This is an 80s metal-head’s dream come true. Members of Kiss, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Whitesnake, and friggin’ Guy Mann-Dude all come together to sing a Desmond Child song for a Wes Craven horror soundtrack!? Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the DUDES OF WRATH – which is the greatest supergroup name of all time (Sorry, FIST).

While Gene Simmons might have been in the horror classic Trick or Treat, Paul Stanley upped the ante by forming a supergroup and writing the title song to SHOCKER, an okay Wes Craven movie. It aims high and actually has some awesome special effects. Worth a watch. Killer soundtrack, as well.

Grabbing Rudy Sarzo on bass, Tommy Lee on drums, Vivian Campbell and Guy Mann-Dude on guitar, and Desmond Child writing and singing, they came up with SHOCKER, and it’s glorious. It’s a song that could have only existed in the late 80s. Killer opening riff, great fist-pumping lyrics and chorus, and an outro chorus of “We will have the power! We will have the glory!”, sung by Michael Anthony and Kane Roberts! We’ll beat that Shocker.

The lyrics are appropriately dark and ominous –

“See the shadow of a stranger
Turn around, your life’s in danger
This crazy world is in a grave situation
Check the children, are they sleepin’?”

Then they flip the script and let us know it’s MAN that fears MAN! Clever dudes. There’s a great dueling guitar solo, and the uplifting outro. The song blasts over the closing credits to the film, which again is worth a watch. The soundtrack is also worth a listen, featuring Bonfire, Megadeth, even Iggy Pop.

But – even weirder is the other Dudes of Wrath song, which features rapping by Alice Cooper and Horace Pinker, the main character of Shocker! Yes, “Shockdance” is… well, a song that could only exist in 1989. It features an ominous pounding beat and er, “rapping” by Horace and Alice. It’s got Paul Stanley on the chorus, it’s actually got a cool vibe to it.

The Dudes of Wrath, sadly broke up and went on to sell millions of records in their own bands. They only recorded these songs and that was it! I blame all the wrath.

Also, c’mon, Guy Mann-Dude? He wins.