Odd Metal and Rock Collaborations - A List!
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 12:01AM Thinking about Tiffany and LA Guns teaming up yesterday made me ponder about some of the other odd metal and rock duets over the years. Sometimes mash-ups work and bring two fan bases together. Other times, these duets seem contrived and flop. Here's my list of the oddest metal and rock duets of them all.
Def Leppard & Tim McGraw – Nine Lives (2008)
I never got this one. I have a bias against country music. I just do not like it so I always cringe when I hear rock bands team up with country stars. This duet is especially bad in my opinion.
In another life I worked for an orchestra doing PR. I have a soft spot in my heart for classical. Still, I always thought it was a little odd when Metallica teamed up with the San Francisco Orchestra. That said, the combo just plain worked and the results are epic. The version of "Nothing Else Matters" below is my favorite - even more so than the original studio recording.
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Remember that time that Alice in Chains teamed up with Elton John to make the track "Black Gives Way To Blue?" Written by Jerry Cantrell as a tribute to the late Layne Staley, the song is a beautiful memory and showcases the absolute brilliance and flexibility of Elton John.
In 1989, KISS released an album called Hot In The Shade... and they collaborated with Michael Bolton. In fact, Bolton helped them write "Forever," one of their most commercially successful tracks. I wonder how many folks had "Forever" at their wedding reception in 1990? I bet the song was the fodder for prom themes, too. I was only in fifth grade when this song came out and I did not know Bolton's role until many years later!
I think this counts: Insane Clown Posse tapped Alice Cooper for some scary intros to the album The Great Milenko. Alice's voice really does give the intro instant spooky street cred. When I was a freshman undergrad, I was placed with a complete stranger for a roommate like most everyone else. My roommate that year loved ICP and would play them constantly so I have some fond memories of their late 90s output. That is The Great Milenko era if you were not sure. Speaking of this album, Slash performs on Halls of Illusions too.
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This is the list off the top of my head. Honorable Mention goes to Damn Yankees: Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades. Obviously Blades and Shaw are friends and fit together... but Ted with them always seemed odd to me. Even still, that supergroup sure worked!
Reader Comments (10)
That was hardly the first time KISS had used or collaborated with outside songwriters. Bryan Adams and his songwriting partner Jim Vallance got two writing credits on Creatures Of The Night for "War Machine" and "Rock And Roll Hell".
And Bolton wasn't always a crooner. While I wouldn't call Blackjack metal, it was harder and heavier than Bolton's late '80s schlock, and Bruce Kulick was in the band, so that gave Bolton a connection to KISS later on.
But the bottom line is it's all about the song. You could be the best guitar player in the world, or the best singer, but if your songs stink you won't have much of a career. "Forever" is a great song and it deserved to be a hit.
To the subject at hand now.? If my deeply addled brain remembers correctly., I think Ozzy and Jessica Simpson did a Christmas song together?(also, train wreck comes to mind as to how it sounded). 😂😂
The Damned’s second album, “Music for Pleasure”, was produced by none other than Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright.
The unlikeliest successful pairing has to be Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart. They have collaborated numerous times including Snoop having appeared on Stewart’s cooking show.
Since I have no shame, I will chime in on Michael Bolton. I still think "Fool's Game" is a great song. Yes, as others have noted, his earlier work is not metal. But rock and good rock, catchy to boot! And he knows how to pen a tune. So it is no surprise that bands have used him, and others, when the well ran dry or they tried to shift to something more, hmm, marketable.
Personally, I didn't think the collaborations with classical musicians by either Metallica or Megadeth (always copying, that Dave!) worked. Ditto the Scorps a few years back . . . it sounded like an awful slog. For me, the best classical music collaborations are those that go with music that is already, in some fashion, classically-inspired. Saw The Moody Blues at Royal Albert Hall with The World Festival Orchestra. Say what you will (and you will!), but that just made it for me.
In other news, I think that the Anthrax's collaboration with Public Enemy beats out Run DMC's collaboration with Aerosmith. And I say that as someone who is not a big fan of Anthrax, loved older Aerosmith, and will heap praise upon both PE and RDMC (even if I give the former a bit of a side-eye now and again).
If I was to go with the one "what the hell?" collaboration that I have heard and loved it would be this: "Haunted" by Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O'Connor. In terms of overall spirit, this song shouldn't work. But it does, and does beautifully. An example of clashing styles merging fluidly into something amazing.
How about Bolton when he was a Hair Metal act for 5 minutes in the Early 80’s?
Remember “Everybody’s Crazy”? KILLER Pop Metal, if there is such a thing, haha!!
Also, other pairings that worked ...
> Joey Ramone and Holly Knight joining forces for a remake of Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe”.
> Wendy O. Williams and KISS on the Gene Simmons produced “W.O.W.” album, on which all the members of KISS appear and also contribute.
And let’s not forget a collaboration we’ve touched on here before that could only be classified as one of THE most egregiously horrendous ideas in Hard Rock history!
Metallica & Lou Reed!
Totally calamitous with horrific results, as some of you may recall ... And that’s an understatement!