This Tuesday on Rewind-A-Wai #71, join me for a very special discussion about WCW’s 1992 theme song compilation, Slam Jam Vol. 1.
While John handles the day’s G1 coverage, I’ll be joined by Espresso Executive Producer @KrisEaly and podcaster/musician/WCW die-hard, @PodFatherSOH for a track-by-track analysis of every song on this classic release.
Stream the album in its entirety at the link above, or click the timecodes below:
I’ve never posted feedback before (ever), but I couldn’t resist when I heard Slam Jam 1 was on the review list. For years, this album was the elusive Holy Grail of my fledgling pro wrestling fandom. I was eleven years old when it was released, and I was living overseas where TBS was one of the five TV channels we had. I would watch WCW Saturday Night & Main Event religiously and I remember seeing advertisements for this album, usually accompanying the 2 Cold Scorpio music video PSA. I didn’t even have a CD player at the time, and wanted to get it on tape to listen to the theme songs for Cactus Jack, Ravishing Rick Rude, Sting, and the rest. Anyways, when my family and I would visit Canada during the summer, or go to the US for vacation, I would go to record stores and ask for Slam Jam 1. The staff never knew what I was talking about, and would smirk and scoff when I’d explain it was a pro wrestling album. Finally, I called a number from a WCW magazine and they sent me a mail order catalogue for all of WCW’s early-90’s merchandise. As cool as it was to look at pictures of Sting headbands and Jesse Ventura T-shirts, it turned out it was impossible for WCW to ship a parcel to our overseas address, and I gave up. I know it’s on YouTube, but at this point in my life, I’d rather just listen to this Rewind-A-Wai. 10 Steppin’ Rons out of 10.
Summer of 1992 was when I got into wrestling. And although my earliest memories was Warrior and the Papa Shango feud (green ooze segment) - WCW Power Hour on TSN was my destination that summer. Specifically I remember the hype for Beach Blast 92, with Sting and Cactus Jack in a “Falls Count Anywhere” Match, and my 9 year old mind at the time having visions of them battling into the Ocean or something like that.
I remember many of these themes so clearly. Man Called Sting, Dustin Rhodes, and Steiner Brothers are the ones that have always stuck in my memory.
This is an auditory throwback to remind me of how legitimately great WCW 1992 until June 1994, the promotion was. The track-listing basically represents a list of stars who were largely made within NWA / WCW - and were viewed as such in the promotion.
Also, you guys need to check out some of these recently discovered behind the scenes video of the recording.
I had a lot of fun listening to this, and this provided an accurate portrait of where we were in '92, musically, in WCW. With bangers like the Man Call Sting, Master of the DDT, and the Natural. This album made me feel like I was driving on the back roads in the country with the top down. Having said that, what is your go to track to crank over the stereo while driving or in the house?
This might be the greatest September in the history of POST Wrestling. 3 WCW reviews? Amazing. This is a unique, but fun item to review. Simply Ravishing is an all time favorite theme of mine. Along with Sting, The Steiners and Dustin Rhodes make this a great listen.
If you guys could each pick 1 theme to put on Vol 2, what would it be? I’ll go with an underrated theme…Brad Armstrong. I think he had a really epic theme, that no one talks about.
Some amazing tunes on this album. A Man Called Sting, Mr Bang Bang and Steinerized are all great, but this album belongs to Simply Ravashing. When Rick Rude comes off a WWF run with an iconic theme and they manage to top that, it’s an achievement.
It’s an album that stylistically would’ve been at least 5 years out of date on it’s release, but who cares when the themes are this good
