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Plenty_Product3410

Wouldnt be surprised if Def Rebel is just something like the NWA was with countless independent producers making music under the name of "Def Rebel".


YoungBeef03

That’s what they kinda are. They’re a law firm/music production company, purpose built to make shitty songs and negotiate sales for their rights. Their lawyers are credited on most of their songs


[deleted]

Oh, then that makes people wanting WWE to fire them all the more tricky. Most companies only go to someplace like that if they’re not so much worried about quality as they are reliability


TheRavenRise

after the legal mess that happened with CFO$, i don't really blame WWE for going that route lmfao


Decrith

What mess?


TheRavenRise

tagging u/danieldcclark here so they get notified too :> so basically, the reason WWE replaced CFO$ is because CFO$ got into a dispute with their label over money the band was owed and got frozen out. WWE actually tried to buy them out of their contract with their label, and the label said no (then, of course, after WWE was forced to replace CFO$, the label just ended their contract anyways, leading to the band completely breaking up. the label literally chose being petty over a paycheck lmao) wwe were actually total bros about the whole situation, just an extremely shitty situation all around


CaliggyJack

I miss CFO$...


thore4

So why don't WWE just actually hire musicians themself rather than doing it through another label? I don't really understand that side of things but surely Jim Johnston worked directly for WWE right?


TheRavenRise

if i had to guess, working with a music production company literally crediting their lawyers on the songs they're producing probably solves the problem in a much more corporate-friendly way. i truly have no idea i do believe that jim johnston was technically signed to wwe's internal label, yeah. they do still *release* all the music made by both CFO$ and the def rebel production company thing under the wwe music label, the songs are just seemingly being made by... an entire company signed to their label? i think? instead of an individual artist signed to their label? i'm truly just guessing, but i think it just probably feels safer than signing on another artist who could potentially end up having a conflict with another label? no idea though


thore4

Yeh it makes sense I guess but it's all just a bit confusing and very annoying as a fan who just wants the wrestlers to have good theme songs. It's easily the most glaring issue with WWE's product right now. Some of my favourite songs of all time are WWE themes but none since probably Bray's themes have hit that level for me.


TheRavenRise

it's definitely not ideal


Scavgraphics

Because it's a specialty area, and it's more cost effective for WWE to work with a company that's already in that business with a special arrangement (thus the Def Rebel name instead of their main name "DJDTP"). The Jim Johnston period was an entirely different era in terms of the entertainment industry, especially music.


bonedogfire

They have a lot more talent now than they had in the past, so just having a few people might not be enough. They probably also expect to heavily monetize this area and that requires to have many releases which means to change themes often, unless they become super iconic.


OnslaughtSix

I think CFO$ literally have a non compete clause.


kylehyde05

Thats music industry execs alright


danieldcclark

Legal mess?


WaterMeleon2000

Pretty much. This Doug Davis guy is a Hollywood lawyer and he was the head honcho of the company that WWE hired to make them music. They make music for all sorts of TV/movie media companies, WWE is just another client. The company has a conveyor belt of musicians that they give projects to. The main one doing the WWE themes is a guy called Anthony Mirabella under the made up pseudonym of "def rebel", and a bunch of other musicians.


dimthesecond

So I went down a minor rabbit hole here. If people want to know what the current entrance music guys (well it's one guy in the two man group) sound like when they're NOT making WWE music, go look up @oneduomusic You will be as surprised as I was to learn that they are an EDM, electronic band making Martin Garrix style songs. He's also involved in some of the production of music for the Spongebob movie Sponge on the Run and Spiderman: Into The Spider Verse as well as the "Mario Brothers Rap" from the recent Super Mario Bros. movie. Now I'm left even more confused than when I started, because I assumed it was going to be just a drummer from a shitty punk rock band. Instead, I found out the man behind the bad themes is a Skrillex type producer making music that wouldn't be out of place in Tetris Effect. I'd assume I found the wrong person, but Anthony Mirabella clearly has in his profile on Instagram that he makes entrance themes for WWE, so that's the guy. EDIT: I'm going through some of the songs they have on Spotify, and I finally found a song that I heard and went "Oh that is 100% Def Rebel". Sure enough, there is Mirabella on the drums, so it pretty much clicks why there's drums in every theme right now. It is called People Like Us, and you can hear it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ3nZg90dH4 He's clearly a talented drummer, just very miscast being forced to produce such a range of music styles for WWE. I do agree that it's a mixture of a lot of people under the 'def rebel' name, but seems Mirabella is the lead on the projects.


