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.

Drive Away (Underscore) + Combo Mix Explanation

Song 1 - Drive Away (Underscore)

Artist(s) - Hal Brown, Donald Bradley Kelley (Brad Kelley)

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987-88

Contained on - FirstCom UT102 (Wheels of Commerce)
Featured Highlight - Bears @ Eagles, 1987 (Replacement-Game Week 1)

Song 2 - Drive Away (Combo Mix)

Artist(s) - Hal Brown, Donald Bradley Kelley (Brad Kelley) (edited by presumably John Colby)

Released - N.A. (ESPN custom edit)

Primetime Usage - 1987-88

Contained on - N.A. (ESPN custom edit)
Featured Highlight - Seahawks @ Bears, 1987

 

A month or so ago, GodzFire got in touch with a guy that had most every highlight from NFL Primetime stored on a boatload of DVDs.  Thanks to this guy's generosity, as well as GodzFire's willingness to host them on a convenient Google Drive, I now have way more highlights to choose from than I did before—especially from the late '80s.  I'm nowhere near finished watching all of these videos yet, but several discoveries have been made just from viewing the 1987 & 1988 clips.

Way back in 2016, I profiled the song "Drive Away" from the FirstCom UT102 album.  As with many songs played on Primetime in 1987 and '88, John Colby also used the underscore.  The underscore alone was only used twice that I've found (once in each year), and the Drive Away US had to share its highlight with another song in both cases (Drive Away and its underscore are each only about a minute long).  All other uses of Drive Away were actually a version that Godzfire and I have dubbed the "Combo Mix."  It's a simple, custom edit job (presumably by John Colby) that indefinitely alternates between the main track and the underscore.  My previous post of Drive Away also used the Combo Mix, but I somehow didn't realize it wasn't just looping the main track at the time.

To illustrate the two versions of Drive Away, I'm attaching two(!) videos to this post.  The first, featuring the underscore, shows the Bears thumping the Eagles in a nearly empty Veterans Stadium during the first week of 1987 replacement games.  After the underscore finishes, the rest of the highlight plays Driving Force—a song that happens to be on the same album and by the same composers.  The end of this highlight is cut off, unfortunately, but no more points were scored after what's shown (the Bears won 35-3).  The second highlight, featuring the Combo Mix, shows Walter Payton's final regular-season home game against Seattle late in the same season.  This quality of this clip is much better than the Drive Away video I posted 8 years ago, as you'll see.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Song - Cold Fusion

Artist(s) - Ron Kristy

Released - 1997

Primetime Usage - 1999
Contained on - OneMusic OMROC014L (Powerstation)

Featured Highlight - Lions @ Seahawks, 1999


This track was on pace to be the Unknown Song for this week, but Kyle Caughlin identified it before I could get that far (special thanks to him for that).  "Cold Fusion" was one of two new NFL Primetime songs in 1999 (Bad Company being the other), but it was only used once as far as I know.  I guess its limited usage is understandable given how simple & repetitive it is, but it at least adds some decent tension to its lone highlight.  That highlight features a post-Barry Detroit Lions team going into the Kingdome and upsetting the Seahawks in Mike Holmgren's Seattle debut.  Enjoy!

Unknown Song #35 (Oddball Week, Part 5) - Mega Scape

Song - Mega Scape

Artist(s) - John Andrew Hancock
Released - No later than 1997

Primetime Usage - 1997

Contained on - Moments Music MML014 (Ultimate Dance Moments)
Featured Highlight - Jets @ Seahawks, 1997

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 2/3/22

One of the youtube commenters on my last post opined that this track—Unknown Song #35—is even more unmemorable than US #34.  I wouldn't go that far, since—if nothing else—US #35 is a bit louder than US #34, but it's still quite clear why this tune didn't last on NFL Primetime.  Anyway, here's Bill Parcells's first game as head coach of the Jets.  They immediately turned around an awful 1-15 year by humiliating the Seahawks in the Kingdome.  You may not like the accompanying song, but you should at least enjoy Chris, Tom, and Stu's constant reference to Keyshawn Johnson's 1997 book, Just Give Me the Damn Ball.

Unknown Song #29 (Looks Like We Made It?)

Song - Unknown Song #29

Primetime Usage - 1991-05

Featured Highlight - Chiefs @ Seahawks, 1999


The next couple posts will highlight a couple unidentified songs that were used quite extensively on NFL Primetime.  The first, Unknown Song #29, is probably the most famous of the "longing" Primetime tracks that often accompany struggling, frustrated teams.  The style & instrumentation are also reminiscent of the music from the SNES RPG Lufia & the Fortress of Doom.  This song predates Lufia by at least a couple years, so it's almost certainly a coincidence, but it's interesting nonetheless.  Anyway…  I saw this piece referred to as "Looks Like We Made It" on at least one of those downloadable NFL Primetime music collections that have been circulating a while (like the Mark Polinsky set, but it wasn't specifically that one).  I have no idea if that's actually the track's name or if, say, somebody with bad ears thought it somehow sounded like the Barry Manilow song of the same name.

US #29's video accompaniment features the Seahawks hosting the Chiefs in the final regular-season game at the Kingdome.  This contest also effectively decided the West division title that year, giving Seattle their only playoff appearance in their last 13 years in the AFC.

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 #5 - The Heat (Birdland?)

Song - The Heat

Artist(s) - Richard Myhill

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - KPMLP 1339 (Out Front)

Featured Highlight - Seahawks @ Broncos, 1988


 *SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/2/17

At this point, the 1988 NFL Primetime season has easily the highest number of unidentified songs.  Unfortunately, I only have one clip of many of these songs.  As a result, combined with the fact the highlights are relatively old, the audio/visual quality of these clips will tend to suffer.  I apologize in advance.

