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.

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!

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.