While most pro-wrestling fans were expecting Jeff Hardy to make his long-awaited debut in AEW on March 9, many of them were not expecting his entrance theme to be “Loaded”, the same theme that he used in WWE.
LOOK WHO JUST CAME TO THE AID OF @MATTHARDYBRAND!!! It's @JEFFHARDYBRAND! 😱😱😱 #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS right now!!! pic.twitter.com/oUuJpvsBrE — All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 10, 2022
Many had believed that WWE owns “Loaded” or played a role in its creation, but that is not the case. The company behind, “Loaded” is Extreme Music, a production music company that creates and licenses music for use in movies, TV, advertising, and online media.
Sony Music Publishing produces music via Extreme Music, and the company has a library of over 15,000 original copyrights of various genres. Many fans have stated in the past that they have heard, “Loaded” playing during non-wrestling-related TV shows, and this is the reason why.
Ownership of Extreme Music has changed hands many times over the years. Founded in 1997 by an entrepreneur and a former drummer in England, it was bought by Viacom in 2005, and then it was finally bought Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Sony Music Publishing’s name at the time) in 2008. Extreme Music is very popular on the audio streaming website Spotify, where they have over 300,000 listeners per month.
Heavy Metal –The Unleashed Beast Of Rock Destruction
“Loaded” was released in 1999 on track 6 of the album, “Heavy Metal –The Unleashed Beast Of Rock Destruction”. The album is categorized under Extreme Music’s, “X-Series” label, the label for what they call their, “front-of-house contemporary pop music”. On a side note, another song that is featured on this album is “Slow Death”, which was used as the theme for Crash Holly in WWE.
Zack Tempest
The writer of, “Loaded” was Zack Tempest. Sometime after producing, “Loaded”, he began producing mainly under a new name: Kent Buchanon. One of the songs that he produced under that name was, “Ollie Starfish”, which was produced for Extreme Music’s album, “Skate Punk”. This song was used as the first theme for The Dudley Boyz in WWE.
He also has produced more songs under the Zack Tempest name since, “Loaded”. He co-composed music for the album “Industrial Metal”, which was published by Fantasy Productions Music (FPM Music) in 2012.
Website: Harold-Williams.com
Twitter: @HWilliams13