The Big Replay Reversal

Song - The Big Push (1)

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

Released - 1984

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - Sonoton SON 213 (Success Story), Sonoton SCD 019 (Corporate Fanfares/Success Story)
Featured Highlight - Bears @ Packers, 1989

 

It turns out we weren't done with the Sonoton era, after all.  "The Big Push," by the familiar pair of the late John Fiddy (he died in 2017) and Sonoton founder Gerhard Narholz under one of his common aliases, was used twice during the 1989 season of NFL Primetime.  Like a lot of infrequent Primetime songs I've mentioned recently, it's a piece that doesn't quite fit sports highlights.  It sounds more like something scored to fit the shot-by-shot particulars of a war-movie battle sequence or a corporate promo video than something that would work here.  John Colby mitigated this problem somewhat by axing the slow, quiet intro, but it's still apparent why this track wasn't used much.

The Big Push may have only been attached to a grand total of two NFL Primetime highlights, but it did get one of the most memorable games of the 1989 season.  The Green Bay Packers, who had lost 8 straight to Chicago coming in (Chicago's longest winning streak in the history of the rivalry), edged out the Bears at Lambeau after a controversial replay reversal that wiped out an illegal-forward-pass penalty on Packers' QB Don "The Majik Man" Majkowski.  This result, along with several others, led to Green Bay earning the "Cardiac Pack" nickname that would define their 1989 season.

Special thanks to GodzFire for identifying The Big Push.  Also, the video posted below is a whopping 6 minutes and 14 seconds, the third longest I've posted only behind the infamous Points War (Theighs Mon) video and New Order (the actual highlight is longer for The Big Push than New Order, though).  So… enjoy!

Unknown Songs #18, #19, and #20 Identified

I'm lumping these three together because, as it turns out, they're all on the same album!  Or, at least, they were on the same album initially.  US #18 is "Team Purpose," US #19 is "Constructions," and US #20 is "Forcefields."  All three songs were composed by Sonoton regular John Fiddy and Sonoton founder Gerhard Narholz (under the familiar alias "Sammy Burdson"), and they were originally found together on Sonoton LP SON 246 (Industrial Themes & Underscores, Vol. 5).  I never encountered these tracks during my original Sonoton listening run several years ago, though, because they were not ported to CDs or streaming until much later.  Team Purpose & Constructions eventually transitioned to CD on SCD 442 (Corporate Classics) in 2000, while the original version of Forcefields has never—to my knowledge—made an official move to digital.  There is, however, a remix of Forcefields included on Sonoton Vanguards SCDV 510, which was released in 2015.  The remix isn't a whole lot different; the synth rythym ostinato (prominent at the beginning) is louder, and the tempo is a smidge slower.

I don't know of an official source for the original version of Forcefields, though you could probably find an LP rip of SON 246 if you look hard enough.  The other album links (including the Forcefields remix) are included in the original song posts linked below.  Special thanks to Craig-UK for finding all of this.

A mini-milestone was also achieved with these three identifications:  the Sonoton Era of NFL Primetime music (1989-90) has been fully identified!  At least, I think it has.  I haven't seen every single episode of the show from those two seasons, but every song from every highlight I have seen is ID'd.

LINK - Team Purpose
LINK - Constructions
LINK - Forcefields

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).

Unknown Song #19 - Constructions

Song - Constructions

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

Released - 1986

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 246 (Industrial Themes & Underscores, Vol. 5), Sonoton SCD 42 (Corporate Classics)  

Featured Highlight - Browns @ Steelers, 1989

 *SONG IDENTIFIED* - 9/22/21

Here's the other unidentified one-off song from Week 1 of '89.  It's a classical-rock fusion piece, much like Unknown Song #18, but leans a little more toward the edgy rock side.  To accompany Unknown Song #19, I'm posting another Cleveland beatdown of the Steelers.  It's really remarkable the Steelers ended up making the playoffs after this humiliation.  Chuck Noll definitely earned his Coach of the Year award with this team.

As always:  if you can ID this song (or any other Unknown Songs on this blog), don't hesitate to contact me.