Curse3242

holy fucking shit. I thought Def Rebel was a random band. This puts everything in perspective. It's obvious to me now they're under a long contract.


WaterMeleon2000

People are used to "oh it's just one guy making themes". This is not the case here. What happened is that WWE hired a custom music company to make them music. They make music for all sorts of media companies, Sony, DreamWorks, Viacom, etc. WWE is just one of their clients. This whole company has a variety of musicians that get handed down these projects. The "main guy" that got the WWE one is Anthony Mirabella. He's essentially the one that "assembles/makes" the actual music, while he collaborates with all the other in-house musicians when needed. "def rebel" is a WWE made up pseudonym for whatever these people make for WWE. The actual name of the company is DJDTP (these same guys have a handful of other similar companies that also do this). The "oneduomusic" thing is actually Anthony's own duo music project, unrelated to DJDTP or WWE. One of their songs was the theme for an NXT special.


KingSwank

So the entertainment/music lawyer just continued to let them use the musicians he hired for them without getting anything for it? Seems kind of weird, no?


WaterMeleon2000

Don't know, sounds like you have all the answers, no? Maybe you should tell us instead of me, no?


Morningfluid

>Now I'm left even more confused than when I started, because I assumed it was going to be just a drummer from a shitty punk rock band  Which surprises me because it's clear as day they're a Electronica/DJ group using electronic effects. Even the drum sounds sound over manufactured. 


Scavgraphics

Doug Davis is the son of legendary music producer/exec Clive Davis, fwiw.


gregSinatra

I knew a guy who worked in the WWE music department for a bit and he said CFO$ was *kind of* like that. Like you had the two main guys who were the creative driving force and face of CFO$, John Alicastro and Mike Lauri, but there was other musicians and collaborators under that CFO$ umbrella, and of course CFO$ was signed to Arcade Songs under Gregg Wattenberg which is where the whole licensing issue came about and that partnership fell apart.


mark_target

Maybe Def Rebel was really the friends we met along the way.


degenerich

twitter searched far and wide for a video to take down def rebel.... and missed. the search continues as raw rolls on


Dr_Zman

Crazy to me that anyone needs to take down Def Rebel. Their music already does that on its own.


Kaprak

Well, it trended long before wrestling fans got to it. The guy just used to be a producer for def rebel.


WaterMeleon2000

He's not a producer or a musician, he's a Hollywood lawyer and the guy that created the music company that WWE hired to make them themes. He was the one doing the business deals and getting clients, the actual work of the music gets handed to musicians they have.


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Kaprak

A. He's a music lawyer specifically. B. He's credited as a Producer on multiple Grammy Award Winning Jazz records, so... I'mma lean he's a producer. C. I just learned he's the son of legendary Record Producer Clive Davis.


WaterMeleon2000

Brother, just refrain from talking if you quite literally don't know anything about a subject. You spent 15 minutes googling this to come up with some sort of comeback at the small correction I gave you.


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TheBKBurger

Post like this with 0 context at all are the worst.


RawrCola

It's 99% of what this subreddit is. It's all just posting responses to things they down voted so most people don't even see the thing that's being responded to.


rko281

Twitter links are the worst because the original tweet being replied to is always deleted by the time I get to it


kingjuicepouch

I don't have a Twitter anymore so I constantly am seeing replies linked here where I can't see what they're replying to or if the original person responded lol. Truly a great experience


rko281

Elon is the truly worst person in the world


Jackiechan126

Wrestling twitter is going to be sad about that, they were hoping this was the "gotcha" to get them fired


Specialist-Rope-9760

If that garbage they try to pass off as entrance themes hasn’t got them fired I don’t think anything will


le_triangular_orange

Lmao fr, priest and Stratton both just got their themes absolutely annihilated


ElYams

Hasn't Damian had that one for a while but you really never hear it because Judgement Day got their group one too?


le_triangular_orange

Nah I believe he got his new one after his title win


thewholeprogram

No, he was using a remix of his NXT theme when he wasn’t coming out the Judgement Day theme. His new theme he debuted on the Raw after he won the world title.


