Purgatory Primetime - Pure Glam

Song - Pure Glam
Artist(s) - Eric Cunningham, Chris Lang
Released - 1999
Primetime Usage - 2006
Contained on - Chronic Trax CM014 (Chronic Rocks, Vol. 1)
Featured Highlight - AFC Divisional Round Preview (from Wild Card Sunday Episode), 2006

After ESPN traded Sunday Night Football for Monday Night Football following the 2005 season, they lost the exclusive long-form highlight rights to the Sunday NFL day games that led to the launch of the show in the first place.  What followed (until ESPN+ New Primetime began in 2019) was what I like to call the "Purgatory Primetime" era.  During this era (2006-18), almost all of the real NFL Primetime broadcasts aired during the postseason.  There was still a show called "NFL Primetime," but it was a bastardized version that aired Monday afternoons without Chris Berman or Tom Jackson.  The closest thing left for NFL Primetime junkies was The Blitz, a Primetime-like segment hosted by Berman & TJ (& others like Trent Dilfer) during Sunday evening SportsCenter that featured shorter highlights and longer talking segments.  The Blitz was passable—and both it and the Monday NFL Primetime used the classic music everyone reading this blog is more than familiar with—but things still weren't the same compared to the pre-2006 NFL world.

The 2006 postseason marked the first real return of NFL Primetime since the end of ESPN's Sunday Night Football.  Aside from ditching the 2005 title song and returning to the 1998-04 piece, the episodes looked and felt just like the ones from the previous year's playoffs.  One quirk, however, was the addition of several new non-highlight tracks.  The first, the most interesting, and the only one that's been identified as of this post, is "Pure Glam" by Chronic Trax co-founder Eric Cunningham and "Blow the Stack" co-composer Chris Lang (assuming it's the same Chris Lang).  It was used one time for each Wild Card episode and also once in the Conference Championship show.  Below is Pure Glam's accompaniment of the AFC Divisional Round preview late in the Sunday Wild Card episode.  Special thanks to Godzfire for identifying this song.

Non-Highlight Track - Internet

Song - Internet
Artist(s) - Jimmy Kaleth
Released - 1996
Primetime Usage - 2001 (miscellaneous), 2002-05 (TJ's Extra Point)
Contained on - Dennis Music HDCD 1255 (Communicator)*
Featured Highlight - TJ's Extra Point:  Week 1, 2003 (Patriots @ Bills)

* - Search for the album "Communicator"

In the latter years of classic NFL Primetime, ESPN added even more emphasis to Tom Jackson's sage analysis by adding a weekly segment called "TJ's Extra Point."  In this segment, Jackson would get video & music accompaniment to his usual postgame commentary.  This was actually pretty similar to the end-episode analysis that was typical of NFL Primetime in the late '80s (most often with Pete Axthelm).  For most every TJ's Extra Point bit, the included song was "Internet" by Jimmy Kaleth.  Internet definitely feels like a neutral, summary, "Inside the Numbers" kind of track, so it was an appropriate choice by the producers.  I couldn't find much info on Kaleth, but he did a good amount of work for various library-music companies.  The included clip is the TJ's Extra Point segment from Week 1 of 2003 that followed the Bills' 31-0 pasting of the New England Patriots, the infamous "Lawyer Milloy" game.  This was the last Buffalo win over New England until 2011.

Special thanks to Dopethrone (nirvanainstrumental on YouTube) for identifying this one and for pointing out that it was used for other non-highlight purposes in 2001 (the year before TJ's Extra Point started).

Unknown Song #49 - Pro

Song - Pro

Artist(s) - Joel Beckerman & Lloyd Landesman

Released - N.A. (recorded in 2001)

Primetime Usage - 2001-05

Contained on - N.A. (ESPN internal)  

Featured Highlight - Cardinals @ Lions, 2003

 
*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 9/22/21

Among the three mid-2001 additions, Unknown Song #49 is probably the weakest.  It's still better than most of the tracks that didn't last, though.  It also—unlike US #48 or the one I'll be posting next during Super Bowl week—doesn't appear to have been used in 2002 for some reason.  Anyway…  accompanying US #49 is the Cardinals/Lions season opener from 2003 where Anquan Boldin set the rookie debut receiving record.  Enjoy!

