Ready_Willing_Gable Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Strangely, for all the talk of it not being a masculine form of music, in my experience cars that are pumping out booming techno are generally driven by #LADs, who gather in groups in the car park of my local supermarket and would probably hit me with an empty WKD Blue bottle for wearing a Smiths t-shirt. you just made me thankful that not every third wrestler comes out to a DJ Fresh tune or an Olly Murs ballad. that's where WWE would be if it was a UK-based company. I would like to see a drum n bass entrance though, can't think of anyone who ever gave that a go. Also GRIME needs to be capitalized on in some way, find a wrestler who can spit grime bars and put him straight on NXT right now. If it caught on, the marketability potential would be almost as big as it's bombing potential!! - Also worth mentioning Sami Zayn's music. Not something I'd just go on youtube and play but the unique ska-punk sound makes it stand out immediately and exudes personality. That's precisely what you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 "Jive Soul Bro" is basically a parody of "The Message" -- do any entrances sound anything like something by Kanye West? For a while. I've thought that if Cena turned heel that he should change themes to some kind of off-brand Yeezus track. I think that the question of what wrestlers in WWE want as themes is important to answering why there are so many shitty themes. Because how many good indie themes are there, really? It's not like there haven't been a ton of seemingly-inescapable licensed songs on TV and in movies that would have worked as entrance music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russellmania Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I've never heard anyone describe electronic/techno music as "too gay" or whatever. It honestly feels like some of you are projecting your own perceptions onto this topic. The reason electronic doesn't really work as entrance music IMO has nothing to do with how "effeminate" it may or may not be, but rather with just the overall mood....it's generally not "ass-kicking" music. hard rock and metal work as entrance music more often than not because it's easier to write a rock theme that gets you pumped up than it is to write a similar electronic theme. Anyway I do with WWE was a little more creative with its themes as they rely on the easiness of hard rock/generic hip hop way too much. There are only a handful of modern WWE themes that are as timeless as some of the 80's/90's themes. An example of how "inside the box" and safe they play it with music is the change from Cesaro's euro-rap music to his shitty siren/generic metal theme. I thought his old music fit him really well and stood out from the pack whereas his current music doesn't really seem special at all and could be given to probably a dozen other guys and no one would care. I agree that Zayn's music is great, though. Love the Blake & Murphy music too. As others have alluded to, it's not about liking themes that appeal to my personal taste, but rather that fit the wrestlers and evoke something. In general I think the NXT music is just another thing they do way better than the main roster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laz Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Just to fuel the fire of electronic music not being "tough" music, here is legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold: Here is legendary Pantera/Down frontman Phil Anselmo: Who are you more likely to stay away from if they're angry based on immediate perception? This says nothing to quality or taste, but electronic music has a very different feel to it from both the appearances of its artists and the scene around it than heavy music does. Get on the floor at a rave and you're going to dance, get on the floor at a metal show and you'll likely catch an elbow to the face. That type of perception has been around for over 30 years at this point and I don't see it changing any time soon. There absolutely needs to be more diversity to music used. Even if Vince is very much a cock rock kinda guy (according to Court Bauer, he's all about AC/DC and Kid Rock), not everybody likes that, and plenty of people these days don't care for it one bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 It all comes down to building a theme-wrestler attachment. Wrestling could learn a lot from MMA there. Wanderlei Silva during the PRIDE days came out to Sandstorm by Darude and it didn't make him seem gay, effeminate or less of a bad ass motherfucker than he was. Michael Bisping has got one of the best live entrances in MMA and he comes out to 90s Britpop. It seems to be more about hyping up a crowd than about making a character look tough. Either way, check out any recent UFC's tracklist (Sherdog does a "The Walkmen" section for every event) and you'll see a pretty wide cross-section of styles and eras... and music is arguably not as important in UFC as it is to WWE. If you want a wrestling example, where themes are played weekly... CMLL and AAA have better entrances, partly because music is better and also because it's more varied. They are also not afraid to embrace folk/traditional songs, but I also understand WWE is different because they don't have anyone like Atlantis on their roster. To me this boils down to WWE being 10 years behind in music just like they are 10 years behind in production, 10 years behind in booking of ethnic characters (ok maybe 15 or 20), 10 years behind in their booking of women (ok maybe 6 or 7 now) and 10 years behind on many other aspects of their product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I loved the early 2000s when everything was Saliva, Drowning Pool, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit, etc. Nu metal or whatever, it at least felt very in tune to pop culture and I wish they'd