(This is my first non-introductory post, so if this is in the wrong place, please let me know - still trying to figure out the structure of the board.)

 

I never watched ECW when it was originally on, due to a combination of being too young for the product during some of its run and due to living in MN pre-Internet file sharing (or me knowing about tape trading, I guess), making it harder to obtain. I've been trying to catch up on it via the WWE Network, and I'm enjoying a fair amount of the product, but the royalty-free music is really throwing me off at times. Is it worth my while to try and track down the original versions with the licensed music, or am I overestimating its importance?

In some guys it massively enhanced their character - Sandman, Balls Mahoney, The Gangstas etc and I think when the music is taken away, some of what made them click with the audience is lost.

Depends how connected you are to mid nineties culture. Personally I love it, so the music enhances ECW a great deal to me. The November Rain videos, Pantera RVD, Public Enemy and the stuff Cheapshot mentioned, it doesn't come across the same with dubbed music.

 

Welcome to the board!

yeah i would say it's pretty damn important. one thing that really stands out if you watch a bunch of wrestling from '95 or early '96 is how much more with the times ECW is than anyone else, and a lot of that comes from their choices in music for entrances and video packages.

Perhaps I don't appreciate ECW because I have bad taste in music?

 

Welcome to the board Matt.

All about the music videos. Back then, the music licensing stuff was a non-factor in many respects, so Paul was all over the grunge music for the big-time music video packages he put together.

 

The entrance music was definitely good for some of the acts (I forever associated "Man in the Box" with Dreamer), but not all of them. Heyman time and time again talked about how the music of the era was a big component of the brand.

Without the music I don't think ECW would be half as memorable as it is today. It isn't a proper time capsule without the original music that the wrestlers used when they came out to the ring. I don't have the network but I can't imagine Sandman or New Jack without the correct music. New Jack matches must be REALLY bad now without Ice Cube and Dr. Dre blaring during the chaos.

 

I would compare it to watching Attitude era WWF without any wrestler promos or announcers (especially Jim Ross). It would be pointless.

IIRC, New Jack matches were left off the Network at release due to the difficulty of dubbing them (exception being the ones that were already done for DVDs). Has that been changed?

I won't watch ECW on the Network due to edits

I watched very little of the TV at the time, but the music during the ads promoting upcoming cards or tape collections really stood out to me. They'd run like a minute of low-rent graphics with Miserlou or the riff from The Phantom of the Opera theme over it.

I haven't gotten to anything with New Jack yet, but my understanding from what others have told me is that they have since added them back, with the music obviously removed.

 

Consensus seems to be that I should find the originals, so I'll get looking for those. Thanks for the input!

To me, watching ECW on the Network is like watching the network TV censored version of Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas. It's just not the same. Especially since you're not re-watching ECW to appreciate the workrate of a Pitbulls-Public Enemy match, it's all about the presentation. As an ECW fan, I love that so many people are enjoying watching the old TV shows but they're really missing out.

 

The other thing is that it's not ECW without seeing all of the commercials for the home videos and the Hype Central plugs for upcoming house shows,

IIRC, New Jack matches were left off the Network at release due to the difficulty of dubbing them (exception being the ones that were already done for DVDs). Has that been changed?

I haven't watched much ECW on there, but I believe within the first month or so Joey Styles said he spent an entire day re-doing commentary for New Jack matches because they put in new music for them.

 

And it's not just ECW, World Class also kind of loses some of the atmosphere when you take out entrance themes. So many guys were identifiable that way it takes away from the true nostalgia.

Just get the ECW set and you'll never have to seek out anything ECW ever again

Patty Therre once wrote an amazing article about the importance of music in ECW in Power Slam magazine. I wish I had a copy to scan...

Agreed, the ECW set is your best bet.

In some guys it massively enhanced their character - Sandman, Balls Mahoney, The Gangstas etc and I think when the music is taken away, some of what made them click with the audience is lost.

 

 

Depends how connected you are to mid nineties culture. Personally I love it, so the music enhances ECW a great deal to me. The November Rain videos, Pantera RVD, Public Enemy and the stuff Cheapshot mentioned, it doesn't come across the same with dubbed music.

 

Welcome to the board!

 

I agree with these. I was a high-schooler when ECW first came on local TV in 1995 and what immediately hooked me was the music. It had music, a look, a feel, and an attitude I loved.

 

The other thing is that it's not ECW without seeing all of the commercials for the home videos and the Hype Central plugs for upcoming house shows,

 

That was one of my favorite things about the ECW TV shows in the mid-90s.

EDIT: Nevermind, my question has been answered. Thanks!

EDIT: alright

eyyyyyyyyy maybe ixnay on the talk about the ompscay and the illway.

If you think about it, it shows how ECW had its pulse on popular culture compared to WWF and WCW, at least music-wise. Around the 1993-97 time frame, WCW was pretty much using anthemic hair metal-sounding theme songs (Man called Sting, American Made, Pillman's 1995 theme). While i like that type of music, it wasnt exactly setting the world on fire at the time, and WWF themes, while having some iconic ones from that time period (bret's second theme, sexy boy, diesel blues, razor's theme, austin's second theme) was either doing gimmick-based themes (yokozuna's "Japanese" theme, hunter's classical music theme) or incredibly generic songs (123 kid and austin's first theme come to mind). Meanwhile, ECW was using themes that were both popular at the time and likely well-liked by the ECW audience.

Hardcore TV from 1995 until 1999 is one of my favorite television shows ever, and I accredit at least 80% of my fandom to the music. Even though half of the show was always commercials, I could still sit through the commercials because the music is always entertaining.

 

I forget the exact details, but one of the producers from ECW had close ties to a very influential major-label record executive type, which is why they were able to have such incredible music on their shows in the first place.

Is ECW the best example ever of a zeitgeist-catching, had-to-be-there promotion? I was listening to a podcast listing Top 10 ECW matches and it struck me just how little interest I have in rewatching much of it.

 

And I'm not bashing ECW - loved it at the time, ordering tapes from 1994 through to 2000 or so.

I've said this before, but you can't just watch ECW matches. You need to watch the weekly TV. I love watching the story lines weave in and out of each other. In its glory years ECW never got stale.

To it's credit, WWE Network has done about as good a job as they can with the TV shows in terms of music. I was half-expecting them to ditch all the music videos completely, but they've overdubbed them with stock music that's at least the same vague genre as the original. They've gone to particular effort with the November Rain videos which cut between ECW footage and footage of the GnR video -- they've taken all the ECW footage clips, cut them together, then added a new soundtrack.