The Wrestling Album
| The Wrestling Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Soundtrack album by World Wrestling Federation | ||||
| Released | November 1985 | |||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Rick Derringer, Dave Wolff, Jim Steinman, Mona Flambé | |||
| World Wrestling Federation chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Wrestling Album is a music album released by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1985 at the height of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection era.[1] It was the first album released by the WWF, featuring mostly theme music of wrestlers on the roster at the time.
Production
Most of the songs were produced by Rick Derringer. David Wolff, at the time Cyndi's Lauper's manager and husband, was executive producer. The album was basically Wolff's concept. 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 reissued in 1998 on CD by Koch Records, who licensed the master rights from Epic/Sony. A 30th-anniversary version was released in June 2015 on Sony's Legacy imprint.
The album's tracks are bridged with commentary from Vince McMahon, "Mean Gene" Okerlund, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Three singles were issued from the album: "Land of a Thousand 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 fold-out cover features the majority of the WWF's 1985 roster posing in a recording studio, with McMahon, Okerlund and Ventura in the foreground and ring announcer Howard Finkel in the center.[2] Lauper can be seen on the back cover wearing a black wig, holding a Rickenbacker guitar.
Track listing
- The Wrestlers - "Land of a Thousand Dances".
- A music video for this song was made featuring Derringer, Meat Loaf, and Cyndi Lauper (wearing a brunette wig and shades) playing while the WWF wrestlers sing the song en masse.
- Junkyard Dog - "Grab Them Cakes" ([written by David Wolff, George Pavlis, and Vernie "Butch" Taylor])
- Disco singer Vicki Sue Robinson is a guest vocalist.
- Rick Derringer - "Real American"
- This was originally intended to be the theme song of the tag team of Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda, known collectively as The U.S. Express, and on the album Vince McMahon says the song is dedicated to Windham and Rotundo. However, shortly after the album's release, Windham and Rotundo left for the National Wrestling Alliance. "Real American" became much better known as the theme song for Hulk Hogan, and it remains associated with him to this day.
- 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 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.
- WWF All-Stars - "Hulk Hogan's Theme"
- This served as the theme song for the television series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling and was also briefly Hogan's entrance theme in late 1985. It also surfaced two years later with a different melody as "Ravishing" - a song on the Bonnie Tyler album, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire.
- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - "For Everybody"
- The song is a cover of Mike Angelo & The Idols' "Fuck Everybody," written in 1980 by Michael Ray FitzGerald and released by Atlanta's Hottrax Records in 1984. The Piper version includes Rick Derringer on guitars and bass along with the Tower of Power horns. Cyndi Lauper sings in the background. However, WWF would not allow any profanity, which included the refrain "kiss my ass," which was changed to "kiss my trash."
- "Mean" Gene Okerlund - "Tutti Frutti"
- A different version of the recording was used as Okerlund's entrance theme during the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001.
- Hillbilly Jim - "Don't Go Messin' with a Country Boy"
- Since 2005, this has served as the theme song for "Hillbilly Jim's Moonshine Matinee," a weekly program on Sirius Satellite Radio's Outlaw Country channel 63.
- 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 that the three of them should sing together to end the album; they respond by leaving him in the studio.
Reception
The Wrestling Album peaked at #84 on the album sales charts. None of the singles received any heavy radio airplay nor did they crack the Top 100.
References
- ↑ Montgomery, James (2015-11-18). "'The Wrestling Album' at 30: The Inside Story of an Album that Started a Revolution". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
- ↑ Trex, Ethan (2009-01-22). "Reviewing The Wrestling Album". Mental Floss. Retrieved 2013-03-12.