have more mainstream acts like that today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Wanderlei Silva during the PRIDE days came out to Sandstorm by Darude and it didn't make him seem gay, effeminate or less of a bad ass motherfucker than he was. Michael Bisping has got one of the best live entrances in MMA and he comes out to 90s Britpop. It seems to be more about hyping up a crowd than about making a character look tough. Silva with Sandstorm is so iconic that friends of mine bring it up Silva's entrances in PRIDE all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I loved the early 2000s when everything was Saliva, Drowning Pool, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit, etc. Nu metal or whatever, it at least felt very in tune to pop culture and I wish they'd have more mainstream acts like that today. Ugh, gotta disagree. The nu-metal garbage is one of the reasons watching those shows back is a bit of a chore for me, especially the Manias and whenever they were trying to sell another WWE music CD and all of a sudden everyone had new theme songs for 3 months (the most atrocious example might've been Austin's comeback theme in 01'). Since then, though, I *do* think the WWE has improved substantially in this department. If you look at the current roster, I'd argue that (especially with guys like Edge, Batista, Matt Hardy, Jericho, and other "Aggression Era" guys gone) this is the most diverse entrance music period in at least 15 years. Orton, Dolph, and Sheamus are still holding down the heavy metal/pop metal dirge rock, but at least they cut the lyrics from Reigns and other guys like him. Without lyrics, the songs are much more bearable and generally fit the character. Extra note - my buddy brought this up and it is absolutely true 10,000 percent. The problem with Dean Ambrose's music/entrance has nothing to do with Ambrose or his music. It's the fact that it repeats the fucking engine rev multiple times within a span of maybe 90 seconds. What the fuck kinda stupid shit is that? The engine rev should be the same as Austin's glass breaking sound - it should happen once and only once while the song itself can repeat as needed and if it does loop back into the song, maybe stretch it out so that you don't hear it so many times. Meanwhile, if you think of acts like the Wyatts, the Bellas, Charlotte, The New Day, Stardust, John Cena, Mark Henry, Los Matadores, Neville, the Usos...none fall into the metal trap. To me, to complain about the modern product being too focused on heavy metal/pop metal/hard rock in 2015 is at least a decade late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ready_Willing_Gable Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Nu metal fit the times well when they weren't doing monstrosity reworks of Austin's theme and Taker coming out to 'Rollin'. Some nu metal deserves all the flack, some gets a bad rep a bit unfairly. Like I'm a dance/electronic/rap/grime kind of person all day long, but no doubt the 'My Way' vid for WM X7 was some top tier presentation (and a great song in itself, if I'm drinking). I'd say around 04/05-ish it got a lot murkier with more post-grunge leaning shit like Alter Bridge and stuff (could even count Fozzy) which doesn't even give off a particularly tough image one way or another. Some of that has remained to today I think, using Orton's theme as a prime example. It's all very well posting the guy from Pantera but who's really presenting rock like that nowadays in terms of modern, relevant bands? Mainstream rock took on a whinier face I think midway through last decade, you can probably blame KoRn for that Another point re electronic themes, there's so many different styles of production out there now that in theory an electronic track can come off as macho as any rock track, I mean a lot of us have probably heard the term 'thugstep' and that's been a great touch to suit B&M and make them stand out in a crowded tag scene. I do believe that if the entrance and character also click, then literally any genre is a good theme, I've always wanted to see somebody come out to a solemn 50's doo-wop track for whatever reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 The actual physical entrance matters, too, of course. They have a desperate lack of entrances that have a true atmosphere about them, and that takes a lot of genres out of play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 The video game entrance is one of the worst thing that happened to pro-wrestling presentation. It sucks the life out of everybody. It's another awful consequence of branding everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 80s pop is the best for MMA/wrestling theme songs. See: LA Park, Onita, Cro Cop etc. WWE's current theme songs are pretty shitty but also fitting since their goal is to make everyone seem as generic as possible and make the brand the draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Is the techno fear the case outside the US too? There is a masculine fear of electronic music in the United States, which goes back to the homophobic (and probably racist) disco sucks movement of the late 70s. Anyway, I'm way off topic and apologize for that. I'll split this off. I was THERE during the 70's. I suffered and probably will always have PTSD from that music. I am neither homophobic nor racist, and allow me to confirm for anybody who didn't have to live through disco...Disco Sucks. Carry on with your conversation. Oh...while I'm here... We all know that WWE will reflect what the people who run it like, since they seem to think that is what everybody else likes, or at least what they should like. Vince's favorite band is AC/DC and Trip's is Motorhead. (Two bands who were active during the 70's and didn't suck, btw.) Small wonder WWE thinks Hard Rock is what is needed for entrance music. You are all absolutely right in thinking WWE music is not nearly popular or