Chris Daughtry has been saying that getting kicked off Fox's hit reality show "American Idol" was the best thing that every happened to him.

With the success of the program's first winner Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry's comment seems strange.

But his album by his new band, simply called Daughtry, is set for release on Tuesday, November 21, so he might know something.

Daughtry was on "American Idol" this past year, when the season finale featured the older-looking, soulful Taylor Hicks against the young Katherine McPhee. Hicks ended up winning the entire competition and recording a song for a Ford commercial soon after.

The success of the program hasn't died down since season one. Kelly Clarkson won out over the big-haired Justin Guarini. The two started in a movie, "From Justin To Kelly," and both put out albums. Whoever wins the show is guaranteed a record contract, but the runner-up has customarily been given one as well. While Clarkson's album catapulted her to pop fame, Guarini remained relatively unknown.

Season two's finale was a bit different. The R&B crooning Rubin Studdard beat out the shy and awkward Clay Aiken. Studdard hasn't done too much since claiming the title, but Clay Aiken is still out there, using his fame to support worthy causes and sell Christmas albums. In that respect, Clay Aiken is the Bono of "American Idol."

Season three's winner was Fantasia Barrio. She starred in a made-for-tv movie about her own life (and how an "American Idol" producer told her to drop out of the competition because of her baby. "American Idol" denies these claims).

In season four, Carrie Underwood beat out Bo Bice, who seemed to always be breaking bones or getting sick. Underwood's face became plastered all over billboards, and she recently defeated an allegedly very shocked Faith Hill for "Female Artist of the Year" at the Country Music Awards. Bo Bice's album did very well last summer, but he isn't taking home accolades of equal value.

That brings us back to this past season, where Chris Daughtry was a heavy favorite. What the judges on "American Idol" have a tendency of asking for is artists to "make the song [their] own." Chris Daughtry wowed the judges -- Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell -- with his rendition of a Johnny Cash song. But, on a later episode, it was found out that the band Live had covered the song, and he admitted that his rendition was taken more from Live's version than Johnny Cash's.

That seemed to be Daughtry's first bump in the road, but for many viewers, it was the first indication that he should be fronting a band instead of traveling the road as a pop singer (the way the other American Idols have been pigeonholed).

You can be the judge of that on Tuesday.