Purgatory Primetime - Unknown Song #62

Song - Unknown Song #62

Primetime Usage - 2006

Featured Clip - Steve Young Talks about Rex Grossman's Mistakes, Super Bowl XLI

The final unknown track from the Super Bowl XLI episode of NFL Primetime, "Unknown Song #62" accompanied Steve Young's roasting of Chicago QB Rex Grossman's "flippant" turnovers in his team's loss to the Indianapolis Colts.  The song isn't as clear to hear as US #60 or US #61, but you can tell it has a bit of a bass-heavy blues rock motif going on.  If you can identify this piece, don't hesitate to comment here or on YouTube.

 

 

Purgatory Primetime - Unknown Song #61

Song - Unknown Song #61

Primetime Usage - 2006

Featured Clip - Inside the Numbers, Super Bowl XLI

Unknown Song #61, which is from a little bit later in the Super Bowl XLI Primetime episode than Unknown Song #60, is also clear and easy to recognize (please comment if you can ID it).  It was used for the Inside the Numbers segment that highlighted Colts running back Joseph Addai's rookie exploits.  Fun fact!: because Addai backed up Dominic Rhodes throughout the 2006 season, he became the first running back to ever rush for 1000 yards without starting a single game.  Thanks Wikipedia!

 

 

Purgatory Primetime - Unknown Song #60

Song - Unknown Song #60

Primetime Usage - 2006

Featured Clip - "Won Super Bowl in 1st. Appearance, QB Drafted 1st. Overall" Segment, Super Bowl XLI

 

It's back to the Purgatory Primetime era (2006-18) for another unknown non-highlight track!  Unknown Song #60 has a simple & memorable repetitive hard-rock hook, so it should theoretically be easy to identify.  It was used for the Super Bowl XLI episode of NFL Primetime where Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, and Steve Young highlighted Peyton Manning's first Super Bowl win.  Also added as a bonus to the end of the video is the following return-from-commercial bump where US #60 is briefly used again.  As usual: if you can identify this song, don't hesitate to comment here or on YouTube.  Thanks!

 

 

Unknown Song #59 Identified

That was fast…  Thanks to Godzfire's sound-editing skills and his use of an audio fingerprinting program, US #59 has already been identified as the underscore version of a song called "Rainwater."  Eric Cunningham & Chris Lang, the composers of "Pure Glam," also feature on this one, as well as some guy named Chris Wright (I couldn't find any info about him).  Rainwater is housed in a different library than Pure Glam, though—the Killer Edge label from Killer Tracks.  It's on EDGE2, titled Rock: Alternative 2.  I listed the year as "1999?" for the release of EDGE2 because the Universal website says it was released in 2000, but Discogs has EDGE13 coming out in 1999.  Universal has the release date for the first umpteen Killer Edge albums as all being January 1, 2000, so I figure they just weren't being too thorough there.

LINK

Purgatory Primetime - Unknown Song #59 - Rainwater (underscore)

Song - Rainwater (underscore)

Artist(s) - Eric Cunningham, Chris Lang, Chris Wright
Released - 1999?

Primetime Usage - 2006

Contained on - Killer Edge EDGE2 (Rock: Alternative 2)
Featured Highlight - NFC Divisional Round Preview (from Wild Card Sunday Episode), 2006

 

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 2/10/24

Two weeks ago, I profiled the use of "Pure Glam" for the AFC Divisional Preview from the 2006 Sunday Wild Card episode.  The NFC Divisional Preview from earlier in that same episode also used a new song.  This song has not been identified, however.  It sounds like a generic grunge instrumental with some loud, punctuating drums.  I'm not sure what more to say about it than that, but please reply or contact me if you know what this track is.

Oh… and enjoy Super Bowl LVIII.

Unknown Song #58 Identified

Jwasc92Wrestling comes through again by identifying yet another New Primetime song.  Unknown Song #58, one of the non-highlight pieces from the 2021 conference-championship episode, is "Here We Go" from the West One Music label.  It's contained on WOM 059, and it was composed by Jeff Coates & Billy Handsome.  Aside from West One Music stuff, I couldn't find anything about Coates or Billy Handsome (no idea if that's his real name).

LINK

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.

