In Memory of two greats we've lost this year

Last week, I heard the sad news that Grant Imahara of the Mythbusters had died.  This affected me greatly, as his departure, along with Tori Belleci and Kari Byron, was a major reason I hadn’t been watching the show in years, the two different teams offered fun, dynamic points of view on science, physics and how these myths might’ve worked or gotten started.  But while looking for his name among the famous deaths of this year, another name caught my eye.  Bob Kulick.  Bob Kulick was a rhythm guitarist in 80s metal bands and the brother of Bruce Kulick, who briefly replaced Ace Frehley in KISS, but what made him most famous was the abundance of tribute albums he produced.

From the 1990s until 2015, Bob Kulick produced and played on Tribute Albums to Classic Rock featuring supergroups made up of members from 1980s Metal Bands, and even got some special and rare names to perform, like Yngwie Malmsteen, Dee Snider, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy from Motorhead, Alice Cooper and Steve Vai.  He made “Humanary Stew-A Tribute to Alice Cooper,” “We Wish You A Metal Christmas,” “Bat’s Head Soup-A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath,” “We Salute You-A Tribute to AC/DC,” “Butchering the Beatles,” “Keep Calm And Salute Queen,” and “Immortal Randy Rhoads-The Ultimate Tribute.”  There are probably more I have forgotten and each had its own great hallmark tracks. 

Humanary Stew had ”Black Widow” performed by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame with Adrian Smith on guitar, Tony Franklin on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums, as well as “No More Mr. Nice Guy” featuring Roger Daltrey of The Who singing, Slash on lead guitar, Bob Kulick on rhythm guitar, Mike Inez of Alice in Chains fame on bass and Carmine Appice on drums. 

“We Wish You A Metal Christmas” had an amazing version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” with Ronnie James Dio singing, Tony Iommi on guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Simon Wright on drums. 

“Bat’s Head Soup” featured a version of “Crazy Train” with Dee Snider singing, Doug Aldrich on guitar, Tony Levin on bass and Jason Bonham on drums, “Paranoid” with Vince “Motley Crue” Neil singing, George Lynch “Mob” on Guitar, Stuart Hamm on bass and Gregg Bisonette from David Lee Roth’s solo career on drums and was completed by a version of “I Don’t Know” with Jack “Night Ranger” Blades singing, Reb Beach of Winger and Whitesnake on guitar, Jeff Pilson on bass and the drummer was from Ratt. 

“We Salute You” had a version of “Problem Child” sung by Jeff Scott Soto, who has sung for Yngwie Malmsteen and is a severely underrated/unknown heavy metal talent (the others were not credited). 

“Butchering the Beatles” started off with “Hey Bulldog” performed by Alice Cooper on lead vocals, Steve Vai on guitar and Duff McKagan on bass.  This is followed by “Back in the USSR” with bass and singing by Lemmy, guitar work by John 5 of Rob Zombie fame and drumming by Eric Singer of KISS and Alice Cooper.  Then comes “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” sung by Geoff Tate with rhythm guitar by then-current bandmate Michael Wilton, lead guitar by Dio guitarist Craig Goldy, and bass and drums by Goldy’s bandmates Rudy Sarzo and Simon Wright.  “Day Tripper” continues this impressive collection with Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw sharing lead vocals behind a guitar line performed by Doug Aldrich, with bass provided by Marco Mendoza and drums by Virgil Donati, while “Taxman” rounds it out with vocals by Dug Pinnick, guitar by Steve Lukather and some fantastic bass by Tony Levin.

“Keep Calm and Salute Queen” had a tender version of “Somebody to Love” sung by Geoff Tate with guitar provided by Doug Aldrich, while “Immortal Randy Rhoads” started with a cover of “Crazy Train” sung by Serj Tankian, guitar by Tom Morello, bass by Rudy Sarzo and drums by Vinny Appice.  Other standout tracks are “Believer,” with vocals by Tim “Ripper” Owens, guitar by Doug Aldrich, bass by Rudy Sarzo and drums by Vinny Appice, “S.A.T.O.” with Owens, Sarzo and Appice resuming their roles as the guitars are Bob Kulick on rhythm and Dweezil Zappa on lead, “Killer Girls,” with Sarzo and Owens again, Brett Chassen as the drummer and Joel Hoekstra, one of the finest guitarists I’ve ever heard or seen, playing the guitar part, and “Suicide Solution,” featuring Sarzo, Chassen and Owens in their familiar roles while guitar duties are handled by Brad Gillis from Night Ranger, who replaced Randy Rhoads on the tour after the plane crash that took his life.

I’ve seen enough from Frontiers Records and other musicians working independently to know these one-off supergroups are not likely to be a thing of the past (check out the Echobats or Jeff Scott Soto’s cover of “Another One Bites The Dust”) but it feels like a huge, fun part of music has been silenced with this passing.  There were many covers that are now scattered throughout digital music retailers which bear his style, such as Glenn Hughes singing “Young Lust” from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” Tommy Shaw singing “Money” from “Dark Side of the Moon,” or Van Halen’s “Panama” performed by the late Jani Lane of Warrant and George Lynch of Lynch Mob and Dokken fame, but it feels like an important part of seeing rock and roll history behind the scenes has been tragically silenced.  I had some great times with these albums and I hope this will convince people to go out to digital retailers and give them a try as well.  They are a chapter in classic rock and hair metal history that deserve to be heard.