35 years ago yesterday, the guys in Guns N Roses had a cameo in the final Dirty Harry film, The Dead Pool. A really good cameo can make a movie better. There are probably some rules that need to be followed so you don’t mess up the story because you really wanted to get your favorite singer in a speaking role. With GnR’s movie debut anniversary upon us, I figured we should run through some great rock star cameos in movies. The list is long so we’re going to cut it down to five because it’s easier to write about 5 great rock star cameos than it is to write about 30!

• Keith Richards as Captain Teague in Pirates of the Carribean at World's End

  This cameo is just perfectly fitting because part of Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow is base loosley on Keith Richards general attitude or persona. It only made sense that he would not only make a cameo in the movie, but be Jack Sparrow’s father. Perfect fit for the Pirates franchise.

• Jack White as Elvis Presley in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

  One of my favorite lines to use on my kids comes from this scene with former White Stripes front man Jack White. “Look out man, that’s karate! Two kinds of people know that. The Chinese and the king… and one of them’s me.” He plays such a ridiculous Elvis character that it fits so perffectly into the absurdity of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

• Alice Cooper as Himself in Wayne's World

  Alice is one of the nicest rock stars out there. If you’re ever lucky to chat with him, you’ll quickly learn he’s a genuinely good human being. In his cameo in Wayne’s World he is playing himself backstage after a show, but when Wayne and Garth get to meet him, he isn’t the rock star they expected as he gives them a history lesson about the city of Milwaukee. It also birthed the “we’re not worthy” line.

• Phil Collins as Inspector Good

  Let’s start with the name because Inspector Good comes off as not a good inspector in the scene after the children are taken. He doesn’t seem terribly worried that some madman from a fantasy world just abducted two kids from their beds. I’ll be honest I didn’t know this was Phil Collins until the last decade. I guess it had been a while since I had seen Hook, and when I did see it as a kid. I was not aware of what Phil Collins looked like. There are actually a ton of cameos in Hook, Jimmy Buffet, Davis Crosby, Glen Close, and Gwyneth Paltrow are all part of the pirate crew. George Lucas and Carrie Fisher are seen as a couple kissing on the beach. Whether Inspector Good was a good inspector or not, Hook is still a great movie.

• Dave Grohl as Satan in Tenacious D Pick of Destiny

  This one is probably my favorite rock star cameo. You can sort of tell it’s Grohl if you know how he sounds and sings, otherwise you’d need to see the movie’s credits, IMDB listing or hear it word of mouth because you never actually see normal Dave. Paul F. Tompkins transforms from his human form into Satan (Grohl). He’s huge, red, half human half goat, prosthetic horns, nose teet, etc. It does lead to a great rock off. The video of the cameo is below and it’s extremely NSFW!!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La6RP8r9HRI

Sign me up for the 102.9 WMGK At Work Network email newsletter!

Join WMGK's At Work Network and get the latest rock news, exclusive presales, contests and more straight to you inbox.

First Name *

Last Name

Email *

Subscribe

By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.