Mountain Goats Beat The Champ CD

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.

1. Southwestern Territory 2. The Legend of Chavo Guerrero 3. Foreign Object 4. Animal Mask 5. Choked Out 6. Heel Turn 2 7. Fire Editorial 8. Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan 9. Werewolf Gimmick 10. Luna 11. Unmasked! 12. The Ballad of Bull Ramos 13. Hair Match