World Wrestling Federation: The Music Vol. III

The album is advertised as "a collection of original arena entrance theme songs of the WWF superstars you've heard on TV." But it is so much more. Gone are the subtle masterpieces like Hillbilly Jim's "Waking up Alone" and Koko Beware's "Piledriver" from the 1987 album. Here we get strong riffs, catchy melodies, and refrains that speak to the rebelliousness of today's American youth culture. Even the WWF's greatest detractors must admit that the organization has a way of catching the exact rhythms and inflections of cliché and turning them into something grand. This is what you get when you strip away all the sissy elements of popular music and get down to the bare bones.

Take, for example, "The Undertaker," a piece whose importance to cross-genre musical composition can only be compared to Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue." Don't believe me? Gershwin's composition introduced a variety of jazz elements into Western concert music. Techniques such as slurs, blue notes, and heavily syncopated rhythms expanded the classical music lexicon dramatically. "The Undertaker," composed by James A. Johnston, has at least three chords and uses an ominous bell toll. You're pinned.

"Edge," named after the wrestler who makes his entrance to this tune, contains just one riff. But it's genius. After only one listen, I found myself humming "do-dum-da-doo--dum-doo-dum-doo." See? It's catchy. But the coupling of this riff with the refrain "You think you know me but you don't/ You're just a puppet" turns the song into something sublime. Yes, something sublime and terrible.

The songs range in genre from the old-school rap of "The Oddities" to the sweet, syrupy disco of "Dude Love." The strong point is certainly the lyrics, mostly one-line gems which come from the catch phrases of these WWF personalities: "The Rock's layin' the smack down." Needless to say, the rest are similarly meaningful and eloquent.

But even better are the wrestlers' own pithy song reviews in the liner notes, such as X-Pac's "This is a little sumptin' sumptin' for everyone out there that knows what's up! If you got the time, I've got the @#$%!" If only I hadn't already submitted my senior quote for the yearbook. (Koch International)

--Joseph Tuzzo

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