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| source// wwe.com |
The importance of a theme song to WWE’s premiere event, WrestleMania, is often overlooked.
Oftentimes, it sets the stage for the matches that will unfold on its grand stage. Others, it adds even more emotion to the most anticipated bouts on the card. A well-chosen song can accentuate the issues between the Superstars while simultaneously add to the electricity experienced by the fans. The most effective ones become universally associated with the event.
Bands such as Saliva and Limp Bizkit will even namedrop the Showcase of the Immortals before blowing the roof off of arenas with their hit. Some songs transcend the broadcast, world-renowned hits handpicked by Vince McMahon to represent his product.
This year, the WrestleMania 32 soundtrack will feature hits from hip-hop star Flo Rida and metal band Avenged Sevenfold. Throw in a little “Sympathy for the Devil” by the late Lemmy Kilmeister and Motorhead and you have an eclectic mix of singles that perfectly represent the atmosphere, as well as the high-profile matches, of this year’s show.
As you prepare yourself to hear “My House” on an unending loop across Raw, SmackDown and the WWE Network over the next couple of weeks, take a stroll through event history and relive these 11 WrestleMania songs that best represented the elements of the shows they were chosen for.
11. “Monster” By Imagine Dragons (WrestleMania XXX)
Regardless of one’s feelings for pop stars Imagine Dragons, their contributions to the Daniel Bryan narrative that wrapped up at WrestleMania XXX are undeniable.
For months, fans followed the story of Bryan, chanted “YES!” at events in arenas across the country and overwhelmed management to the point that they had no choice but to alter WrestleMania plans to include Bryan in the chase for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
His quest for gold, and his determination to prove to peers and employers that he could be the biggest star on the planet, was the lead angle heading into the show. WWE production and Imagine Dragons came together for a video package that told the story in a way that not only brought it into perspective but added an even more emotional edge.
Ever since I could remember
Everything inside of me
Just wanted to fit in (oh oh oh oh)
I was never one for pretenders
Everything I tried to be
Just wouldn’t settle in
The above was a reflection of Bryan’s tribulations, the many times he had to face criticisms of his size or status as an ‘Indy darling’. Then there were the lines documenting the YES! Movement and how it continued to intensify with every passing week, becoming a bigger “monster” than the powers-that-be could have ever imagined.
A monster, a monster
I’ve turned into a monster
A monster, a monster
And it keeps getting stronger
WrestleMania XXX was a rare instance in which the company had a theme song picked out (“Celebrate” by Kid Rock), but their choices for feud-specific songs became far more ingrained in the minds of fans when it was time to revisit the show.
Almost to the point that the Kid Rock song was completely forgotten, despite the fact that the company probably paid significantly more for the use of it than any other on the broadcast.
10. “I Dare You” By Shinedown (WrestleMania 22)
While WrestleMania 22 may have been the year of Peter Gabriel and “Big Time”, the most memorable theme song could be heard in the night’s opening video and then again during the package hyping the Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton World Heavyweight Title match.
Shinedown’s “I Dare You” was an emotionally-charged song. It was the perfect compliment to the “then and now” imagery of Triple H, Kurt Angle, Undertaker and Vince McMahon that aired early, then the inspirational story of Rey Mysterio as he won the Royal Rumble and fought his way to the ‘Mania main event.
“I dare you to tell me to walk through fire”, the chorus went, and Mysterio did just that, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to incomprehensibly capture the World Heavyweight Championship on wrestling’s biggest stage.
To this day, it remains the only Shinedown song to appear on a WrestleMania pay-per-view, this despite the fact that their music makes typically makes for fitting themes to WWE shows.
9. “The Memory Remains” By Metallica (WrestleMania XXVIII)
Metallica are rock and roll royalty, Hall of Famers for a reason. They one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all-time. The band is also notorious for their love of money (who isn’t).
Thus, it was quite the surprise when WWE rolled out “The Memory Remains” as one of the songs for the WrestleMania XXVIII pay-per-view in Miami. A grim song with the haunting vocals of an old lady near its end, it fit with the eerie and foreboding aura of the “End of an Era” match between The Undertaker and Triple H, held inside Hell in a Cell.
The song accompanied the lowering of the cell, leaving some smartasses (this writer included) to joke about the steel structure getting its own theme.
