Column Posted by Graboidz on 08:01:42 AM Aug 29, 2008
Here is part 2 of my WWE The Music series. Hopefully, you’ve read Part 1, (or the entire plot and story line will be lost on you). I was going to break down the columns based on decade, but realized on 2 albums came out in the 80’s, while more arrived in the 90’s, and we’ve been inundated since 2000, so the decade break-up was out. Then I just divide my page count by 3 and this is what you get. So here we go with WWE the Music part 2 album releases starting with:1999 – WWF the Music Volume 4
Style – Rock/Pop
Tracks:
Break Down the Walls – Jericho
Big – The Big Show
No Chance in Hell – The Corporation
Sexual Chocolate – Mark Henry
This is a Test – Test
Wreck – Mankind
Oh Hell Yeah – Stone Cold Steve Austin
Danger at the Door – D’Lo Brown
Blood Brother – Christian
Ass Man – Billy Gunn
Ministry – The Undertaker
My Time – Triple H & Chyna
On the Edge – Edge
Know Your Role – The Rock So the song titles are back for this release. Actually I appreciate the song titles more than just the wrestler’s names. Think of all the various themes most wrestler’s go through. The Undertaker has had several popular themes, and if it’s just his name listed on the CD, you’re not sure if you are getting the infamous “Gong” intro or his biker image “Rollin’” intro. “Volume 4” reached the number 4 position on the Billboard charts, and remained on the charts for 20 weeks selling 1.13 million copies. This is another popular disk, again showing an average 4.5 stars out of 5 on Amazon. Availability: No new disks are currently available, but there are used copies available on Amazon starting at 50 cents. 2000 – WWF Aggression
Style – Rap/Hip Hop
Tracks:
The Kings – Run DMC
Wreck – ODB & Kool Keith
Know Your Role – Method Man
Hell Yeah – Snoop Dogg & WC
No Chance – Redman
I Won’t Stop – C-Murder
Big Red Machine – The Eastsidaz
Break Down the Walls – RA The Rugged Man
You Ain’t Hard – Bad Azz & Techniec
Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy – Ice T
Game – Mystikal & Ras Kass
Big – Mac 10
Ministry – Dame Grease “Aggression” was something new for the WWF. On previous releases there were some tracks with professional musicians, but the CD’s were marketed using the WWF Superstars as the drawing power, not the musical talent. “Aggression” was actually a showcase for some of the days hot rap stars performing their own versions of various wrestlers’ theme music. The draw wasn’t the original entrance themes, but the rappers themselves this time out. And though some of the songs found on this album were used as entrance themes for a short while (Ice T’s “Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy” was actually performed lived at Wrestlemania 2000), none of the tracks found here had a very long life beyond the few months surrounding the album’s release.
Not a fan or rap music, this is one of the few albums I passed over picking up when it came out. It was a moderate success for WWF selling about 640,000 copies. Amazon shows a solid 4 out of 5 star rating based on 91 reviews. Availability: No new disks are available, but there are quite a few used copies on Amazon starting at 10 cents.
2001 – WWF the Music, Volume 5
Style – Hard Rock /Pop & Rap
Tracks:
The Game – Triple H (Motorhead)
Rowdy – K-Kwik
If You Dare – Tazz
It Just Feels Right – Lita
Out of the Fire – Kane
Latino Heat – Eddie Guerrero
I’ve Got It All – Billy Gunn
What About Me? – Raven
Who I Am – Chyna
Medal – Kurt Angle
Bad Man – Rikishi
Shooter – Chris Benoit
Turn It Up – Too Cool
Pie – The Rock
WWE returned to the basic entrance theme compilation with the release of “Volume 5”, and it proved to be a pretty popular decision. With the exception of “Pie”, all of the songs listed were the standard entrance themes for the Superstars at the time. After the mediocre performance of “Aggression”, ‘Volume 5” debuted on the Billboard charts at #2. It stayed in the top 20 for two weeks and as of 2007 has gone Platinum. It was unable to top the sales of “Volume 3” or “Volume 4”, but made a better showing than “Aggression”. The rating on Amazon is a lower than expected 3.5 out of 5. Availability: No new disks available, but plenty of used copies on Amazon starting around 86 cents each. 2002 – WWF Forceable Entry
Style – Rock/Metal/Nu-Metal
Tracks:
The Game – Drowning Pool
Legs – Kid Rock
Young Grow Old – Creed
Glass Shatters – Disturbed
Rollin’ (Dead Man Max) – Limp Bizkit
Whatever – Our Lady Peace
Never Gonna Stop – Rob Zombie
One of a Kind – Breaking Point
The Beautiful People – Marilyn Manson
Across the Nation – The Union Underground
Break the Walls Down – Sevendust
Turn the Tables – Saliva
Live for the Moment – Monster Magnet
End of Everything – Stereomud
Ride of Your Life – Neurotica
Just Another Victim – Cypress Hill
No Chance – Dope
Lovefurypassionenergy – Boy Hits Car
Slow Chemical – Finger Eleven WWE tried to strike gold with the Heavy Metal/Nu-Metal crowd in a similar way that “Aggression” targeted the rap audience. Unlike “Aggression” though, “Forceable Entry” seemed to give the artists more freedom with the songs. They weren’t pigeonholed into simply applying lyrics over a known piece of music. And “Forceable Entry” also featured some very popular acts of the era, as opposed to serving up tracks by former stars or unknowns. Bands like “Marilyn Manson”, “Limp Bizkit”, “Cypress Hill”, “Rob Zombie” and many others were selling out arenas at the time of this disks release. “Drowning Pool” performed their version of “The Game” at Wrestlemania X8.
