In a recent guest appearance on RHINO’s Totally 80s podcast, David Coverdale stated his reasons for never accepting the position of celebrity judge for a singing contest. The host first inquired with the Whitesnake singer about his knowledge of this season’s “American Idol” cover of the band’s song “Here I Go Again.” He replied by saying: “I don’t know about this year, but I was asked to perform on ‘American Idol’ years ago… But I don’t want to use that standard to evaluate individuals. The presenter later revealed to the performer that Blake Shelton would leave the show at the end of this season, leaving an empty red chair in his wake. She’d be thrilled to have him on the program if he were interested. She also claimed that when she questioned Shelton, he mentioned David Lee Roth when she asked him who he’d like to replace him with, demonstrating his readiness to have a rocker take his position. Coverdale responded by saying: “Blake Shelton wants something that really has nothing to do with [me], and I have no idea what he wants.” Without all that, I’m satisfied with what I’m accomplishing.
Just for me, it would be wrong to derail someone else’s lifelong ambition by being unkind or something. The musician then described his own experience from the beginning of his career and how it felt: “I just had a first-time encounter when an engineer in a demo recording studio was completely useless, and it might have discouraged me from pursuing music in the future. It was really tragic. In the past, rockers like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and Gene Simmons from KISS served as judges for “American Idol.” Both fans and Tyler’s bandmates were startled by his choice to join the event. For two seasons, he appeared on the program, which increased his popularity and demonstrated his separation from his band. Watch the remainder of Coverdale’s conversation below.
