"American Idol" Contestant David Cook Tops Amazon MP3 Chart, Then Vanishes

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After enjoying last week as the top-selling album at the Amazon MP3 store, American Idol contestant David Cook's 2006 album Analog Heart was pulled from the digital music service. No reason was provided by AI producers or Amazon as to why the album was made unavailable, but web-based rumors that Cook was actually an AI-installed "ringer" in the competition began to swell following Cook's top-selling week (he even edged the debut of Mariah Carey's E=MC²). In reality, Cook is not the only contestant this season with some sort of history in the music biz: Eliminated Michael Johns and Kristy Lee Cook were both major label signees, and two contestants' records — Carly Smithson's (then Carly Hennessey) 2001 album Ultimate High and Brooke White's 2006 Songs From the Attic — are still available on Amazon. So why did Analog Heart get the ol' "Not Available?" Was this a plot hatched by AI producers to quell the David Cook fervor, or did Mariah Carey have some hand in this to ensure a number one placement for her new album? Let the conspiracy theories commence.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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