The (Barely Credited) Rock Cameo

Remember Glenn Medeiros? Me neither. But in 1990 his song “She Ain’t Worth It” was the first pop song to feature a guest rapper and receive credit for it. Bobby Brown of “My Prerogative,” New Edition and Mr. Whitney Houston fame jumped on the track and took it to #1. Since then, we’ve seen thousands of pop songs featuring rappers. But what about the uncredited cameo on pop/rock songs?

Here are a few songs that contain (somewhat) hidden voices on them.

In 1978, Walter Egan released “Magnet and Steel,” featuring backing vocals by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. It made it to #8 on the Billboard chart, but that couldn’t quite soothe the ache in Egan’s heart: the song was inspired by his unrequited crush on Nicks.

 

If you’ve heard “Money for Nothing” off Dire Straits’ 1985 album Brothers in Arms, you know where this is going. The unmistakable voice of Sting can be heard repeating “I Want My MTV” over and over again. Sting received a co-writing credit on the song only because Mark Knopfler patterned his repeated phrase (“I want my MTV”) to the chorus of The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”

As the story goes, Sting came by the studio, heard the song, and said he liked it, so Knopfler told him to jump on in. The song would eventually go to #1 and be nominated at the Grammys for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Sticking with the 80’s, in 1986 Glass Tiger put out “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” which would peak at #2. The song is off Glass Tiger’s debut album, The Thin Red Line, produced by Jim Vallance who was also the songwriting partner of Bryan Adams. Adams’ raspy voice is so unique that it’s immediately recognizable in the backing vocals on the track. He happened to be in town at the time for the 1985 Juno Awards and jumped on his friend’s song.

When your name is “Rockwell,” it’s hard to call up Michael Jackson and ask him to be on your song. But if your name is Kennedy Gordy and your dad is Motown founder Berry Gordy, you probably have Michael Jackson on speed dial (it was an 80s thing). Kennedy was working on a track called “Somebody’s Watching Me” and he simply brought Michael to the studio and asked him to sing the chorus. Michael’s brother Jermaine also participated on the track. Kennedy would put out his music under the name “Rockwell” in 1983 and the song would hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Arguably one of the biggest albums of the 1980s was Paul Simon’s Graceland. The album would win the 1987 Grammy for Album of the Year and release five singles including the last one, “Under African Skies.” The song is made complete by the gorgeous background vocals of Linda Ronstadt which more than complements Paul Simon’s lead. She adds an almost haunting ethereal feeling to an already excellent track.

I wanted to add a few more cameos that were not additions of voices but of guitar; without them, these tracks would have never been as perfect as they are. In 1983 Michael Jackson released “Beat It” as the third single off of Thriller featuring a killer guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen. Eddie reportedly did it as a favor to producer Quincy Jones (although, he did get a case of beer out of it). The song would become a huge smash and stayed at #1 on the Billboard 100 for three weeks.

The other guitar favor was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Recorded in 1968, this was just a simple ask from one friend to another, except the first friend was George Harrison and the second friend was Eric Clapton. During a period when The Beatles were under strain, the song would be recorded for the White Album. While George pondered quitting the band, John mused about getting Clapton as a replacement (supposedly to taunt George). Clapton was clear that his friendship with Harrison meant that that particular idea was and always would be a non-starter.

-Robert Matvan

Photo: George Harrison and Eric Clapton (Getty Images)