BANKIE'S HOT TAKE #105 - ECW ANARCHY ROCKS: The OTHER Extreme CD
A few weeks ago, I was on one of my Internet Archive deep dives, visiting the original ECWWrestling.com websites from the early 2000s.
In full disclosure, I was looking for the official announcement on the website from April 2001 about HHG, Inc, the parent company of ECW, filing for bankruptcy, officially closing the door on the promotion. However, that was not saved in the archive.
Thankfully, the main page of ECWWrestling.com was somewhat still active. Browsing through the first few headlines, including “perv pics” of the Women of Extreme (Side Note: I don’t think this would fly in 2025). However, I saw a headline that piqued my interest.
EXTREME CD COMING ON MARCH 20!
Concrete Marketing rolls out the second ECW CD on March 20.
With a link provided, I clicked on it. My mind was blown.
There was a SECOND ECW compilation CD in the world.
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ECW was no stranger to music compilations.
Back on October 27, 1998, the company, in conjunction with CMC International, released ECW: Extreme Music, a mix of original and cover songs, nationwide. Bands like Anthrax, White Zombie, Bruce Dickinson, and Megadeth supplied tracks for it.
The soundtrack was even nominated for a Grammy, as Motorhead’s cover of “Enter Sandman” was critically acclaimed as a stand-out track!
Throughout the year, ECW promoted the CD ad-nauseum on the Hardcore TV syndication program. The only irony was that the Sandman was on cover, which was intriguing since he left the company for WCW a month earlier. In spite of that, the company promoted it heavily, selling over 100,000 copies.
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I need to make mention that the screencap from this link was dated on the Internet Archive April 17, 2001.
ECW Set To Powerslam Hard Rock World with ECW II: Anarchy Rocks compilation
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) is set to suplex the Hard Rock community with ECW II: Anarchy Rocks on March 20th 2001. Anarchy Rocks will be released through the cooperative efforts of Concrete Entertainment and V2 Records, some of the music will also provide the soundtrack for the explosive ECW home videos and Acclaim's controversial video games based on the wrestling organization. Tracks from ECW The Music Volume 1 have been incorporated into the Pay Per View events, and were highlighted throughout the weekly television program!
Anarchy Rocks harnesses the brutal aggression that has become a trademark of Extreme Championship Wrestling, a trait that has given the organization infamy among Fundamentalist Parent Groups and a number of Senatorial hearings exposing advertised violence from the Entertainment industry. The controversy reached such a fevered apex that it garnered the association's Pay-Per-View home video 'Hardcore Heaven' cover placement on Variety Magazine!
The first ECW soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy and featured such renowned hard music acts as Megadeth and White Zombie. Anarchy Rocks will 'up the ante', featuring cutting edge artists like Static X, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Coal Chamber, Rob Zombie, Cold, Powerman 5000, etc., and the compilation will be a recipient of a massive marketing campaign!
Concrete Marketing President Bob Chiappardi is pleased with the prospect of fusing the worlds of wrestling & hard rock music: "Wrestling and hard music is a match made in Heaven, or Hell, depending on your point of view. I have put together a number of compilations and soundtracks, but this was the most fun!"
So beware of the coming chokehold that is ECW, and prepare to be powerbombed into thumbtacks! This is Extreme!!
With Paul Heyman appearing on RAW and Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, Tajiri and the ECW World Heavyweight and World TV Champion Rhino signing WWF contracts, ECW's future is uncertain but you can own this piece of ECW history available March 20.
Besides the last sentence intriguing me, I was surprised on the list of names listed above as it came to Anarchy Rocks. As a HUGE Linkin Park fanboy, I needed this piece of wrestling history, as it would most likely be the only time LP and wrestling would be linked together.
Almost immediately, I went searching on Amazon and came across a copy. Seeing that it was relatively cheap, I clicked “Add to Cart” and made the purchase.
A week later…the dream became a reality.
Here is the track listing of Anarchy Rocks:
Chimaira - Balls to the Wall
Static-X - Head (Remix) (Mikey Whipwreck Theme)
Coal Chamber - El Cu Cuy (Jerry Lynn Theme)
Rob Zombie - Superbeast (Porno Holocaust Remix) (Chris Chetti Theme)
Linkin Park - One Step Closer
Powerman 5000 - Neckbone (Dawn Marie Theme)
Cold - Just Got Wicked
U.P.O. - Now You Want Me
Disturbed - Welcome Burden (Steve Corino Theme)
One Minute Silence - Holy Man (The Sinister Minister Theme)
Jesse James Dupree - Highway to Hell (AC/DC Cover; Spike Dudley Theme)
F.M. Racket - Natural Born Killaz (New Jack Theme)
I then went into the CD booklet and noticed some interesting notes.
There were little quotes from each wrestler, discussing the meaning of the song listed to them. I smiled at Nova’s, as he was discussing how One Step Closer was related to him moving quickly towards the ECW World Heavyweight Title.
Also, there was an advertisement for ECW Anarchy Rulz, the video game by Acclaim, scheduled to be released in 2001. From what I heard, it wasn’t the greatest game on the planet. However, just knowing that a second game, similar to the CD, was released showed that Hardcore Revolution actually sold pretty well and that, like Paul Heyman had said in his 2013 documentary Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name Is Paul Heyman that “ECW, as a brand, was hot” in the final days of the promotion.
The CD itself was pretty good. The rock and metal from the early 2000s legit brought me back to my teenage days.
The intro to Anarchy Rocks surprised me, as it was a fifty second clip from Joey Styles, the voice of the company. It legit made me miss him and, like I said once before, it’s time for him to return to professional wrestling. It’s been long enough.
My favorite track was Dawn Marie’s theme song Powerbone. I remember her coming out to this in her return to the company during the Justin Credible vs Steve Corino match at the Hammerstein Ballroom on August 26, 2000, and it surprisingly fit her persona. I loved the vibe of this track.
After listening to One Step Closer, I noticed it sounded a little bit different from the version on Hybrid Theory. I did a little research, and thanks to the LP Live forum, it was noted that it had a “beefed-Up drum track, louder bass, and more emphasized samples. it lacks the bridge vocal samples in the intro. In the ending, you can hear "interlude" that leads into the next track.”
I actually dig this version as much as the official one.
The weirdest one released was the F.M. Rocket cover of Ice Cube’s Natural Born Killaz. Even though it’s not the worst song in the world, the rock cover just doesn’t match up one iota to the original.
Regardless, this definitely is a fun listen, definitely for the nostalgia factor of when alternative rock was at its peak. If you are able, purchase this CD. It isn’t available on Apple Music, so the hard copy will be the only way to check it. Hell, someone of these tracks were hard to find on YouTube.
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I’m really happy to have found out about ECW Anarchy Rocks. It really makes me wonder what else was in store for the promotion had it continued.
As this CD made me feel, sometimes you just don’t know what you got until it’s gone.
Bankie Bruce
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