Oddball Week Completed

Unknown Song #33, the only (previously) unidentified song from Oddball Week (Week 1, 1997), has now been nailed down.  US #33 is "Android Freeway," by the late Robert J. Walsh.  The track is housed within Walsh's hard-to-find Hollywood Film Music library (specifically HFML 15.02).  Special thanks to Craig-UK for getting his hands on this album, and to Godzfire for providing the track/album info.

LINK

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 #57 Identified

Jwasc92Wrestling is now 7/7 on identifying New Primetime tracks.  US #57 is "Combat," by Devin Bronson.  Bronson is a guitar player who toured with acts like Kelly Osbourne and The Goo Goo Dolls a while back.  His website doesn't look like it's been updated in several years, though.  Combat is found on the album Throttled from the Slam! label.  I couldn't find info on the Slam! label, unfortunately.  Universal's website houses it, but it's not listed on Discogs as far as I can find.  Again, thanks to Jwasc92Wrestling for ID'ing this one.

LINK

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 Identified

Jwasc92Wrestling has now finished off all the New Primetime songs (the ones I've posted so far, anyway).  Unknown Song #51 is "Amped," by David Robidoux.  Robidoux, like Tom Hedden, is a well-known NFL Films composer, and many of his compositions appear on the later discs of the NFL's famous Autumn Thunder compilation.  Amped appears on the NFL Music Library album NFL-0049.

Again, special thanks to Jwasc92Wrestling on YouTube for ID'ing US #51 as well as US #'s 52-56.

LINK

Unknown Songs #52, #53, and #54 Identified

As covered in my previous post earlier today, I saw last night that Jwasc92Wrestling had identified US #55 and US #56 on YouTube.  What I didn't know until just after making that post was that Jwasc92Wrestling had also made YouTube comments identifying US #52, US #53, and US #54.  Those comments didn't show up in my YouTube notifications for some reason.  Anyway, here they are:

Unknown Song #52 is "A Date with Destiny."  As initially suspected, this piece is by the same composers (Ron Klein, Udi Harpaz) and is on the same album (EVO062) as US #56/Field of Courage.

Unknown Song #53 is "Blow the Stack," by Tom Caffey, Eric Cunningham, and Chris Lang.  It's contained on the Killer Edge album EDGE80.  Caffey is a prolific sports/pro-wrestling composer, while Cunningham is the founder of Chronic Tracks.  "Chris Lang" is a pretty generic name, so I wasn't able to nail down exactly which Chris Lang he is.

Unknown Song #54 is "Fire Zone," by Tom Hedden.  It's an official NFL song contained on NFL-0056 (CD).  Tom Hedden used to be the NFL music director.

Again, special thanks to Jwasc92Wrestling for pointing out all of these New Primetime tracks.

LINK - A Date with Destiny
LINK - Blow the Stack
LINK - Fire Zone

Unknown Songs #55 and #56 Identified

For the first time, New Primetime music exclusives have been identified.  A helpful YouTuber who posts a lot of production music used in pro wrestling, Jwasc92Wrestling, has identified both Unknown Song #55 and Unknown Song #56.  US #55 is "Superior Strength," by Kavin Hoo.  Hoo is a Malaysian composer described on Discogs as a "new age pianist and composer" and is also the founder of Earthtones Studio.  US #56 is "Field of Courage," by Ron Klein & Udi Harpaz.  I couldn't find much info on Klein, but Harpaz is a longtime composer with his own website.  Harpaz also did the music for seasons 2 & 3 of Airwolf back in the '80s.  Both songs are contained on albums from the EVO production-music label.  Superior Strength is on EVO209, while Field of Courage is on EVO062.

LINK - Superior Strength
LINK - Field of Courage

Unknown Song #56 (New Primetime) - Field of Courage

Song - Field of Courage
Artist(s) - Ron Klein, Udi Harpaz
Released - 2006
Primetime Usage - 2020-21 (non-highlight)
Contained on - EVO062 (Gridiron Glory)
Featured Highlight - Game Balls: Week 13, 2020

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/10/22

This is technically a post for Unknown Song #56, but you could probably think of it as "Unknown Song #52-B."  It's marcato orchestral style is similar to US #52, and its tempo is only a little slower.  US #56 doesn't sound quite as "piratey" as US #52, but they are still difficult to tell apart.  The fact they were both used for NFL Primetime's Game Balls segment in 2021 doesn't help distinguish them, either.  At any rate, I wouldn't be surprised if US #52 and US #56 were on the same album… assuming either one of them is even on an album.