“Forceable Entry” entered the Billboard charts at number 3, and became one of WWF’s most successful albums. It has a solid 4 out of 5 star rating on Amazon based on 93 reviews.
Availability: New disks are available on Amazon for $10.99, or you can buy used starting at 10 cents. 2002 – WWE Anthology (3-Disk Set)
The 3 disks are broken down by various eras of the WWE:
Style: Multiple
Tracks:
Disk 1 “The Federation Years”
World Wrestling Federation Signature
Real American – Hulk Hogan
Hitman – Bret Hart
Walkabout – The Bushwhackers
Together – Theme from Macho Man & Elizabeth’s wedding
It’s All About the Money – Ted DiBiase
Snake Bit – Jack “The Snake” Roberts
Bad Boy – Razor Ramon
No Holds Barred – Theme Song from the motion picture “No Holds Barred”
Unstable – The Ultimate Warrior
I Love You – Brother Love
Cool Cocky Bad – Honky Tonk Man
One Two Three – The 1-2-3 Kid
Sweet Lovin’ Arms – Bertha Faye
Can’t Get Enough – Flash Funk
I Know You Want Me - Sunny
I’ll Be Your Hero – Lex Luger
Sexy Boy – Shawn Michaels
Los Boricuas – Los Boricuas
Schizophrenic – Mankind
Smokin – The Smoking Gunns
Sumo – Yokozuna
Snapped – Sycho Sid
Tell Me a Lie – Shawn Michaels
Enough is Enough – Owen Hart
With My Baby Tonight – Jesse James
Wild Cat – Sable
You Start the Fire – Bret Hart
Diesel Blues – Diesel
Dude’s Shack – Mick Foley
Power – Nation of Domination
Corporate Ministry – Corporate Ministry
The Dudester – Dude Love Disk 2 – The Attitude Era
Tracks:
Attitude Signature
Break it Down – D-Generation X
I Won’t Do What You Tell Me – Stone Cold Steve Austin
Ass Man – Billy Gunn
Brawl for All – Theme from Brawl for All
Gold-Lust – Goldust
California – Wrestlemania 2000 Theme
Who I Am – Chyna
The Real Deal – D’Lo Brown
Deadly Game – Survivor Series 1998 Theme
The Ultimate – Ken Shamrock
You Think You Know Me – Edge
Blood – Gangrel
The Ho Train – The Godfather
Fist – Mike Tyson & DX
Oh You Didn’t Know – The New Age Outlaws
Burned – Kane
Hello Ladies – Val Venis
Real Man’s Man – William Regal
I Don’t Suck – Kurt Angle
Latino Heat – Eddie Guerrero
It Just Feels Right – Lita
Sexual Chocolate – Mark Henry
No Chance in Hell – Vince McMahon
Oh Hell Yeah – Stone Cold Steve Austin
If you Smell – The Rock
Bad Man – Rikishi
Bangin’ It – Scotty 2 Hotty
13 – Tazz
We’re Comin’ Down – The Dudley Boyz
My Time – Triple H
Rabid – Chris Benoit
How Do You Like Me Now – Hardcore Holly
Dark Side – The Undertaker
Break Down the Walls – Jericho Disk 3 – NOW!
Tracks:
WWE Signature
Next Big Think – Brock Lesnar
Dead Man – The Undertaker
At Last – Christian
I’m Back – Eric Bischoff
Eyes of Righteousness – Reverend D-Von
Fight – SummerSlam 2002 Theme
619 – Rey Mysterio
Time to Rock n’ Roll – Trish Stratus
Eye of the Hurricane – The Hurricane
King of My World – Jericho
All Grown Up – Stephanie McMahon
Need a Little Time- Torrie Wilson
The Game – Triple H
You’re Gonna Pay – The Undertaker
You Look So Good To Me – Billy & Chuck
The End – Armageddon Theme
Here Comes the Money – Shane McMahon WOW! This is quite the collection. 86 songs, entrance themes combined with Pay per view and movie themes as well as some original songs thrown into the mix. If you don’t own any of the WWF disks, this is the first place to stop, as you will find basically everything on this disk with a few exceptions. (None of the tracks from “Aggression” or “Forceable Entry” made it to “Anthology”. One thing to note, between the release of “Forceable Entry” and “Anthology” WWF lost the rights to the WWF acronym to the World Wildlife Fund, as a result the WWF changed to the WWE and “Anthology” was the first album released with the new acronym. “Anthology” charted on Billboard for 17 weeks, peaking at number 1!! Amazon has a strong 4.5 stars out of 5 rating for this release based on 120 reviews. Availability: There are new copies available at Amazon is you wish to buy the import starting at $19.98. But why not just buy a used version which can be had starting at $12.50? I thought this would be a good breaking point between parts two and three. The “Anthology” collection is pretty comprehensive, and if you are a fan of WWE music, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up…but what the hell do I know?
|