Unknown Song #18 - Team Purpose

Song - Team Purpose

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

Released - 1986

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 246 (Industrial Themes & Underscores, Vol. 5), Sonoton SCD 42 (Corporate Classics) 

Featured Highlight - Bengals @ Bears, 1989

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 9/22/21

OK, I am finally through 1988 on this unknown-song run.  That means I can actually post some highlights with decent video & audio quality.  Unknown Song #18 is a piece that may have only been used once on NFL Primetime.  The only highlight I have with it is from Week 1 of 1989, and Week 1s seem to be popular receptacles for single-use Primetime tracks.  It's a pretty good song, too, assuming you're looking for accompaniment that is laid back and not real dramatic.  Tagging along with US #18 is a comeback win for Chicago in a battle between the previous season's #1-seeds.  This high-profile result wouldn't amount to much, however, as both the Bengals & Bears would miss the playoffs in '89.

Sonoton Finale

Song - Never Give Up

Artist(s) - "John Epping" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 295/Sonoton SCD 17 (Robot Couture)

Featured Highlight - Dolphins @ Chiefs, 1989

I'm gonna make this one brief, but "Never Give Up" is—to my knowledge—the only NFL Primetime track from Sonoton I haven't yet posted.  The song, by Sonoton founder Gerhard Narholz (under one of his more common aliases), sounds like a lighter & happier version of Xenon.  It has similar instrumentation, anyway.  It's accompanying highlight features Dan Marino's Dolphins getting run over by "The Nigerian Nightmare,"  so it should be quite enjoyable if you're a Chiefs fan.

Leaders

Song - Leaders

Artist(s) - Christoph Narholz

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - SON 302 (Leaders, Vol. 2), Sonoton SCD 14 (Leaders 1&2)

Featured Highlight - Bengals @ Raiders, 1990


With the John Colby marathon now over, it was only a matter of time before I'd get back to posting Sonoton stuff.  "Leaders," the only known NFL Primetime track composed by Gerhard Narholz's son, Christoph, uses much the same instrumentation as the other Sonoton songs I've identified.  It is a bit repetitive & bland, comparatively, but ESPN nonetheless used it quite frequently throughout Primetime's Sonoton era (1989-90).  In fact, Leaders is the only Sonoton piece to be used in all eight '89/'90 NFL Primetime episodes I've logged.

The accompanying highlight for Leaders serves as eerie foreshadowing.  As the preview thumbnail shows, Bo Jackson ran for 117 yards on just 8 carries in the Raiders' 1990 regular-season contest against the Bengals.  Jackson also had a breakaway run where he was surprisingly tackled from behind by a Cincinnati defender that kinda previewed his career-ending hip injury against the Bengals in the playoffs later that season.  Just like the following postseason meeting, though, the Raiders came away with a double-digit victory.  Also interesting about 1990 is that it is still, to date, the last time the Cincinnati Bengals won a playoff game (they beat the Jets in the Wild Card).

Overall Winner

Song - Overall Winner

Artist(s) - "John Epping" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 290 (Leaders Vol. 1), Sonoton SCD 14 (Leaders 1&2)

Featured Highlight - *EDIT* - Bills @ Dolphins, 1989


The 1989 San Francisco 49ers were arguably the greatest NFL team of the modern era.  They went 14-2, 10 of their 14 wins were by double digits, and they won their three playoff games by an average score of 42-9.  For a team that dominant, a song with the title "Overall Winner" is appropriate.  Gerhard Narholz's synth-filled fanfare is bright & loud and perfectly fits a champion from the 1980s.  It's also easily accessible to those that want to listen thanks to Sonoton's online service (linked above).  Overall Winner wasn't played that much on NFL Primetime—2 highlights that I know of early in the '89 season—but the games that used it were pretty big ones.  One was a Bills/Dolphins showdown from Week 1, while the other—shown below—featured the aforementioned 49ers travelling to Veterans Stadium to take on an Eagles team that was considered one of their chief NFC-title threats.  What followed was perhaps the finest game of Joe Montana's (or anyone else's) career:  428 yards and 5 TD passes on just 34 attempts despite being sacked 8 times and being hit several more.  Grab a snack or something, because this entertaining highlight is lengthy even for the 28-team era.

