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Wow, the worst artwork for a WWE DVD ever? I know it won’t sell regardless, but sheesh!
What is it? A glorified WWE Countdown DVD, ranking the top 25 entrance themes, hearing Jim Johnston and relevant superstars chat about the song for 1-3 minutes each. It just popped up on the WWE Network. I’m a big fan of wrestling music so I say a few words about each track:
25: Batista. The countdown kicks off with 1 of the 5 bands of doom! Hilarious to see Jim Johnston with Jose Scott together. Saliva are basically a WWE band that happens to also release non-WWE songs sometimes.
24: Fandango. It’s cool to hear Jim Johnston play the basic notes of a song, either by piano or guitar, and explain what he was going for. Remember when Fandango was crazy over after Mania last year? Me neither. That concussion really concussed his career.
23: Sunny’s song is garbage.
22: As is PrimeTime Players.
21: Goldust’s is way too low on the list. An incredible piece of music, intricate and beautiful. The classiest song Johnson ever produced.
20: Brodus Clay. Should be DQ’d, as it was made for Ernest Miller in 2003.
19: Warrior at 19? Bullshit! One of the most perfectly fitting character-to-music tracks ever made. Frenetic, raw, simple, intense.
18: Mankind. Described as a wonderful melancholy/searching song. Also had the amazing gimmick of a different, soothing piano piece as his win theme. Man, WWF used to really care about character.
17: The Brood. Oh God. Incredible. One of the best wrestling songs ever, strongly linked to the Attitude Era. Simple, catchy and extremely cool.
16: Randy Orton. Johnson wrote it as a folk song that Rev Theory covered. These lyrics still don’t suit him, they suit Kane.
15: Dusty Rhodes. Jimmy hart’s first appearance on the list! Fun to hear Dusty mark out over it.
14: Shane O. Yes! Some love for an awesome song and a great spectacle performer of the Attitude Era. I even bought his black baseball jersey back in the day. He’s missed.
13: RVD. A “shuffle beat”. The lyrics are awful “I got a feeling deep inside, what it is I don’t know.” It’s actually a good, catchy wrestling song. Obviously no mention that it’s a similar-but-also-different song to Walk. RVD (from 2002) chimes in.
12: Mr. Perfect. Skimmed over – Amazing (well, perfect) entrance music and cover song of Exodus by Ernest Gold.
11: Vince McMahon. Originally used as the 1999 Rumble theme song, where the storyline was Vince put a bounty on Austin’s head for people to eliminate him, so Austin had no chance in hell (of winning). They played the song after Vince won the rumble and then it became his. With long-term booking you can do that sort of cool tie-in!
10: Trish Stratus by Lil Kim. Johnston recounts Lil Kim tapping her stilletto heels on his cherry wood studio floor and made lots of dents in it. He half-jokingly tells her to fix his floor. He actually sounded a little bitter over it!
9: Rey Mysterio by POD. Thanks to Rey knowing the band. Hearing Rey explain “Booyaka! You know…watch out” is adorable.
8: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Woah! Shouldn’t this be #1?! The most iconic wrestling song of all time, with the coolest hook of all time. Johnston says the glass breaking is actually 3 glass shatterings, an explosion and car wreck mixed together.
7: The Rock. They go through the different versions of the song with the same basic notes underneath. Pretty cool.
6: HBK. Jim seems awkward talking about it since it’s a Jimmy hart/JJ Maguire creation. No shoutout for the superior Sherri version!
5: Undertaker. Jim plays a lovely piano version. Although his current song is more iconic, I love his Attitude Era song (and his first Hulkamania funeral parlour song) more.
4: Triple H. Another wrestler interview from 2002! Jim mentions his harpsichord and my time songs too. I wonder if Motorhead play any of Aitch’s songs at gigs.
3: John Cena. Did u know in 2008, WWE was sued over this song? The “BRRRRRR Abado!” intro was ‘sampled’ without permission from M.O.P.’s Ante Up. It was settled out of court.
2: Chris Jericho. Very happy to see some Jericho love – especially his debut song, which was a lot harder. Johnston’s inspiration was a Clark Gable film, where a sheet separated himself and his wife in bed. It was called the Walls of Jericho! Y2J says he doesn’t know the lyrics (which considering he’s a musician, is bollocks)
1: D-Generation X. So that means no Hulk Hogan? C’MON! Although that’d mean US Express would get credit! (Also Rick Derringer made Real American). Excellent track, very cool funk-melody made into a rock song. Chris Warren really sounds like Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine.
Overall: We could be here forever listing what they left out (Jake Roberts, Bret, Heidenreich etc), but most of Johnston’s big ones are there. A fun look at some themes, it’s an easy watch (52 minutes) but nothing in-depth, quite a rush job for a casual fan. Why a casual fan would purchase it I don’t know!
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