the globe, that started as a joke. I was doing a three- or four-song acoustic medley in the middle of Audioslave live shows to break up the set, so I started doing songs to make the guys in the band laugh. I figured they had to stand there and watch me every night, I thought I’d do some songs they’d never expect.
Then I thought, I need to take this further, I should do something like ‘Like a Virgin’ or ‘Billie Jean.’ So I started to play it, but the original bass riff didn’t really work, so I switched it to kind of a 6/8 gospel time signature. Suddenly it wasn’t funny but it was a great song. It’s a lament, really. Really great songwriting. I’d never heard it if the video wasn’t playing, so I was always distracted.”
