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David Cook adds “Hot For Teacher” to his live set

February 18, 2009 45 Comments

David Cook
David Cook, last season’s American Idol winner, kicked off his first headline tour “The Declaration Tour – 2009” last week in Tallahassee, FL on February 13th. Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” has been performed at every date on the tour so far.

David Cook’s self titled debut cd has been certified platinum by the RIAA for sales exceeding 1 million units. David’s a VH fan and he even used the EVH 5150 III head and cabinet on American Idol. It’s good to see so many young people being exposed to such a classic VH song.

Filed Under: Van Halen
  • ingrid82

    mmmmm mmmmm! Hot for David Cook! Great song choice, Dave!

  • Todd

    ahhhh …. disturbing.

  • Meghan

    He sounds great (:
    Definitley a prefect song for him!

  • Annie

    Check it out:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLDCzqx5RJA

    Thanks for posting the news, guys!

    One slight correction: the band started playing HFT on the second show in Biloxi, MS (I was there… That crowd knew their VH and it was about the loudest we got).

    He covered Alice In Chain’s “Man in the Box” in Tallahassee, FL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZmpImk8IA

  • Jim

    Great cover, although a bit dorky. Channeling DLR though.

  • Everything is energy

    I was at the Biloxi show. That crowd got LOUD!
    Great song choice.

  • dan

    wow, im pleasantly surprised how good he is. Didnt expect that.

  • Scott

    Excellent! Cook can rock anything from Van Halen to Alice in Chains… to his own fantastic original music. I’ve already seen Cook do this on youtube… great job.

  • Rhoda

    I love it! Not too many people can pull that off!

  • Joe S

    I liked it, not a bad job.

  • Mario

    And this is …?

  • BGill

    Never woulda thought an Idol winner could pull that off. The band sounded pretty good too. Nicely done.

  • Nancy

    WOW, hot for David Cook is right!!!!

  • Erick

    I rather read something on Sammy and his chickensoup

  • pushtoshove

    Uh….I’m taking bets on how long it is til’ Ed asks Dave Cook to front Van Halen and starts calling Roth a hack again….20 to 1 says within 6 months……Van Halen IV anyone?

  • tyrionsong

    He did good on this cover, but that ManInTheBox cover was pretty fucking cool. gotta give props.

  • Brian

    This is better than John Mayer’s version of Panama.

  • Nello

    I hated it so much

  • Mark

    That guitar player is damn good, very surprising. Who is he? I’d like to see more of his stuff. Cook definitely impressed me.

  • Holly

    OMFG – This guy is amazing. Crazy vocals. That was hot and sexy.

  • Leann

    David Cook is HOT! The man in the box performance is so fuckin’ cool! David’s voice is just beautiful.

  • allea

    Cook’s got it goin ON!! I love his voice here, but check it outin the song barbasol…all sweaty and manly and molten hot!! I gotta see these guys LIVE.

  • gina

    Lead guitarist is Neal Tiemann aka the “Doctor”. He was in MWK with Andy Skib who is also in David’s band. Neal wrote the songs in MWK. There are a couple of MWK videos on tube. Neal also co-wrote Kiss on the Neck the hidden track on David’s new album. Neal was also able to play on David’s new album while Dave was touring last summer with AI7 tour.

  • Chris B.

    Wow. I still really want to hate this dude, but that sounded pretty good. Nice job.

  • Jason

    Wolfgang’s a better Bassist !!

  • Maddy

    David and his band are rockin’!!! David brought lead guitar, Neal Tiemann and guitar and keyboards, Andy Skibb from his pre-idol bands. You must check out “Kiss on the Neck” from his new selftitled CD. It’s a hidden track at the end of “A Daily AntheM” =)

  • ou812

    I hated it so much

  • Beau

    Awesome job, Dave! (Honestly didn’t see that one comming!)

  • pinballwizard

    the guitar player is Neal Tiemann. He was in Midwest Kings w/ Cook and Andy Skib, who is also in the band. The guys really are awesome and can really rock out. I’m pleased to see so many males happy about the performances shown here.

  • CA$H

    He’s no DLR…but the band was rockin’ they ran circles around that idol

  • Joe Joynt

    sorry. good voice or even great voice on his original songs, BUT his stage presence is lacking. He might as well have Wolfie play with them, then we could really go to sleep!

    BRING ON THE PARTY VIBE when you do a VH song!!!!

