“You know that ‘We Are The World’ thing? This is the heavy metal version.”
“No way!”
“Yeah. It’s called ‘Stars’. I think Dio wrote it. But there’s a ton of killer singers and guitarists. They all take turns singing and jamming. You’ll love the guitar solo part. It’s amazing.”
As we watched it, I couldn’t believe the lineup of singers. And they were all in top form.

Dave Meniketti from Y&T, Rob Halford, Kevin DuBrow, Eric Bloom from Blue Öyster Cult, Paul Shortino from Rough Cutt, Geoff Tate from Queensrÿche, Don Dokken and of course Ronnie James Dio. Some of them actually sounded better on this song than they did on their own records.

“Here’s the part you’re waiting for,” said Tim when the guitar solos started. He wasn’t wrong. Seeing some of my favorite guitarists trade solos was intense. They all had distinctive styles and they were all in top form. Craig Goldy, Vivian Campbell, Brad Gillis, Neal Schon, George Lynch, and Carlos Cavazo. It was cool seeing them all work together for a good cause.

“Man, this Craig Goldy guy is pretty good,” I said when it got to his part.
“Yeah,” said Mick. “Did you know he’s with Dio now?”
“What? Are you sure? What happened to Vivian Campbell? You can’t replace Vivian!”
“I don’t know,” said Mick. “But you know that show we saw a few months ago? Dio replaced him soon after that. Right in the middle of the tour.”
We went back to watching the video.
“Check out this part,” said Mick when Yngwie started.
I had to laugh at how insanely fast he was playing. “He must be getting paid by the note.”
“Nah dude. This is for charity.”

This has been an excerpt from the book:
In Search Of The Perfect Buzz: An 80s Metal Memoir
Please see the following links to read more.










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