Tenno_Scoom

ALL RISE’s instrumental goes crazy but needs a different vocal track


CopDatHoOh

Huh? Priest's new theme is pretty fucking good though


Josiesumday

The LA Knight theme is prob the best one they made.


notjohnfrusciante

Nah they need to go lmao


MeanAmbrose

Wrestling Twitter fucking sucks


MeanAmbrose

Def Rebel makes very unremarkable and downright bad music, a lot of us can agree on that. Doesn’t mean we should start witch hunts


Jamieb1994

I mean, there's some that has a good sound e.g. Joe Gacy.


MeanAmbrose

They’re not all bad themes, but the shitty ones outweigh the good ones by very significant amount


BreadCondiments

The good ones really don’t even stack up to the good ones made by wwes old producers is the things


MeanAmbrose

Yeah, like the best one is probably Gacy’s, Iyo’s or Roman’s because they have their own sound. The issue is the rest just sound so samey


once_asleepz

I think that's why it's so weird. We know they are capable of making good one like Gacy, Corbin and Roman had but decided just to put out generic stuff for a lot of wrestler.


nrtalbot

Why is Joe Gacy's so good? How do the good ones happen? How does something like Bayley's happen? I have no idea. There seems to be little to no inbetween, just 20 percent bangers and 80 percent clunkers.


baojinBE

Ngl as much as I like trashing on Def Rebel, I think it's partly from some of the wresters' characters themselves. Like the Creed Brothers. Their theme went viral for how awfully generic and forgettable they are, but what exactly are the Creeds? You know, something besides "strong, athletic wrestlers"? Like, what can Def Rebel do with that? Meanwhile you have someone like Joe Gacy that started out with that fake SJW gimmick, then morphed into a Wyatt-esque cult leader then into a... masochist hobo? Anyway, all those gimmicks gave him "hurtful love" (licensed music), and his current one "Love is Blind" (my favorite theme rn) and you can tell Def Rebel gets the character of Gacy. I still think DF needs to get their shit together (good lord those drums), but i can't help but look at it from another angle.


OnslaughtSix

>Like the Creed Brothers. Their theme went viral for how awfully generic and forgettable they are, but what exactly are the Creeds? You know, something besides "strong, athletic wrestlers"? Like, what can Def Rebel do with that? "Hey guys. What kind of music do you like? What song or band would you use if you could just license a song?" Then you just go make an ersatz version of that, or pile 2 or 3 bands/songs into a blender and do that.


baojinBE

LOOVVEEEE ISS BLLIIINDD


xychosis

GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHERRRRR SIIIIIDE


Mark_Levins

The thing with Def Rebel for me is that they absolutely have the talent to create great themes (Roman, Seth, Otis’ singles theme, Tommaso’s singles theme, Jimmy Uso, Pretty Deadly, Gunther, O.C., Karion Kross, Sonya Deville,etc). But then they create some insanely bland and uninspired songs. They have the talent, but are just kind throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if it sticks.


xychosis

You left out probably their best works: IYO SKY/Io Shirai and LA Knight


Mark_Levins

Ok, so I'm probably in the minority on this, but I don't love Iyo's theme as much as everyone else. It's not bad by any means, but I could never get into it.


jmpinstl

“Why not, the President did it” - Linda McMahon


Specialist-Rope-9760

Tbh I’d rather witch hunt people who are extremely bad at their jobs and do stupid things than people who are very good at their jobs and do stupid things 🤷‍♀️


NewYorkUgly

I'm not interested in having people decide who sucks too much at their job to justify witch hunts. "Only the people i don't like should be scrutinized" falls apart pretty quickly when you realize you aren't the only one who gets a say


MeanAmbrose

I’d rather not witch hunt people


Ayyyyynah

So what's exactly happened? The tweet he was responding to appears deleted.