*EDIT* - The NFL copyright blocked the 49ers/Eagles video because of a 13-second play match (Rice's last touchdown, specifically).  This is the first time this sort of thing has happened to one of my videos in ≈40 posts, so hopefully it won't happen again.  Here's the aforementioned Buffalo/Miami matchup from Week 1 as a replacement.

FOOTBALL!!!!!!

Song - Leading from the Front

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

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - SON 234 (Success Story Vol. 2), Sonoton SCD 34 (Success Story Vol. 5&2)

Featured Highlight - Saints @ Buccaneers, 1989


In retrospect, it makes sense that NFL Primetime stopped using a lot of the tracks from the Sonoton music library after a couple years.  It was the '90s, most of the Sonoton stuff was super synth heavy, and '80s synth was soon to be rendered passé with the rise of the grunge movement.  There's one Sonoton track, however, that stands out among the rest in begging the question:  "why in the hell would they stop using that?"  "Leading from the Front," by the familiar pair of Fiddy & Burdson/Narholz, screams "FOOTBALL!!!!!!" more than perhaps any other song used in the entire history of NFL Primetime.  It has a decidedly more American—even "southern-fried"—sound than the Euro-themed tracks that dominate the Sonoton pantheon and, as a result, it works well for just about any NFL game ESPN would wish to highlight.  It's just a shame they ditched Leading from the Front after just two years on Primetime because I'm sure it would've been regarded on the level of International Statement & Powersurge if it had lasted to the more popular era of the show.

Fitting the style of Leading from the Front, here's a tough, hard-hittin', quarterback-injurin' highlight featuring two southern teams.  Enjoy this, and enjoy the 2016 NFL season!

Unimpressive Dominance

Song - Dominant Factor

Artist(s) - "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 299 (Ideas from the Creative Factory, Vol. 1), Sonoton SCD 15 (Ideas-Decision Makers/Sales Force)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Falcons, 1989


For my final entry before it's time to start the 2016 NFL season (I'm hoping to post one song per week then), here's the other NFL Primetime track from Sonoton SCD 15.  "Dominant Factor" is a song that probably would've worked better for something like "Inside the Numbers" or "Game Balls" than actual highlights—it's just too neutral and lacking in edge & emotion.  Still, it does have some synthy charm & ESPN saw fit to use it at least a few times during the 1989 season.  Unfortunately, none of the games I have with Dominant Factor are real interesting.  In fact, the most interesting one I've got is another Rams/Falcons game from the period where Deion Sanders was literally the only worthwhile thing to watch in Fulton County Stadium.

Top Decision Maker

Song - Top Decision Maker

Artist(s) - "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - SON 299 (Ideas from the Creative Factory, Vol. 1), Sonoton SCD 15 (Ideas-Decision Makers/Sales Force)

Featured Highlight - Jets @ Dolphins, 1989


By request, I'm identifying this moody gem from NFL Primetime's Sonoton era.  "Top Decision Maker," by Gerhard Narholz under an oft-used pseudonym, is a perfect example of the style & instrumentation used by NFL Primetime from 1989-90.  The heavy synth, though not football-like on the surface, works well with games with less-than-sunny skies…  or less-than-sunny play on the field.  I guess it's kinda like Neck & Neck in that regard, though Neck & Neck hits that tone a bit harder than Top Decision Maker.

In light of recent tragic events at ESPN, I thought it appropriate to post a highlight that featured John Saunders doing the commentary.  Here's him presenting the Jets and their shootout victory over an uncharacteristically mediocre edition of Shula's Dolphins.

