Detroit Rock City: Music From The Motion Picture

Ask anyone who grew up in the '70s and they'll tell you: hard rock ain't what it used to be. Need proof? Compare the real thing and their '90s counterparts on this soundtrack from a movie about four kids trying to sneak into a sold-out Kiss concert. Kiss contributes the title track and "Shout It Out Loud," two prime blasts of 1976 hard rock. The Donnas can only copy the painted ones' "Strutter." Everclear cruises by the numbers through Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town," while Pantera traces Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever." When Marilyn Manson attempts to put its own stamp on AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," the results are pretentious and boring, lacking all the kinetic excitement of the original. If the truth be told, nearly all the highlights are the original songs: Van Halen's goofy yet dexterous "Runnin' with the Devil," Black Sabbath's rumbling "Iron Man," Cheap Trick's masterfully silly call to arms "Surrender," and Thin Lizzy's deadly and virile "Jailbreak." No matter what technological advances you make, you can't beat a genre in its prime. --Rob O'Connor