Rock Star. Music From The Motion Picture (2001)

Rock Star is based on story Tim "Ripper" Owens, who left his Judas Priest cover band to join the real thing. Steel Dragon's original tunes (Produced by Tom Werman) such as "Livin' the Life","Wasted Generation" and "Stand Up" are straight out of 1987, with the screaming vocals and crunchy guitar riffs that made the era so much fun. Real-life metal anthems, like Kiss's "Lick it Up" and Motley Crue's "Wild Side" are perfect choices for this soundtrack. Everclear's bratty yet determined title song is catchy, while "Colorful" is a new tune from Verve Pipe that holds up well with their earlier material…

More than merely a headbanger's take on A Star Is Born, Rock Star is, like all great Hollywood middlebrow fare, actually "inspired by a true story": the saga of an Ohio salesman/Judas Priest tribute band vocalist who one day found himself taking Rob Halford's place in the spotlight. But whether its music is big-hair throwback or merely ahead-of-the-curve '80s retro-hip is hardly a matter that will cause quantum theorists sleepless nights. Not surprisingly, the film's soundtrack sounds both distinctly virtual and marketing-department honed: a mix of modern rockers (Everclear's hard-pop title track, the Verve Pipe's "Colorful") and '80s vets (Bon Jovi's genre-defining "Livin' on a Prayer"). Steel Dragon, the film's fictional headliners, feature era vets Jason Bonham on drums, Zakk Wylde on guitar, and vocalist Jeff Scott Soto giving star Mark Wahlberg something to lip-synch. They re-create a frighteningly credible faux-'80s pop-metal ethos that ranges from the big-ballad Bon Jovi-isms of "We All Die Young" to the pounding, metallic Priest-cloning of "Livin' the Life" and "Blood Pollution", and the anthemic "Long Live Rock and Roll", the latter in a ham-fisted performance that begs to be subtitled "(But Please Retire Soon)"

~ Jerry McCulley, amazon.com

Tracklist:

01. Everclear - Rock Star
02. Steel Dragon - Livin' The Life
03. Motley Crue - Wild Side
04. Steel Dragon - We All Die Young
05. Steel Dragon - Blood Pollution
06. Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
07. Steel Dragon - Stand Up
08. Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
09. Steel Dragon - Wasted Generation
10. Kiss - Lick It Up
11. Steel Dragon - Long Live Rock And Roll
12. INXS - Devil Inside
13. The Verve Pipe - Colorful (Rock Star Version)
14. Trevor Rabin - Gotta Have It (Music from Rock Star)

Release Date: August 28, 2001
Label: Priority Records