You know how some pop stars are bona fide, unapologetic, and very public metalheads, like Lady Gaga, Kesha, and Ed Sheeran? It turns out that some hard rockers need their pop music fix, as well. For example, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford has called himself a “pop tart” (he and Gaga are mutual admirers), and there are some heavy metal artists who have written tracks meant for the lighter side. Here are four of them.
Videos by American Songwriter
1. Dee Snider / Celine Dion, “The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)” (1998)
As legend has it, Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider recorded a demo of a tune called “God Bless Us Everyone” with producer Ric Wake after his wife Suzette asked him to write her a Christmas song. Famous Canadian diva Celine Dion heard the tune and wanted to record it for her Christmas album These Are Special Times, not knowing who the original composer was.
The hard-rocking singer and songwriter made sure she did not know by having the album credit read “D. Snider.” It was a wise move as the album went on to reportedly sell 12 million copies worldwide. To this day, Snider calls her “Saint Celine” because his royalties from the song paid for his family’s nice beach house in Belize. He says when she found out years later that he had penned the hit, that she was confused.
2. Nikki Sixx / Marion Raven, “Heads Will Roll” (2006)
Raven first gained attention in the teen pop duo M2M with childhood friend Marit Larsen. The duo stood out from the overproduced likes of N’SYNC and Britney Spears by favoring a more organic sound, playing their own instruments, and writing their own material. After they released two moderately successful albums, the ladies split and pursued solo careers; Larsen veered more pop, Raven went more rock.
For her 2006 EP Heads Will Roll, Raven teamed up songwriting-wise with people like Buckcherry’s Keith Nelson, DJ Ashba, and Bon Jovi hitmaker Desmond Child for an album of pop-inflected tunes with a hard rock flair. The title track, co-written with Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, has crunchy guitars to complement her melodic singing. The song also appeared on her next album, Set Me Free. Raven evidently did not know much about Sixx before working with him; she learned a lot reading The Dirt.
3. Muse / Adam Lambert, “Soaked” (2009)
Epic, melodic rockers Muse have written some heavy tracks, although their influences are rather varied. Adam Lambert is known for his glammy pop, and he also sings for Queen. So it makes sense that Muse frontman Matt Bellamy would bequeath him this castaway from his band’s 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations. An epic electric ballad appearing on Lambert’s debut album For Your Entertainment, “Soaked” sounds just like a Muse tune, so much so that you’d be forgiven if you first thought, out of context, that it is Muse.
4. Peter Tägtgren / Liv Kristine, “Over The Moon” (2006)
This one’s an outlier on the list. Peter Tägtgren is the frontman and guitarist for the Swedish death metal band Hypocrisy. Norwegian singer Liv Kristine made her mark in a gothic and symphonic metal vein with bands like Theatre of Tragedy and Leaves’ Eyes, but her solo career has often veered into pop rock and gothic rock terrain. This buoyant and effervescent opening track from Kristine’s pop-inflected second solo album Enter My Religion `is not something you’d expect from Tägtgren, and it bridged Kristine’s different musical worlds. It’s an unusual gem, of which he wrote the music, she penned the lyrics. They also collaborated on the more atmospheric rock track “Trapped In Your Labyrinth” from the same album.
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
