William Tell Overture

Song - William Tell Overture (Finale)

Artist(s) - Gioachino Rossini

Released - 1995 (HFML version), 1829 (original)

Primetime Usage - 2000

Contained on - Hollywood Film Music HFML 8.4 (Classical, Vol. 1)
Featured Highlight - Chargers @ Rams, 2000

Occasionally, NFL Primetime would—as a novelty—use familiar songs one time only because they were  appropriate for a particular game.  One such instance was the previously posted use of two classic Sam Spence tracks for the 2000 matchup between the Raiders & Steelers.  Another example was the show's use of the recognizable final movement of Rossini's William Tell Overture, also known as the theme of The Lone Ranger, for the St. Louis Rams' beatdown of the San Diego Chargers earlier the same year.  The 2000 Rams had a noticeably worse defense than their championship team from the year before, but their offense was arguably even better (this was also the year the Rams changed their secondary color from yellow to gold).  As a result, allowing 31 points to a San Diego team that would finish 1-15 was completely overshadowed by an unstoppable offensive explosion led by Chris Berman's personal "Lone Ranger," Kurt Warner.

Special thanks to SW561 for posting the original version of this highlight clip, and to Godzfire for identifying the specific album this version of the William Tell Overture was on.  For some reason, the NFL copyright bots really liked this clip, so I had to edit two 10 second portions into audio-only segments.  One of those was oddly the first no-music segment when the Chargers fumbled a snap.  I don't really know why the NFL was focused so hard on that moment, but whatever…