Lion and the 'Transformers' Theme
Allyson B. Crawford
16 Comments
Holy Glam, the Transformers theme is epic! I'd forgotten all about the song until I was reminded of it over the weekend thanks to a random message board posting.
Do you remember Lion? The British band featured Doug Aldrich among its members. Lion didn't even record a full-length debut until after they'd contributed to the Transformers soundtrack. That debut record is called Dangerous Attraction.
Lion did release one more record, but didn't stay together much longer. Their crowning achievement will always be the Transformers theme - robots in disguise! I should now admit I've never seen the Transformers movie (either the original or the remake) so I have no idea if the song fits the content. All I know is that I think it rocks. What say you?
Reader Comments (16)
Allyson, you should totally look for the 86 movie soundtrack its all 80s metal with the exception of Weird Al's Dare to Stupid. Vince Dicola (of Rocky 4 soundtrack fame) does amazing instrumental pieces.
I actaully have a promo not for sale vinyl of Dangerous Attraction I got from the record store near me. Totally blows my mind how good these guys were.Funny thing is I had only thought of them for the TF theme so every song I played on their record I kept waiting to TRANSFORMERS!!!!! after every verse! lol
As much as I am amused by the original "Transformer's Theme" by Lion as well as their debut album...
Lion's true crowning achievement is the song "Hungry For Love" from their sophomore album, "Trouble In Angel City".
Check out Spectre General's contributions. Trivia time: Spectre General is actually another great L.A. Glam Metal band, Kick Axe, but had to appear on the "Transformers" Soundtrack under the Spectre General monkiker for legal reasons.
Also on the Soundtrack is Stan Bush's "The Touch", which was forever immortalized in another excellent film, "Boogie Nights".
Lookin' forward to hearin' Aldrich in action as lead guitarist for Whitesnake at M3!
Lion ROCKS B*LLS!
Jerry Best - bass, Mark Edwards - drums. Great Band!!
I emailed Jerry Best {Former Bass Player for Lion}, not to long ago. He seems like a very nice guy. http://www.jerrybest.com/main.html
From his Bio:
After seeing what was out there for other gigs, I hooked up with guitarist Gary Hoey, Joel Ellis and Frankie Banali. This band was later known as "Heavy Bones", engineered by Phil Kaffel and signed to Warner Bros. I fell out with those guys and never recorded with them. I thought this project could have been great.
I wish they did better!!!
Peace, Roy
http://www.wix.com/roythebatboy/roycoston
For minute I thought your opening comment was gonna be about the other renditions of the theme that have been done for the new movies. Both are horrible in my opinion. (Yes Even the cheap trick one, although Reach Out from Heavy Metal holds a place in my heart)
While I'm on the subject does anyone know anything about the band NRG from that soundtrack? Instruments of Destruction is great but I can't find anything else by them.
http://www.heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bin/glamcd.cgi?BandNum=3730&CDName=NRG2+-+Transformed+(Collector's+Edition)
and
http://www.area403.net/nrg.html
Shadow! OTSK! IMHO, "Trouble In Angel City" is the better album of their two releases, but I am going against the grain on this one, as most people favor the first and "Don't see any improvement in the second". To me it's clearly superior.
Listen to them back to back and you tell me. I'll argue with anyone (Huh-uh-lo-oh, Amazon amateur reviewers!) who says "Trouble..." is more of the same. It's better, plain and simple.
And, though I appreciate the corny and kitch "Transformers Theme", anything from their 2 albums blows that away.
Also, I am a major Cheap Trick freak (like Crue, Corgan, Cobain, Poison and The Glametal Princess, to name but a few die-hard fans) so I happen to think their "Transformers Theme" is pretty awesome.
But I do agree with you, Lion's is vastly superior!
p.s. Shad, get Cheap Trick's 1996 box set, "Sex, America, Cheap Trick", if you don't already have it. It's got ALL of their other Movie Soundtrack stuff on it. "Up The Creek" is awesome! Actually, if you can lay your hands on the LP of the "Up The Creek" Soundtrack, you will get great non-album Trick but, more importantly, wind up with the only way to get Kick Axe's version of Humble Pie's classic "Thirty Days In The Hole". Killerific!
