Jim Johnston (composer)

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Jim Johnston
Birth name	James Alan Stanley Johnston
Genre(s)	Professional wrestling theme music
Years active	1985-present

James "Jim" Alan Johnston is a music composer who has been working for World Wrestling Entertainment since the 1980s; His work is often accredited to the name James A. Johnston.

Johnston is famous for writing many of the memorable entrance theme songs for WWE, including the theme songs for The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, among hundreds of others.

Johnston has mentioned in past interviews that he suffers from stage fright and a fear of live audiences, and it was this fear that led to him seeking a more 'studio oriented' music career.^{[citation needed]} His first job in the entertainment business was working with MTV and VH-1 to create bumpers and commercial cues, before a chance meeting in a sushi restaurant with a WWF producer led to him joining Vince McMahon's professional wrestling company. Initially composing TV themes for shows and commercial buffers, Johnston gravitated towards wrestlers entrance themes, before eventually becoming a complete music composer for the company.

In 1989, Johnston composed original music for No Holds Barred, a movie starring Hulk Hogan. Although the score was never commercially released, the theme tune "No Holds Barred", with vocals by John Joyce, was later released on WWE's Anthology album in 2002.

To date, this is the only movie soundtrack to his credit, although he is rumored to be involved with future WWE Films projects.

Johnston has been recognized in entrance themes such as Triple H's "My Time" theme where he is referred to in the lyrics (Yo Jimmy, hit me with that Triple H). Silkk the Shocker also gives Johnston a shout out at the end of the song "I'm Comin'" (MVP's Theme) when he says "Jim on the Track". He is also vocally featured on the WWE Originals album where he is featured in skits with Steve Austin between tracks.

1 Appearances
2 Discography
3 Awards
- 3.1 BMI Film & TV Awards
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Appearances

Piledriver - The Wrestling Album 2 (video) - Johnston introduces the video for Girls in Cars.

WWE Originals - A bonus DVD that was issued with WWE's 2004 album "Originals" features a 30 minute 'behind the scenes' documentary on Johnston, offering insights into the composing, producing and directing of the album. There are also some humorous interactions of Johnston with Coach and Steve Austin.

Beyond the Mat - He has a brief clip in the film discussing his reasoning behind Vader's theme music.

The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior - Johnston appears to discuss Warrior's theme song, and how it was able to be a true representative of the character.

He also orchestrated the live band at the WWF Slammys Award ceremonies, and traveled across the US in 1995 as part of the "Raw Band".

He also appears on camera at SummerSlam 1998 playing the DX Theme with The Chris Warren Band