Pro Wrestling Entrance Themes To Help You Score With Smart People: Jerry \"The King\" Lawler



Jerry “The King” Lawler’s Entrance Theme from Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

One of the things that I wholeheartedly and unabashedly admire is absolute devotion to one’s art. Modest Mussorgsky was an insane drunkard who lived entirely for his music. Sviatoslav Richter was a consummate musician who in performance became one with his instrument. Leonard Bernstein continued to follow his highly personal vision of classical music in the face of a massive onslaught of criticism. Whatever you think of Jerry Lawler these days (I think he comes across as an annoying idiot), one has to admire his commitment to his character, and it seems pretty clear that he is following his own foolish muse without regard to what anyone else may think.

Three Great Artists, and one Very Good Wrestler.

Mussorgsky was pretty much a penniless alcoholic bum at the time of his death. His later life was miserable, lonely, and marked by bouts of agonizing depression. It’s rumoured that he literally drank himself to death after a friend smuggled a bottle of brandy into the hospital where he was attempting to recover from a serious illness. Despite having no formal musical education, Mussorgsky created a number of genuine musical masterpieces and had a lasting impact on the development of 20th Century Classical music.

Richter had a happy marriage to a beautiful Russian opera singer, and never went entirely mad. He was, however, deeply frustrated by the limitations of life as a famous musician under the control of the oppressive Stalinist regime. Richter was always in great demand as a concert pianist, but he turned his back on the mainstream touring circuit because he greatly preferred playing intimate shows in small, poorly lit halls for small groups of knowledgeable fans. Richter’s interpretations and performances were often shockingly individualistic with the exception of his Bach recordings, which in contrast are almost reverentially respectful. I would be inclined to argue that Richter was the single greatest musician of the 20th Century, but there are many people who would violently disagree.

Bernstein inspires similar debate. For every person who admires his strong and emotional music making there are two or three people who found his personality and mannerisms distracting and irritating. Bernstein’s life was marked by the contrasting demands on his time and energy. He felt the need to follow the lonely road of working on his own compositions and also the powerful draw of the glory and respect he received as the conductor of the New York, Vienna, and Israeli Philharmonic Orchestras. He was a married man with three children who was also a notoriously promiscuous homosexual. He is one of the two or three most famous, most decorated, and most influential musicians in the history of American Classical Music.

Jerry Lawler is also a notorious swinger and pervert who has spent much of the past two years publicly bemoaning the collapse of his marriage. He is a legend in the great wrestling city of Memphis, and he has had a profound influence as a wrestler, a promoter, and a colour commentator. At one time, he was both talented in the ring and amusing on the mike. In recent years, he has become a tedious parody of himself.

The Composition

Mussorgsky wrote the programmatic piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition after being inspired by an exhibition of watercolours and drawings by his friend Victor Hartmann, who had recently passed away. Each section of the piece is meant to represent one of the pictures, except for the Promenade sections, which are ingeniously meant to portray the emotions of Hartmann’s friends as they walk around the gallery.

The final movement is a representation of Hartmann’s design for the Great Gate of Kiev. The gate was never built, but it was originally designed to commemorate the fact that the Tsar of Russia had survived an assassination attempt. Mussorgsky’s music powerfully evokes the pomp and circumstance of the Tsar and his entourage marching in triumph through the gate.

After Mussorgsky drank himself to death, the great French composer Maurice Ravel orchestrated the piano suite. He wisely chose to use martial instruments like trumpets and drums at the forefront of The Great Gate of Kiev.

The music kicks all kinds of ass. It is majestic, regal, and massive in feeling. It fits perfectly with Lawler’s old image as the King of Memphis Wrestling, and it is similar in many respects to both Flair and Savage’s entrance themes.

Which Versions to Get

In 1958 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Sviatoslav Richter gave one of the greatest piano recitals of all time. The sound quality of the recording is terrible, and there are maybe half a dozen people in the audience who cough loudly and repeatedly throughout the performance, but this record should have a place in every serious Classical collection. It is one of the ten greatest musical performances ever recorded.

The same year, shortly after taking over the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein made a stunning recording of Ravel’s orchestral score. Almost half a century later, Bernstein’s version of The Great Gate remains the most thrilling and powerful on record. To my ears, the 1958 recording sounds as good as or better than most more recent recording.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer made a hilariously overblown prog rock album based loosely around Mussorgsky’s composition. If you can find it in a library or something, it’s more than worth a listen.

There is also a DVD available of a version recorded in 1960 by Orchestre National de la RTF under the baton of Andre Cluytens. The performance is first rate, and the conductor and musicians are obviously enjoying themselves tremendously.

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Thanks for reading!