The Mountain Goats- Beat the Champ
Beat the Champ is about professional wrestling, which was an avenue of escape for me when I was a kid. Wrestling was low-budget working class entertainment back then, strictly UHF material. It was cheap theater. You had to bring your imagination to the proceedings and you got paid back double. I wrote these songs to re-immerse myself in the blood and fire of the visions that spoke to me as a child, and to see what more there might be in them now that I'm grown. — John Darnielle, Durham, NC
Tracklist:
- Southwestern Territory
- The Legend of Chavo Guerrero
- Foreign Object
- Animal Mask
- Choked Out
- Heel Turn 2
- Fire Editorial
- Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan
- Werewolf Gimmick
- Luna
- Unmasked!
- The Ballad of Bull Ramos
- Hair Match
Beat the Champ is about professional wrestling, which was an avenue of escape for me when I was a kid. Wrestling was low-budget working class entertainment back then, strictly UHF material. It was cheap theater. You had to bring your imagination to the proceedings and you got paid back double. I wrote these songs to re-immerse myself in the blood and fire of the visions that spoke to me as a child, and to see what more there might be in them now that I'm grown. — John Darnielle, Durham, NC
Tracklist:
- Southwestern Territory
- The Legend of Chavo Guerrero
- Foreign Object
- Animal Mask
- Choked Out
- Heel Turn 2
- Fire Editorial
- Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan
- Werewolf Gimmick
- Luna
- Unmasked!
- The Ballad of Bull Ramos
- Hair Match