A year ago today, Michael Jackson passed away. Fans still haven't gotten over it, and since his death, everyone's tried to find a proper way to pay tribute to the King of Pop. We've gotten five of the more … interesting takes on MJ's songs for you. Note that we didn't say *the best*–there are probably more than a million Michael Jackson covers floating around the Internet right now, most of them bunk. Scrounging around the internet for covers that have appeared since the King of Pop's death means a couple of hours sucked down the drain, but I did find a few gems from Faith No More, Aloe Blacc and David Garrett…and a few interesting takes on MJ songs from Coldplay and a pop star from Hong Kong. Watch them after the jump.
(In the meantime, if you want to take part of Michael Jackson's One Million Tributes, head over to his site and fill out the form on the homepage.)
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1. Aloe Blacc, “Billie Jean”
The Stones Throw rapper-turned-singer, along with the Grand Scheme, recorded this soulful, bluesy cover of “Billie Jean” recently. It's great.
2. Faith No More, “Ben”
Faithful, yes. Unexpected, YES. Faith No More performed this live at the Coachella Music and Arts festival April this year.
3. David Garrett, “Smooth Criminal”
The 28-year-old told CNN, “I always loved [Michael Jackson's] performances because as a lot of classical
musicians are perfectionists, he was… [He was] definitely a big influence [on
me].”
4. Coldplay, “Billie Jean”
A pretty sterile cover, but hey–it's Coldplay.
5. Khalil Fong, “Bad”
A Hawaiian-born, China-raised, Hong Kong-based soul music singer-songwriter signed to the Warner Music label in Hong Kong covers bad and makes it sound really white. Hm.
