Hopeless Quest for the Best

Song - Quest for the Best 2

Artist(s) - David Reilly

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - Bruton BR 67/BRN 19 (Success)

Featured Highlight - Lions @ Buccaneers, 1989

 

It's the weekend before the biggest election in human history, and I know what everyone's looking for!  What?  New swing-state polls?  No, I don't have, uhhh… that… I do have classic NFL Primetime highlights, though!  After adding another Sonoton song last week, it also turns out we weren't done with David Reilly's Success album.  "Quest for the Best 2"  ("2" in this case means underscore) is the fifth song from that album to be used on Primetime.  It was only used 4 times that I'm aware of, putting it fourth among the five tracks (Inter Conference was used only twice).  It's a good piece, but its obvious similarities to Title Holder make it unsurprising that it was infrequent.  I think it was also a good call by John Colby to go with the underscore and not the base track.  Quest for the Best 1 marginalizes the bass too much, and that caused the song to lose the power it has in the underscore version.  Special thanks to GodzFire for ID'ing this track.

Some bad news about the Success album, however.  It seems the Universal Production Music site is no longer hosting the album.  The only streaming source I can find now is a YouTube post of the entire album linked above, though Quest for the Best 1 is posted all over that site thanks to its apparent use in Spongebob Squarepants.

And now for the highlight… In Week 6 of the 1989 season, a Bears' loss to the Oilers opened the door for the somehow 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to actually tie Chicago & Minnesota for first place in the NFC Central.  And all they had to do was beat an 0-5 Detroit Lions squad (with then-rookie Barry Sanders out) in the Big Sombrero, too!  Would they accomplish their seemingly simple quest!?  If you're familiar with the Bucs' "success" in that era, you can probably guess how that went…

Non-Highlight Tracks - The News Triplets

Song 1 - Action News

Artist(s) - Jean-Yves Rigo

Released - 1998

Primetime Usage - 1999-2000

Contained on - Kosinus KOS 47 (Very News)

Featured Highlight - Wild Card Preview:  Week 17, 1999

Song 2 - Very News

Artist(s) - Jean-Yves Rigo

Released - 1998

Primetime Usage - 1999-04

Contained on - Kosinus KOS 47 (Very News)
Featured Highlight - Sunday Wild Card Preview:  Wild Card Saturday, 1999

Song 3 - Network News

Artist(s) - Christian Poulet

Released - 1998

Primetime Usage - 2000

Contained on - Kosinus KOS 47 (Very News - original album release only)

Featured Highlight - Inside the Numbers:  Wild Card Saturday, 2000

In addition to Industrial News, there were three other "News" tracks from the same Kosinus album to get non-highlight duty on NFL Primetime.  "Action News" & "Very News," both by Jean-Yves Rigo, were disproportionately used in playoff episodes and, more specifically, for playoff matchup/game-time previews.  "Network News," on the other hand, was only used one time that I'm aware of:  the secondary Inside the Numbers segment that followed the Saints/Rams Wild Card Game in 2000 (NO's first-ever playoff win).  It's a weaker song than the other "News" tracks, though, so that was no big loss.

With four songs used on the show, that puts the album Very News in a tie for second for most Primetime tracks along with David Reilly's Success album from Bruton (Sonoton's Automotion 3 has five).  Action News & Very News are currently available on APM's streaming service (linked above).  Unfortunately, Network News is by Christian Poulet and has therefore been purged from streaming for whatever reason (just as with Industrial News).

Special thanks to Dopethrone for pointing Action News out to me, and to Tom Bombadil for posting the playoff episodes on YouTube that contain the Very News & Network News clips.

Unknown Song #20 - Forcefields

Song - Forcefields

Artist(s) - John Fiddy & "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1986 (2015 for Remix)

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 246 (Industrial Themes & Underscores, Vol. 5), Remix:  Sonoton Vanguards SCDV 510 (Documentary Enterprise)  

Featured Highlight - Cowboys @ Saints, 1989

 *SONG IDENTIFIED* - 9/22/21

Barring something unexpected, this will be the last highlight I post from the 1980s (there's actually another Unknown Song from 1988 I tried to post, but the video got copyright blocked by the NFL and I have no other clips with that song).  Unknown Song #20 is the only unidentified track from 1989 that I can confirm was used more than once.  It's also one of a very few 1989 music debuts that wasn't either from Sonoton or David Reilly's Success album (UPDATE:  it turns out it was from Sonoton, but from an LP that wasn't ported to a CD initially).  I would really like to find this one, since I think it's one of the best NFL Primetime pieces I haven't identified.

US #20's accompanying highlight wasn't an interesting game on its own merits, but it was an important milestone.  In this game in the Superdome, Jimmy Johnson learned very quickly that he had a total tear-down/rebuild on his hands with the Cowboys.  It was also the first regular-season game in franchise history not coached by Tom Landry.  The Saints, meanwhile, would miss the playoffs with a winning record for the second-straight season (they would ironically go 8-8 and make the playoffs in 1990).

The Original Epic… Sort of

Song - Raw Energy

Artist(s) - John Devereaux, David Reilly

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987-88

Contained on - KPMLP 1348 (Achievers), KPM 12 (Achievers)

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!