    Noone does it better than DLR, whom I really can’t stand…

  • http://www.headcaseradio.com DJ Meatwad

    Not too bad. Cook can pull this off … I’d like to see that little pu$$y Archuleta do a Roth-era VH song without having to have a major league testosterone injection first.

  • Kill American Idol

    It should be ILLEGAL for ANY American Douchebag winner to cover VH….EVER!

    Way to go America. Keep dumbing down our music with talentless, prancing pretty people.

  • gammon

    Thanks for that man-in-the-box link. I liked it better than his hot-for-teacher cover. He’s got the vocal chops.

  • Anthony

    Hmmm not bad at all. The dude can sing, but can he sing anything but covers?

  • Garrett

    David Cook has the charisma of a dead animal. LONG LIVE DLR!!! :P

  • Keith

    Awesome, good for you Dave, better than the original Dave

  • http://None Ducky / Dirty Duck

    I dont care about anything “American Idol” related ok?
    Wow..some A.I contestant played a classic VH song…big whoop. Look at who’s doing the singing?
    I cannot stand american idol for the fact that their are so many talented starving musicians out there and we have to settle for this garbage. Look at the contestants on the show. A bunch of wannabe’s with voices. The show is kryptonite to anyone who has a brain when it comes to real musicians and real music. Where the hell did bo bice go? Oh yeah..last i heard he’s playing small club venues. Daughtry? It’s pop rock man! It’s not hard rock! The show tries so hard to look all polished and fun and woow isnt he cute or wow isnt she hot….WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??
    Half the people who watch the show prob dont even own full length albums. They probley listen to whatever is on the radio..whatever is popular at the moment…and think one hit song means you’re a rockstar. Wake up america…i dont care how popular the show is…it’s destroying music credibility weekly and brainwashes the youth of today that you can be a star overnight. It’s not realistic. It’s more than just about one song folks.
    And as far as hearing hot for teacher on american idol…I dont want to hear that song being belted out by someone who looks like they belong on a abrocombre store poster…

  • David Alexander

    Seems like a nice buy, but that’s talent show stage presence.

    Its hard when you were spoiled growing up with David Lee Roth, Steven Tyler, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant,etc.

    When you’ve had filet mignon its hard getting excited about hamburger.

  • Kaz

    Great cover of Hot for the Teacher, and Man in the Box!

    I just have to say that David Cook was one of those talented starving, struggling musicians before Idol…. he’s no ‘star overnight’. He has been playing/writing his own songs for 10 years, with his old band and solo. He has paid his dues playing to the small venues and small crowds in the smoky, dim lit bars.

    Sure his stage presence isn’t perfect, but this is his first tour …. give him time, he has the potential to be something big.

  • Ernie S.

    Relax Kill american Idol, it’s just an entertainment show. You still can secretly play your Paula Abdul cd’s while singing “forever my girl” to your Ryan Secrest posters.

  • Jon

    As has been said, I wanted to hate that, but didn’t. Whoever shot the video was a fool, they should’ve shown the guitarist more. One of the best covers of Ed’s work I’ve heard & I normally loathe anyone who tries to copy Ed.

    I am of the opinion that Wolfie will continue this band after the “old guys” are done, Cook the frontman maybe??

  • http://davidarchuletasongsmf.blogspot.com/ Justin Adams

    well davids a walking musical encyclopedia… Im not sure him knowing any type of song or music surprises me lol

  • cookhalenfan

    I saw that live in Oxford MS on the 15th and it was seriously awesome! Im a major VH fan and a Cook fan as well because he is the real deal too.

    Neal, the guitarist has mad skills and is the only one Ive seen yet to accomplish an impressive cover of Eddie’s work. And Cook’s voice? Wowza.

    As someone above stated, David Cook has been writing and playing as a professional musician (not a cover artist) for 10 years and made several albums with his former band Axium and released a solo album called Analog Heart before America was introduced to him on a TV show he was way too good to have had to be assiciated with just to get his music heard.

    He is playing to sold out venues all over the eastern USA right now and getting a ticket to a show is like winning a lottery. They always sell out within minuites.

    Would he front Van Halen? Now thats an interesting idea. I dont think I see that happening but I dont know. I guess we have to see if Eddie asks and if he does we’ll all be on the edge of our seats as we await David Cook’s answer.

  • Andrea

    cookhalenfan, I couldn’t have said that better myself.

    David Cook is a seasoned musician. It’s it first major tour, though. Any mishaps or mistakes have time to be corrected. This guy’s going places.