Hopeless Quest for the Best

Song - Quest for the Best 2

Artist(s) - David Reilly

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - Bruton BR 67/BRN 19 (Success)

Featured Highlight - Lions @ Buccaneers, 1989

 

It's the weekend before the biggest election in human history, and I know what everyone's looking for!  What?  New swing-state polls?  No, I don't have, uhhh… that… I do have classic NFL Primetime highlights, though!  After adding another Sonoton song last week, it also turns out we weren't done with David Reilly's Success album.  "Quest for the Best 2"  ("2" in this case means underscore) is the fifth song from that album to be used on Primetime.  It was only used 4 times that I'm aware of, putting it fourth among the five tracks (Inter Conference was used only twice).  It's a good piece, but its obvious similarities to Title Holder make it unsurprising that it was infrequent.  I think it was also a good call by John Colby to go with the underscore and not the base track.  Quest for the Best 1 marginalizes the bass too much, and that caused the song to lose the power it has in the underscore version.  Special thanks to GodzFire for ID'ing this track.

Some bad news about the Success album, however.  It seems the Universal Production Music site is no longer hosting the album.  The only streaming source I can find now is a YouTube post of the entire album linked above, though Quest for the Best 1 is posted all over that site thanks to its apparent use in Spongebob Squarepants.

And now for the highlight… In Week 6 of the 1989 season, a Bears' loss to the Oilers opened the door for the somehow 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to actually tie Chicago & Minnesota for first place in the NFC Central.  And all they had to do was beat an 0-5 Detroit Lions squad (with then-rookie Barry Sanders out) in the Big Sombrero, too!  Would they accomplish their seemingly simple quest!?  If you're familiar with the Bucs' "success" in that era, you can probably guess how that went…

Not Quite a Non-Highlight Track

Song - Northern Lights (specifically Northern Lights (a))

Artist(s) - William (Bill) Soden

Released - 1986

Primetime Usage - 1987-88 (just non-highlight stuff in 1988)

Contained on - NFL 131 (LP) (Front Runner) (track link)
Featured Highlight - Buccaneers @ Cardinals, 1987

The early years of NFL Primetime didn't really have any tracks used exclusively for non-highlight stuff.  Of course, episodic segments like Inside the Numbers, Game Balls, and TJ's Extra Point didn't exist yet either.  The only non-highlight events with music were clips illustrating commentary segments by Chris, Tom, and Pete, and—if you count them as really being NFL Primetime—Sunday Night Football preview segments presented by Mike Patrick & co.  The songs used with those clips were always songs used for highlights, though.  "Northern Lights," composed by William Soden and contained on the final NFL Films LP, was almost an exception.  Northern Lights was used at least a few times for commentary segments, but it was only attached to a highlight once.  The St. Louis Cardinals, playing in their fourth-to-last game at Busch Stadium before moving to Arizona, came back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Unfortunately, the directorial organization of this John Saunders clip isn't very good.  Most of the comeback was skipped over, and Saunders's telling of it removed all suspense.  It seems a lot of the John Saunders highlights from this era were short shrift like this.  It's still an entertaining watch, though.

 

*EDIT* - The song is now available for streaming on the new(?) NFL music site linked above.

Unknown Song #57 (New Primetime) - Combat

Song - Combat
Artist(s) - Devin Bronson
Released - 2013
Primetime Usage - 2020 (non-highlight)
Contained on - SLAM077 (Throttled)
Featured Highlight - "Pressuring Mahomes" Segment, Super Bowl LV

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 2/26/23

Now we're into the weeds of obscurity.  Unknown Song #57 was only used for one non-highlight piece during the Super Bowl LV broadcast of NFL Primetime.  During this segment, Steve Young & Anthony "Booger" McFarland (the COVID-era replacement for Tom Jackson) discuss how Tampa Bay's defensive front dominated Kansas City's offensive line and made life miserable for Patrick Mahomes.  The included game clips are accompanied by US #57, a loud, industrial track that sounds like it should be in a factory-shootout scene from a modern action movie.  The song isn't especially pleasant or melodic, but it actually works well for this segment.  It's also easy to hear, which is unfortunately not the case for some of the non-highlight tracks from the last couple seasons of Primetime.  If you can identify US #57, don't hesitate to comment here or on YouTube.

