You'll Never Guess Which Song Inspired Gangrel's WWE Theme
"Nobody hears it but me. I gave them that music to listen to".
Former WWE star Gangrel told Chris Van Vliet that he handed the company a very specific piece of music to help inspire his new entrance theme back in 1998. It wasn't until he heard the finished product that Gangers realised just how great a job Jim Johnston had done with it.
Here's Gangrel's WWE theme...
It's creepy, isn't it? Very atmospheric and has that trademark Johnston pulsing beat pinning every section down. Gangrel said he loved the track immediately, but only he seemed to see what WWE had done with the track he'd originally handed them.
The song Gangrel had in mind was 'Possum Kingdom' by indie rockers The Toadies. For comparison, here's that song...
Can you hear the similarities? There's a familiar crunch to the guitars, and a machine-like march on the drums. Other than that though, it's pretty difficult to see what Gangrel expected Johnston to do here; a whining indie-rock anthem didn't seem to fit the promotion's new blood-drinking vampire warrior.
WWE's then-resident music man did such a good job with the material that Gangrel had to tip his cap. He heard Johnston's work for the first time around an hour or so before his debut.