Jim Johnston

James "Jim" Alan Stanley Johnston (born 1959) is a music composer who has been working for World Wrestling Entertainment since the 1980s. His work is often accredited to the name James A. Johnston.

Johnston is famous for writing many of the memorable entrance theme songs for WWE, including the theme songs for The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and The Undertaker among hundreds of others.

Johnston has mentioned in past interviews that he suffers from stage fright and a fear of live audiences, and it was this fear that led to him seeking a more 'studio oriented' music career.^{[citation needed]} His first job in the entertainment business was working with MTV and VH1 to create bumpers and commercial cues, before a chance meeting in a sushi restaurant with a WWF producer led to him joining Vince McMahon's professional wrestling company. Initially composing TV themes for shows and commercial buffers, Johnston gravitated towards wrestlers' entrance themes, before eventually becoming a complete music composer for the company.

In 1989, Johnston composed original music for No Holds Barred, a movie starring Hulk Hogan. Although the score was never commercially released, the theme "No Holds Barred", with vocals by John Joyce, was later released on WWE Anthology album in 2002.

To date, this is the only movie soundtrack to his credit, although he is rumored to be involved with future WWE Studios projects.

Johnston has been recognized in entrance themes such as Triple H's "My Time" theme where he is referred to in the lyrics ("Yo Jimmy, hit me with that Triple H"). Silkk the Shocker also mentions Johnston at the end of the song "I'm Comin'" when he says "Jim on the Track". He is also vocally featured on the WWE Originals album where he is featured in skits with Stone Cold Steve Austin between tracks.

Johnston writes, records, produces and plays all the instruments on all his compositions. He only recruits outside vocalists to perform on the different tracks.

Appearances

Johnston appears on the videotape Piledriver - The Wrestling Album 2 to introduces the video for Girls in Cars. He orchestrated the live band at the WWF Slammy Awards ceremonies, and traveled across the U.S. in 1995 as part of the "Raw Band". He also appeared on camera at WrestleMania XIV and the 1998 SummerSlam playing the DX theme with the Chris Warren Band. Johnston also had a brief clip in the film Beyond the Mat discussing his reasoning behind Vader's theme music. Johnston also appears on the bonus DVD for WWE Originals the 2004 album by the same name. The DVD features a 30 minute behind-the-scenes documentary on Johnston, offering insights into the composing, producing and directing of the album. There are also some humorous interactions of Johnston with Jonathan Coachman and Steve Austin. Johnston also appears on The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior discussing the Ultimate Warrior's theme song, and how it was able to be truly representative of the character. Johnston also appeared on the WWF WrestleMania XV DVD Extras, commenting on WWF's music, and how music is crucial on the WWF, now WWE.

Discography

• The Wrestling Album (1985)
• Piledriver - The Wrestling Album 2 (1987)
• WWF Full Metal (September 24, 1996)
• WWF The Music, Vol. 2 (November 18, 1997)
• WWF We Gotta Wrestle (1997)
• WWF The Music, Vol. 3 (December 29, 1998)
• WWF The Music, Vol. 4 (November 2, 1999)
• WWF Aggression (March 21, 2000)
• WWF The Music, Vol. 5 (February 20, 2001)
• WWF Forceable Entry (March 26, 2002)
• WWE Anthology (November 12, 2002)
• WWE Originals (January 13, 2004)
• WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6 (November 16, 2004)
• WWE Wreckless Intent (May 23, 2006)
• WWE The Music, Vol. 7 (March 16, 2007) (only available via iTunes digital download)
• A Jingle With Jillian (December 11, 2007) (only available via iTunes digital download)
• Raw Greatest Hits: The Music (December 18, 2007)
• WWE The Music, Vol. 8 (March 25, 2008)^[1]
• Voices: WWE The Music, Vol. 9 (January 27, 2009)^[2]

Awards

BMI Film & TV Awards

Notes

External links

Professional wrestling portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jim Johnston (composer)

• James Alan Johnston - BMI Repertoire