The most notable thing about Unknown Song #5 is that it sounds like an intentional knockoff of "Birdland," the 1977 jazz-fusion hit by Weather Report.  It's a bit more synthy, as one would expect from a 1980s production song, but the similarities are still obvious.  Accompanying this track is a season-opening matchup between the Seahawks & Broncos that was played in the middle of a ticker-tape parade for some reason.

Driving Force, Unknown Songs (The Far Turn), & Primetime's 30th. Anniversary

Song 1 - The Far Turn (+ Underscore/Rhythm Only)

Artist(s) - John Colby

Released - 1987

Primetime Usage - 1987-88

Contained on - Valentino 6162 (Sports Themes), V-CD 13 (Sports Themes), Valentino STVT013 (1980s Vol. 2 - Rock & Pop Vol. 2)

Featured Highlight - Regular version:  Dolphins @ Patriots, 1987 (first part); Underscore/Rhythm Only:  Seahawks @ Broncos, 1987

Song 2 - Driving Force (+ underscore)

Artist(s) - Hal Brown, Donald Bradley Kelley (Brad Kelley)

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987

Contained on - FirstCom UT102 (Wheels of Commerce)

Featured Highlight - Regular Version:  Dolphins @ Patriots, 1987 (latter part); Underscore:  Falcons @ Buccaneers, 1987


*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 9/22/17

Welcome to the 2017 NFL season!  This post will be more convoluted than most on here, so bear with me.

As I mentioned on the previous post, the last song I've fully identified shares a highlight with a song I haven't identified.  The first track on this clip (the Dolphins/Patriots one) is the unknown song.  It's good for accompaniment, but it could've used another instrument or two.  I refer to it as "Unknown Song #2" because US#1—identified a couple months ago as Powergate—was posted in January '16. The other piece is one I found a while ago.  "Driving Force," by Hal Brown & Brad Kelley—the artists behind Drive Away and (probably) Marathon—is a sleepy song by NFL Primetime standards, but I suppose it's great if you like simple solo trumpet.  The underscore doesn't have the trumpet, however, so that version is just repetitive.

There are three highlight videos posted below, tying the primetimemusic.net record along with the Powerhouse writeup.  NFL Primetime debuted 30 years ago next Wednesday (9/13), so the fact that all three of these clips happen to come from the very first episode makes the timing of this blog entry perfect.  The regular versions of Unknown Song #2 and Driving Force share the Dolphins/Patriots highlight, the very first highlight in NFL Primetime history.  It's also one of the oddest highlights in the show's history because of both the weather and Miami backup quarterback Don Strock having to fill in at both QB & punter!  He did a pretty damn good job, too.  The other two highlights feature the respective underscores.  The video for the US#2 underscore shows the Broncos blowing out the Seahawks, while the Driving Force underscore clip displays the Bucs & Falcons debuting new head coaches that wouldn't accomplish much.  Enjoy these, and make sure to comment here or on youtube if you can identify any of the Unknown Songs I post.

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!

Future Champs

Song - Future Champs

Artist(s) - Orange Power

Released - 1987

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - SON 273 (Sound Giants - Industrial Prestige & Scenic Magnificence, Vol. 2), Sonoton SCD 6 (Sound Giants 1&2)

Featured Highlight - Seahawks @ Dolphins, 1990


If you liked the ridiculously bright synth from last week's post, Overall Winner, then you'll love this one.  "Future Champs," by longtime library synth group Orange Power, sounds like the kinda song you'd expect to accompany a team's coronation—perhaps an easy win that clinches a division title or something.  That's not what you're going to see with this highlight, unfortunately, but it still has some entertainment value.  The Seahawks, who had managed to reach a winning record despite an 0-3 start, went down to what was then known as Joe Robbie Stadium to face a 10-3 Dolphins squad.  Miami, though they didn't play real well, took advantage of constant errors by Seattle to register a close victory.

Oh, and stay tuned…  Starting next week, I'm going to post a series of songs composed by then-ESPN-music-director John Colby.  At least a few should be quite familiar to fans of NFL Primetime.

Theme #17

Song - Leading Edge

Artist(s) - Tom Blades

Released - 1989

Primetime Usage - 1991-97, 2001-05

Contained on - ATMOS 11 (Sporting Edge)

Featured Highlight - Seahawks @ Cardinals, 2004


If you've encountered any of the downloadable NFL Primetime mp3 sets or youtube postings of said sets that have been floating around the net at least a decade, you've noticed that they sometimes have names attached (some are even accurate!) and that they sometimes are denoted simply by "NFL Primetime Theme #XX."  "Leading Edge," by Tom Blades, is the track from those collections usually referred to as "NFL Primetime Theme #17."  It's just as synth heavy as most of the Primetime songs that debuted around 1990, and the best way to describe the feel of it is probably "laid-back electricity."  It's also surprising, given the style & instrumentation similarities to the briefly used Sonoton stuff, that Leading Edge would end up having one of the longest tenures of any music track on NFL Primetime.

I can't find really any biographical information regarding Tom Blades, so there's not much to say here about him.  This is the first Primetime track I've found from the Atmosphere (ATMOS) library, however, and I'm motivated to check out some of the other early CDs from that service in the future.  Also…  special thanks to Will Pitts on youtube, whose posting of this song randomly showed up on my "Recommended Videos" section so I could identify it.

To profile Leading Edge, here's a game with Emmitt Smith & Jerry Rice suiting up for teams we all forgot they played for.  It was also Smith's final 100-yard game…