This Judas Priest, Roxette, Van Halen, Winger mash-up is the greatest number one single from the '80s that never was

Bill McClintock Judas Priest vs Roxette mash-up — (Image credit: Bill McClintock YouTube)

It's easy to forget just how commercially successful hard rock was in the latter half of the 1980s, especially in America.

If, for example, you take a quick look back at the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1987, you'll see that Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer topped the chart for four weeks, Heart's Alone topped the chart for three weeks, and Whitesnake and Billy Idol (along with guitar acts U2, The Bangles, Starship, Cutting Crew and Bob Seger) also scored number one singles.

Slide into 1988, and the story is similar: there were number one singles for Guns N' Roses (Sweet Child O' Mine), Def Leppard (Love Bites), Bon Jovi (Bad Medicine, two weeks on top), Cheap Trick (The Flame, also for two weeks) and Poison (Every Rose Has Its Thorn), with AOR giants Richard Marx and Chicago also hitting the top.

All of which is a somewhat long-winded way of making the point that if you'd heard Judette's She's Got The Sentinel in the late '80s, you could easily have imagined it becoming another chart-smashing mega-anthem. Except that you couldn't possibly have heard it in the 1980s, because it's the latest work from mash-up maestro Bill McClintock, a man whose sonic sorcery has the power to tear holes in the space time continuum, very probably.

Here's the deal: for his latest fiendishly-accessible creation, McClintock has smashed together Judas Priest's The Sentinel and Screaming for Vengeance with Roxette's power-pop hit The Look, and bolted on guitar solos from Winger (Seventeen) and Van Halen (Mean Street) for good measure.

The result? An ultra-hooky slice of '80s-flavoured pop-rock that sounds like the greatest '80s number one that never was.

Check it out below:

For more McClintock magic, just visit his YouTube channel. Curious to hear how Black Sabbath might sound collaborating with Wham!? So was Geezer Butler. Fancy hearing Judas Priest fronted by James Brown or the aural offspring of Prince and Slayer? You know you do. Enjoy.

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.