Monday, December 14, 2015

Automotion 3, Part 1 - Mission to Future & the Sonoton Explosion

Song - Mission to Future
Artist(s) - Jeff Newmann
Released - 1988
Primetime Usage - 1989-90
Contained on - SON 292 (Automotion 3), Sonoton SCD 16 (Automotion 3)
Featured Highlight - Colts @ Patriots, 1989


In 1989, the behind-the-scenes staff at ESPN apparently decided to throw out all of the music used during the first two seasons of NFL Primetime and bring in a clean slate (a couple songs from 1987 would eventually return).  The vast majority of these new tracks came from a German production music library called Sonoton, which was founded by Gerhard Narholz (a.k.a. "Norman Candler") and his wife, Rotheide, in 1965.  Their eldest son, Christoph, composed a Primetime song that I haven't yet displayed while the middle child, Gregor, is also a prominent composer.  Anyway, Sonoton started putting their stuff on CDs in 1988 and ESPN took full advantage a year later.  The Sonoton-heavy period on NFL Primetime only lasted 2-3 years, but it was a wonderful era of the show if you love synth.

As I mentioned last week, one of these albums—Automotion 3—actually contains a full five tracks that were used on NFL Primetime.  "Mission to Future," by Jeff Newmann, is the first of these tracks to be featured here, and it's a nice & energetic-yet-laid-back composition that fits football well.  You'll also notice a rather "Final Countdown"-ish segment in the middle of the song.  Accompanying Mission to Future is a quirky highlight featuring two 1989 also-rans.  It's also the second highlight I've posted on this blog to show Doug Flutie.  Have fun, and there's still a lot more to come this week.



3 comments:

  1. I can't believe it!!! After all these years...this song...outstanding. Ever since I taped an episode of Primetime in 1990, I have been in search of this song...and here it is at long last. Your site is an invaluable resource for this great music. Thank you for sharing...this is simply awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't believe it!!! After all these years...this song...outstanding. Ever since I taped an episode of Primetime in 1990, I have been in search of this song...and here it is at long last. Your site is an invaluable resource for this great music. Thank you for sharing...this is simply awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete