When Pat Boone announced he'd be doing an album of big-band versions of classic heavy metal tunes, the music industry did a collective double-take. Granted, Boone became famous in the late 1950s for his pop covers of then-unheard R&B hits like Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" -- many of which attracted an attention to the original songs which might otherwise not have been paid. He has since recorded over 100 albums and 1000 singles, many of which have earned him the reputation as an unparallelled chart-topper.
What would make a 61-year-old Christian popster like Boone turn his eye toward heavy metal? Will he trade his white bucks for a pair of black boots? Never fear: despite run-ins with Ozzy Osbourne and KISS, Boone has managed to pull off his latest, "In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy," without trading in an ounce of his trademark rectitude.
Q: You've said the idea for your new record came about as the result of a joke. What really made you want do an album of heavy metal covers?
A: Just like me, there are tens of millions of people who love pop music who never paid any attention to heavy metal. It was too raucous, too angry, too distorted. I couldn't identify with it at all. [But] Dave Siebels, my conductor, says to me, "You know, there are some terrific songs that nobody's ever heard, except heavy metal fans. And if we did some of their music a different way, we might have something." The challenge was to take these heavy metal songs, these classics, and do them some way that they'd never been done before, and introduce them to a whole new audience. That was our goal.
Q: How did you choose which songs you wanted to record?
A: I said, "look, Dave... make me a tape of some of the songs that you think are really good and let's see if we think we can do something with them." And so he did. I still have the tape he made me that includes "Smoke On the Water" by Deep Purple, "Stairway to Heaven" of course, two or three Jimi Hendrix songs, "Jump" by Van Halen...
Q: Were there any tracks you heard that you definitely would not have done?
A: There were certain songs that they put on the tape that they considered very good songs, and I did too, but lyrically I thought, "Well, I gotta rule that one out. I could never do that one," either because I don't want to or because it would be unbelievable for me. Nobody's gonna believe me singing, "I wanna rock all night and party every day." I mean, that's ludicrous!
Q: What do the original musicians think of Pat Boone covering their songs?
A: I sent tapes to [Guns N' Roses guitarist] Slash, to [Van Halen guitarist] Eddie Valen Halen, to [guitarist] Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Alice Cooper, saying "This is where I'm headed with your song. What do you think? Will you do something on this with me?" Ritchie Blackmore heard what we were doing with "Smoke On The Water," and he liked it so much he went into the studio in Germany and recorded 6 tracks of solo guitar that we could pick from and put on our record. [Black Sabbath vocalist] Ronnie James Dio came in and sang with me on my version of his "Holy Diver." I am highly complimented by that -- none of these guys are going to perform on my record if it's going to be a joke.
Q: Were there any negative reactions?
A: I was prepared for the reaction that I did get from Ozzy Osbourne. I went to see his concert in Las Vegas and went backstage to see him afterward. His wife came out and said he couldn't see me until he was through with his yoga. Meanwhile I had to go catch my plane, but I left the invitation for him to join me. The documentary team that was filming all of this interviewed him in his dressing room and he was very profane in his doubt that I could ever do his or any heavy metal songs. He bought into the idea that I had somehow ripped off Little Richard or Fats Domino, and he wasn't going to participate in me ripping him off. But I think when he hears "Crazy Train," he may change his mind.
Q: Will you be making any videos?
A: "Weird" Al [Yankovic] is hopefully going to produce a video for [Alice Cooper's] "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Me And Alice Cooper were going to swap personas in the video. I was going to, through the course of the song, wind up wearing Alice Cooper makeup: long stringy black hair, tattoos, tank top, spandex pants, top hat, you know. And he was going to wind up wearing a V-neck sweater, white bucks and golf cap and drinking a glass of milk. But he's signed with Hollywood Records and they're going to bring out a greatest hits package, including "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Ironically, they feel my record is gonna compete with his. But we may still do that; I'm trying to convince "Weird" Al to play Alice Cooper.
Q: How has working with heavy metal influenced your ideas about music?
A: Music itself has become so much more complex, so much more diverse, and so much more homogenous. There used to be categories of music. I appreciate that the categories are diminishing, and that there's a widening appreciation for all kinds of music. The only thing I don't like is, because anything goes today, everything goes. [Some of it] tends to be promoting ideas that are detrimental to society. I think we're getting a lot of moral pollution in the music. And we can't do anything about it, because once Pandora's box is open, it's open and you can't go back and close it again.
Q: Do you have any favorites?
A: I bought Beck's "Odelay," 'cause I knew how big it was. I have, in my Grammy nomination form, listed "Odelay" as one of my picks for record of the year. It's not so much that I like it; I hear the creativity and the envelope being pushed. Not many people would be willing to put in the countless hours and the creative energies that go into an album like that.
Q: You used to write books giving advice to adolescents. What kind of advice would you give to teens today?
A: To me the answer for all of these problems -- violence, racial prejudice, drugs, promiscuity, AIDS -- is backbone. It's an individual deciding what he or she is worth intrinsically, and being true to that regardless of external influences. Motion attracts, and if there's anybody in a group that seems to know where he or she is going, there will be other people who will fall in line. Anybody who has that sense of direction in their lives will eventually look around and find others are following their lead.
This article was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle.