WRESTLING NEWS
The Story Behind Jim Johnston's First SmackDown Theme
By KEN HILL
Former WWE composer Jim Johnston has composed and recorded thousands of musical pieces to serve as the entrance themes for WWE superstars until his departure in 2017. Johnston admitted that the greatest difficulty he encountered while writing and recording his music was when he had to add his own voice to the composition.
Johnston's first "SmackDown" theme is one of the only two musical pieces out of the hundreds that Johnston has put together that contain his actual voice. He admitted, "It is me singing Dude Love's theme [...] and, while it stretches the definition of the word, I did 'sing' one of the early 'SmackDown' themes."
The composer continued, "The theme I had written was in [early metal] style, and I couldn't find a singer, so I did it myself. There are no lyrics, I just sang gibberish. I had fans contact me for a lyric sheet which, of course, I could not provide." It seems Johnston didn't always offer his own voice unless he absolutely had to, and for good reason.