Thursday, February 2, 2017

The Original Epic… Sort of

Song - Raw Energy
Released - 1985
Primetime Usage - 1987-88
Featured Highlight - Bills @ Seahawks, 1988


I've already covered the previous epic-sounding songs from NFL Primetime—Olympic Action (1989-90), Crush (1991-95), and International Statement (1997-05)—as well as the "epic track that wasn't"—Performance (1990).  Now comes the original.  "Raw Energy," composed by the supergroup-esque combination of John Devereaux & David Reilly, sounds exactly like how one would expect a dramatic rock/orchestral fusion piece from the late '80s to sound.  That means it's a perfect accompaniment to high-profile football highlights.  Unfortunately, despite this truth, ESPN didn't really use the song that way.  It was played frequently in 1987 and especially in 1988, but it often accented games that just weren't that interesting or important.  In other words:  Raw Energy could've been a true "epic track," but its questionable implementation prevented it from quite getting to that level.

This week's highlight doesn't need much setup.  It's just the 1988 Bills winning one of many low-scoring games on their way to a surprisingly easy division title.  You will get to see the long-dead Seattle Kingdome, though.

Since this is the final week of the NFL season, my Primetime Music posts will get less frequent for a while.  One interesting note, however, is that I only have a handful of fully documented tracks left to post.  That means that, sometime during the offseason, I will begin posting unidentified songs (starting with the songs that have some sort of partial identification or unofficial names).  Keep an eye out for that, and feel free to let me and/or the public know a song's ID if you happen to know it.  Thanks for reading!