About the KickAxe cover, I've heard that it is also available on the cassette release of vices as well. I've got a cheap copy off of Youtube that does not do it justice since it total rocks.
I will also admit that The lion stuff I have (Dangerous...) Is better than the TF Theme, That intro to Armed and Dangerous is insanely pumping! As I type I am listening to Trouble... so I will get back with my verdict ASAP!
I just listened to both albums back to back and I feel like it's a virtual tie broken by two songs on "Trouble" that gives it a slight edge over "Dangerous".
Don't be afraid to tell me if you prefer the first. Many people do. It's really two songs off "Trouble" that are better than anything on "Dangerous Attraction", IMHO, that set it apart. "Hungry For Love", my fave Lion song, and "Stranger In The City".
"Armed And Dangerous", "Hard And Heavy" and, especially, "In The Name Of Love" (the standout track on "Dangerous") come close, but no cigar, as far as I'm concerned, when compared to "Hungry" and "Stranger".
It's not even the words at all, which I think are all pretty corny when it comes to Lion, and may actually be better on "Dangerous" than on "Trouble".
For me it's all about RH&L (Riffs, Hooks and Licks) of which they've got tons to spare on all of their stuff, but really a lot catchier on "Hungry" or "Stranger".
And if you want EPIC beginnings of songs, I humbly submit "Stranger In The City". For sheer Guitar POWER, I present "Hungry For Love" as a prime example of B*LLS OUT, raw RH&L! And check out the SUSTAIN on that one! Phew! TRACK!
But, hey, kid, there's a reason I always respond to your opinion -- It's simply because I RESPECT it. You and I agree on a lot of stuff and very often you have actually proven more perceptive than I on much of this sh*t!
If you still like "Dangerous Attraction" over "Trouble In Angel City", so be it, and one thing we sure as hell DO agree on, right along with Al's testament in this post...
LION RULES!
p.s. I got a copy of Kick Axe's "Vices" cassette a while back and "30 Days In The Hole" wasn't on it, though, apparently, I must stand corrected, since the song WAS, indeed, an added bonus track on the very limited, subsequent re-release of the cassette version. I just haven't been able to find any copies of that. However, I did snag the "Up The Creek" Soundtrack to score "30 Days". Interestingly, this was AFTER I miraculously pulled "30 Days" off the net and, HONESTLY, I still haven't the faintest idea how I did. Nevertheless, I did some Googling and it is out there, my friend -- and snaggable! RH&L forever!
p.s.s.t. Cheap Trick! One of nearly every 80's Hair Band's primary influences, whether they care to admit it or not! Check out the first three albums and you'll see why. My personal fave is "In Color". And that has got to be one of the most KILLARIOUS album covers of all time! Get three copies of the vinyl of that one when you get back just to be able to frame 'em. Hey wait a minute... I think I'll do that!
p.s.s.s.t. A while back I made up my own Kick Axe "Best Of" Playlist to include all my faves from their albums plus the Spectre General stuff and "30 Days". It makes for a nice overview beyond just a straight up album "Best Of" with the inclusion of their soundtrack stuff.
p.s.s.s.s.t. While on the subject of great 80's bands, do you have the albums "Undercover Animal" and "Strike Back" by Steeler? Not the Keel/Yngwie "Steeler" but the Axel Rudi Pell "Steeler". Put that in your pipe and smoke it, if you haven't already, sonny! Just don't forget to clean the ashes of Iron Maiden out of it first, hahaha!!! These guys make Maiden into their frickin' bellhops!
You are SO right about Trick!
Not only are they THE KINGS OF POWERPOP but progenitors to Hair Metal.
And no matter what we think of Vince Neil, the boy knows his music, giving us a killer version of Trick's "He's A Whore" (from their S/T first release) on his latest album.
For a little fun, check out Fashion Police's version of Trick's "Baby Loves To Rock". Again, a little Google hunt should unveil it, or, if you're a sucker like me, you can go to the Ebay game for it. Ugh! But, hey, however you get hold of that version, it's well worth it, indeed. Thoroughly Glam Metalized!
