The Motivating Factor

Song - The Motivating Factor

Artist(s) - Greg Wardson

Released - 1984

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Aircraft ACL001 (Jet Stream)
Featured Highlight - Rams @ Eagles, 1988

It's probably good this one wasn't used much, either.  "The Motivating Factor" isn't a bad song on its own, but it's too filled with solo/bridge segments to really work as a sports highlight track.  It's contained on the first(?) album from the relatively obscure Aircraft Music Library.  The song's composer, Greg Wardson, is literally credited for nothing else on Discogs besides a few songs on this album.  There is (was?) a professor named Greg Wardson at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but I can't be sure he's the same guy.  Anyway, special thanks to GodzFire for getting this track identified.

There were a whopping two highlights to choose from for The Motivating Factor, and only one of those exclusively used that song.  Ironically, the video that used a second song was the best choice.  The Rams/Eagles highlight from Week 10 of 1988 was unusually long (about 3:30), but—compared to the other option—it had better video quality and better audio balancing.  It also showcased a more interesting and more important game, and it played through The Motivating Factor in its entirety before switching to the Fast Man underscore for the final minute.

Instant Replay

Song - Instant Replay

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS2 (Sports 2)
Featured Highlight - Rams @ Raiders, 1988

 

Godzfire recently uncovered a few NFL Primetime episodes on YouTube from the late '80s.  Among them was the Week 9, 1987 episode (or Week 10 if you include the strike-canceled week from that season) that was posted by a classic news/commercials/etc. account named ewjxn a month or so ago.  I believe this was the first 1987 episode newly posted on YouTube since Andy Provin posted Week 11 several years ago.  There were also two episodes from 1988 that were embedded at the end of a couple Patriots' game broadcasts from the Classic Pats Games+ account.  The first of those episodes (Week 3) included yet another Musikos song that I hadn't previously heard on a Primetime highlight.  "Instant Replay" is contained on the enigmatic Musikos Sports 2 album, and—just like every other song on Musikos's releases—the artist isn't credited.  I figure it's probably William Soden, but I can't be sure.  At any rate, that now makes 10 Primetime tracks that come from the Musikos Sports series (and I wouldn't be surprised if there's more).

Accompanying Instant Replay is the third-ever "Battle of L.A." between the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Raiders.  The Jim Everett-led Rams prevailed by 5 points over the Raiders, who were in their only full season under future Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan, in the Coliseum.  Special thanks to Godzfire for finding these late-'80s NFL Primetime episodes and immediately ID'ing Instant Replay after watching them.

Non-Highlight Track (New Primetime) - Hardline

Song - Hardline
Artist(s) - Scott Patrick Anderson
Released - 2013
Primetime Usage - 2021
Contained on - NFL Music Library NFL-0061 (Driving Force 5)
Featured Highlight - Anthony "Booger" McFarland NFC Championship Analysis, 2021

 

A couple weeks ago, I noted that Unknown Song #58 (Here We Go) had been identified.  That song was used during Keyshawn Johnson's analysis segment of the 2021 NFC Championship.  Shortly after that, Booger McFarland did his own analysis piece for the same game.  The accompanying clip for that section used a track called "Hardline," composed by Scott Patrick Anderson and contained on the 61st. release (not counting the old NFL LPs) of the NFL Films library.  Hardline was actually identified by Godzfire (using the RecognizeSong bot on reddit) about 6 months ago, but—due to busyness and whatnot—I never got around to posting about it until now.  Godzfire also ID'd another non-highlight track from the same NFL Primetime episode that I'll write about next week.

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…

 

Unknown Song #58 (New Primetime) - Here We Go

Song - Here We Go
Artist(s) - Jeff Coates, Billy Handsome
Released - 2005
Primetime Usage - 2021
Contained on - West One Music WOM 059 (Free-Running)
Featured Highlight - Keyshawn Johnson NFC Championship Analysis, 2021

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 11/10/23

Unknown Song #58 is a one-off piece used for a highlight clip that accompanied Keyshawn Johnson's analysis of the Rams/49ers NFC Championship game from 2021.  It sounds like a generic & repetitive grunge-guitar track, so it's probably no loss that the highlight clip is only 20 seconds long.  Anyway, this is the last Unknown Song post I can make at the moment.  The only unknown stuff that I haven't posted are non-highlight songs from 2022, but nobody (to my knowledge) has posted 2022 episodes of NFL Primetime online anywhere so I can't cut any videos from them.  There are at least a few more known songs that I haven't posted yet, however, so stay tuned for those.

