"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale" of a time when television shows began with awesome TV Theme Songs. "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" and sometimes you want to go back to when TV Theme songs were special. "Here's a story... of a lovely" time when TV Theme Songs served to identify, distinguish and set the stage for the television program that followed. "You take the good, take the bad, take them both and there you have" what unfortunately has become a lost artform. "Believe it or not", sadly it seems no effort or pride is taken in the TV Theme Song ever since Seinfeld proved a short synth-bass riff could be used instead. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” This regular feature may not "make all our dreams come true", but it will remember some of the best TV Theme Songs from years past (with a focus on the '80s decade). "Come aboard, we're expecting you."
This time we will cover the theme song for GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. "Gorgeous ladies of wrestling, we're all champions in the ring. We come from the streets, we come from cities, we come from a world where there's no pity." GLOW debuted in January of 1986 and went on for four seasons and 104 episodes broadcast in syndication. I was a big professional wrestling fan and a boy in his early teens, so this show was right up my alley. In my market, it wasn't aired until late on Saturday nights, so I often stayed up late just to watch GLOW. I remember enjoying the silly kitschy sketches in between the matches just as much as any of the actual wrestling action. Many people don't even realize that the Netflix show was based off of a real show from the '80s.
As with many aspects of the show, GLOW's theme song was also kitschy and very '80s. GLOW debuted at the same time the Chicago Bears had released their cheesy rap song "The Super Bowl Shuffle" which became a sensation. So GLOW created a theme song along the same lines with the ladies performing some rhyming lyrics over a generic beat. It is reported that the rap lyrics were written by Hans/Hank Donig under music supervisor Morris I. Diamond. The lyrics are pretty basic, but the ladies perform them with heart. Though it was seemingly re-recorded several times with different groups as performers joined and left the show, the same basic rap was used for all seasons of the show. Each lady had their own individual rap song for their specific character that were sometimes included in the intro and/or before their matches. Again, relatively cheesy lyrics, but still a fun opening especially for an '80s show of this manner.
Here is a very early version of the opening theme for GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling...
Here is a version from season 2 (and possibly later in season 1) that includes some of the individual raps in the middle...
Here is another version featuring some different characters...
And lastly, here is the version from season 4 (the final season)...
Watching those intros and hearing those ladies sing brings back such great memories for me. GLOW was such a fun show that probably could only have been made in the '80s. "Slam, bam, this is a wrestling jam. C'mon ladies, give us a hand. It's a big, bad battle in the ring. We're gonna have fun and do our own thing."
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!