Oh, as an aside, it sounds like Chris Berman & Tom Jackson will be returning to host NFL Primetime for the conference-title games this weekend.  That's pretty cool…

*EDIT* - This song was used a couple times in 2002 (thanks to Robert Enriquez on youtube for the info).

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 #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.

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.

Reverse Serendipity

Song - Drive Away

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

Released - 1985

Primetime Usage - 1987-88

Contained on - FirstCom UT102 (Wheels of Commerce)

Featured Highlight - Jets @ Bengals, 1988


Most of the songs I've identified from NFL Primetime were discovered the expected way:  I was already aware of the song from Primetime episodes, then I stumbled upon the track while scouring production music sites or whatever.  There are few I've found the other way around, though, like "Drive Away."  Drive Away is a song that I was already aware of because it was contained on FirstCom UT102 (another Primetime track I ID'd earlier but haven't yet posted is also on there), but I didn't know until recently that it was used on the show.  Special thanks to Andy Provin for posting Week 11 of 1987 and Week 6 of 1988 with the last several months, both of which used Drive Away as a highlight track.

Drive Away is an unusually short song for NFL Primetime.  It's only about a minute, which actually makes me wonder if FC-UT102 only included a :60 commercial cut of it rather than the whole thing.  I haven't found any evidence of this song's existence elsewhere, however, so probably not.  Drive away was composed by Hal Brown & Donald Bradley Kelley, also known as Brad Kelley.  Kelley's website, which has some nice info, is linked above.  I couldn't find anything on Brown, but a lot of his stuff still exists on the FirstCom website (same for Kelley).

This post's highlight features the then-undefeated 1988 Bengals, arguably the best team in franchise history, facing off against the 3-1-1 Jets.  Cincinnati would pull away late for a comfortable win and then eventually end up in the Super Bowl while the Jets would mark the beginning of the end of the Joe Walton era with a disappointing non-playoff finish.  I also included the postgame analysis from Berman, Jackson, and Pete Axthelm as a bonus.  Have fun!

NFL Primetime Music - Introduction

NFL Primetime, which aired in its weekly, classic form on ESPN from 1987-2005, put a unique imprint on the memories of NFL fans.  Chris Berman's wit and eventual use of corny nicknames cemented him as one of the stars of the network, while Tom Jackson's concise, accurate, & often blunt analysis made him the most refreshing football commentator on TV.  The first 11 years of NFL Primetime also featured an all-star team of co-hosts including John Saunders, Robin Roberts, Bill Pidto, & the late Stuart Scott.  Even legendary sports wordsmith Pete Axthelm, who died in early 1991, provided entertaining editorials and betting analysis in the show's early years.  All of these factors helped make NFL Primetime one of the best highlight shows ever made and vastly superior to anything that's come since the 2006 change to the NFL TV arrangement, but—come on—the #1 reason people loved the show was its awesome soundtrack.

NFL Primetime music has been highly sought on the internet for more than a decade now.  I'm sure, if you found this blog anyway, that you've seen a set of 16+ NFL Primetime songs either posted on youtube or for download elsewhere.  I don't quite know how all of these songs were obtained, though I believe some were ripped from the now forgotten NFL Primetime PS2 game that came out in 2002, but I have found actual documentation on some of them.  Also—in providing a more unique flavor to this blog—I have found a lot of songs not contained in this set, including most of the tracks utilized in the early days of the show.  The vast majority of what I've discovered can be located on the various production music label networks that populate the web.  Well known figures in the production music world created some of these compositions, such as Trevor Bastow, Zack Laurence, John Devereaux, & Alan Hawkshaw, and their quality stands far above the average you'd expect for library stuff.  I've still got a long way to go to find everything, though, given the mind-numbing amount of production music that's available to stream online.

Over the coming weeks and months, I will post information about the NFL Primetime music I have definitively identified.  After that, I will start detailing the songs that are less than fleshed out.  This will start with songs I've discovered without credits and then finish with the tracks I have yet to find at all.  Hopefully this blog will be popular enough by that point that you readers can then help me out with this process.  No song will be available for download on this blog.  However, links to production libraries where these songs can be legally streamed/obtained will be provided whenever possible.  I will also include one game highlight from NFL Primetime as an example of each song's use on the show.  I hope that, one day, this site can put together a complete list of every song used for highlights over the entire run of the show.  Enjoy, and thanks for reading!