Light On
Encyclopedia
"Light On" is the first official single released from American Idol
season 7
winner David Cook
's major label debut studio album, David Cook
. The single has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.
and Audioslave
front man Chris Cornell
, as well as famed producer/songwriter Brian Howes
. The song was produced by Grammy winning producer Rob Cavallo
, who has produced hits for Green Day
and Kid Rock
.
The song also displays Cook's powerful upper register, with the singer hitting a high C at the end of each verse.
and Amazon
on September 30, 2008.
Billboard
s Chuck Taylor
gave a very favorable review saying "melodically, there's no question that this bullet is heading right for the brain, where the only thing stickier than the chorus is Cook's appreciably sweaty performance." He predicted success for Cook, stating "Like Chris Daughtry
before him, here's an Idol who is bound for true rock cred", summing it up with "Light On" is right on."
Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times
gave a decent review, predicting chart success by saying the song was "sure to be inescapable this holiday season." He called it "full-on, cellphone-waving arena rock schmaltz, with husky, slow-moving guitars and a wallop of meaninglessly earnest vocals."
Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly
also gave a mostly good review, saying Cook "is poised to be part of a balanced, mainstream rock diet alongside artists like 3 Doors Down
, Nickelback
, and Staind
." He also called the song catchy saying, "After two listens, the "Light On" chorus got caught in my head like butter in the crannies of an English muffin." Though unimpressed with the song's lyrics, claiming they "feel more like a logjam of carefully focus-grouped words than anything deeply meaningful", he concluded however that "the bottom line is: "Light On" is probably going to be a major hit."
Ken Barnes of USA Today
however was unimpressed with the single, despite being a fervent supporter of Cook on American Idol. Barnes called the song "Daughtry lite" as well as "a paint-by-numbers rock-ballad tune." Los Angeles Times
writer Ann Powers also appeared unimpressed with the single, referring to it as a "banger in the worst sense of the word."
, walks into the diner and he watches her, becoming jealous when her boyfriend comes to the diner. Near the end, the girl fights with her boyfriend in his car, after he hit on some girls at the diner before her eyes, and gets out of the car, but he drives away and leaves her stranded there, late at night. The boy from the diner shows up on his bike and gives her a ride home on the handlebars of the bike.
On November 22, 2008, the video debuted at #1 on VH1's Top 20 Countdown.
. It is Cook's second top twenty hit on the chart and second top forty hit. On 2/1/09 "Light On" reached #20 on Mainstream Top 40 radio, becoming Cook's first top twenty hit in that format. It has become his second consecutive top ten hit on the Adult Top 40, reaching #4. It has sold more than 1 million downloads in the U.S. to date. The single would later receive its RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications on January 20, 2010. In Canada
it first debuted at #61 on the Canadian Hot 100
based on downloads, but then fell off the chart the next week. A few weeks later it made a re-entry on the chart, finally peaking at #27.
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
season 7
American Idol (season 7)
The seventh season of American Idol, the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges...
winner David Cook
David Cook (singer)
David Roland Cook is an American rock singer-songwriter, who rose to fame after winning the seventh season of the reality television show American Idol...
's major label debut studio album, David Cook
David Cook (album)
David Cook is the first major-label album from seventh season American Idol winner David Cook. The album was released on November 18, 2008 in the United States, was certified platinum and has sold over one million copies in the United States. It has produced two top twenty singles, "Light On" and...
. The single has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.
Song information
"Light On" was co-written by SoundgardenSoundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
and Audioslave
Audioslave
Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
front man Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
, as well as famed producer/songwriter Brian Howes
Brian Howes
Brian Howes is a Canadian rock producer, singer, and was a member of the band Closure. He has an exclusive partnership with EMI Music Publishing.-Biography:...
. The song was produced by Grammy winning producer Rob Cavallo
Rob Cavallo
Rob Cavallo is a record producer and A&R, most famous for signing and producing Green Day. He is currently Chairman of Warner Bros. Records.- History :...
, who has produced hits for Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
and Kid Rock
Kid Rock
Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
.
The song also displays Cook's powerful upper register, with the singer hitting a high C at the end of each verse.
Release
The song's lyrics were posted on Cook's official website on September 22, 2008. "Light On" officially debuted on AOL Music's PopEater section on September 23, 2008. It became available for radio airplay later on the 23rd, but officially went for adds on Mainstream Top 40, AC, and Rock radio on October 13, 2008. It was released iTunesITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
and Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
on September 30, 2008.