I've nothing by Steeler but will check them today. I have heard of them though. I've been digging into back catalogues and rare Thrash bands recently but I did find a diamond in the rough in the way of the band Trooper. This album Knock'em Dead Kid!. really does knock it outta the park! You Look soo good has this Organ/guitar solo that is great! Kinda sound like early Kiss to a degree. I've also been jammin some H.E.A.T. recently as well, good stuff!
Oh yeah, and a lot of bands make Maiden look bad. To name a few: Stryper,Grave Digger (man they are good), and hell even that new Paul Shortino line-up of King Kobra's new single has a thicker guitar mix. Oh and of course, LION!!
OTSK!
Dude, I also ran across Trooper last year. I bought their albums then. I remember diggin' 'em up at a used record store back in the day and being fascinated by their album covers, but I never bit, until I got 'em last year and they just didn't do it for me.
I even banished 'em from my iTunes.
Unfortunately, I can't go with ya on that one, Shad. They just sound too 70's to me, and not in a good way. I just feel they lack the prerequisite RH&L required to totally Rock Out! Love the album title, "Knock 'Em Dead, Kid" tho.
Too bad they fail to do so.
Tell ya what, tho, I will check 'em out again, especially the album you mentioned. When you like somethin' kid, I will always reinvestigate.
As you well know, sometimes my over-opinionated self is fully capable of unjustly invalidating something. I will go over the Trooper stuff again and see what we got.
Were you able to listen to "Hungry For Love" off "Trouble"? Like I said before, the words are kinda corny but those guitars just CRANK! Killarious!
I got that one on my iTunes playlist, "Heavy Roxx" (561 songs, 1 day and 16 hours long!) in a cluster of similarly structured songs in the following track order:
"There's Only One Way To Rock", Sammy Hagar
"Rev It Up", Treat
"Do You Like It", Kingdom Come
"Hungry For Love", Lion
"Gimme All Your Love", Masquerade
"Writing On The Wall", Crime
"Nasty Reputation", Axel Rudy Pell
"Restless, Young & Wild", Dirty Blonde
Dude, if you can dig all that up and string it together, you and your brother got a little soundtrack for one epic PS3 battle!
Two other bands you will probably like if you're into Lion, and don't already have 'em, are Angel Heart and Billionaire Boys Club. They are both excellent Scorpions clones from the late 80's/early 90's, which is of course, THE best era in Rock'n'Roll!
And, of course, you have the "Metal Heart" album by Accept, THE GREATEST METAL BAND OF ALL TIME! Hahaha!!! I just saw Accept, so I'm still a little high on the fumes from that one!
Hey, another cool cut for your battles...
Do you have the song "Metal Machine" by Sabaton? They opened for Accept. Gotta say, I found 'em a little monotonous and boring but this was their encore and I think it's awesome. If only they wrote all of their other songs on this level.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you haven't heard it, just pick up Cheap Trick, "In Color" to begin checkin' 'em out more.
And, bro, between Al's post on it and your recommendation, I picked up Stryper, "The Covering"! Whoa! What a monster! I'm dyin' that I missed 'em when they came thru Baltimore! You should see if you can catch 'em over in Europe, if it's at all possible.
Love H.E.A.T.! Got all their sh*t! Same with King Kobra! I like Paul Shortino and I've got some of his solo stuff, too. I will check out the new track you mentioned.
And, last but not least, I will unearth Grave Digger, hahaha!!! What a band name! If you recommend it, I will always give it a spin, man!
ROCK ON!
Oh yeah we play XBox 360 not that Sony junk, althought the original Playstation is great! In fact for some neat fun check out hte soundtrack to Twisted Metal 2 particularly Holland field of screams. Lynard Skynard could only wish to rock that hard! Grave Digger is kinda like Sabaton but only little more Manowar I guess. Railway and Cannon are too Scorp-style bands that I've dug recently as well.
Come to think of it I should come out with a list of top 10 albums to play while on Halo. I know i'd have Turbo on it thats for sure.
Shad!
All these bands sound killerific! I will check 'em out, for sure!