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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Throwback Thursday: Piledriver the Wrestling Album

Piledriver on vinyl and cassette
Photo courtesy: My 1-2-3 Cents
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

I've been inspired to start a new weekly featured called Throwback Thursday.  And since the WWE is talking about the 25 year anniversary of Piledriver: The Wrestling Album, I thought it only made sense to start the series off with that.

First, I can't believe it's been 25 years already.  I was a freshman in high school when the album was released.  Here's something else that's hard to believe, I still have the LP.  I'm a pack rat though, so people who know me may not be shocked by this.  When I was in college my roommate gave me a cassette version of it too.  I have LP and CD versions of the original Wrestling Album as well.  Man, I'm a dork.

No doubt the success of the Wrestling Album lead to the birth of Piledriver.  Cheesy as it may be, there are a lot of catchy tunes on it.  I think overall my favorite one is "If You Only Knew."  It's a compilation of all the WWF stars throwing a verse or two down.  Granted many (okay most) couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, I still find this song enjoyable.  It's faces and heels in the video in separate studios doing a "We Are the World" type chorus throughout.  I had forgotten the British Bulldogs are a part of this song too.


Vince McMahon makes his singing debut on Piledriver with "Stand Back."  It's another catchy tune that has been used to mock McMahon in recent years in his feud with son-in-law Triple H and his DX sidekick Shawn Michaels.

Jive Soul Bro by Slick
Slick's "Jive Soul Bro", although possibly borderline racist, is a fun song that many of his wrestlers used as theme music back in the day.  I also enjoyed Honky Tonk Man's self-titled hit as well as Jimmy Hart's "Crank it Up."  The interesting note on that song was that it was used by the Young Stallions and not Hart's team of the Hart Foundation.  The storyline was that the Stallions' stole the song and made it their own.  Yes, there was a feud (mini one) over the song.

Koko B. Ware sang the title track on the Piledriver album.  Honestly, that's probably his biggest claim to fame in the WWE.  I'm not knocking his ability in the ring, but Koko never won a title or a big match in my recollection.  The song was pretty good as well, but I thought the video was quite entertaining.  I remember staying up to watch its premiere on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event.


I definitely wore out the vinyl on that album, playing it constantly and for those too young to remember, back then you had to put a needle on the record and sometimes you'd get some scratching.  But there was plenty of white noise and popping as it played on my record player night after night.  The challenging part was when I would have matches with my LJN figures and try to play theme music for them as they entered the ring.  Kids today have it so easy with their iPods.

Look for more walks down memory lane each Thursday.  Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, @my123cents.  Here's a throwback memory from the YouTube channel too.  Enjoy.



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