How talented is Jim Johnston?

[The 24th Letter]

This dude gets nowhere near the credit he deserves in the world of music...

Just think about the variety of themes hes composed over the years....

I cant think of alot of producers with that type of talent across all genres.

From "Broken Dreams" to "Somebodys Gonna Get"...just as someone who appreciates music, I have to give him props...

[rangerrick012]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

This dude gets nowhere near the credit he deserves in the world of music...

Just think about the variety of themes hes composed over the years....

I cant think of alot of producers with that type of talent across all genres.

From "Broken Dreams" to "Somebodys Gonna Get"...just as someone who appreciates music, I have to give him props...

Broken Dreams and Somebodies's Gonna Get it are by Shaman's Harvest and Three 6 Mafia, respectively, not Jim Johnston.

This is, though, and is one of my favorites of his.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hs8sJ9oo7RA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Redacted01]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

Broken Dreams and Somebodies's Gonna Get it are by Shaman's Harvest and Three 6 Mafia, respectively, not Jim Johnston.

He is listed as composer on those songs.

[rangerrick012]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

He is listed as composer on those songs.

Touche....

[The 24th Letter]

He is listed as composer on those songs.

Yep, kindve what prompted this thread....dude has a hand in almost every theme....you would never even think it...

[UMhester04]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

How much input does he have in the themes today, cause they are all too generic. I miss the gimmick themes like the brood, raven, jericho, etc. People all used to have themes that went with their character. Now we have generic rock songs basically.

[Redacted01]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

I think the key word in your statement is gimmick. Hardly anyone has a gimmick, but at the same time, I'd hardly say themes are generic rock songs.

CM Punk, sure, because his is a production song.
Cena? No.
Henry? No.
Big Show's sounds more country.
Bryan? Based on a production song.
Kane, not seeing how that is generic as it is based on his theme from this gimmick era you mentioned.
Jericho, same as Kane.
Undertaker, same as Kane.
Triple H, has had the same theme for a decade or more.
Nash, same theme he had way back when.
Ziggler, eh, when he had the perfection song it fit better.
Rhodes, song seems to fit him pretty well.

I don't think it is as rampant as you think. Songs seem to fit most wrestlers pretty well, or they are old and from all the themes you mentioned. But when you have guys like Slater (although since he is the one-man ROCK band, I would hope he would have a rock song), Ryan, etc... with no gimmick, you can't exactly have a gimmick-based theme.

[Mercury112491]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

I think the key word in your statement is gimmick. Hardly anyone has a gimmick, but at the same time, I'd hardly say themes are generic rock songs.

CM Punk, sure, because his is a production song.
Cena? No.
Henry? No.
Big Show's sounds more country.
Bryan? Based on a production song.
Kane, not seeing how that is generic as it is based on his theme from this gimmick era you mentioned.
Jericho, same as Kane.
Undertaker, same as Kane.
Triple H, has had the same theme for a decade or more.
Nash, same theme he had way back when.
Ziggler, eh, when he had the perfection song it fit better.
Rhodes, song seems to fit him pretty well.

I don't think it is as rampant as you think. Songs seem to fit most wrestlers pretty well, or they are old and from all the themes you mentioned. But when you have guys like Slater (although since he is the one-man ROCK band, I would hope he would have a rock song), Ryan, etc... with no gimmick, you can't exactly have a gimmick-based theme.

You only mentioned the top handful of guys. In general songs are much less iconic then they were 20-30 years ago. Only when a wrestler reaches superstar status do they give him a theme with a recognizable intro or something even worth remembering. When most of the guys come out its a very bland rock song. Some of the songs you associate with guys only cause they've had them a long time. It was def a lot better in the past when the songs were less like real songs you'd hear on the radio.

[Redacted01]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

Care to give some of these examples of very bland rock songs? Here, I'll add some more.

Kofi
The Usos
Epico & Primo

None of those say bland rock song to me, unless you aren't sure what rock is these days.

McIntyre's is a rock song, but I wouldn't call it bland.
Swagger and Bourne maybe fall into your category. Maybe, Sheamus, but it doesn't seem that generic to me.

There, I went through just about everyone that shows up on TV routinely.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

Barrett, Rhodes, and Ziggler all deserve better music. Rhodes' slower version was perfect, Barrett's seems to get tweaked every time out, and Ziggler's first was the best.

But yes, Jim Johnston is amazing. No one can **** with the WWE's music and video department. In fact, "real" sports would be 100x better if they had that level of production.

[Mercury112491]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

Care to give some of these examples of very bland rock songs? Here, I'll add some more.

Kofi
The Usos
Epico & Primo

None of those say bland rock song to me, unless you aren't sure what rock is these days.

McIntyre's is a rock song, but I wouldn't call it bland.
Swagger and Bourne maybe fall into your category. Maybe, Sheamus, but it doesn't seem that generic to me.

There, I went through just about everyone that shows up on TV routinely.

