The history of popular music has a long list of actors who have tried being a singer or musician. The results have been… mixed, we’re going to say mixed. Quite a few of them have actually scored some hits, Bruce Willis and Don Johnson for example hit the top 10 with “Express Yourself” and “Heartbeat” respectively. The same can’t be said for William Shatner, but he’s giving it a shot again with an album of metal covers.
William Shatner’s Musical History
When people think about Shatner singing, what often comes to mind is his performance of Elton John‘s “Rocket Man” at the 1978 Saturn Awards. Or they might think of his debut record, “The Transformed Man”. The Transformed Man paired him doing readings from Shakespeare with covers of songs. Songs like “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The results were bizarre. They were memorable for sure, but bizarre.
That’s one of the big reasons why we have no idea what to expect with this upcoming collection of metal covers. Shatner will be picking songs from the discographies of groups like, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath. The 94 year old Canadian stated, “Metal has always been a place where imagination gets loud.” He’s selected a combination of artists to help him bring this musical vision to life and seems pretty enthused for it.
“I’ve spent a lifetime exploring in both reality and fiction. Now I am stepping out into the unknown once again with my new project in heavy metal… The whole project is destined for this year. I hope you will join me in the exploration.”
Shatner
Shatner is going to have to lean heavily on the talent of others. Considering his spoken word delivery is generally lacking in musicality. That’s not to say he hasn’t actually done some quality work though.
Remembering the Success of “Has Been”
As negative of an impression as it sounds like we’ve given, we’d be sorely remiss if we didn’t mention the staggering quality of his 2004 record, “Has Been.” Shatner worked heavily with Ben Folds on that record. That, combined with other talent like Joe Jackson and Adrian Belew, produced some actual bangers. His cover of Pulp’s “Common People,” the title track, “I Can’t Get Behind That,” and the spoken word poem of “What Have You Done,” are all really strong. The whole record is worth a listen.
We eagerly await more details about what songs Shatner is going to pick and when the project will release.
