Q&A: Chris Daughtry

In high school, Chris Daughtry had three career options. "I always wanted to be a comic artist," he says. "And I wanted to be the next Jean-Claude Van Damme, a martial-arts actor. But I really liked being onstage." Inspired by early-Nineties rock, Daughtry started bands like Cadence and Absent Element, both of which failed to vault the singer-songwriter to stardom. In 2006, he finally realized his dream via American Idol, where predictions of a Daughtry victory gave way to a shocking fourth-place ousting. But Daughtry laughs last: His debut album (Daughtry) by his new band (Daughtry) is the second-best-selling album of the year so far, with multiple radio formats spinning hits such as the post-grunge smash "It's Not Over" and the nostalgic power ballad "Home." Daughtry, 27, checks in from Chicago, the day before his album hits Number One, yet again.

The Chicago Sun-Times called Daughtry "slick, generic hard rock that . . . quickly reveals a serious lack of substance."
Yeah, I did see that.

Were they missing something?
I don't know. It's certainly very slick, and we wanted it that way. As far as my songwriting, it was all about hooky melodies that people could sing along to. And some people have problems with songs people like [laughs]. Songs that are mainstream, that a majority of the audience gets and likes, are generally the albums that get bad reviews.

Other people equate your music with that of Nickelback.
That's a huge compliment for me. They sold 5 million albums last year. Compare me all day to people like that! It gives me hope.

Your teen years collided with the grunge revolution.
I was fourteen, listening to all the Nineties bands: Bush, Live, Alice in Chains' Sap, Soundgarden's Superunknown, STP. It just had this honesty to it that sucked me in.

What else do you listen to?
I went through the whole Eighties thing with G n' R and Skid Row -- "18 and Life," baby! -- and Rick Astley and Ace of Base. I also went through my rap phase with Public Enemy, N.W.A and License to Ill. House of Pain was badass, and you can't forget Vanilla Ice. Later, I became a big Elton John fan -- Tumbleweed Connection -- and my wife turned me on to Led Zeppelin. Now I'll listen to the Killers or Fall Out Boy. But the stuff I go back to are those Nineties bands.