If I had a nickel for each actor who recorded a heavy metal album after their 90th birthday then I'd have two nickels, which isn't much but it's weird that it's happened twice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne:_The_Omens_of_Deat...

William Shatner has the most experimental, wild Spotify I've ever seen. If you haven't ever seen it, look at his discography. He does a lot of almost spoken-word poetry over soft rock, punk, etc. You get the sense that he views acting as his side hustle and is waiting for his musical career to take off.

If you’ve never heard it, his duet of the song Common People is pretty awesome:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cMXhWf0vE7c

I'm amazed the guy is still ticking at all. He's 94! Seems he's also still driving... and eating his breakfast at traffic lights: https://www.tmz.com/2026/01/20/william-shatner-eating-cereal...

No mention of Shatner's music career is complete without listing Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner[1]. And, yes, it's exactly as -unique- as you'd imagine it might be.

1: https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Leonard-William-Shatner/dp...

William Shatner is someone I really wish I could dislike. I mean, he is certainly not a conventionally talented singer or actor. He's laughably, painfully bad sometimes.

But the man keeps going! He's one of the hardest working people in show business. He clearly takes his craft very seriously, even if he defines it a bit differently from the rest of world.

The Wrath of Khan has no business being as great a movie as it is, and his version of Common People is fantastic.

I'm sure this collaboration will be .... something else.

== Edit I'm sure I am over-analyzing this - I do that with everything - but Common People is actually "perfect" Shatner.

When you start listening, you feel "OK, this is lame." After a bit it clicks and it becomes "Oh! I see what they are trying to do here." and by the end it becomes "Damn! This is awesome."

Shatner doesn't change throughout the performance, but everything just falls into place around him.

Shatner ... knows ... how to ... have fun ... in his 90s!

Captain Kirk is climbing a mountain, why is he climbing a mountain ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU2ftCitvyQ

I can't get behind this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAWP9Oxdn9Q

His 2004 album “Has Been” is surprisingly good.

It's Rad. It doesn't even have to be good, it just has to exist.

HN: Flags anything politics adjacent because it's "not tech-related".

Also HN: Remember Star Trek?!?

This is my all-time favourite from Shatner: "It hasn't happened yet"

https://youtu.be/7GnoLJIIS4w?si=zP_mlOxV1tKMMkQx

Sometimes I’m absolutely mystified by the items that appear at the top of HN.

Don't know if true or not but I saw somewhere on the web that he is also in talks to return to Star Trek.

It won't hold a candle to Pat Boone's metal album! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_a_Metal_Mood:_No_More_Mr._N...

Hell yeah! HM on HN! I would like to do metal projects in my nineties! After the Iron Maiden performance we need an album from Ralph Fiennes. How'z'dat?

If you haven't heard his Bohemian Rhapsody cover, it's something else. He flat out admitted that he had never heard the song before recording it. Which... Number one, how? And number two, who let him do that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul6S84qF_TU

"Please God, don't let him sing." is my immediate reaction after curiously hearing one of his previous works.

15 hours and 95 comments later and nobody mentions that he's holding the Les Paul backwards?

I do hope Gibson/Chibson make that guitar with the inlays at the 11th/13th positions.

The album he made with Ben Folds was worth a couple of listens. Only a couple.

Still waiting for his spoken word, rnb, julius caesar.

Guess the Beastie Boys were never in the running.

It's Shatner, he can score anything.

God speed, Metal Man.