Unknown Song #51 (New Primetime) - Amped

Song - Amped

Artist(s) - David Robidoux
Released - 2011

Primetime Usage - 2019
Contained on - NFL-0049 (Rush 3)

Featured Highlight - Giants @ Buccaneers, 2019

 

 

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/13/22

 

As promised (a long time ago, admittedly), here's the first Unknown Song from the new, ESPN+ version of NFL Primetime.  This version of the show debuted in Week 2 of the 2019 NFL season, but that particular week only used classic Primetime tracks from the last several years of the original show (the same ones they used for pretty much every week in 2020).  Week 3 of 2019 added four new songs, however, and US #51 was the first of those.  It's kind-of an electronic-grunge sounding piece—very mid-to-late-'90s in its instrumentation.  I'm not sure US #51 was used more than once, but I wasn't subscribed to ESPN+ in 2019 so I didn't see a lot of the highlights from that season.

The featured clip for this track (the only clip I know of) is Daniel Jones's debut for the Giants in Tampa in 2019.  Unfortunately, my original post of the video was copyright blocked by Disney.  So, instead, I cut an audio-only version of the highlight.  It's not as interesting this way, of course, but it looks like this is what I'll have to do for anything I post from New Primetime.

Unknown Song #46 (Mortal Combat) - Decent Audio Quality!

I've finally obtained a clip of the Bucs/Cowboys game with US #46 where you can actually hear what the song sounds like.  Special thanks to Seth Campbell for sending this to me.

Unknown Song #46 - Mortal Combat

Song - Mortal Combat

Artist(s) - Murray Munro

Released - 2001

Primetime Usage - 2001

Contained on - Atmosphere ATMOS144 (Total Movie 2)

Featured Highlight - Buccaneers @ Cowboys, 2001


I'm apologizing right away for the low video & audio quality of this highlight clip.  This is the only game with Unknown Song #46, and this clip comes from the only full-episode post of Week 1, 2001, that I could find (there's another, higher quality post that only has the late games).  The music track sounds like some sort of cheesy & dramatic Halloween monster-chase thing, at least from what I can make out of it.  If anybody knows of a better cut of this highlight (or if you know what the song is), please let me know so I can post it.  Thanks!

Unknown Song #40 - Surf Your Own Wave

Song - Surf Your Own Wave

Artist(s) - Rick DiFonzo

Released - No later than 1997

Primetime Usage - 1997-99
Contained on - BRg Extreme Cuts BRg3004 (Alternative Energy)

Featured Highlight - Eagles @ Falcons, 1997


*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 7/23/20

Unknown Song #40 is probably my favorite song yet to be identified on Primetime.  It's energetic, edgy, and fun, and works well with sports highlights.  It's likely not a well remembered track, however, since it was used sparingly during its mere 3 years of service.  US #40's most memorable use was probably its last:  the 1999 NFC Championship game where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nearly upset the St. Louis Rams 6-5 before giving up a late TD catch to Ricky Proehl.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find that NFL Primetime highlight anywhere, so here's a different one from US #40's first season of use.

Unknown Song #26 ("Game Balls")

Song - Unknown Song #26

Primetime Usage - 1992 (as highlight music)

Featured Highlight - Lions @ Buccaneers, 1992


Most NFL Primetime aficionados will recognize Unknown Song #26 as the Primetime Players ("Game Balls") accompaniment music from the mid-to-late-'90s.  I believe it was used as the Inside the Numbers song at one point, too.  What most fans probably don't remember is that US #26 was also used as a regular highlight track during the 1992 season.  Don't worry if you don't remember, though, because it's one of the weakest highlight songs in the show's history.  US #26 is very much an emotionless interlude piece that just doesn't go together with action.  It's use with Game Balls/Inside the Numbers is much more fitting.

Here's a Lions blowout of the Buccaneers to go with this relatively boring piece.  Those new orange pants sure do look spiffy, though.  Oh, and I have absolutely no idea why Wayne Fontes is wearing a shirt with Union Jacks all over it.

