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Shocker – No More Mr. Nice Guy – The Music: A Shocking Sampler (1989, SBK/Alive/Capitol Records)

Track Listing:
1. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” * – Megadeth – 3:02
2. “Sword and Stone” * - Bonfire – 3:57
3. “Demon Bell” ** – Dangerous Toys – 3:56
4. “Love Tranfusion” – Iggy Pop – 4:22
5. “Shocker” * – Dudes of Wrath – 3:58

Produced by: Desmond Child * & Max Norman **

So years ago, while on a big slasher movie kick, one night I took home Wes Craven’s Shocker from the video store I worked at. The idea of the movie was (I think) to create the next horror icon. Well, that didn’t happen because the movie isn’t very good, but it did produce an awesome rock soundtrack, so off on an online hunt for the Original Soundtrack to Shocker I was.

Unfortunately, I won’t be talking about the “Original Soundtrack”, instead all I have to offer is “A Shocking Sampler” because I got screwed over on my very first eBay transaction years ago. The seller listed the soundtrack and gave details on the each track and the artist, but when the CD arrived, all I had in my hands was a soundtrack sampler. All attempts to get my money back or to have the seller send me what he actually listed failed. And to top it off, the CD was scratched and skipped/stopped on almost all of the 5 songs.

As far as a “sampler” goes, this is a great CD. The whole soundtrack is good, but for me, there are six standout cuts and 5 of them are here. The missing link would be Saraya’s “Timeless Love”. Oh well, maybe I’ll someday get my hands on the full soundtrack.

Anyway, this great mix of metal and hair metal. Megadeth does a great version of Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Shocker” is definitely my favorite song by the mysterious band called the Dudes of Wrath.

What was up with these secretive supergroups anyway in the 80s? First, Skrapp Mettle and now Dudes of Wrath. The Dudes of Wrath were Paul Stanley (quite obvious on the vocals), along with Desmond Child and rounding out the group were Tommy Lee, Vivian Campbell, Rudy Sarzo and some dude called Guy Man-Dude (!). If Wikipedia is to be believed, Alice Cooper, Michael Anthony, and Kane Roberts provided backing vocals for the song.

Oh, by the way, thanks to my video store connections, I was able to use our buffing machine to get the scratches out (took four or five tries) and the CD plays perfect now.