I think Sheamus is the poster child for this. If this was 20 years ago his song would have a sound derived from Irish music befitting an Irish Warrior. It's not a bad song. I just liked the way they used to do it.

Sheamus
Swagger
Ziggler
Bourne
Christian
Edge(I know he's retired but Alter Bridge was so dumb)
DiBiasie(it fits him but its terrible)
Rhodes
McIntyre
Otunga

Those off the top of my head, I'd have to look at a roster to jog my memory more.

[rangerrick012]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

I think Sheamus is the poster child for this. If this was 20 years ago his song would have a sound derived from Irish music befitting an Irish Warrior. It's not a bad song. I just liked the way they used to do it.

[Redacted01]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

I think Sheamus is the poster child for this. If this was 20 years ago his song would have a sound derived from Irish music befitting an Irish Warrior. It's not a bad song. I just liked the way they used to do it.

Sheamus
Swagger
Ziggler
Bourne
Christian
Edge(I know he's retired but Alter Bridge was so dumb)
DiBiasie(it fits him but its terrible)
Rhodes
McIntyre
Otunga

Those off the top of my head, I'd have to look at a roster to jog my memory more.

Yea, I think you just want to ignore the fact that not every single person had a gimmick-driven theme back around 2000.

Hardyz
Edge and Christian (Hearing you think you know me is no more of a gimmick than Swagger's)
Dudleyz (if you count Rhodes, you have to count them)
Holly Cousins
Tazz (with the exception of the intro, that rages generic rock song)
Droz/Albert
Headbangers (this one could go either way as their gimmick was heavy metal fans, but the song was generic)
New Age Outlaws (yes I said it; without Road Dogg on the mic, that song is as generic as it gets)
Ken Shamrock
Radicalz
APA (nothing says protection about their theme at all; just a rock song... but I loved the APA nonetheless)

I think you just chose to forget there were a lot of non-gimmicky themes back in the day when you made that post. The other problem is that right now, hardly anyone is on TV and only the top stars have any type of gimmick.

[UMhester04]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

Yea, I think you just want to ignore the fact that not every single person had a gimmick-driven theme back around 2000.

Hardyz
Edge and Christian (Hearing you think you know me is no more of a gimmick than Swagger's)
Dudleyz (if you count Rhodes, you have to count them)
Holly Cousins
Tazz (with the exception of the intro, that rages generic rock song)
Droz/Albert
Headbangers (this one could go either way as their gimmick was heavy metal fans, but the song was generic)
New Age Outlaws (yes I said it; without Road Dogg on the mic, that song is as generic as it gets)
Ken Shamrock
Radicalz
APA (nothing says protection about their theme at all; just a rock song... but I loved the APA nonetheless)

I think you just chose to forget there were a lot of non-gimmicky themes back in the day when you made that post. The other problem is that right now, hardly anyone is on TV and only the top stars have any type of gimmick.

I see what you mean here..For me, i only said what I said because I took about 5 years off of wrestling and came back this year. I just felt like the themes back when I stopped watching were more geared towards the character. Even for guys like the Hardyz, Edge and Christian (loved their theme) and New Age Outlaws, to me those themes were not generic. I cant explain why I feel this way but when I hear it I never thought of a generic rock song...honestly we may be on two different pages of what "generic" means to us. For me what i meant was a basic rock song that I can turn on the radio and listen to something that sounds very similar. Maybe I havent really been listening close enough, but when I hear someones theme song now I think of a real rock song (with like a intro, verses, chorus, bridge, all that stuff like a normal song would have) basically it being an actual song( I am NOT saying that they do, I am just saying that is the TYPE of song I hear once the music hits). Im sorry if this is confusing because I am actually confusing myself trying to write it haha.

What I hear with the Hardys and such is a rock song yes but it doesnt have the same type of things that an actual rock "song" would have (the stuff I mentioned above). The songs you mentioned above are rock songs yes but to me they are more character driven than the songs we have now that sound like rock songs on the radio.

The first example that came to my head was that we were going more towards TNA entrances which are basically all rock songs.

[rangerrick012]

Re: How talented is Jim Johnston?

I guess you could say Ziggler's theme ties into him being a show off (Here to Show the World). Before that it was "Perfection".

Henry's theme ties into him kicking people's asses. Big Show is pretty self explanatory. Orton as well. Bourne's is "Bourne to win" (at least I think it still is when he's not w/ Air Boom) and the intro is like a air traffic controller because he's a high flyer.

Rhodes' theme is in flux since TBH he really hasn't defined his character enough since taking off the mask. Otunga's is just random and would fit Gabriel better IMO, but I guess you could stretch it to fit him since "It's all about the Power" and he works for the man in 'power' Laurinitis.

But doc made a good point about how it wasn't all that different 10 yrs ago and the fact that wrestlers aren't as gimmick based now has something to do with the themes not being as strongly tied to the gimmick.