“Fortune fame/mirror vain/gone insane/but the memory remains”, read opening lyrics read. Through the vanity and fame Triple H experienced as a member of D-Generation X and The McMahon-Helmsley Era, to the insanity of The Undertaker during his days as the leader of The Ministry of Darkness, it was a fitting theme for both stars and their final encounter against one another.
It was not the first time WWE had worked with Metallica, but in both of those previous instances, it was to help promote a new album. 2003’s “St. Anger” was the theme song for SummerSlam while 2008’s “All Nightmare Long” was the theme for No Mercy.
“The Memory Remains” stands out as the greatest contribution from Metallica to WWE programming, the perfect fit for an epic encounter that became an instant ‘Mania classic.
8. “Light It Up” By Rev Theory (WrestleMania XXIV)
No one will ever claim that Rev Theory makes high-quality rock music. Part balls-to-the-wall, part mainstream, radio-friendly rock, it was the perfect schlock for listeners who wanted to jam and have fun. While they may not have produced a classic by any means, their hit “Light It Up” was a fairly strong song that was often used during major sporting events.
But not before WWE beat all of the major leagues and associations to the punch, scooping it up for use at WrestleMania XXIV.
The song not only fit the mood of the broadcast, an action-packed pay-per-view that saw The Undertaker and Edge electrify the audience in the main event, it was fitting as WWE lit up the night sky with tremendous firework shows for some of the top stars on the roster, including “Nature Boy” Ric Flair in his final match (in a Vince McMahon-owned ring).
Considering that the company originally tapped Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Snow” as the theme to the show (for a show held in Florida?), Rev Theory’s hit was a much more complimentary song that provided a harder and more energetic theme for the spectacle.
7. “Superstar” By Saliva (WrestleMania X8)
WrestleMania is the event where WWE superstars are born and immortalised so it was no surprise that WWE recruited Saliva to both provide their hit single “Superstar” as the theme song of the 2002 broadcast and also perform it on the show. The band kicked off the event, injecting the show with some nu metal energy right out of the gate.
The song played over the official highlight package, a vastly superior song to Drowning Pool’s “Tear Away”, the night’s other theme. Unlike the more methodical Drowning Pool track that failed to energise the crowd as the band took to the stage later in the show, Saliva’s hit was energetic and heavy.
Their performance at the top of the broadcast brought an energy to the show that would define the event. Saliva would provide the company with countless other pay-per-view theme songs, as their brand of music fit the Ruthless Aggression era image of the company.
6. “Shoot To Thrill” By AC/DC (WrestleMania XXV)
In a 2014 interview, former WWE commentator Matt Striker revealed that Vince McMahon’s favorite band ever is AC/DC. It should not have been a revelation given how the CEO of the company turned to the iconic band to provide the theme song for 1998’s SummerSlam (“Highway to Hell”) and then again in 2009 for the 25th WrestleMania.
The group lent two different songs, the first being “War Machine.” That song played over the video package hyping the main event bout between Triple H and Randy Orton. The second? The legendary “Shoot To Thrill.”
The latter was a much better choice for the show, an blast and energy and attitude that “War Machine” was not. It had an electricity about it that a show of WrestleMania’s grandeur deserves. The fact that AC/DC is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee only adds star power to the equation, never a bad thing when hyping a sports entertainment spectacular.
5. “Crack Addict” By Limp Bizkit (WrestleMania XIX)
Limp Bizkit are one of the most polarising bands in modern music.
Some hate them, their place as champions for nu metal earning their scorn for the depths to which they helped drag rock music early in the 2000s. Others appreciate them for what they were: a fun rock band who never tried to wow critics or win Grammys. Whichever side of the argument one falls on, their contributions to WrestleMania theme music cannot be denied.
In 2003, the band supplied its second song to the Showcase of the Immortals. “Crack Addict,” described as the latest hit from an upcoming album, became the fight song for the top Superstars on the roster at one of the most star-studded events in WWE history. Feuds pitting Hulk Hogan against Vince McMahon, The Rock against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Kurt Angle against Brock Lesnar were accompanied by the song in video package and promo pieces leading into the show.
The band even took to the stage to perform the song at the event.
“Right now/let’s go/me and you/toe-to-toe” may not be classic or terribly inventive lyrics but they fit the proceedings. A wrestling show with so many intensely personal matches, the “f*** you” attitude of it reflecting the sentiments of the performers on the roster.
Alas, the song was never released on album. Instead, it was released much later through the band’s official MySpace profile, of all things.
