The Wrestler [PA]

Performer: Original Soundtrack
Producer: Dana Strum; Scott Franklin (Compilation); Darren Aronofsky (Compilation)
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: The soundtrack to Darren Aronofsky's stunning depiction of fictional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is heavy on the amped-up hair metal that provided The Ram with the soundtrack to his own glory years. Sadly, the album does not contain Bruce Springsteen's touching closing theme to the film. The Wrestler, the soundtrack for 2008's Darren Aronofsky film of the same name (aka Mickey Rourke's Big Redemption), might also be considered a solid sampler for 1980s hair metal. This makes sense, of course, given the renewed interest in professional wrestling as entertainment spectator sport -- even if the film is set in the present day of a washed-up, beaten, and nearly broken man who was a superstar back in the day. Cinderella, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Slaughter, Accept, Firehouse, and the Scorpions all have tracks on this baby. The only non-metal cut is rapper Birdman's old-school "Stuntin' Like My Daddy." Not even Bruce Springsteen's single -- written and named for the film, and played during its end credits -- made the cut to change the brash, loud, proud tenor of the soundtrack. If nostalgia for hair metal and hedonism is your thing, if the '80s were your time (or you wish they were), this is for you. Otherwise, it's best to check these tracks out in the place they belong in The Wrestler: as incidentals in an excellent motion picture about a man who tries a little too hard to live in the past. ~ Thom Jurek

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