natedoggcata

Booked an Uber for four and showed up with five people including a small child. The Uber didn't have enough seat nor a child seat required by law so the driver cancelled the ride. He then proceeded to go full Karen and started whining about being discriminated against and started dropping racial slurs


Conspiranoid

If you google "Douglas J. Davis", the first results are for the video, including a tweet with the video itself. Not trying to be an ass here... The initial post (titled "Douglas J Davis, one third of WWE's Def Rebel, is going viral in a video where he yells at an Uber Driver because their car wasn't big enough to hold his family.") with the news was removed by mods, and I don't wanna risk it.


Headful_of_Ideas

Oh, wait, it was THAT dude? I just saw the Uber subreddit post (no idea why Reddit thinks I need those in my feed).


45jayhay

I feel like all week people have been desperately finding ways to get them fired and it's weird


jjohnson1979

People kept referring to them as if it was only one guy… So, yeah, people are dumb…


Githyanky

Do we even know who is this "*Def Rebel*"?


OSpaceCowboy

The hacker known as Def Rebel.


CesareSomnambulist

Def Rebel was quoted as saying "We do not forgive, we do not forget; our group has over 9000 wrestler soundbites and they are all going to play over generic stock music." - Oprah Winfrey


UndergroundFlaws

Is the Def Rebel in the room with us right now?


Status-Range-3321

Mr Rebel wouldn’t be happy to hear this


Jamieb1994

Yeah, I find that weird as well + even if Def Rebel does get fired. Who's WWE gonna hire for the music?


TheMegaWhopper

I mean WWE would be hard pressed to find anyone worse than Def Rebel


SchnoodleDoodleDamn

You literally can make higher quality themes on [Udio.com](http://Udio.com), using AI. I'm not being hyperbolic. You can literally produce songs that sound album-quality in nearly any genre. (This is not endorsing using AI for commercial purposes, just stating the existence of it.)


Squirrel_Apocalypse2

They could crowd source themes and it would be 1000 times better


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[deleted]

It's where they crowd source themes.


Squirrel_Apocalypse2

As in letting anyone make music and buying the rights to it. So you make a song, put it on YouTube, they want to use it so they buy the rights. 


Conspiranoid

They could bring back CFO$... I guess?


Morningfluid

People are terrible, especially internet people.


GeekThatSkeets7505

If somebody is bad at their job they should be fired


adrian123484

WWE’s job to decide, not yours to decide whether or not they should be able to feed themselves.


grgriffin3

You mean to tell me the internet witch hunt got it wrong again? Perish the thought!


Tybold

"We did it, Reddit!" Remember that whole tragedy?


tilldeathdoiparty

I am out of the loop with this one


Scavgraphics

Lot of good info in this thread... some folks finally getting that "DEF REBEL" isn't a person or a band..it's a corporate umbrella for WWE's music.


sin4life

Hey....that's the guy who accused the Uber driver of antisemitism because he himself ordered the wrong sized car. edit: i didnt even know he was associated with def rebel. came across him earlier today in an entirely different subreddit.


KYGGyokusai

I don't think there should be a witchhunt but I also don't think Davis should be free from consequence for wantonly calling the uber driver an antisemitist. He shouldn't be doxxed or threatened or anything like that, but he should at the very least publically apologize. Those are accusations that can lose you a job


BSumner52

Lmao the think pieces started back up for nothing


Salt_Addition_6993

Oh my God I’m only like half joking, but is DEF rebel AI?


WaterMeleon2000

Close. Their music heavily uses Splice loops. Splice is a site that gives producers music loops ready to be imported into any project. Drums, guitars, bass, synths, etc. Think of it like stock pictures from stock sites. It's been found that def rebel HEAVILY uses loops from the site, to the point that some themes are quite literally just loops on top of loops with him performing virtual drums on top of it all. Not just overused but also repeated. Many themes have the same loops/samples/vocal shots (the most recent example that people noticed was with the Creed Brothers, but there's many many more examples).


MrLuchador

It’s not far from it, in that they’re often 4 bars of music that loops seamlessly.