Reception
Reception of "Light On" was generally positive to mixed.Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Chuck Taylor
Chuck Taylor (Billboard writer and editor)
Chuck Taylor is an American music journalist. He was a writer and senior editor at Billboard magazine from 1995 to 2009...
gave a very favorable review saying "melodically, there's no question that this bullet is heading right for the brain, where the only thing stickier than the chorus is Cook's appreciably sweaty performance." He predicted success for Cook, stating "Like Chris Daughtry
Chris Daughtry
Christopher Adam "Chris" Daughtry is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Daughtry and as the fourth-place finalist on the fifth season of American Idol, from which he was eliminated on May 10, 2006...
before him, here's an Idol who is bound for true rock cred", summing it up with "Light On" is right on."
Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
gave a decent review, predicting chart success by saying the song was "sure to be inescapable this holiday season." He called it "full-on, cellphone-waving arena rock schmaltz, with husky, slow-moving guitars and a wallop of meaninglessly earnest vocals."
Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
also gave a mostly good review, saying Cook "is poised to be part of a balanced, mainstream rock diet alongside artists like 3 Doors Down
3 Doors Down
3 Doors Down is an American rock band from Escatawpa formed in 1996. The band consists of Brad Arnold , Matt Roberts , Todd Harrell , Chris Henderson , and Greg Upchurch ....
, Nickelback
Nickelback
Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....
, and Staind
Staind
Staind is an American rock band that was formed in 1995 in Springfield, Massachusetts. For 16 years, the band consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist Johnny April, and drummer Jon Wysocki...
." He also called the song catchy saying, "After two listens, the "Light On" chorus got caught in my head like butter in the crannies of an English muffin." Though unimpressed with the song's lyrics, claiming they "feel more like a logjam of carefully focus-grouped words than anything deeply meaningful", he concluded however that "the bottom line is: "Light On" is probably going to be a major hit."
Ken Barnes of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
however was unimpressed with the single, despite being a fervent supporter of Cook on American Idol. Barnes called the song "Daughtry lite" as well as "a paint-by-numbers rock-ballad tune." Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Ann Powers also appeared unimpressed with the single, referring to it as a "banger in the worst sense of the word."
Music video
The music video for "Light On" was shot on October 21 and 22 at the Los Angeles Valley College football stadium with Wayne Isham as the director. The video was debuted on November 3 shortly after midnight. The video is a performance video of Cook and his band singing on a stage in the football stadium, and also features a plot of a teenage boy working at a diner. A teenage girl, portrayed by Mika BooremMika Boorem
Mika Sue Boorem is an American actress who has appeared in the films Blue Crush , Carolina , Sleepover , and Smile ....
, walks into the diner and he watches her, becoming jealous when her boyfriend comes to the diner. Near the end, the girl fights with her boyfriend in his car, after he hit on some girls at the diner before her eyes, and gets out of the car, but he drives away and leaves her stranded there, late at night. The boy from the diner shows up on his bike and gives her a ride home on the handlebars of the bike.
On November 22, 2008, the video debuted at #1 on VH1's Top 20 Countdown.
Chart performance
"Light On" sold 109,000 digital downloads in its first week of availability, leading to a #17 debut on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It is Cook's second top twenty hit on the chart and second top forty hit. On 2/1/09 "Light On" reached #20 on Mainstream Top 40 radio, becoming Cook's first top twenty hit in that format. It has become his second consecutive top ten hit on the Adult Top 40, reaching #4. It has sold more than 1 million downloads in the U.S. to date. The single would later receive its RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications on January 20, 2010. In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
it first debuted at #61 on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
based on downloads, but then fell off the chart the next week. A few weeks later it made a re-entry on the chart, finally peaking at #27.
Charts
| Chart (2008–2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
27 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 8 |
| Hot Canadian Digital Singles Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
59 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
17 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart... |
20 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009... |
23 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
10 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Adult Top 40 is a variation on the United States Billboard charts... |
4 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
184 |
- Billboard "Best of 2009" Achievements: No. 18 Hot Adult Pop Songs; No. 24 Hot Adult Contemporary Songs
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Platinum | 1,105,000 |
Acclaims
- Apr 21, 2010 - Honored at ASCAP's 27th Annual Pop Music Awards as a Most Performed Song
- May 18, 2010 - BMI Pop Awards Award-Winning Song