Grand Prix/At the Buzzer (Higher Quality!) - Super Bowl LX Preview!

Song 1 - Grand Prix

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Seahawks @ Patriots, 1988

 

Song 2 - At the Buzzer

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight -Seahawks @ Patriots, 1988

 

 

 

In getting ready to make a post for this week, I wanted to find a early NFL Primetime clip with decent audio quality that also featured the two teams playing in Super Bowl LX.  Lo & behold, I found one!  This clip is actually long enough to contain two different songs, both (probably) William Soden specials that ended up on those infamously elusive Musikos CDs (LINK1, LINK2, LINK3).  It's quite nice that this Seattle vs. New England highlight uses these two tracks in particular because the quality of the original clips (Grand Prix, At the Buzzer) I posted of those songs weren't too good.

 

The real Super Bowl LX will likely have a bit more offense than this 1988 matchup.  In this one, the Seahawks visited Foxboro Stadium and lost to Doug Flutie and the Patriots 13-7.  Seattle only had 2 first downs the entire game.  Ironically, the Seahawks would then score 40+ in their final two contests and win the AFC West (their last playoff appearance until 1999) while the Patriots—who also finished 9-7 (their last winning season of the Pat Patriot era)—would miss the playoffs.

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.

Six More 1988 Tracks Identified

Shortly after Musikos Sports 2 was put up online, a hard copy of Musikos Sports 1 was located.  Sports 1 contains all six of the remaining 1988 Unknown Songs that I've previously posted about (there's another still-unidentified one that I wasn't able to post because of a copyright block).  That sets a new record for number of NFL Primetime songs from the same album, surpassing the five tracks housed on Sonoton SCD 16 (Automotion 3).  Here's the list:

US #8 - At the Buzzer
US #9 - Peak Performance
US #10 - Break Away
US #13 - Grand Prix
US #14 - Going for the Gold
US #17 - Power Play

As mentioned on my previous posts about Musikos, the artists for these songs aren't exactly known.  It's probably safe to say that Power Play was written by William Soden since it's so similar to his NFL Music Library track titled "Pedal to the Metal."  The other five could be Soden, they could be Neal Davenport, or they could be someone else.

Special to thanks to Godzfire for discovering that Sports 1 was housed at the library of Slippery Rock University, and to Josh Ochs for actually picking it up.

Unknown Songs #7 and #16 Identified

The Musikos Sports 2 CD has finally surfaced, and—thanks to Retromatic posting it on librarymusicthemes—two more NFL Primetime tracks from 1988 have been identified.  Unknown Song #7 is "Play Ball!" and Unknown Song #16 is "Grid Iron Great."  Oddly enough, neither of these were among the samples on the Musikos promo disc I mentioned a while back.  Musikos's albums do not have artist credits for any of their songs, so it's not presently clear which composer is responsible for either piece.  According to info posted by Godzfire, there are four known composers attached to Musikos: Neal Davenport, William Soden, Steve Diamond (Dimond?), and Jamie Hoover.  Play Ball! could probably be any of those four, but Grid Iron Great really doesn't sound like Soden's work.

The question as to how ESPN acquired these Musikos songs hasn't been solved yet, either.  NFL Primetime was using them in 1988, but these Musikos CDs weren't released until the early '90s.  Either John Colby directly licensed them from their composer(s), or there's some mystery music library out there that's even more obscure than Musikos.

Special thanks to Retromatic for acquiring & posting Sports 2, and to Godzfire for informing me that Retromatic had obtained it.

LINK - Play Ball!
LINK - Grid Iron Great

Unknown Song #11 Identified

I know I promised that the next posts on this blog would be the Unknown Songs from New Primetime, but there's been a new development.  Literally minutes after I made the NFL Primetime Title Song post last night, I was told on the Primetime Music discord that some of the albums from the elusive Musikos music library had been procured.  We've only managed to find Album 3 from the Sports set (there are 4 albums in that set total), but there is one NFL Primetime song on there:  "Spring Training."  No artist credits came with the album downloads, unfortunately, and info on the Musikos library is scarce.  As a result, I don't know who composed Spring Training.  I do know that William Soden & Neal Davenport (founder of Davenport Music) were heavily involved in Musikos's compositions, but Spring Training doesn't really sound like Soden and I don't believe those two were the only composers.  Anyway, special thanks to Josh Ochs for locating these Musikos albums.

Thanks to a Musikos promotional album (with a bunch of short clips) I received in October, I know there are at least 3 other Primetime songs on the other 3 Musikos Sports albums.  If anyone has any info on the whereabouts of other Musikos albums, don't hesitate to comment or email or post on the discord or whatever.  Also, since Musikos started in 1990 and these songs were used on NFL Primetime in 1988, these songs must've been composed well before they ended up on Musikos albums.  So don't hesitate to contact me if you might know about other libraries where these tracks may have been released first.

