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!

Unimpressive Dominance

Song - Dominant Factor

Artist(s) - "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989

Contained on - SON 299 (Ideas from the Creative Factory, Vol. 1), Sonoton SCD 15 (Ideas-Decision Makers/Sales Force)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Falcons, 1989


For my final entry before it's time to start the 2016 NFL season (I'm hoping to post one song per week then), here's the other NFL Primetime track from Sonoton SCD 15.  "Dominant Factor" is a song that probably would've worked better for something like "Inside the Numbers" or "Game Balls" than actual highlights—it's just too neutral and lacking in edge & emotion.  Still, it does have some synthy charm & ESPN saw fit to use it at least a few times during the 1989 season.  Unfortunately, none of the games I have with Dominant Factor are real interesting.  In fact, the most interesting one I've got is another Rams/Falcons game from the period where Deion Sanders was literally the only worthwhile thing to watch in Fulton County Stadium.

Top Decision Maker

Song - Top Decision Maker

Artist(s) - "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1989-90

Contained on - SON 299 (Ideas from the Creative Factory, Vol. 1), Sonoton SCD 15 (Ideas-Decision Makers/Sales Force)

Featured Highlight - Jets @ Dolphins, 1989


By request, I'm identifying this moody gem from NFL Primetime's Sonoton era.  "Top Decision Maker," by Gerhard Narholz under an oft-used pseudonym, is a perfect example of the style & instrumentation used by NFL Primetime from 1989-90.  The heavy synth, though not football-like on the surface, works well with games with less-than-sunny skies…  or less-than-sunny play on the field.  I guess it's kinda like Neck & Neck in that regard, though Neck & Neck hits that tone a bit harder than Top Decision Maker.

In light of recent tragic events at ESPN, I thought it appropriate to post a highlight that featured John Saunders doing the commentary.  Here's him presenting the Jets and their shootout victory over an uncharacteristically mediocre edition of Shula's Dolphins.

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…

Duran Duran Meets Phantasy Star

Song - Roadhog

Artist(s) - Trevor Bastow

Released - 1987

Primetime Usage - 1991-92

Contained on - MusicHouse MHI4 (Telefax)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Giants, 1991


Just because the '80s were over doesn't mean their sound was dead.  In 1991, NFL Primetime began using perhaps the most heavily "eighties" sounding piece ever made.  This song, called "Roadhog," took punchy synth to a new level and often accompanied longer highlights on the show thanks to its full three-minute duration.  For those that are fans of either Duran Duran (especially their earlier, "Fab Five" era stuff) or Sega's Phantasy Star sci-fi RPG series, the style of Roadhog should be quite refreshing for you.

Roadhog was written by the late Trevor Bastow.  Trevor, along with his late brother Geoff, were two of the top stalwarts for both Bruton & MusicHouse from the 1970s-1990s.  Geoff, a disciple of the great Giorgio Moroder, was also known for being the producer behind the briefly popular synth-disco act known as K.I.D. in the early '80s.  Trevor was never a major figure in popular music, as far as I know, but I personally find his large library of production music to be even better than his brother's.  Unfortunately, Roadhog seems to be the only Primetime track composed by either of the two Bastow brothers.

The featured game highlight for Roadhog isn't the greatest, but it's still fairly entertaining.  The Rams, in John Robinson's final season, went up to the Meadowlands and handed defending Super Bowl champion Jeff Hostetler his first-ever loss as a starting QB.

Race to Midnight

Song - Race to Midnight (underscore)

Artist(s) - Chris Gibbons, Pete Q. Harris

Released - 1988

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - Bruton BR 32/BRG 39 (Golden Vision)

Featured Highlight - Rams @ Falcons, 1990


I don't have much to say about this one, so I'll make it quick.  The underscore of "Race to Midnight" is dark, bass-heavy, and moody, but it's a little too repetitive and lacking in direction to work for anything beyond accompaniment.  It does have one unique quality, however, in that it's (AFAIK) the only NFL Primetime song to only use the underscore and not the base track (there were at least 3 pieces that had both the base & underscore used in 1987).  John Colby made the right choice with that, too, since the base track just has a tinny, low-quality synth trumpet added over the top.  I don't know much about the artists, but at least Pete Harris has a website (linked above).

For some reason, all three highlights I have with Race to Midnight are late-season games involving the Atlanta Falcons.  The Falcons weren't very good in Jerry Glanville's first year, so that makes the featured video options rather meager.  At least you get to see Deion Sanders…

Superdome Soccer

Song - Q X

Artist(s) - Mel Dean, "Jean-Claude Madonne" (John Fiddy), & "Sammy Burdson" (Gerhard Narholz)

Released - 1990

Primetime Usage - 1990

Contained on - Sonoton SCD 48 (Spirit of Enterprise)

Featured Highlight - Steelers @ Saints, 1990


"Q X" is an NFL Primetime track that is as obscure in its usage as it is short in its name.  Only used in 1990, and not very often even within that season, Q X is a difficult song to pin down in terms of mood.  It's kinda standoffish, kinda dramatic, kinda neutral, and kinda tense.  As a result, it's quite ambivalent and doesn't naturally fit a whole lot of football games.  One oddball game it does fit, however, is the one included below.  The Steelers & Saints played an offensively challenged bout in the Superdome in 1990 that ultimately came down to a kicking contest between the eventual top-two scorers in NFL history:  Morten Andersen & Gary Anderson.  Gary did miss one of his field-goal attempts, but he got twice as many tries so his Steelers prevailed.  Have fun!