Unknown Song #42 - Liberation Day

Song - Liberation Day

Artist(s) - Paul Foss

Released - 1998

Primetime Usage - 2000-01
Contained on - ATMOS 111 (Impact)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Eagles, 2001


*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/6/19

OK, back to the Unknown Songs.  Unknown Song #42 is similar to Bad Company & Showdown, but was used less often on the show.  It has the same gritty, hard-hitting, rock/orchestral fusion style as those other two tracks, though.  Before I introduce the highlight clip, I should apologize for the low video quality.  I recall hearing US #42 multiple times way back when these Primetime episodes were current, but this is the only clip I could find online of it (that's also why I'm unsure of the exact years it was used).  In this video, the St. Louis Rams began their final Super Bowl run of the Kurt Warner era by edging out a good Eagles team in accursed Veterans Stadium.  The audio quality is fine, so you don't have to worry about hearing the song.

**EDIT** - It was apparently used a handful of times in 2000 & 2001.  Thanks to Robert Enriquez on youtube for this information.

Unknown Song #16 - Grid Iron Great

Song - Grid Iron Great

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS2 (Sports 2)
Featured Highlight - Chargers @ Rams, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/1/23

If you like a healthy, even mix of synth, brass, & hard rock, then this track's for you.  I don't have much else to say about the song, but the highlight is kinda fun to watch.  Well, it's not so fun if you're a Rams fan.  The Rams were a pretty good team overall in 1988 and the Chargers weren't (Al Saunders would be fired at the end of the season), but San Diego caught L.A. here in the middle of a 4-game losing streak.  Charger QB Mark "The Pickle" Vlasic got hurt part way through and Mark Malone—of all people—came in and shredded the defense while Ram defenders couldn't stop running into each other.

Total News

Song - Total News

Artist(s) - Tom Blades

Released - 1996

Primetime Usage - 1997-05

Contained on - ATMOS 81 (Current Affairs)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Eagles, 2002


I finally found one of the missing staples from the later years of NFL Primetime.  "Total News" created a good balance of laid-back fun & energetic tension that saved a lot of otherwise unimpressive game highlights—it's no wonder they used it a lot over the final 9 seasons of the show.  Following Leading Edge, Total News is both the second Primetime track discovered in the Atmosphere library and the second one composed by Tom Blades.  I am currently searching this library to hear if there's more.

Oh, and special thanks to Josh Ochs on youtube.  There's a 1998 Washington Capitals broadcast video posted by Dan Conroy that periodically uses this song.  I asked if anyone knew the song in the comments, and Josh Ochs ID'd it for me.

As for Total News's highlight, here's one of the worst played games of all time…

*SIDE NOTE* - Universal Production Music revamped their whole website a few days ago and all of the album URLs have changed.  It's now universalproductionmusic.com instead of unippm.com and I have fixed all the links on this website to reflect the change.  The "UNIPPM" blog label has also been replaced by "Universal."

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.

Epic, Part Zero

Song - Performance

Artist(s) - John Devereaux

Released - 1987

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - KPMLP 1376 (Performance), KPM 14 (Performance)

Featured Highlight - Saints @ Rams, 1990


"The 'epic track that wasn't," is probably what you could call "Performance."  It definitely does have the feel of the other epic-type songs on NFL Primetime (International Statement, Olympic Action, Crush), but it was only used briefly (perhaps just once) and not for a game that anyone would've considered crucial or memorable.  It is a little more boring & repetitive than those other tracks, so maybe that was a factor.  Or it could just be that Performance got lost in the shuffle.  Whatever the reason, I don't think it's a big deal that the song didn't last.  It was written by prolific KPM composer John Devereaux.  There's surprisingly little info about Devereaux online, but he has a lot of good stuff on KPM.  He also composed the song, "The Nightmare Begins," which was apparently used multiple times on Spongebob Squarepants.

