4. Hulk Hogan - Real American

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This song actually wasn’t earmarked for Hulk Hogan.

“Real American”, written and performed by Rick Derringer, was designed for the U.S. Express tag team of Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo. Shortly after the album’s release, Windham defected to the National Wrestling Alliance and the song was repurposed for Hulk Hogan, who would become an even better fit than Windham and Rotundo could have ever possibly been.

You can’t discuss the WWE and its music without talking about the contributions of Rick Derringer, who was a major part of the first “Wrestling Album” and produced most of the material. Derringer was best known for his 1973 hit, “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo”, a song that went to #23 on Billboard and still receives play on many Classic Rock radio. Prior to that, Derringer was the lead singer for the McCoys, a teenage garage group from the Midwest who were pegged by the Strangeloves production company to cover their song, “Hang on Sloopy”, which went #1 in 1965.

Derringer’s “Real American” isn’t exactly brilliant in regards to its lyrics but it doesn’t have to be as it was Reagan era perfect at a time when the United States was looking to reclaim its patriotism following the 70’s failure in Vietnam. A larger than life man waving the flag was perfect for this time and because it was attached to a man who had already become a legend, the song by proxy became legendary itself.

With the recent Hulk Hogan scandals, maybe the Hulkster isn’t exactly a “Real American” anymore but for its time, this was about as pulse racing as it got for wrestling fans in the 1980’s and you know within a few chords just who is coming down the aisle, or if you watched Eastbound and Down who is coming in on relief in the Mexican League.

If you don’t believe that, just look at the video featuring Hulk playing the guitar, thrashing his enemies and ripping the picture of the U.S. enemy du jour, Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi and flexing his 22 inch pythons.

Damn, I want to wave the red, white and blue right now!