As an example, here is US #56's lone Game Balls use for 2020:

Unknown Song #55 (New Primetime) - Superior Strength

Song - Superior Strength

Artist(s) - Kavin Hoo
Released - 2014

Primetime Usage - 2019-20 (highlights); 2020-21 (non-highlight)

Contained on - EVO209 (Big Sports Machine 2)

Featured Highlight - Dolphins @ Broncos, 2020

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/10/22

 

Unknown Song #55 is one of those songs that has a solid, punchy core, but comes off incomplete.  In other words, it feels like the composer could have done more with the track than they did.  I suppose it could be an underscore.  NFL Primetime did previously choose the underscore instead of the base track at least a couple other times (Race to Midnight, Take Care), so that wouldn't be surprising.  Anyway, the ESPN sound people put this song on one 2019 highlight (that I know of), and split it between highlights & non-highlight stuff in 2020.  It was used exclusively as a non-highlight track last year.  As an example of US #55's use on NFL Primetime, here's a video of the Denver Broncos inflicting a lot of pain on Tua Tagovailoa.

Unknown Song #54 (New Primetime) - Fire Zone

Song - Fire Zone

Artist(s) - Tom Hedden
Released - 2012

Primetime Usage - 2019

Contained on - NFL-0056 (Driving Force 4)

Featured Highlight - Texans @ Chargers, 2019

 

 

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/10/22

 

Unknown Song #54 was the last new song to debut in Week 3 of 2019 and will hopefully be the last to require an audio-only post.  It's a generic '90s-or-later rock-guitar track with a laid-back tempo.  It doesn't sound like a piece that was intended to stand out; it's just there to accompany and not to offend.  In that vain, I suppose it's basically a simpler & quieter version of Grid Lock.  This is the only use of US #54 I'm aware of, but I haven't seen most of New Primetime's 2019 episodes so I don't for sure that it's the only one.  It was not used in 2020 or 2021.

Unknown Song #53 (New Primetime) - Blow the Stack

Song - Blow the Stack

Artist(s) - Tom Caffey, Eric Cunningham, Chris Lang
Released - 2005

Primetime Usage - 2019-20

Contained on - Killer Edge EDGE80 (Sports: Dramatic 2)

Featured Highlight - Bears @ Packers, 2020 (SNF)

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/10/22

 

There's not much to say about Unknown Song #53.  It's an orchestral song that conveys intensity with its high-pitched strings and loud long notes.  It conveys this intensity in basic, rudimentary fashion, however—there's no subtlety here.  To put it another way, US #53 is a forgettable equivalent to International Statement.

I had two available highlights to choose from here.  The Steelers/49ers game from the same NFL Primetime episode as US #51 and US #52, and the Bears/Packers Sunday Night Football game from 2020.  The first surely would've required another audio-only post, so I tried the second.  Fortunately, the Bears/Packers clip was only flagged by the NFL and not blocked, so my channel now has New Primetime video content for the first time.

Unknown Song #52 (New Primetime) - A Date with Destiny

Song - A Date with Destiny

Artist(s) - Ron Klein, Udi Harpaz
Released - 2006

Primetime Usage - 2019 (highlights), 2020-present (non-highlight only)

Contained on - EVO062 (Gridiron Glory)

Featured Highlight - Dolphins @ Cowboys, 2019

 

 

*SONG IDENTIFIED* - 10/10/22

 

Back to new songs from New Primetime.  Unknown Song #52, which I guess could be called the "Pirate Song," was the second piece to debut on the Week 3, 2019, episode.  Unlike US #51, however, US #52 would still be used into the current decade…  at least as a non-highlight track.  It was used as a rare auxiliary track in 2020, and it was the primary Game Balls theme for 2021.  US #52 sounds like it could be a Sam Spence composition, but I don't believe it is—it might be a deliberate knock-off.

As with US #51, I had to post the accompanying clip as audio-only because of a Disney/ESPN copyright block.  I don't know if this will happen with episodes from 2020 or 2021, but this was the only highlight clip of US #52 I currently possess.  Anyway… if you happen to know this song's identity and/or where to find it, don't hesitate to comment here or on YouTube or wherever to let me know.  Thanks!