4. “Legacy” By Eminem (WrestleMania XXX)
Few would have ever expected WWE to tap any Eminem song as the theme of a WrestleMania set in the PG Era but in 2014, that is exactly what happened when the company tapped one of the iconic rapper’s songs from his latest album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2. The haunting “Legacy” became the theme of the hotly anticipated showdown between John Cena and Bray Wyatt.
The song was the perfect accompaniment to the extraordinarily produced videos promoting the match by WWE’s team of editors. The lyrics perfectly reflected the aura of the Wyatt character, which was riding a tidal wave of momentum following his victory over Daniel Bryan at Royal Rumble and his faction’s win over The Shield at Elimination Chamber.
I used to be the type of kid that would always think the sky is falling
Why am I so differently wired? Am I a martian?
What kind of twisted experiment am I involved in
The use of the song was brilliant and the second outstanding use of music to intensify the effect feuds had on fans.
3. “WrestleMania” By The WWE Superstars (WrestleMania X-XIV)
“The WrestleMania Album,” released in 1993, was hilariously bad. It was Vince McMahon’s attempt to expand his product into the music world, just as he had with “The Wrestling Album” and “The Piledriver Album” in the 1980s, despite the product being nowhere near as hot as it was then.
With future American Idol star Simon Cowell one of its producers, it was responsible for gems like “Never Been A Right Time To Say Goodbye” by Bret Hart and “Tatanka Native American”. As easy as it is to look back at it and make fun of its attempt to be honest-to-goodness music, the album was responsible for one of the most iconic songs in WrestleMania history, simply titled “WrestleMania”.
The song would go one to become the theme of 10 straight events before being retired in 1998.
Of course, the above is the version with lyrics while the company typically used the instrumental, but the tune is undeniable. Every fan from that era of WWE recognises it as the enduring theme of the biggest show of the year.
Today, it may not hold up as well as it did, but for that time it was an essential element to the ‘Mania build and broadcast.
2. “Ladies And Gentlemen” By Saliva (WrestleMania 23)
80,103 fans filed into WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, making that show one of the biggest and most financially successful in WWE history.
1.21 million fans purchased the show on pay-per-view, a record to that point. Vince McMahon and Donald Trump partook in a Battle of the Billionaires, SmackDown’s World Heavyweight Championship was on the line between Undertaker and Batista and Raw’s WWE Championship was at stake as Shawn Michaels challenged John Cena.
The theme song for that monumental event? Another Saliva production, this one titled “Ladies and Gentlemen.”
Never has a single song been more appropriate for a wrestling event. The official video for the event even featured the band playing in a ring. The lyrics were straight out of the carnival world. Considering the sport’s origins in that atmosphere, and the fact that both relied on marks to make money, it was the perfect fit for professional wrestling’s most extravagant event.
Ladies and gentlemen please
Would you bring your attention to me?
For a feast for your eyes to see
An explosion of catastropheLike nothing you’ve ever seen before
Watch closely as I open this door
Your jaws will be on the floor
After this you’ll be begging for more
Mixing hard rock with spectacle, the song embodied the “eyes on us” sentiment that WWE demonstrated during the build to that event in particular and every WrestleMania that has proceeded it.
1. “My Way” By Limp Bizkit (WrestleMania X-7)
There is no song that better suited a single match in the history of professional wrestling than Limp Bizkit’s “My Way”, the theme song of WrestleMania X-7 and the soundtrack for the epic encounter between the two most popular stars in the history of the event, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, for the WWE Championship.
The music accompanying the greatest video package ever turned out by WWE’s revolutionary production staff, it told the story of two Superstars unwilling to step aside and let the other usurp their status as the top star in the industry. It was a reserved song at first before exploding into a hard rock anthem of a man unwavering in his leadership and unwilling to see things any way but his own.
Who can forget the guitar riff playing just under Austin telling his ‘Mania opponent, “I need to beat you, Rock. I need it more than you can ever imagine”? The video package went as far as to sync every Stunner or Rock Bottom to the chords of the song in a brilliant bit of creativity by the editing team.
Even more than a song for a single match or event, it was the perfect reflection of the way Vince McMahon had led his company out of the fire and over WCW in the Monday Night Wars, putting the Ted Turner-owned promotion out of business six days before the show. “It’s my way or the highway!”, the song exclaimed, as if McMahon had spoken the words himself.
Perhaps no single theme song has ever been so representative of an event, of a promoter, of its top two stars and of its premiere match ever before or ever since.
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