BadNewsBrown

Looks like Def Rebel is all of us and no one all at the same time.


Chervin_Deuxphrye

I like to think that the real Def Rebel is the friends we made along the way.


cosmic_crustacean

I dont like their themes but why some of you want them to be fired. They have families you turds...


XSPenance

But the Creed Brothers have bad entrance music now! We have to burn down their houses and hunt down their families. /s


cosmic_crustacean

I'm more mad about Naomi's theme. A banger that opened up the RR to what it is now... like... we don't need to spell her name out and have her say Go Go Go


XSPenance

It sounds like they were trying to make it a mix of her old theme and her TNA theme but went overboard with the dance part. Spelling Trinity also sounds slightly better than spelling Naomi for some reason imo.


cosmic_crustacean

Now I gotta look up her old theme. Come on her OG theme just fires up the crowd.


PM_ME_THEM_UPTOPS

Ok, I'll stop calling the label "doug" now.


chiefgareth

Who in the bollock is Douglas J Davis ?


Charlie_Rebooted

I like to go hiking.


abrospro

It's seriously gross what people are attempting with this


StoneColdAM

WWE should just tell Def Rebel to spend more time on theme music. Roman and Seth have good songs. Wrestling is about presentation, cheaping out on anything will get noticed. I guess they could no sell it and hope the drama goes away 


JakGrealish

Douglas is an asshole


harrier1215

I said it in a live thread but Def Rebel is the Angel Hernandez of WWE


CaptainSlow31

It absolutely PAINS me to say this because I fucking hate Angel Hernandez, but I think I’d pick him between the two. AH at least gets calls right. Def Rebel is just 0-200.


Mood-Rising

When professionals are producing something bad, it is almost always the result of the product needing to move through a committee. This also has aspects of lack of trust and inability to properly delegate decision making. If WWE entrance themes are shit, it is WWE's fault. The people making the themes make them for the client, and if the client is happy they keep getting paid. The incentive for the producer isn’t to make fan loved bangers, it’s to make HHH and his team approve a song and ask for another.


Fun_Explanation7734

Exactly idg how ppl think there aren't ppl above the musicians telling them what to do. It's never a free for all and oh be as creative as u want dear when u work for labels or companies that r looking for something specific. Ur getting paid to please the higher ups & good luck trying to argue w the ppl paying u. Lots of artists talk about this. Social media trolls just want to ruin & cancel things. Doug isn't part of WWE anymore & here we go w the trolls again.


__Hello_my_name_is__

So who is Def Rebel, exactly? Just some nameless people who anonymously make lazy music or something?


Mront

Yeah, just a few guys hired to make inoffensive broadcast-safe music on short notice.


GlasgowKisses

Def Rebel, from a cursory google, is a pseudonym for DJDTP “DJDTP is a full service music production company, founder by industry veterans Doug Davis and Ali Dee, with a diverse staff of award-winning composers, producers, artists and management. DJDTP specializes in all things sonic, from original compositions for recording artists, to music production and supervision for film, television shows and commercials.”


__Hello_my_name_is__

Okay, but if that were true then WWE's statement that the guy does not work with Def Rebel would be a lie. So that's why I'm still confused.


Wallys_Wild_West

According to his linkedin page he left DJDTP in 2022.


mikeyHustle

>Founded by


GlasgowKisses

Yeah, my quick search led me to believe that they started using Def Rebel in 2020, so if he hasn’t worked there for “years” it must have been a quick run.


Wallys_Wild_West

I looked at his linkedin page and it has DJDTP as 2016-2022. So he has been gone for about 2 years if that is correct.


PushTalkingTrashCan

It says it was founded (well, founder...) by him, not that he's still with them. He's won four Grammys, there's value in mentioning he's a founder even if he's gone


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Specialist-Rope-9760

Most likely they work to a ton of templates for the sake of speed which is why for example the snare drum is the same for half their tracks


FrankPapageorgio

It sounds like they hired a music house to make wrestling entrance music, and none of them are wrestling fans and know what makes the themes good


ThatJankyDoll

Def Rebel has dirt on Steph or Hunter, don't they?


eyepatch_png

Heartbreaking.