Recently I came across Rock Sugar, a ridiculously talented and overall bloody amazing heavy metal mashup band.  As much as I wasn’t exactly a fan of hair metal back in the 80s, it’s grown on me… I don’t mind the cheese rock so much anymore.  And these guys take some of the Greatest Hits of Hair Metal and weave them together into some slick sounds.

Led by frontman Jess Harnell, an amazingly accomplished voice actor in his own right, Rock Sugar does incredible things with some of the greatest rock anthems of the 80s.  The best example is probably Don’t Stop The Sandman, which flawlessly combines Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ with Metallica’s Enter Sandman, while still remaining true to both songs.  Other craziness includes Dreaming of a Whole Lotta Love (Aerosmith / Zeppelin),  Shook Me Like A Prayer (Madonna / ACDC), and my personal favorite, Round and Separated (Ratt / Journey) — yeah I have a weakness for Ratt’s Round and Round, always have.  Best part — Shook Me Like A Prayer is the best Madonna song ever made!

So go listen.  You won’t regret it, unless there is no shred of rocktastic soul within your body!

My only question on these guys is HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THE RIGHTS TO ALL THESE SONGS???  There must be some serious money / power behind these guys someplace.  Just to release covers of this stuff would be seriously expensive, but to make mashups?  At this level of quality? And that number of HUGE songs? Craziness.  How they pulled this off — that’s a story I really need to hear.