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The Wrestling Album is an album released by the World Wrestling Federation in 1985. It features mostly theme tunes of wrestlers on the roster at the time.
Most of the songs were produced by Rick Derringer and David Wolff. Jim Steinman composed and produced "Hulk Hogan's Theme", which was used on the Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling cartoon. Cyndi Lauper participated on the album as a backing vocalist on "Real American" and as producer of "Captain" Lou Albano's track under the pseudonym "Mona Flambé".
The album was briefly reissued on CD by Koch Records, who briefly licensed the master rights from Epic/Sony in 1998.
[edit] Track listing
The album's tracks are bridged with commentary from Vince McMahon, "Mean Gene" Okerlund, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
- The Wrestlers - "Land of a Thousand Dances"
- Junkyard Dog - "Grab Them Cakes"
- Derringer - "Real American"
- Jimmy Hart - "Eat Your Heart Out, Rick Springfield"
- "Captain" Lou Albano and George "The Animal" Steele - "Captain Lou's History of Music/Captain Lou"
- "Captain Lou" is a cover of a song originally recorded by NRBQ; Albano made an appearance on the original recording and was credited with playing all of the instruments (kayfabe) on this track. However, he is actually heard playing the main leitmotif from Grieg's "Morning" (from Peer Gynt Suite) on the "History of Music" portion of the song. Albano had played some deliberately amateurish piano on an episode of Tuesday Night Titans a year earlier.
- WWF All Stars - "Hulk Hogan's Theme"
- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - "For Everybody"
- The original title, as may have been apparent to many older listeners, is "Fuck Everybody"[1]. The title and some of the lyrics had to be changed for Piper's version since the album was being marketed to the WWF's younger audience. " "For Everybody" was credited as being produced solely by Derringer (kayfabe), in order to conform to the ongoing angle in the WWF between Piper on one side and anyone directly associated with Cyndi Lauper (including Dave Wolff) on the other. In actuality, Wolff was present for Piper's session.
- "Mean" Gene Okerlund - "Tutti Frutti"
- Hillbilly Jim - "Don't Go Messin' with a Country Boy"
- Nikolai Volkoff - "Cara Mia"
- Volkoff intentionally ruins the end of the song, denouncing Western music before proceeding to sing the Soviet National Anthem. Okerlund and McMahon promptly turn off Volkoff's microphone and declare the whole album a disaster. Ventura, in an attempt to salvage the recording, tells Okerlund and McMahon they should sing a duet to end the album; they respond by leaving him in the studio.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Three singles were issued from the album: "Land of 1,000 Dances" in a shortened version with overdubbed saxophones, "Grab Them Cakes", and "Don't Go Messin' with a Country Boy". All three singles were issued in picture sleeves and used "Captain Lou's History of Music/Captain Lou" as the B-side.
- The "WWF All Stars" band credited with playing on "Hulk Hogan's Theme" are most of the same musicians that have recorded for Jim Steinman (the song's producer and composer) during the Bat out of Hell and Bad for Good sessions.
- As a possible nod to Steinam's involvement, Meat Loaf guest starred as a drummer in the "Land of 1,000 Dances" music video.[2]
- Hulk Hogan claimed, as part of a 1985 WWF Magazine article on The Wrestling Album, to have played bass guitar on "Hulk Hogan's Theme" (Hogan had played bass in several bands prior to becoming a professional wrestler), but he is not actually credited as doing so in the album's liner notes.
- In the same WWF Magazine article, The Iron Sheik is quoted as being genuinely upset with the fact that, because of the Ayatollah Khomeni's ban on music in Iran, no one in the Sheik's country of birth would be able to hear his contribution on "Land of 1,000 Dances".
- Cyndi Lauper's pseudonymous production credit as "Mona Flambé" may also be a Derringer/Wolff production with a kayfabe credit, although Lauper has produced most of her own albums under her own name. Lauper also appeared under the Mona Flambé guise on The Wrestling Album's cover, in the video for "Land of 1,000 Dances", and at the original Slammy Awards.
- "Mean Gene" Okerlund had previously done an impromptu version of "Tutti Frutti" on Tuesday Night Titans with the show's house band, with Hulk Hogan sitting in on bass guitar.
- Jimmy Hart's "Eat Your Heart Out, Rick Springfield" can be heard on the WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 videogame as the track serves as his theme music.
- The March 2007 issue of WWE Magazine contained a list of "101 Things Every WWE Fan Should Do Before He Dies" and #63 is "Identify every WWE superstar on the cover of The Wrestling Album, WWE's original record release from 1985."
[edit] Other commercially released albums by wrestlers
[edit] See also