diverse enough, I wager nobody with the ability to make changes has the foggiest clue what is popular. One of the reasons WWE is not really popular with the kids nowadays. I remember when they asked Heyman what he'd do if he had taken over TNA. (Aside from bankrupt it, I assume.) His answer was fire everybody over 30, find out what the most popular music was and incorporate that into the product - and he was probably smart to think that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ready_Willing_Gable Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 .Disco Sucks. Fuck you, basically. Haha, good old music, people still try and find certainties in that shit - never gonna happen. Disco is brilliant though if you sidestep a bit of the 'We Are Family' and the other stuff that's been played to death. It was a wonderful misunderstood genre with heaps of soul. Can't really picture any disco working in a wrestling context though (ROH's Christopher Street Connection aside, but I'd rather try forget that) even if hyper-masculinity as a concept died the gruesome death it deserves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 I suppose I can understand people liking the music...to a degree. But all the other crap that came with it...the cocaine, the outfits, the hair, the preening and posing, the whole attitude...bleh. Anything that was even partially responsible for me having to wear bell bottom pants cannot be forgiven. Like I said, I was there, I lived it, and Disco Sucked. As an aside, I always thought Disco Inferno could have been a bigger act had he ended up in the WWF rather than WCW. I always though McMahon could have turned his look and gimmick into at least an I/C level star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRH Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Im surprised that, outside of New Jack, no wrestling company really tried to capitalize on the popularity of gangsta rap when that was popular. They wouldnt even have to worry about the lyrics if it was in-house, just produce something that had the hard-edged sound of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ready_Willing_Gable Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 I suppose I can understand people liking the music...to a degree. But all the other crap that came with it...the cocaine, the outfits, the hair, the preening and posing, the whole attitude...bleh. Anything that was even partially responsible for me having to wear bell bottom pants cannot be forgiven. Like I said, I was there, I lived it, and Disco Sucked. . Ha! So even you loved it at the time.. rumbled! Cocaine's pretty shit I suppose, but the style of disco that gets me going is generally just danceable soul music. As I'm a tragic nerd, of course most my picks would be described as under the radar, and mostly not the stereotypical 'disco sound' (though I'd still call it one of my fav genres), stuff like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkdoc Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 since cesaro got brought up a bunch here, i'm just going to say that he should've been the one to keep the real americans theme. it was different enough and over, and swagger was obviously going nowhere once that team broke up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Are we really having a conversation about disco in a wrestling context and ignoring the Midnight Express? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted September 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Can't really picture any disco working in a wrestling context I feel like some gentle-eyed New Japan undercarder could benefit from Arthur Russell's Calling Out of Context comp. And actually I think Missy Hyatt could have pulled off disco as well. I'd have liked the '92 Beach Blast bikini contest more if she'd come out to Chic's "I Want Your Love". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Guerrero Maya, Jr. used Laura Branigan's "Gloria" in IWRG, which is truly wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Are we really having a conversation about disco in a wrestling context and ignoring the Midnight Express?Since it was a movie theme and not an awful disco tune, sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Are we really having a conversation about disco in a wrestling context and ignoring the Midnight Express? Although it's Moroder, it sounds closer to Kraftwerk than disco. I don't remember who, but some NJ guys in the early 80's was coming out to a YMO song. So awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conker8 Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Are we really having a conversation about disco in a wrestling context and ignoring the Midnight Express? Although it's Moroder, it sounds closer to Kraftwerk than disco. I don't remember who, but some NJ guys in the early 80's was coming out to a YMO song. So awesome. Ricky Steamboat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRH Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 The point about 80s/90s themes being more diverse is true though, just look at a show like Summerslam 90 (just picked a show at random) for example: Rockers: Heavy Metal Texas Tornado: Southern Rock Mr Perfect: Classical (Exodus theme ripoff) Tito Santana: Mexican-tinged pop rock Hart Foundation: Synth-rock Demolition: Heavy Metal Bossman: Blues rock Jake Roberts: Electronic music (this theme kind of reminds me of Tangerine Dream) Duggan/Volkoff: Forgot what theme they used (Stars and Stripes forever?) Orient Express: Stereotypical "Japanese" music, but with an 80s feel Dusty Rhodes: R&B/Funk Randy Savage: Classical (Pomp and Circumstance) Hulk Hogan: Hard Rock/AOR Dino Bravo:French National Anthem Earthquake: Sound Effects Ultimate Warrior: Metal Rick Rude: Knockoff of "The Stripper" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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