Speaking of being lost in the shuffle, there were the 1990s Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams.  We all recall the cinderella Kurt Warner 1999 season, but what many don't remember is that the Rams had the worst record of any NFL franchise over the first 9 years of the decade (the Bengals ended up winning that honor).  They also tried to fix languish fan interest by moving the team to Missouri, a move that fits the definition of "mixed results" given that the Rams are now back in L.A. just 21 years later.  Anyway…  this decline started in 1990, when a team that had gone to the NFC Championship the year before went an unceremonious 5-11.  The only clip I have with "Performance" features them blowing a lead at home against a middling Saints team.

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.

Duran Duran Meets Phantasy Star

Song - Roadhog

Artist(s) - Trevor Bastow

Released - 1987

Primetime Usage - 1991-92

Contained on - MusicHouse MHI4 (Telefax)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Giants, 1991


Just because the '80s were over doesn't mean their sound was dead.  In 1991, NFL Primetime began using perhaps the most heavily "eighties" sounding piece ever made.  This song, called "Roadhog," took punchy synth to a new level and often accompanied longer highlights on the show thanks to its full three-minute duration.  For those that are fans of either Duran Duran (especially their earlier, "Fab Five" era stuff) or Sega's Phantasy Star sci-fi RPG series, the style of Roadhog should be quite refreshing for you.

Roadhog was written by the late Trevor Bastow.  Trevor, along with his late brother Geoff, were two of the top stalwarts for both Bruton & MusicHouse from the 1970s-1990s.  Geoff, a disciple of the great Giorgio Moroder, was also known for being the producer behind the briefly popular synth-disco act known as K.I.D. in the early '80s.  Trevor was never a major figure in popular music, as far as I know, but I personally find his large library of production music to be even better than his brother's.  Unfortunately, Roadhog seems to be the only Primetime track composed by either of the two Bastow brothers.

The featured game highlight for Roadhog isn't the greatest, but it's still fairly entertaining.  The Rams, in John Robinson's final season, went up to the Meadowlands and handed defending Super Bowl champion Jeff Hostetler his first-ever loss as a starting QB.

Race to Midnight

Song - Race to Midnight (underscore)

Artist(s) - Chris Gibbons, Pete Q. Harris

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - Bruton BR 32/BRG 39 (Golden Vision)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Falcons, 1990


I don't have much to say about this one, so I'll make it quick.  The underscore of "Race to Midnight" is dark, bass-heavy, and moody, but it's a little too repetitive and lacking in direction to work for anything beyond accompaniment.  It does have one unique quality, however, in that it's (AFAIK) the only NFL Primetime song to only use the underscore and not the base track (there were at least 3 pieces that had both the base & underscore used in 1987).  John Colby made the right choice with that, too, since the base track just has a tinny, low-quality synth trumpet added over the top.  I don't know much about the artists, but at least Pete Harris has a website (linked above).

For some reason, all three highlights I have with Race to Midnight are late-season games involving the Atlanta Falcons.  The Falcons weren't very good in Jerry Glanville's first year, so that makes the featured video options rather meager.  At least you get to see Deion Sanders…

Appropriate Titling

Song - Action Scene

Artist(s) - Mary Therese Matthews, Sally Anne Griffith, John Bähler, Matthew Muhoberac

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987

Contained on - FirstCom A2 (Intense), FirstCom UT105 (New Beginning)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Oilers, 1987


Sometimes a song title fits the music perfectly.  "Action Scene," though it doesn't have the most original name, is a track that instantly brings to mind imagery of a hard-hitting & breakneck nature.  It fits so well with sports highlights, in fact, that it's really a shame NFL Primetime only used this in its initial year.  Action Scene was composed by the same quartet that brought us Strategy, and is the third & final NFL Primetime song from FC-A2 to be profiled here.

In the opening week of 1987, the L.A. Rams (still with Eric Dickerson for a few more games) went to Houston as a solid favorite to start 1-0.  Instead, the Oilers came back from a 16-3 deficit to pull the upset and begin their first decent season since Bud Adams stupidly fired Bum Phillips several years earlier.  Gayle Gardner, who left ESPN partway through the 1987 season, presents the highlights here: