Main Title,[1] usually referred to as "Rock the Dragon", is the theme song heard during the opening and closing sequences of the FUNimation/Saban produced Ocean Group dub of Dragon Ball Z episodes 1 to 53 and the FUNimation dub of episodes 54 to 92. The song appeared on the 1996 album Dragon Ball Z: Original USA Television Soundtrack. It is also heard in the opening credits for the North American version of the video game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai.
The opening sequence featured scenes from Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, and the Saiyan Saga.
Composition
The accredited composers are Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahehi (an alias for Haim Saban, founder of Saban Entertainment). Ron Wasserman (who also sang the "Go Go Power Rangers" theme) is believed to have provided vocals. When asked about the song, FUNimation president Gen Fukunaga said "It was done in Los Angeles [By Saban] and it's a very distinctive sound".[2]
History
The song was originally featured in the Ocean Group dub, produced while Ocean Studios dubbed the series under a joint venture between Saban Entertainment and FUNimation, however when Saban ended this deal, FUNimation could no longer afford Ocean Studios' work and thus began dubbing the series using an in-house team, and soon replaced Saban's soundtrack with music by Bruce Faulconer and his team of musicians.
On peer-to-peer music sharing sites, the song is often falsely credited to the nu-metal group Linkin Park. Additionally, even after FUNimation Entertainment started doing their own dub version and music, the instrumental end-credit version of the song still played over the end credits when the Frieza Saga was shown on Cartoon Network.
The 2013 Ocean dub box set Dragon Ball Z: Rock the Dragon Edition was named after the song.
Lyrics
[Intro]
Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon Ball Z!
[Verse 1]
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Come get me!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Come get me!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Come get me!
[Hook - instrumental]
Dragon Ball Z!
[Verse 2]
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Dragon Ball Z! Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Come get me!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon, Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Come get me!
[Hook - instrumental]
[Outro]
Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon Ball Z!
Dragon Ball Z!
Trivia
- This opening has footage of Turles holding Gohan's face, as he morphs into a Great Ape. Ironically, this was censored by FUNimation and Saban when Ocean dubbed The Tree of Might in 1997.
- The theme for the AB Group produced Ocean dub of episodes 108 to 276 recycled a substantial amount of footage from this opening.
- Ian James Corlett (Goku's original English voice actor) can be heard doing two power up screams for scenes from The World's Strongest in this opening. When the film was eventually dubbed into English in 1998, Corlett had been replaced by Peter Kelamis as Goku.
See also
- Dragonball Z (song)
- End Title