771. Various Artists / Shocker - The Music. 1989. 4/5

Movie soundtracks can be amazingly hit and miss. Generally for fans of hard rock and heavy metal, it is difficult to find movies where the music is something that you want to listen to after the movie anyway. However, in the late 1980's and early 1990's there was stream of movies that, as a teenager/early 20's male, were soooo bad they were good, and also had good artists doing the music, which in turn encouraged me to go out and buy the soundtrack as well as the film. Shocker was one of those movies and soundtracks. Watch the movie now, and you would wonder what we saw in it. Even as a cult film now, whenever I watch it (yep, I still do) I have to cringe through some parts of it. The soundtrack is exactly the same.
Want 80's hard rock, which is heavily influenced by one Desmond Child, who was the hit-maker at the time, helping to make Bon Jovi stars, and revitalising Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Kiss for the 'modern' age? Well, you get that in spades here, and to be honest if you didn't get into this at the time it was released, you probably won't now, because it is completely tied to this era. And yes, I still like the majority of this album, no matter how clichéd and 80's it sounds.

Opening with the 'superstar band' who came together for this project called The Dudes of Wrath, comprising Paul Stanley and Desmond Child on duelling vocals, Vivian Campbell and Guy Mann-Dude on guitars, Rudy Sarzo on bass guitar, and Tommy Lee on drums, with backing vocals by Michael Anthony and Kane Roberts, "Shocker" is the high energy anthemic theme to proclaim the heroes at the end of the film once they have vanquished the villain. I love this song despite its cheesiness, you can barely stop yourself from singing along in the car. This is followed by Iggy Pop (with some help from Alice Cooper) singing "Love Transfusion", another with obvious influence from Desmond Child, as it has the same melodies and chorus lines. Terrific. Tagging along after this is Megadeth's cover of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy", a great rocking version of the song, and one that inspired the band I was in at the time to play it live. Mustaine does a great job in this song.
"Sword and Stone" by Bonfire manages to keep the interest going following the first three great songs, but Saraya's "Timeless Love" doesn't fit at all well. OK, so it had to be in the movie to signify the events that were occurring at that time, but it doesn't fit in well with the other tracks here. The Dudes of Wrath return to clean up the mess with "Shockdance" featuring Alice Cooper on vocals this time. "Demon Bell (The Ballad of Horace Pinker)" by Dangerous Toys is also a beauty, incorporating lines from the movie from Mitch Pileggi. "The Awakening" by Voodoo X starts a little slowly but builds to a satisfying conclusion.
One song that really caught my attention was "Different Breed" by Dead On, perhaps because it was the B side to the "No More Mr. Nice Guy" single I bought before I bought this soundtrack I don't know what happened to them, but they sound like an early version of Scatterbrain, who I loved when they arrived around this time. I've always loved this song, and was disappointed I could never find any more of their music. The album then concludes with a reprise of "Shocker", fading out leaving you feeling like the hero.

There would be a narrow field of people who will like this album and/or the film, and I don't pretend it to be otherwise. Having seen the film on the big screen, having own a VHS copy since it was released, and having both the Megadeth single and the album soundtrack since their release, my opinion will certainly be biased towards the positive for nostalgic reasons as well as perceived quality.

Rating:  Shocker! Shocker! We're led like lambs to the slaughter!  4/5