Skip to main content

Recapping Jim Johnston's First Work In WWE.


We've all heard of the saying of "music brings joy in us". While it is a cheese pizza saying, the statement is 100% true especially in my case. One of my earliest childhood memories involved my parents playing 90s RnB and Hip Hop music on the car radio. After my wrestling fandom kicked in, I furthered my taste in music by listening to rock/heavy metal as well as some electronic dance music or EDM.

Needless to say, I love music and professional wrestling has been incorporating music into their characters and shows for what feels like an eternity. 

Now, music wasn't part of the pro wrestling mystic until the 1950s hit where Mildred Burke utilized music in her entrance. The same practice was also executed in the same decade by Gorgeous Geroge. 

The 1970s was a period of time where a few pro wrestlers gave their shot as a musician. 

"Classy" Freddie Blassie released an album in 1977 called "Blassie, King Of Men". The album utilized his promo mic skills instead of his raw vocal range which was a smart move if you ask me. 


The 80s is an important period of time when it comes to music in professional wrestling. 

The WWF was a huge beneficiary when it came to music in wrestling. When you think of the likes of Macho Man, "the million-dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, Hulk Hogan (#F**kHulkHogan) or hell, even The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, you think about their theme song. 

Music was such a part of their DNA that they released an album in late 1985 simply titled "The Wrestling Album". 

That same year, Titan Towers decided to recruit a name you may or may not heard of, Jim Johnston. 

There's a reason why people would post #JimJohnstonForHOF whenever his name comes up and that's because he's made a mark in wrestling even though the man isn't a promoter or a pro wrestler. 

Johnson is responsible for some of the most iconic music in professional wrestling that folks will still vibe to even after Johnson left WWE 4 years ago. 


Songs that come to mind are The Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock, Bret Hart and my personal favourite, Luke Gallows because that is some of Johnston's best work according to Smackdown vs RAW 2011. 

With that out of the way, I am going to review Johnston's early work in a new limited article series (depending on whether I like doing this), "Reviewing Jim Johnston's Early Work" where I recap Johnston's early work mostly from the mid-80s to the early 90s. 

In this post, I'll be writing about Johnston's first piece of music recorded for the then WWF which was the main theme song for the second-ever Wrestlemania. 

Let's get the negatives out of the way. The SONG ISN'T IN HIGH QUALITY. EVEN MY OLD RINGTONE FOR MY NOKIA PHONE HAS A HIGHER QUALITY THAN THIS! 

This is a great example of Jim Johnston showing his versatility when it comes to the composition of his music. 

So, the dude executed the "This clearly isn't ad music for the NFL back in the 80s" in a way that was passable. 

His later work is a lot more memorable which is why it feels like the early phase of his WWE music career (for the most part, of course) was him figuring out the genre of the music he composes that fits with certain shows' main theme songs/promotional ads/performers. 

On and all, this instrument was a decent path at an eventual legendary career for the man called Jim Johnston. 


(Monday Night RAW was so bad today, I decided to post this month’s editorial a week early). 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WWE RAW 1/8/22 | A Coherent Review.

With Triple H making some changes for the overall WWE creative process and the end of the "Jeff Jarrett weekend", I gotta make some changes as well (at least for the site) because this is going to be the last solo RAW review since I'm going to combine both of my thoughts on RAW and Smackdown called "the cohesive WWE perspective".  So yeah, how was RAW? Well, It was one of the best episodes I've seen in a VERY long time. I guess no more, " RAW Is as insane and bad as the current season of Riverdale" jokes, right?  Becky remembered who she was during her encounter with Bianca Belair.  That promo ruled and as a guy that didn't like her heel run all that much since her comeback last year, I gotta say that I'm glad she's going back babyface due to the fact that heel Bex was so vanilla for my liking.  After Bianca showed some respect to the man, the new trio known as Io Sky, Dakota Kai and Bayley attacked Becky's injured shoulder.  They a...

WWE Wrestlemania 38 Night One | A Coherent Review.

Another year, another BIG, ENORMOUS, HUMONGOUS, THE BBC OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING AND MOST STUUUUUPENDOUS Wrestlemania.  And how was the first night of Wrestlemania? It was prettay, prettay, pretty good. By far the best Wrestlemania I’ve ever covered in almost 4 years of doing the “wrestling media” grind.  So, Elliot Moore narrated this year's opening video and it's decent. Eh, at least it's better than whatever the hell Mile 22 was.  The Usos vs Shinsuke Nakamura And Rick Boogs For The SmackDown Tag Team Championship.  A solid way to kick off this year's "Endgame" of WWE storytelling. Rick Boogs' knee gave out after a double fireman's carry attempt (get well soon, Ricky). The match ended with a 1D to *Boog's voice* Shinsuke NAKAMURAAAAAAAAAA!  The household of the tribal chief must be really happy and no, I'm not referring to the Usos' cooking. This division is as dead as the creativity of WWF 1995 so I don't know where the blue tag be...

WWE Smackdown 26/11/21 | A Coherent Review.

This episode of Smackdown is a great example of the words, "unnoteworthy" and "skip that sh*t" because damn, nothing actually happened here.   Images via WWE.com   Roman Was Like, "Rumours Give Losers False Hope".  That statement above didn't make it clear whether it's about his next challenger or the fact that he's talking sh*t about the folks that wanted all three spidermen in the upcoming No Way Home movie.  A pretty minimal opening segment that wasn't too noteworthy but it did solidify the effectiveness of Roman's words.  Drew McIntyre And Jeff Hardy vs Happy Corbin And Madcap Moss.  Speaking of things that aren't noteworthy. The good guys won. Cool.  Ridge Holland vs Cesaro.  Nothing screams WWE writing than some good old fashioned 50/50 booking. I will say, those two guys so far, have pretty good chemistry as seen by a good bout. Cesaro won with a roll-up (aka the most protective move in all of professional wrestling).  Rick B...