Say what you want about Hogan, I don't think there's ever been better Super Hero Face entrance music than "Real American". It hits all the most important points: 1) You can recognize it the second it starts to play with an iconic opening riff. 2) Totally suits the character. 3) Repetitive enough that it can keep going during circumstances longer than an entrance without getting distracting, but varied enough that it never gets boring.
Similarly, Austin has (in my opinion) the no question best Anti-Hero Face entrance, for the same reasons.
Considering they're the two biggest stars ever, and that everybody else on that list (HBK, Edge, Rock, Vince, Taker, Flair, Savage, arguably Cena though personally I prefer Word Life) has similarly excellent entrances, I have to ask: how big of a deal is it? Is there anybody in the last 20 years who succeeded in spite of crappy entrance music? Some guys are just ok, sure, but the top of the WWE right now is Cena, Orton (I HEAR VOICES), HHH (TIME TO PLAY THE GAME!), Punk (Static followed by Cult of Personality), and Bryan (Ride of the Valkyries); all good-great. Would giving someone like Ziggler or Reigns a better entrance be enough to elevate them.
I guess my main question is how important overall is entrance music? And who had the best ever?
Probably Hogan or Flair. Hogan for all the reasons mentioned, and Flair because you heard it and knew you were about to see a superstar. Also add Randy Savage to that one.
I'm not fond of Orton's "Voices" song and I kind of preferred the Legend Killer era theme (The "hey nothing you can say" one) but it works fine for what he is now. Ziggler absolutely needs better entrance music, something more in the bombastic classical idea like Perfect or Savage. They've got it right with Sandow at least.
I think Big Show's music has long been kind of terrible and we just sort of got used to it. It's really kind of senseless and doesn't pertain to his character in any meaningful way. Cody Rhodes' music is such generic pap that I don't how or why they haven't ditched it by now. Zack Ryder's music has nothing to do with him and has never worked for me.
But yeah, entrance music is HUGELY important. Generally one of my favorite facets of a character, in fact.
Outback Jack had some great theme music....
ReplyDeleteBilly Gunn or GTFO
ReplyDeleteOn the Ultimate Warrior DVD, they give huge props to how his music helped. The moment that mix of guitars and drums hit, the place would go nuts and fit as the Warrior charged out at full speed, ready to take on anyone and helped get him over.
ReplyDeleteAnd tell me that there's a chance you can go to a graduation ceremony, hear "Pomp and Circumstance" hit and NOT expect Randy Savage to come out?
A major quibble with TNA, so many of their themes just sound interchangeable, to this day I sometimes don't know who it is until the guy comes out, not many really fun themes to distinguish them properly.
If you don't think music is important, picture this.
ReplyDeleteWrestlemania 14. Kane stands in the ring. The lights go out. A gong sounds. This music plays:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBq3Cjpt2YM
The Freebirds came out to some awesome music, but I can't remember the name.
ReplyDeleteWord Life >>> My Time Is Now
ReplyDeleteUltimate warriors music was so perfect because it captured the crazy energy of that gimmick.
ReplyDeleteWHOA, the emailer and suck forgot about DXs theme song. I take back everything I already said. Hogans, DX, Cena, Flair in the pantheon of entrance music
ReplyDeleteI thought Ryders music worked because at least it had that opening hook that was (is?) very distinctive so that crowd could pop. You really need that opening sound like the car crash, gong, glass breaking, rock talking, girl screaming type thing. The ones that just sound like shit on the radio are always a death sentence for getting that opening pop.
ReplyDeleteAss man is my personal fave.
ReplyDeleteLike both. Not sure which i like better. Was saying My time is now is under appreciated bc people are sick of the character.
ReplyDeleteYea, Word life would be perfect for a feel run if he does it.
No chance...that's what you got...
ReplyDelete*shatters glass*
It's awesome man. "I'm a lover of every kind. The best surprises always sneak up from behind...You walk behind me, I feel the heat. That's why the girls don't walk behind me in the street."
ReplyDeleteGrammy worthy stuff
Bret's entrance music is huge part of why 9-year-old GideonStargrave became a mark for him in '91. Was just so cool. I never dug the more elaborate, guitar-heavier versions as much as that initial one.
ReplyDeleteDA! da da da da da da da da DA! DA DA DAA! da da da da da da da da DA! DA DA DAA! da da da da da da da da DAA! DA! DA! DAA! da da da da da da da da DAA! DA! DA! Dadadadadadadadadadadada DA DA! Dadadadadadadadadadadada DA DA! Dadadadadadadadadadadada DA DA! Dadadadadadadadadadadada DA DA!
ReplyDeleteEntrance music is the SOLE reason why Sandman ever got over...and is the sole reason why I'd still like to see Undertaker vs Sandman at Wrestlemania.
ReplyDeleteCheating, but Hollywood Hogan with Voodoo Child. Perfect entrance music.
ReplyDeleteOh and if anyone came out to a Motorhead song, they win. I can't think of anyone though.
ReplyDeleteThese aren't popular choices or anything, and they are kind of cheating because they are knockoffs of popular music, but Jericho's "Evenflow" and Raven's "Come as you are" themes were absolutely perfect for both of those characters during their runs in WCW. Jericho's music in particular was legendary during the spinal tap/goldberg spoof.
ReplyDeleteUndertaker's theme from about '97 to '99. Shit was on when that came on.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Raven's music a Silverchair ripoff? Though I know DDP used a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ripoff.
ReplyDeleteOne great thing about small-time indy companies is that the workers all use real music, and probably pick the songs themselves.
ReplyDeleteGo fig, for awhile they came out to "Georgia on My Mind," but I believe you're referring to this.
ReplyDeleteSELF HIGH FIVE
ReplyDeleteD D P!
WOO COOL!
I forgot who it was in ROH, but some hack was using Down by STP and I'm like, "you don't deserve music this good."
ReplyDeleteId say the Mr Perfect theme was simply perfect for the character....
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else think, towards the end of HBK's run, that "Sexy Boy" would last for like 20 fucking years?
ReplyDeleteCut of Personality for CM Punk is absolutely fantastic entrance music.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Badass and Rollin weren't bad during the BikerTaker phase.
ReplyDeleteBack when I had Classics on Demand, I saw a house show from 88 where The Rockers came out to the Ultimate Warrior's entrance music. That was kind of surreal.
ReplyDeleteThey don't do that anymore, ROH still uses real songs, but they're all done by bands no one has ever heard of because it's cheap, and it's mostly generic rock/metal crap. Seriously, I've been watching ROH ever since the Sinclair buyout and even fucking reviewed it for about 8 months, and the only guys who's music I can pick out of a lineup are Steen and Caprice & Coleman ("Mind on my money, money on my mind!").
ReplyDeleteRick Rude's music in WWF was pretty fucking classic, too.
ReplyDeleteIf I call up my local alt/rock station and ask them to play "Whatever" by Our Lady Peace, do you think they'd do it? Or hang up on me?
ReplyDeleteI sent the email. I didn't mention DX only because it was group theme and I was talking about solo guys, but obviously it was perfect (at least, when they first started using it; once Shawn left, and much worse, once Shawn came back, it didn't suit the group's persona nearly as much).
ReplyDeleteHands up for everyone that thought the DX music was a RATM song. Hell, the singer even kind of looks like Zack De La Roca.
ReplyDeleteFor people who did great in spite of their music: punk's first theme, hhh (most of his), sting (man called sting)
ReplyDeleteSome of New Japan's theme songs these days are pretty killer:
ReplyDelete* Shinsuke Nakamura
* Kazuchika Okada (In a nice touch, he also has the Big Game version)
* Not my favorite, personally, but Hiroshi Tanahashi's theme is pretty spot-on for his character
* Prince Devitt's newest theme was a perfect complement to his heel turn.
And then you've got classics like Jushin Liger's or Great Muta's (which was so good, I guess, that Keiji Mutoh adapted it for use under his own name.)
Honorable mention: KENTA's "No Mercy.
You know what? That's a good song in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteROH reminds me of Old Yeller these days.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to Austin's podcast with brother love today. Austin mentioned in that usually when he waits for a match to begin, he would think of things to do in his match. In his first match with undertaker, as soon as he heard the gong, his mind went blank and he could not concentrate on anything until he heard the bell to start the match. If Austin gets like that, just imagine a child who has never seen undertaker before with his entrance.
ReplyDeleteHell yes. It had a harder, grungier feel that dug a lot deeper for me.
ReplyDeleteRyback could be elevated by better entrance music. I assume they'll get around to it when they realize that they were trying to push him.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough he already HAD better entrance music, at least the start of the song which is the most important part. The original had "FEED ME MORE" at the beginning which was at least interesting and distinctive. Then when he was feuding with Cena, the Scott Steiner siren wail preceded his music which was better than what he has now.
The worse his music is, the less interesting he is as a character.
Good entrance music can of course help (fandango is a great example of this). However shitty music hurts a lot especially if it's generic or not about the character or there is no hook for the audience to latch onto. Even bad music when catchy can be great like dusty rhodes's wwf theme.
ReplyDeleteBest example of both sides is wade Barrett. Nexus music was awesome. Every other one sucks
At least he's had 10 crappy songs. They'll get it right or die trying.
ReplyDeleteOne can NOT forget Minoru Suzuki, and the world class Kaze Ni Nare..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iybuD6CbfzE
And it's certainly something they have slacked off on in recent years. To this day I can pop in a CD or load my iPod with WWE music releases up until about 2007. After that it's a specific song here and there in a sea of lazy, generic rock riffs.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but I was already getting link-heavy on that post so I quit with what I had. Interesting, though: I think the arena version is mixed just a little differently from this one.
ReplyDeletePWG definitely geserves some acknowledgement here.. Rich Swann's "All Night Long" can lead to 10-minute singalongs at times.. and people chanting "Drake! Drake! Drake!" to the beat when he comes out is pretty awesome..
ReplyDeleteBut my absolute favorite theme in wrestling right now is Adam cole coming out to "Whatta Man".. Shit gives me goosebumps now, when I play it at the house, cuz it's the main event theme song for these awesome roadtrips to Reseda every month..
Why? I thought Old Yeller was a draw. #OhTag
ReplyDeleteThat it needs to be put out of it's misery? Nah, that's TNA. ROH is constantly fucking up, but they are treading water and getting closer to drowning.
ReplyDeleteGood question. I think I heard it somewhere recently, but I can't remember where....
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the difference the right music makes just compare the reactions Edge used to get for the You Think You Know Me / Rob Zombie themes as opposed to the monster reaction the alter bridge theme got.
ReplyDeleteOnce they got the theme right it was one of the keys to launching him into the main event.
The thing all the great themes have in common is that they're instantly recognisable and have a hook in the first few seconds.
The glass shatters for Austin,
The Undertaker's gong,
Electric Guitar for Hart,
If you smell...
Lesnar's weird echoey noise
Etc
All of these guys are set up to succeed the moment they walk through the curtain as the crowd are already on their feet rather than wondering which wrestler this generic guitar riff belongs to (looking at you Barrett)
I have a pretty decent sized "Wrestling" playlist on my iPod that includes most of the songs from the recent WrestleManias, Summerslams and Royal Rumbles, as well as CM Punk's themes (both "This Fire Burns" and Cult of Personality, which I contend is the best entrance music of this era), Orton's theme, the DX remixed theme (with Run DMC) and recent Raw themes.
ReplyDeleteI believe they've said that while they won't try to remove it from their online catalog or anything like that, they certainly won't play it live anymore.
ReplyDeleteYes. Though the fact that it was specifically written to be his music (at least the guitar part, anyway, I don't think the lyrics have anything to do with him) makes me think that no one would play it. Assuming they knew it was his music, anyway.
ReplyDeleteNo, TNA is Magic Johnson.
ReplyDeleteFirst time it really hit me how awesome Taker's theme is was in 93 when Yokozuna was doing an interview with Fuji and Cornette firing off his usual lines, the arena going dark and then the gong and the place goes nuts before Taker appears on the podium.
ReplyDeleteMagic Johnson is going to die within 18 months? Well, at least he has some time to get his affairs in order.
ReplyDeleteWell you see, white males brought up with puritan attitudes and beliefs are subconsciously trained to respect the sound of a church bell.
ReplyDelete*lights pipe*
The nWo music is my ringtone.
ReplyDeleteAudience participation also helps greatly when it comes to songs. The you suck parts of kurt angle's music made him even better. Ditto for new age outlaws.
ReplyDelete...You know what? Magic Johnson was a bad example because he's stuck around for 20 years on borrowed time. TNA is Freddie Mercury circa 1990.
ReplyDeleteLos Guerreros' "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal". This in an era where everything was shitty rock music.
ReplyDeleteJYD's career took a nose dive as soon as they switched from "Another One Bites The Dust" to "Grab Them Cakes"... and Billy Gunn's "I'm An Ass Man" made me smile every time I heard it.. but then he came out and bored me to sleep.
ReplyDeleteHis affairs caused him to get sick in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI agree. They took away the theme that helped get him over because the fans were fond of chanting it... but why haven't they taken away the "We The People" chant?? That's almost as over with the fans, with way more downsides were it to become popular.
ReplyDeleteI just think it's funny that a lot of people were shocked that he was gay. Not only was it pretty obvious if you ever saw him perform (see also: Rob Halford), but the guy was the fucking lead singer of a band called Queen.
ReplyDeleteThis is true...
ReplyDeleteI used to hate that song.. especially the original version of it.
ReplyDeleteOther favorites:
ReplyDelete* The Midnight Express
* The Steiner Brothers, circa 1990
* Sting, around the same period
From ROH:
* Low-Ki, during his Rottweilers run
* Samoa Joe's "The Champ Is Here sold me on that era of the promotion as much as the work
* Nigel McGuinness' London Bridge/Fucking In The Bushes.
Actually that song would be better than half the current Diva's theme songs..
ReplyDelete"Another One Bites the Dust" might be the greatest entrance music ever, in any sport. There's a reason Mayweather uses it. Not only is it a good song, not only do the lyrics get right to the point, but it can work for just about every sport on the planet and have the same effect. You can't say that about any other song.
ReplyDeleteYou ever watch Heavy Metal Parking Lot? There are girls waiting to see Judas Priest (circa 1982 I think) salivating at the thought of seeing Halford and having the slight chance of fucking him.
ReplyDelete9/11 aside, the biggest change from the last century to now is our attitude of how we see gays and how easy it is to detect them. Hell, even Liberace went on Regis' show and was asked questions like, "so Lee, when are you gonna settle down with a woman?"
One of the units I teach is the constitution. Of course we go over the preamble. About 85% of my students are Latino. A few of the kids (including Latinos) always put their hands over their hearts whenever we start off with "we the people" because they thought that's how you are supposed to do it. I laughed the first time I saw it but eventually I had to tell them it's just a salute some wrestlers do.
ReplyDeleteSlight threadjack, but to this day I've never gotten over this:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Sweet_Symphony#Song_credits
"The matter was eventually settled, with copyright of the song reverting to Abkco. Songwriting credits were changed to Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft, with 100% of royalties going to the Rolling Stones.[16]"
Jeeeeesus Christ.
Jim Johnson is a musical god for all the stuff he's put together, between the songs he was responsible for 100% and the demos and such. I mean, how many other musicians would have their label call them and say "we need an ass related song for a guy named Mr. Ass" and then put that kind of effort into it.
ReplyDeleteIt's because society (in most countries, anyway) have been a lot more tolerant to gay people, so therefore more gay people have come out, and therefore we're now (so-to-speak, I'm making a bit of a broad generalization here) more familiar with gay people. Think about it, it will be 2014 in about 48 hours, and I'm sure everyone reading this knows at least 3 or 4 openly gay people. That wasn't the case in 1982. Still, some signs are obvious to anyone with a half-way functioning brain. Like being the lead singer of a band called Queen.
ReplyDelete77 comments and no mention of the Road Warriors using 'Iron Man'?
ReplyDeleteDrew McIntyre's theme rules... Too bad he's pretty much been destroyed to the point of no recovery.
ReplyDeleteThat's a horrible ruling.. I'd be willing to bet the Stones didn't fork over 100% royalties to all those rock & roll and Blues singers they overtly covered when they first came out..
ReplyDeleteAnd as if by magic, Voices of Wrestling just posted a 30-minute puro mix.
ReplyDeleteAhhh yeah.. the crowd would go crazy.. and they would run in there and destroy those jobbers like nobody's business!! WWE wouldn't pay for the song, but the crowd popped everytime they heard "Ohhh Waht A Russssh" too.
ReplyDeleteThey should have gone with the "Vince McMahon" version.
ReplyDeleteRandom quarter-to-4-in-the-morning thought: the Simpsons character Kerney (the 3 of the bullies that's always shown to be the oldest), is Kerney his first name, or his last name? If it's his last name, what's his first name?
ReplyDeleteYeah, if TNA was Magic Johnson, someone would have infused them with billions of dollars until they were perfectly healthy and bigger than they were before the got sick.
ReplyDeleteBack then, though? I think people saw Freddie the same way they saw someone like Robert Plant; not necessarily gay, but flamboyant and perhaps personable.
ReplyDeleteI mean, people didn't know George Michael was gay FOR ALL THAT TIME.
The 2nd version that's a little faster is a much better wrestling song. I don't think it's been on WWE TV even once though; he was so deep into his burial at that point he wasn't even getting on the C shows.
ReplyDeleteYeah, George Michael is another one. Elton John too. The whole hair metal/glam rock scene further added to the confusion. Those guys were dicking down chicks in record numbers, yet all of them looked so gay that... fuck, I can't even come up with a comparison here.
ReplyDeleteZzyzwicz is his last name if the Simpsons wiki is to be believed.
ReplyDelete"Those guys were dicking down chicks in record numbers, yet all of them looked like they were downing dicks in record numbers."
ReplyDeleteFixed?
Oh, he's Polish.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching an indy show and just cringing when this random skinny, just barely out of wrestling school rookie came out to "Ten Ton Brick" by Hurt (definitely one of the best, most underrated rock songs of the last 10 years) and I thought pretty much the same thing:
ReplyDelete"Dude, you do not deserve music this good just yet, at least wait until you become a half-decent worker, then use "Ten Ton Brick" as your theme".