Superdome Soccer

Song - Q X

Artist(s) - Mel Dean, "Jean-Claude Madonne" (John Fiddy), & "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1990

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - Sonoton SCD 48 (Spirit of Enterprise)

Featured Highlight - Steelers @ Saints, 1990


"Q X" is an NFL Primetime track that is as obscure in its usage as it is short in its name.  Only used in 1990, and not very often even within that season, Q X is a difficult song to pin down in terms of mood.  It's kinda standoffish, kinda dramatic, kinda neutral, and kinda tense.  As a result, it's quite ambivalent and doesn't naturally fit a whole lot of football games.  One oddball game it does fit, however, is the one included below.  The Steelers & Saints played an offensively challenged bout in the Superdome in 1990 that ultimately came down to a kicking contest between the eventual top-two scorers in NFL history:  Morten Andersen & Gary Anderson.  Gary did miss one of his field-goal attempts, but he got twice as many tries so his Steelers prevailed.  Have fun!

The Original Buffalo Bills Song

Song - Nucleonics

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

Released - 1989

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - SON 314 (Frameworks, Vol. 1), Sonoton SCD 26 (Frameworks 1 & 2)

Featured Highlight - Cardinals @ Bills, 1990


Nucleonics, by aliased Sonoton regulars John Fiddy & Gerhard Narholz, is one of the more unusual music offerings from NFL Primetime.  It doesn't sound anything like a football song at first, but it grows on the listener and makes itself fit in subtle ways.  The track slowly rises in tension and works best for games where two teams spend much of the contest feeling each other out.  Nucleonics was also used a disproportionate amount of time for the Buffalo Bills during their initial Super Bowl run in 1990 (a minimum of 6 games, perhaps more).  It didn't get a long-term exclusive "contract" with the Bills like Powersurge, though, as Nucleonics was never used again after the 1990 season.

Like many of Buffalo's 1990 games, this track's featured highlight wasn't real down to the wire.  A weak Cardinals team in Joe Bugel's first season came to Rich Stadium and got whipped.  Still, there were some interesting plays and even more interesting punts.

Automotion 3, Part 4 - Satellitic Venture

Song - Satellitic Venture

Artist(s) - "John Epping" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - SON 292 (Automotion 3), Sonoton SCD 16 (Automotion 3)

Featured Highlight - Bengals @ Browns, 1989


This penultimate post from Automotion 3 features another work by Gerhard Narholz alias John Epping.  "Satellitic Venture" is more subdued and moody than the other Primetime pieces on this album, and seems to work best for cloudy, cold, and dreary games that are often seen late in the NFL season.  What better fit for this theme than a December edition of the "Battle of Ohio?"  Oh, there's one more thing to note…  This song can be heard in the background of at least a couple episodes of the Tim & Eric/John C. Reilly creation, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.  Tim & Eric are known for their arbitrary humor, but hearing the same song on both NFL Primetime & one of their shows is still random even by their standards.

Automotion 3, Part 2 - Priority & the Alias Master

Song - Priority

Artist(s) - "John Epping" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - SON 292 (Automotion 3), Sonoton SCD 16 (Automotion 3)

Featured Highlight - Saints @ Lions, 1989


The very first track on Automotion 3, "Priority," has much more of a hard-rock feel than the rest of the album despite its heavy synth instrumentation.  It's not anywhere near my favorite NFL Primetime song, but it works well for games that seem to have more of a friendly or emotionally neutral context.

Something I didn't know when I wrote yesterday's post:  it turns out Gerhard Narholz has a bunch of aliases beyond just Norman Candler.  John Epping is one of those pseudonyms, as is Sammy Burdson (who is credited on several other Primetime tracks that will be added to this blog later).  Other production music names I recognize that are actually the elder Narholz are Jim Harbourg, Mac Prindy, and Otto Sieben.  The entire known list is listed in the Discogs link above.

The featured highlight with Priority is the Lions/Saints game from 1989.  In this contest, New Orleans effectively threw away a shot at the playoffs thanks to a scorching 248 receiving yards from former USFL'er Richard Johnson.  Johnson had over 1800 yards and 14 TDs in his two seasons with the Lions (1989-90), yet only had 1 catch for 5 yards in his NFL career outside of that.  This video really shows how dangerous he was at his peak.

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.