LINK

Unknown Song #17 - Power Play

Song - Power Play

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Week 12 Sum-Up, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/3/23

It's a little repetitive, but this song has the perfect energy for sports.  To make sure you could hear it, I had to go with an end-of-episode sum-up instead of a regular game highlight because the one game highlight I have is even worse in terms of sound quality.  Chris, Tom, and Pete are entertaining, though, so I'm confident you won't feel too jipped.

There's a track called "Pedal to the Metal (a)" on Dave Volsky's youtube account that sounds like the exact same song, but with different instrumentation.  I'm guessing the NFL Primetime version is either b or c, but I haven't been able to confirm that because—again—NFL Music Library LPs don't appear to be streamable or downloadable anywhere.  According to discogs, Pedal to the Metal is on NFL 122.

*Update* - Dave Volsky sent me (b) & (c) and they are actually just 60-second & 30-second cuts of (a).  I guess somebody could have ripped off William Soden, or he could have another, similar track that sounds similar.

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.

Unknown Song #14 - Going for the Gold

Song - Going for the Gold

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Colts @ Vikings, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/3/23

This isn't the best NFL Primetime track, but I do know the show used at it least twice.  It's a classical-rock fusion piece—a popular genre in late-'80s/early-'90s production music—but it's too awkwardly repetitive to work well with football highlights.  Oh well, at least the song wasn't as awkward as the Colts offense was in this highlight.

Unknown Song #13 - Grand Prix

Song - Grand Prix

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Falcons @ Raiders, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/3/23

Here's another 1988 special.  Unknown Song #13 is a little moody, a little repetitive, and a bit edgy.  In other words, it's a perfect fit with all the other 1987-88 NFL Primetime tracks.  To go with this song, here are the Raiders hosting the Falcons.  Los Angeles was going through the tumultuous tenure of head coach Mike Shanahan, while the 1988 Falcons were a team that probably overachieved to end up 5-11.  Enjoy!

Unknown Song #11 - Spring Training

Song - Spring Training

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS3 (Sports 3)

Featured Highlight - Seahawks @ Chiefs, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 2/9/21

Unknown Song #11 is basically US#10 with no melody at all.  It's mostly a repeating synth-funk riff that never really changes.  It works great if you're not paying close attention to the music, I guess.  The game highlight is pretty entertaining, however.  It features the Chiefs edging out the Seahawks back in the era when Arrowhead Stadium still had astroturf.

Unknown Song #10 - Break Away

Song - Break Away

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Bills @ Bengals, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/3/23

Yet another unidentified song from 1988 that's pretty repetitive.  Unknown Song #10 is a bit lighter & cheerier than the last two, though.  It's a kinda like Unknown Song #7, but funkier & less melodic.  It's football-game accompaniment is a preview of the 1988 AFC Championship game.  If you liked the Ickey Shuffle, you'll love this highlight.

Unknown Song #9 - Peak Performance

Song - Peak Performance

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Colts @ Bills, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/3/23

Unknown Song #9 is even more repetitive than #8.  It sets a similar mood to Communique, but has more of an energetic, "cool rock" feel.  This Colts/Bills highlight is the only one to use this track that I'm aware of.

*NOTE* - Unknown Song #9 is the first song on this highlight.  The clip switches to Unknown Song #8 near the end.

Unknown Song #8 - At the Buzzer

Song - At the Buzzer

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS1 (Sports 1)
Featured Highlight - Steelers @ Browns, 1988

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/3/23

It's kinda repetitive, but Unknown Song #8 is definitely more intense than #7.  Actually, it's a pretty good highlight track.  The instrumentation does sound similar to John Colby's The Far Turn & Fast Man.  If it is by Colby, however, it didn't make it onto those Valentino compilation albums and may be near impossible to find.  As for the game:  the Browns make a lousy Pittsburgh offense look even worse in a monsoon.

Unknown Song #7 - Play Ball!

Song - Play Ball!

Artist(s) - William Soden (likely)

Released - No later than 1988

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - Musikos MS2 (Sports 2)
Featured Highlight - Bills @ Patriots, 1988

 

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 5/1/23

Another one of the many unidentified songs from 1988.  Unlike most of them, I do have multiple clips of this one.  The volume & quality weren't the best on any of them, but I do think this Buffalo @ New England highlight was the least bad.  Make sure you turn the volume up.  Anyway, as for the song:  it's quite synth heavy, and it's the NFL Primetime track most worthy of the "party song" label.  Have fun, and please comment or whatever if you can identify the piece.