Jim Johnston was recently on Matt Koon‘s Total Engagement on MLW Radio. In his interview, Johnston talks about how he goes about composing theme music for bad guys versus good guys, his relationship with Vince McMahon and much more. Highlights and the full interview are below:
On how he hates not being able to work or write great music:
No, because I knew this was coming to an end and particularly maybe for the last year that the writing was on the wall. It was like this guy has pushed me out, but you know I was so, I don’t know, so discouraged by it all and I wasn’t doing what I want to do, which is to write great music and I am a worker. I don’t want a job where I don’t have to work. There wasn’t ever a millisecond where I thought, ‘Wow, isn’t this great? I’m really not doing that much music, but they’re continuing to pay me! Oh my God, what a great deal!’ It was awful. I hate that. I hated that feeling. I’ve got handcuffs on, I can’t contribute and I eventually told Vince that as well. I said, ‘this is not right.’ I also told him at the time is like, ‘hey, if you’re unhappy with me, fire me. Fire me right now. You can fire me right now. I’m taking the pressure off. Go ahead. Fire me.’ Because that’s not the way I roll. I don’t like that.
I had my one meeting with Vince and ultimately nothing changed and then suddenly I got a meet and planner one day that I had a meeting in Vince’s office the next afternoon and I knew in an instant, it’s like, ‘Okay tomorrow at four I’m being fired.’
On what he felt during the time he knew the writing was on the wall with WWE:
Unavoidable eventuality. Some maybe hope for relief? Humans are not built for change. We just don’t accept change well, even if it’s a change we look forward to in light. So yeah – all the usual suspects: sadness, fear, hey, I felt all of them and bitterness, certainly anger because there was just a lot of lies and lying’s not a good thing.
On his meeting with Vince when he was let go:
It was a scary time, but it was a very brief event because after he said his piece I was like, ‘okay’ and I stood up and left.
On mixing “The Game” theme by Motorhead and not really getting his just due:
One of the interesting things about “The Game” (sorry Paul, but you did it to yourself) that I ended up remixing that song because the recording didn’t sound good and part of that was Lemmy’s style of bass guitar, he always played through a band master with his bass guitar and had it always up the ten so it completely broke up the speakers and that’s what gave him his tone, which sounded great. The negative was, there wasn’t a lot of low bass to it. So when I got the mix back I wanted that [makes low bass sound] so I played a whole ‘nother octave down bass on the song and put a bunch of sub-bass into the song so it had some nuts to it and of course people down stream say you know, “Motorhead did that mix, now that’s a good mix. That’s better than your mixes, Jim.” Well, okay great. That is my mix.
Composing music for heels versus composing music for babyfaces:
I think music for bad guys always comes down to “do you believe how great I am? Can you believe it?” And Mr. Perfect was a really strong character and he played it really well. He was charismatically bad and he really exuded that when he came out you know with the hands up in the air and that was his vibe: “You know, c’mon now…it’s a little hard to believe, how great I am, isn’t it? I mean, it’s hard for me to believe, for God’s sake!” It’s like a monumental conchairto to himself whereas music for good guys is more a celebration for everyone. It’s more coming out and going out to the crowd. It’s almost like this is what the crowd feels about you and how much we love you and how much we’re supporting you and bad guys I think it comes more from it’s all about them. So it’s how they see themselves.
On if he intentionally thinks about the wrestler’s personality while starting to compose or if it is a subconscious thing:
Utterly subconscious. It’s just that’s the way it felt. Everything for me Matt is how it feels. If it doesn’t make you feel something then it’s an unsuccessful piece of music. Austin is another example. Looking at him and celebrating him for who he is in the same spirit that Steve would never say, ‘hey, you better watch out for me cause I’m a dangerous character, I’m a rattlesnake. God, you never know what’s gonna happen when I come out, you know? God, cause I’m a crazy cool guy and holy crow.’ He’s way too cool to ever go down that road and he’s also too cool to have this music coming from him that says ‘I’m so cool.’ It’s like he happens to be there almost while we the crowd decided to play that music.
Read More: Jim Johnston On Vince McMahon Being A Complex Character, Feeling His Role In WWE Slipping Away
On having that ear to formulate and compose a song for a wrestling persona:
It’s magical. I don’t understand it. I attribute it a lot to sort of a spiritual thing which maybe works for me, but maybe anyone who’s lucky enough to have any sort of a gift like this maybe to keep your sanity you need some way to explain it to yourself or something it’s like ‘how does that work?’ But I cannot pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano without having a new idea. I just can’t. It’s not possible, it’s never happened. It’s never, ever happened.
It’s purely a visceral thing for me. I just get a feel for a character and I just think about it or I get an idea about it, you know, a lyric hook idea in the shower and then I’ll know that that’s it.
On how that ability struggled during his the end of his run with WWE:
I experienced this in my last period of time at WWE where I was sort of being sabotaged out of the scene by a group there so I wasn’t receiving any information about any music that was necessary and so in a strange way the need for music, or that changing so radically in my professional life there sort of shut it down where it wasn’t like I didn’t have ideas, musical ideas, when I sat down at the piano or picked up a guitar or picked up a bass guitar, but it was suddenly like this energy had nowhere to go and so it kind of diffused out. It was a very strange experience for me.
On if he was approached by anyone outside of the WWE to do theme music:
Softly and indirectly, but no, not very recently, and I agree and I don’t even follow it, but just recently it feels like there are a couple of serious players entering the market who really see that WWE has fallen into a place of weakness and that they are vulnerable, and I believe that’s true.
On if he’d be up for having a conversation about making music for Tony Khan, Cody Rhodes & AEW:
Sure, absolutely. Give me a call.
