The late 80s/early 90s metal scene

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2014)

2001's "Rock Star" is loosely based on the metal band Judas Priest, who hired the lead singer of an Ohio JP tribute band, Tim "Ripper" Owens, after losing their original singer, Rob Halford, aka 'the metal god' (taken from the Priest song "Metal Gods"), which explains why the movie was originally to be called "The Metal God". All the major plot points of this film parallel the Judas Priest story; only the names and times have been altered.
In "Rock Star" the band is Steel Dragon (fictional of course), the singer of the tribute band is Chris 'Izzy' Cole (Mark Wahlberg) and the man he's replacing is Bobby Beers (Jason Flemyng). Jennifer Aniston plays Izzy's girlfriend Emily and the Steel Dragon band members include Dominic West (who's excellent as always), Jason Bonham, Jeff Pilson and Zakk Wylde. Timothy Spall and Dagmara Dominczyk also have prominent roles as Steel Dragon's road manager and public relations manager respectively.
The Ripper Owens story is an excellent tale for a film and this is a good movie, but the times are a bit off. In reality Rob Halford left Judas Priest in late 1991, corresponding to the advent of grunge, and Ripper Owens replaced him in early 1996; in the film the original singer leaves circa 1989 and the tribute band singer replaces him almost immediately. Ripper Owens didn't leave Judas Priest until 2003 whereas Izzy obviously leaves somewhere around late 1991/early 1992.
"Rock Star" is just an enjoyable experience, especially if you're personally familiar with the 80s/early 90s' metal scene. The soundtrack includes numerous great songs from that era, as well as the 70s (like Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold"). Unfortunately there's not one cut by Judas Priest (!). Apparently Judas Priest were originally linked to the project but ultimately disassociated themselves due to failing to reach a financial agreement for the rights to the story; this is when the producers decided to "re-imagine" the tale, as they say. This is all well and good but shouldn't there be as least one Priest song in the soundtrack? Where's the justice?
The film takes the middle road between advocating the rock star lifestyle and decrying it. It shows both the glories and the pitfalls. When something's no longer fun and genuine it's simply time to move on -- to thine own self be true. Such experiences naturally have both positive and negative elements. Even if the experience ends up being more bad than good it's a necessary stepping stone to who you ultimately become, that is, who you are, your true success. A good example is Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. (check out their 2009 album BABYLON to get my drift).
***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read this paragraph if you haven't seen the film). Some criticize the movie on the grounds that Chris (Izzy) turns to playing grunge in Seattle after leaving Steel Dragon, maintaining that he was a 'poser' all along. But didn't Rob Halford himself explore different styles of music when he left Judas Priest, in particular the band Two? In the film Chris accomplishes his dream and by the end has had his fill of the whole 'rock star' phenomenon with all its ridiculous trappings; he was older & wiser now and understandably wanted to write his OWN songs (as he wasn't allowed in Steel Dragon, neither was Ripper in real life) and opts to explore his art. Keep in mind that Ripper himself was a grunge fan and fronted a grunge tribute band called Seattle in the early 90s. When Chris leaves Steel Dragon grunge is the flavor of the month and he just goes with it; he's still young and he's exploring, that's it. I'm sure he'll go on to revisit his metal roots in the future just as Rob Halford ultimately did after his 90s' meanderings; the film just doesn't take us that far ahead. ***END SPOILER***
FINAL WORD: "Rock Star" may not be great but it's certainly an enjoyable film on the late 80s/early 90s music scene. It's equal parts dramatic, fun, funny, realistic, inspiring, educational and sobering.
GRADE: B (6.5/10)
INCIDENTAL NOTE: I was the guitarist/songwriter for a metal band in the early 90s and we opened up for Tim Owens' JP tribute band in Youngstown, OH in the winter of 1995. I knew the guitarist of his band and I got to meet Tim. A year later he was a friggin' member of Judas Priest(!).