Title Holder

Song - Title Holder

Artist(s) - David Reilly

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - Bruton BR 67/BRN 19 (Success)

Featured Highlight - Packers @ Rams, 1989


The AFC Championship is this Sunday, and whoever wins that contest between the Steelers and the Patriots will set a new record for all-time Super Bowl appearances.   New England & Pittsburgh—along with Denver & Dallas—are currently tied with 8 trips to the big game, so the victor will be the lone NFL team with 9.  With that info in mind, it seems appropriate to post a song with the name "Title Holder."  Title Holder is the fourth & final NFL Primetime piece from David Reilly's Success album.  It has a more laid-back tempo than most, but that doesn't cause its intensity to suffer.  Also, like several tracks from this period, the slow intro & bridge sections were edited out by ESPN.  It fits well for games that involve good teams doing what they do best.

This week's highlight features the 1989 "Cardiac Pack" doing what they did best:  falling behind big and then surging back to make things close.  This clip also has what might be the worst line of Tom Jackson's stellar analyst career.  When describing notorious bust Tony Mandarich playing his first NFL game, Jackson says "He looks to be everything that's been advertised."  Even TJ can't get it right all the time.

Intra Conference

Song - Inter Conference

Artist(s) - David Reilly

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - Bruton BR 67/BRN 19 (Success)

Featured Highlight - Cardinals @ Lions, 1989


My third post from David Reilly's Success album is the one that was used least on NFL Primetime.  That's a shame, though, because "Inter Conference" is a punchy & fun track that effectively fits highlight videos.  At the beginning of 1989, both the Phoenix Cardinals & Detroit Lions were beginning major transitions.  The Cards were adjusting to life without longtime QB Neil Lomax (Lomax was still on the roster, but would never again suit up in a game that counted), while the Lions were beginning Wayne Fontes's & Mouse Davis's NFL experiment with the run & shoot offense.  The run & shoot wouldn't last more than a few years in Pontiac, but another major addition would pay long-term dividends.  This opening-week contest against Phoenix, the only highlight I've seen with Inter Conference, was also the first time Barry Sanders ever played in an NFL uniform (he sat out the preseason).  Sanders played pretty well, too, averaging nearly 8 yards-per-carry and scoring Detroit's only touchdown.  It wasn't quite enough for the Lions to win, but it was a great sign of things to come for Sanders and the franchise.  Enjoy the clip.

Epic, Part III

Song - Olympic Action

Artist(s) - David Reilly

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - Bruton BR 67/BRN 19 (Success)

Featured Highlight - Bills @ Oilers, 1989


My final post of the 2015 NFL Season features the earliest of NFL Primetime's "epic" themes.  "Olympic Action," much like its successors Crush & International Statement, typically accompanied the best and/or most important games during its two-year run on the show.  It's also my personal favorite of the three since it has higher quality instrumentation than the former and is a little more subtle than the latter (it would be hard to be less subtle than International Statement).  Olympic Action is the second of four Primetime tracks from David Reilly's Success album (in an earlier post, I erroneously indicated there were three) that contains most of the new 1989-90 additions that were not attached to the Sonoton label.  The same two links for the album are listed above.

Featuring Olympic Action is an unusually long & entertaining NFL Primetime clip.  The 1988 Buffalo Bills that began Marv Levy's run of success were a defense-first team, but the following year they gained the K-Gun-offense identity that best defines their subsequent Super Bowl years.  Their biggest shootout of 1989 came in the Astrodome against an Oilers squad that oddly hadn't played in their own building for 9 consecutive games including the preseason (I guess their home preseason game against the Dolphins wasn't in the Astrodome).  Lots of big, crazy plays in this one…

Annoying Delays

Song - The Race is On

Artist(s) - David Reilly

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - Bruton BR 67/BRN 19 (Success)

Featured Highlight - Bills @ Falcons, 1989


I apologize for the three week delay in posts here.  I ordered three FirstCom "A" discs that are not streamable on their website off eBay and my plan was to wait until I had listened to them before posting again (in case they had Primetime songs on them).  I received two of them a week+ ago (FC-A35 Hip-Hop Pop and FC-A38 House Jams), but neither had any relevant tracks.  Despite the fact that I ordered it from the same seller, the other (FC-A43 Action) has yet to arrive for some reason.  If that has a Primetime track, I'll post it ASAP, but—for now—here's something else…

"The Race is On" is a pretty generic '80s rocker, but it's still catchy and fits football highlights well.  It was composed by David Reilly, the son of famous harmonica player Tommy Reilly, and is contained on the Reilly-only Bruton album Success.  I don't have much else to say about the song, but the album is a top-notch production music entry and two of its other songs were used on NFL Primetime around the same time.  To explain the album numbers listed above, the "BR 67" code is for the CD version while "BRN 19" is for the vinyl version.

I don't have a particularly important highlight with this song, but at least I found one entertaining one.  In 1989, the 6-2 Buffalo Bills visited Fulton County Stadium and the 2-6 perennial doormat Falcons in a potential snoozefest.  Instead, what viewers got was a back-and-forth fist-clencher with a Paul McFadden 50-yard field goal sealing the upset.  Unfortunately for the still-red-helmeted Falcons, though, that would be their final win of the season and Marion Campbell would lose his job 3 weeks later.