Roadtrip Music: Rockhouse by Frank Shelley (New World Order)
This week marks the 25th anniversary of Hulk Hogan telling the fans to stick it, dropping the leg on Randy Savage and joining Scott Hall and Kevin Nash during the main event of Bash at the Beach 1996. It marks the 25th anniversary of the New World Order of wrestling brother!
The NWO was a revolutionary group and a revolutionary angle that changed wrestling forever. Inspired by the UWF invasion of New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1995 – Eric Bischoff bought the idea of an invasion angle stateside and was onto a hit. Nash and Hall had just jumped from the World Wrestling Federation to World Championship Wrestling and through strategic omission of fact (until legally required to clarify it), were perceived as invaders from the WWF. The fact that their mission was to take over WCW didn’t hurt the idea either.
The angle was WCW’s most successful and led them to overtaking WWF in the battle for Monday night television ratings – before becoming overplayed, stale and leading to their downfall. Greg has a great article on the group which at one point included about 95% of the roster.
But what’s a revolutionary group without music?
The music of Frank Shelley and his track Rockhouse. Just as the UWF angle in Japan inspired Bischoff, Shelley also had some inspiration in composing this track. That of Jimi Hendrix. This track contains samples from no less than four Jimi Hendrix songs. (And given that Hogan used Voodoo Chile by Hendrix, at least there’s some consistency).
The four tracks are;
- Highway Chile
- The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam’s Dice
- Hey Joe
- Stone Free
Listening to each of these songs, you can pick the bits out – but Shelley has managed to combine them into something unique. WCW added some NWO related sound bytes to complete the package.
After you’ve finished listening to a tune that will stick with you 4 life, feel free to check out the historic angle – because in the case the revolution was televised.
