'Rock of Ages' Sountrack: 4 of 5 Stars

Never had I imagined that I'll be saying this - Tom Cruise in a movie sountrack, along with Mary J. Blige and Diego Boneta, sounded GLEEfully incredible.

Okay, with an ensemble that included Tom Cruise and Julianne Hough, I admit, the soundtrack is nowhere near the R.E.N.T. soundtrack vocally, but still the Rock of Ages soundtrack is something worth listening to - except if you don't fancy remakes.

[I don't understand people who don't fancy remake anyways. I mean, I love Queen but I always like to hear people remaking their songs, I download them, too. That was wholly unnecessary but, whatever.]

A lot of the songs - especially the mash-offs - sounded a lot like a rip-off from Glee [believe me, I watch the show all the time]. The fact that it sounded a lot like Glee is a positive this time. [I mean, ignore Glee's awful cover of the Bee Gees' How Deep is Your Love or its insufferable remake of James Brown's It's A Man's Man's World... Sorry, Dianna Agron.]

As you listen to the sountrack, note that the Executive Music Producer of this movie is the almost legendary Adam Anders - the man behind the glory days of Glee when they had one of their biggest sales weeks to date with 986,000 downloads of tracks (tracks produced by Anders himself). He's also among the people behind the success of various Disney flicks; see: High School Musical 3, Camp Rock, and Hannah Montana: The Movie (things we don't all need to understand why it succeeded in the first place but that's beside the point; I was just trying to give you a picture).

Adam Anders

Moving on, Rock of Ages is a movie adaptation of a classic Broadway musical - of the same name - whose story revolves around Sherrie Christian (played by Julianne Hough, good pick BTW) and Drew Boley (played by Diego Boneta; it's actually Drew Dilinbeck in the original play). Two characters fall in love during the rock and glam metal era of the 80s. That's why you have Tom Cruise's character Stacey Jaxx who is Drew's music idol.

That's basically it but man, a musical set in the 1980s is a rare occurence now.

The sountrack features 20 songs, all of which are songs that were big in the 1980s [and all of which are songs I surprisingly know; I was born on the first year of the 90s, mind you].

”Paradise City”, Tom Cruise

“Sister Christian” / “Just Like Paradise” / “Nothin’ But A Good Time” - Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin

“Juke Box Hero” / “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” - Diego Boneta, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Julianne Hough

“Hit Me With Your Best Shot” - Catherine Zeta-Jones

“Waiting For A Girl Like You” - Diego Boneta, Julianne Hough

“More Than Words” / “Heaven" - Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta

“Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough

“I Want To Know What Love Is” - Tom Cruise, Malin Akerman

“I Wanna Rock” - Diego Boneta

“Pour Some Sugar On Me” - Tom Cruise

“Harden My Heart” - Julianne Hough, Mary J. Blige

“Shadows of the Night” / “Harden My Heart” - Mary J. Blige, Julianne Hough

“Here I Go Again” - Diego Boneta, Paul Giamatti, Julianne Hough, Mary J. Blige, Tom Cruise

“Can’t Fight This Feeling” - Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin

“Any Way You Want It” – Mary J. Blige, Constantine Maroulis, Julianne Hough

“Undercover Love” – Diego Boneta

“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” – Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Mary J. Blige

“Rock You Like A Hurricane” – Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise

“We Built This City” / “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – Russell Brand / Catherine Zeta-Jones

“Don’t Stop Believin’” - Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige

Catherine Zeta-Jones' Hit Me With Your Best Shot is actually nice, no major changes in the arrangement but it's pretty decent. Pat Benatar would be proud. Zeta-Jones and Russell Brand's mash-off of We Build This City and We're Not Gonna Take It is also nice, I mean, it practically sounded like a New Directions mash-off (see: Glee) but it's nice nonetheless. It easily found its may to my iPod [yes, I have musical in my iPod].

Cruise's Paradise City is... well, fun - for lack of better word. It's nothing compared to the Guns N' Roses original but I'd listen to it. It's mostly because of the Tom-Cruise-singing-a-Guns-N'-Roses-song factor.

Mary J. Blige, Constantine Maroulis, and Julianne Hough's version of Any Way You Want It is one of my favorites. I mean, Mary J. Blige singing a Journey classic isn't something I'd pass up on.

But Cruise's Pour Some Sugar On Me is just... God, help me but Tom Cruise pulling off a Def Leppard is definitely NOT mission impossible. [I can't stop listening to it, I raped the replay button.]

The other songs are also nice, it's a good album overall but the my personal favorites would be the remake of Whitesnake's Here I Go Again. I mean, I never liked the song before but I appreaciate it now (the power of musicals). And definitely, a new Adam Anders arrangement of Journey's Don't Stop Believing? Definitely a must-hear. I don't know how he managed to not make it sound so much like Glee but it turned out to be okay.

Rating:

　

Okay, so Tom Cruise is no Chris Hardwick of the original Broadway cast (because I've watched clips) or Julianne Hough is especially nowhere near Laura Bell Bundy but the Rock of Ages soundtrack is definitely a go. I approve.

Watch the Rock of Ages Trailer Here: