As a little kid, when asked my favorite song I would always reply that I loved “the sugar sugar song,” which is child speak for “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard.

As one can probably guess, my dads’ music had a huge impact on my own preferences. 

The Def Leppard song is good, don’t get me wrong, however only true rock and roll devotees know that there is an even better version — the Rock of Ages movie soundtrack version which is a cover by none other than Tom Cruise.

“Rock of Ages” is a film from 2012 that is set in 1987. The movie follows a few stories about making it in the rock and roll scene, a few cheesy love stories and a religious anti-rock governor and his wife. 

The movie is far from a masterpiece, earning an audience score of only 55% on Rotten Tomatoes (although I personally would rate it 100%). However, the soundtrack is probably one of the greatest collections of rock music covers to ever exist.

Now that I have grown and refined my tastes in art and culture, I have realized that the true masterpiece is definitely not “Pour Some Sugar on Me” the song cover by Tom Cruise, but instead “Undercover Love” by the made-up boy band Z Guyeezz from the same album.

The Z Guyeezz is a parody band constructed to make fun of the boy band type music that was gaining popularity in the time period. 

The band mimics the ridiculous spelling of band names, the goofy names of their singers such as Joshie Z and Kenny Z and their overbearing managers forcing the artists to create music that will be popular but not artistic or original.

I normally am not one to fall victim to fangirling over boy bands. Although my childhood was not spent in the 1980s and 90s prime time for boy bands, the 2010s certainly had their fair share.

I just never jumped on the bandwagon for One Direction or the Jonas Brothers. But let me tell you, if the Z Guyeezz would have been a real band — I would have dropped everything to become a groupie.

The song “Undercover Love” is the one and only song by the band that is featured in the movie for a brief moment and then in the movie’s soundtrack at its full length.

“You. Me. One day we can have a baby. Teach it how to swim and climb trees. Bet you’ll make a sexy MILF.”

With song lyrics such as those, how can one not immediately become a Z Boyeezz fan.

Although the Z Boyeezz are not real and only have released one song throughout their short-lived career, they put their everything into that song.

I highly encourage everyone to take three minutes and seven seconds to take in the magic that is “Undercover Love.”

Becker can be reached at [email protected].