Unknown Song #24 - Take Care (underscore)

Song - Take Care (underscore)

Artist(s) - Rolf Wehmeier
Released - 1987

Primetime Usage - 1991-93

Contained on - Happy Records HR2257 (Multimedia 2002), HR2264-3 (Multi Media)
Featured Highlight - Packers @ Buccaneers, 1992

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 2/11/22

Unknown Song #24 is another one of those tracks that could best be described as "tense, but fun."  It was used extensively (nearly once a week) throughout the 1991 & 1992 seasons on NFL Primetime.  Its appearances then fell noticeably in 1993 before it disappeared entirely.  I wouldn't say it's one of the better songs used on the show, but it works great for games with a particular ambivalent mood.

It's Bay of Pigs time again.  This Green Bay/Tampa Bay matchup is most notable for containing Brett Favre's first game action as a Packer.  Don Majkowski got benched at the half in the sweltering Tampa heat, but Favre didn't fare any better so The Majik Man still got to start the following week against Cincinnati.  It was then that Majkowski got hurt and Favre ultimately took over the QB job for good.

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.

Solar Winds

Song - Solar Winds

Artist(s) - Larry Lee Cansler

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1988

Contained on - FirstCom UT103 (Lightning)

Featured Highlight - Eagles @ Buccaneers, 1988


We're going back to the Primetime rarities this week.  "Solar Winds," by Larry Lee Cansler (or just Larry Cansler for short), is an odd duck.  Most of NFL Primetime's songs are either rock (synth or otherwise) or edgy orchestral stuff.  Solar Winds, on the other hand, is a textbook-sounding '70s/'80s jazz-fusion number that one might expect to hear from an artist like Chick Corea.  I suppose, given that truth, that it's not surprising I've only seen one highlight with this piece.  It's not even a good highlight, either, unless you like watching guys in creamsicle uniforms play like garbage.  I did at least leave in the Pete-Axthelm-led postgame commentary to shore up the football side, though.

Solar Winds is contained on one of those hard-to-find Up Tempo albums from FirstCom, so you've got your work cut out for you if you want to find it.  A low-quality mp3 of the extra-long version of this song (over 7 minutes!) was housed on Cansler's website (larrycansler.com), but that site has been dead for a few years now.  That means, as of today, Solar Winds does not exist online in any form that I'm aware of.

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!

Automotion 3, Part 5 - Mechatronics & the Bay of Pigs

Song - Mechatronics

Artist(s) - Jeff Newmann

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

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

Featured Highlight - Packers @ Buccaneers, 1989


In the early years of NFL Primetime, the late Pete Axthelm aptly used the phrase "Bay of Pigs" to describe any contest between the then-lousy "Bay" franchises:  Green Bay & Tampa Bay (citation).  The Buccaneers in this period had a habit of starting strong & fading (especially with head coach Ray Perkins and his infamously draining "three-a-day" practices), while the Packers were nearing two full decades of dormancy.  In 1989, though, Lindy Infante and his Green Bay Packers put together one of the most entertaining teams in NFL history.  The "Cardiac Pack"—the second of the three "Cardiac" squads after the 1980 "Cardiac Browns" and before the 1998 "Cardiac Cards"—gutted out a 10-6 record largely thanks to their knack for pulling out crazy, last-second, wins.  Don "The Majik Man" Majkowski, mostly known today for being the guy Brett Favre replaced, stayed healthy and had his most productive season as an NFL quarterback (4318 yards, more than double his next best year) in '89.  Unfortunately, a 10-6 record and a win over the eventual champion 49ers wasn't enough for Green Bay's first non-strike playoff berth since 1972 because they lost the division tiebreaker to the Vikings and both wild cards were 11-5.

The fifth and final NFL Primetime song from Automotion 3 is called "Mechatronics."  It's more subtle and complex than the other songs profiled this week.  Mechatronics may seem overly neutral on the surface, but a few listens will reveal its subtle intensity & building energy.  It's actually become one of my favorite highlight tracks from the show.  The featured highlight below is the second Bay of Pigs contest from Week 13 of 1989 (the same episode as all the highlights I've posted from this album, in fact… it was an unusually entertaining week).  The Bucs did everything they could, but they still couldn't stop the "Majik" in the end.