It's an awesome soundtrack as it is, but ultimately still limited by licensing / copyrights and such. I got to thinking -- what if they could get any bands they wanted and the whole thing was really devoted to the Original Metal / Proto-Metal sound? The movie came out in 1981 and from what I see on Wikipedia, that's an interesting coincidence -- the article lists 1965 to 1981 as the "original movement" of Heavy Metal.


With that in mind, the single limitation of my little exercise that no song included could be recorded after 1980 (to be reasonably included on the soundtrack for a movie released in 1981, and that might even be pushing it). Truth be told, I'm not intimately familiar with a lot of these bands and am only really aware of their hit singles, so the album skews that way. Bolded songs and artists are the ones I changed...

Heavy Metal - Sammy Hagar
Heartbeat - Riggs
Rainbow - Man on the Silver Mountain
Flaming Telepaths - Blue Oyster Cult
Reach Out - Cheap Trick
Heavy Metal (Take a Ride) - Don Felder
Girl's Got Rhythm - AC/DC
Crazy - Nazareth
Highway Star - Deep Purple
Metal Gods - Judas Priest
Damage Case - Motorhead
The Ocean - Led Zeppelin
The Wizard - Black Sabbath
Prowler - Iron Maiden
Prefabricated - The Trust
Detroit Rock City - Kiss

I like the idea, but the ones you've listed in bold should be additions, I think, not replacements for existing tracks.

Stuff like Devo's Working In A Coal Mine, Grand Funk Railroad's Queen Bee and Riggs' Radar Rider (among others) are an essential part of that soundtrack.

I'm not 100% sure when the term Heavy Metal begins being used to refer to a style of music, but this link is interesting reading -

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/heavy-metal.html

I'll play along, and I'm all for substituting more hard rock and heavy metal into this soundtrack. I mean, Journey? Really?

So:
Swap Uriah Heep's Gypsy for Open Arms in Harry Canyon
Add Ride On by AC/DC to Harry Canyon (closing the scene) or Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be to Den
Add Stargazer by Rainbow to Den
Add God of Thunder by Kiss to Den
Add Heavy Metal Thunder by Saxon to Den
Add Stranglehold by Ted Nugent to Den or Lincoln Stern
Add Motorhead's Damage Case to Lincoln Stern
Add Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin to opening part of B-17 (post crash, pre zombie)
Add Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare (intro music only) to just after B-17
Add Deep Purple's Space Truckin' to So Beautiful, So Dangerous
Add The Ripper by Judas Priest to Taarna
Add Only You Can Rock Me by UFO to Taarna
Add Prowler by Iron Maiden to Taarna (would work so much better with Where Eagles Dare, but it was too recent)
Add Dream On by Aerosmith to the closing Epilogue

Heh, I still buy this magazine.

Nothing wrong with that....

They are coming out with a comedy spin off called, I swear, Soft Wood. Now there is a soundtrack for you guys to come up with...

Half of BÖC's Fire of Unknown Origin album was written for the movie. (look up the lyrics to "Vengeance (The Pact)."

I didn't know that, Ted! Thanks for that info - I've always loved that album. I like most of their albums, but that's a standout album from them IMO.

I'm not sure exactly how to fill it all, but I'm sure it would have a lot of Pinetop Perkins, Spruce Bringsteen, and Fireigner.

Wasssa matter, you guys don't like Donald Fagen?

True Companion is one of my favourite songs on that soundtrack.

The Heavy Metal soundtrack used to be one of my "stereo tester" CDs I would take when shopping for new gear because of the variety of sounds and styles on it. Mob Rules to Reach Out to You Must Be Dreamin' to Crazy to True Companion...etc.