Heavy Metal [Soundtrack]

 

 

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So, I love almost every song on here (except Stevie Niks. I'm sorry, I don't like this song >.<). Other than the fact that the CD case was chipped, cracked and broken, the CD still worked like a charm. Thanks, Amazon, for giving me my 2nd cracked case btw -.- You guys REALLY seem to know how to make me feel scared when ordering stuff through you.

But, excluding that fact, the CD is awesome, the movie was even better; it's a must have for any Heavy Metal fan :D

After seeing the great "Major Boobage" episode in South Park's twelth season, with its cheesing and its very awesome music from the movie they parodied, Heavy Metal, I decided to purchase the soundtrack from which they used for their episode. Although it is not a heavy metal music, but more rock n' roll, it is still a great collection of songs that several groups have compiled into the movie. It can be listened either when you play as to pass time, or as you play the south park video game "Let's go Tower Defense". Not only that it has a great mix of various groups such as Don Fedler, who composed the classic "Hotel California" and plays the excellent "Takin' A ride". Apart from that, I adored "Reach Out" by Cheap Trick and "True Companion" by Donald Fagen, even though I loved the whole album.

A great buy for the movie fans, South Park, and also those who love listening to rock.

First of all, let me address a recurring theme I see in many reviews regarding the HEAVY METAL soundtrack : there's a lot of pissing and moaning of varying degrees, that there's virtually no music of the heavy metal genre on this album, but rather "only rock" of either classic or soft stylings with only 2 or 3 really hard rockers to be found, and therefore, either it should have had more metal music to live up to its title, or, be called something else to reflect the music contained within.

While I admit, the beautiful-but-a-tad-too-sappy-especially-for-this-album track, "OPEN ARMS" by Journey, does seem to sound a little out of place, and Stevie Nicks' "BLUE LAMP" is even moreso somehow - but so what?

Let's not forget, this is a SOUNDTRACK to a MOVIE that happens to be called HEAVY METAL, based on a MAGAZINE of that same name - and by that reason, it is as ridiculous to bitch about the soundtrack having "only mediocre rock" songs and hardly any "real" metal songs, as it would be to complain that the magazine isn't about real musical bands and instead "misleads" us by only offering stories of sex-&-violence-laden sci-fi & fantasy.

So the fact the SOUNDTRACK is called HEAVY METAL does not necessarily mean it is obligated to saturate it with the same kind of heavy tracks as the count-them-on-one-hand cuts that actually WERE featured, such as Sammy Hagar's "HEAVY METAL" and Black Sabbath's "THE MOB RULES".

The whole collection is merely a compilation of the rock songs that were featured in the movie (for whatever reason - even in the scenes they cropped up in, I cannot fathom why certain songs were selected? But whatever), so let it go already about "This is more of a classic rock album than metal" and blah blah blah like that.

So if you are looking for "real" heavy metal on this album just simply based on the name, you'll probably be disappointed.

But, if you are open to the concept of "what's in a name?", and if your musical tastes are not limited to any one style or genre, then you may really enjoy this album, even if you haven't seen the movie.

I personally liked this album, despite the same complaints described above, which I made myself (when I was TWELVE, so go figure!) regarding the "softer", less-edgy songs. But for me, it was an aural return trip to the events of the movie (back when it still was elusive and unavailable on quality home video).

For sure, you can bet I wore out the parts of my cassette copy of the soundtrack where Sammy Hagar's "HEAVY METAL" and Cheap Trick's "MUST BE DREAMING" were located (I totally loved the latter's amusement-park-ride style keyboard intro/outro, so much so I mixed my own "reprise" of the track with the middle part cut out so it's just that funky keyboard and guitar riffing through out for 3 mins), as they were the most stand-out songs that I could recall and playback in my head after having seen the movie only once, but not yet having obtained the soundtrack.

Once I did get the soundtrack, instant faves that followed Hagar and the Trick for me included both Riggs songs, "RADAR RIDER" and "HEARTBEAT", Blue Öyster Cult's "VETERAN OF THE PSYCHIC WARS", and the other Cheap Trick song, "REACH OUT". As I admitted earlier, I too was put off by songs like Journey's "OPEN ARMS" and Donald Fagen's "TRUE COMPANION", but that could be due to not so much their mellow nature, but perhaps their place in the track sequence - I always found it a little disruptive to the musical "flow" of ANY album - assorted artists or not - to squeeze a gentle ballad in between two hard-rockers, or vice versa. I mean, just when "RADAR RIDER" got my adrenaline up, it gets sucked back down with the soothing "OPEN ARMS", and then I'm getting stirred up again by Grand Funk Railroad's "QUEEN BEE" - argh! Stop the roller coaster, I wanna get off! All I can say is, thank god for the CD player and the "program" feature!

At any rate, the only song it took me almost forever to warm up to was Devo's "WORKING IN A COALMINE", but once I got over my musically-naive adolescent preoccupation with the as-I-perceived-it silliness, I accepted it as part of the whole that makes up the audio background to 1981's "HEAVY METAL : The Movie".

One final note, this album, in my opinion, is FAR SUPERIOR to the soundtrack for "HEAVY METAL 2000" (aka "F.A.K.K.") - sure, the music on the newer release may be heavier, full of tracks with power, aggression, and pumping out needle-burying decibels, but you cannot ignore the quality of good ole classic & hard rock music, from a time when it was about the music, and not shock value, like you will find in the original "HEAVY METAL".

I give this album 4 stars, and the only reason I did not give it a full 5, is cos as far as I know, it's incomplete - the second Devo song, "THROUGH BEING COOL" was never included on the soundtrack for some reason. maybe it is now in more recent releases, but I have neevr seen/heard it on there.

So if you find a copy that actually included the second Devo song, totalling 17 tracks, then I rank that a 5. Otherwise, the standard 16-track release only gets a 4 from me for its omission.

Other than that, it's a great addition to the music/CD collection of any rock music fan, or just a music fan in general.

WTW

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4.0 out of 5 stars A great soundtrack
Although the movie hasn't aged as well, this soundtrack is a 1980's essential. Very solid production and selection of songs and artists. Read more

Published on Oct 15 2004 by L. Somerville

2.0 out of 5 stars Catch a contact buzzzzzzz....
What a great movie to eat a bag of mushrooms and chill out to. The soundtrack has the same effect, but lacks the strenght of the movie's visuals. Read more

Published on Jan 3 2004 by Mark B. Brown

2.0 out of 5 stars A strange selection of non-heavy-metal songs
There are only four good songs on this album:

Heavy Metal by Sammy Hagar
Heavy Metal by Don Felder
Radar Rider by Riggs

Okay, three songs. Read more

Published on Oct 16 2003 by SPM

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite soundtracks!
This is a superb compilation full of realitively overlooked 80's gems (with the exception of Journey's "Open Arms"). Read more

Published on July 21 2003 by Matthew Paul

4.0 out of 5 stars More like a classic rock soundtrack
Overall, this CD would've better if it had groups like Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and maybe Krokus but instead they have the... Read more

Published on April 20 2003 by Darian Dennison

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good SoundTrack, A Lame Movie
Yes I liked this soundtrack, but I did not like the movie. I know most people would probably disagree with me about the movie, but I thought it was really boring.

Published on Mar 10 2003 by Kevin

4.0 out of 5 stars Great early 80s rock/metal
Before metal in the eighties was all about hairspray, there was a generation of hard rock that really rocked. Read more

Published on Dec 4 2002 by Jack Fitzgerald

4.0 out of 5 stars A killer Soundtrack to go with a killer Movie!
What could someone add to an animated movie that contains action, violence, and mature content to really put it over the top? How about an awesome rock n roll soundtrack! Read more

Published on May 2 2002 by Nathan J. Belville

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic
This soundtrack truely captures the essence of hard rock during the early 80's. It is still great today. Read more

Published on Mar 7 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best animated movies ever, with the best music.
I have only seen this film 2 times but i love it, i wath the DVD, and i must have this Sound Track. It has some of the best songs.

Published on Feb 24 2002

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