I used to watch and follow professional wrestling. In the mid ’80s, the biggest game in town was the WWF. Wrestlemanias I (1985), II (1986) and III (1987) were HUGE. In fact, Wrestlemania III, at the time, had the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America and is considered the pinnacle of professional wrestling’s popularity. I had it on VHS but I’ve watched it so many times the video tape actually broke. The superstars that competed in those three Wrestlemanias are known to even non-fans today; Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Macho Man Randy Savage and even Mr T made an appearance to wrestle with Hulk Hogan. The most recent Wrestlemania was number 25, held in April of 2009, and while professional wrestling is still wildly popular, it has not kept the mainstream audience it had back in the mid to late ’80s.
Back during the golden years of the WWF, Vince McMahon was in his prime. He marketed the everlovin’ CRAP out of his little federation. True, he does it now, but really, McMahon has become almost a mockery of himself at this point. Back then, he was a marketing genius, now, more a media whore than a media mogul. Vince’s “all over the place” marketing strategies included video games, a line of giant, plastic action figures by LJN and a cartoon. Now, companies do that all the time but back in the ’80s, that kind of cross promotion was unheard of. Then, in 1985, Vince decided to move into the music making space. Wrestlers have always had theme music that accompany them to the ring. Instead of purchasing licensed songs, Vince thought they should record their own songs and market them on music albums. So he gathered pretty much every wrestler he employed at the time and had them record their own theme music. And the results were GLORIOUS.
Here are those first 5 heinously awful music albums as recorded by the wrestlers themselves.
