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.
Featured Highlight - *EDIT* - Bills @ Dolphins, 1989
The 1989 San Francisco 49ers were arguably the greatest NFL team of the modern era. They went 14-2, 10 of their 14 wins were by double digits, and they won their three playoff games by an average score of 42-9. For a team that dominant, a song with the title "Overall Winner" is appropriate. Gerhard Narholz's synth-filled fanfare is bright & loud and perfectly fits a champion from the 1980s. It's also easily accessible to those that want to listen thanks to Sonoton's online service (linked above). Overall Winner wasn't played that much on NFL Primetime—2 highlights that I know of early in the '89 season—but the games that used it were pretty big ones. One was a Bills/Dolphins showdown from Week 1, while the other—shown below—featured the aforementioned 49ers travelling to Veterans Stadium to take on an Eagles team that was considered one of their chief NFC-title threats. What followed was perhaps the finest game of Joe Montana's (or anyone else's) career: 428 yards and 5 TD passes on just 34 attempts despite being sacked 8 times and being hit several more. Grab a snack or something, because this entertaining highlight is lengthy even for the 28-team era.
*EDIT* - The NFL copyright blocked the 49ers/Eagles video because of a 13-second play match (Rice's last touchdown, specifically). This is the first time this sort of thing has happened to one of my videos in ≈40 posts, so hopefully it won't happen again. Here's the aforementioned Buffalo/Miami matchup from Week 1 as a replacement.
"The 'epic track that wasn't," is probably what you could call "Performance." It definitely does have the feel of the other epic-type songs on NFL Primetime (International Statement, Olympic Action, Crush), but it was only used briefly (perhaps just once) and not for a game that anyone would've considered crucial or memorable. It is a little more boring & repetitive than those other tracks, so maybe that was a factor. Or it could just be that Performance got lost in the shuffle. Whatever the reason, I don't think it's a big deal that the song didn't last. It was written by prolific KPM composer John Devereaux. There's surprisingly little info about Devereaux online, but he has a lot of good stuff on KPM. He also composed the song, "The Nightmare Begins," which was apparently used multiple times on Spongebob Squarepants.
Speaking of being lost in the shuffle, there were the 1990s Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams. We all recall the cinderella Kurt Warner 1999 season, but what many don't remember is that the Rams had the worst record of any NFL franchise over the first 9 years of the decade (the Bengals ended up winning that honor). They also tried to fix languish fan interest by moving the team to Missouri, a move that fits the definition of "mixed results" given that the Rams are now back in L.A. just 21 years later. Anyway… this decline started in 1990, when a team that had gone to the NFC Championship the year before went an unceremonious 5-11. The only clip I have with "Performance" features them blowing a lead at home against a middling Saints team.
My third post from David Reilly's Success album is the one that was used least on NFL Primetime. That's a shame, though, because "Inter Conference" is a punchy & fun track that effectively fits highlight videos. At the beginning of 1989, both the Phoenix Cardinals & Detroit Lions were beginning major transitions. The Cards were adjusting to life without longtime QB Neil Lomax (Lomax was still on the roster, but would never again suit up in a game that counted), while the Lions were beginning Wayne Fontes's & Mouse Davis's NFL experiment with the run & shoot offense. The run & shoot wouldn't last more than a few years in Pontiac, but another major addition would pay long-term dividends. This opening-week contest against Phoenix, the only highlight I've seen with Inter Conference, was also the first time Barry Sanders ever played in an NFL uniform (he sat out the preseason). Sanders played pretty well, too, averaging nearly 8 yards-per-carry and scoring Detroit's only touchdown. It wasn't quite enough for the Lions to win, but it was a great sign of things to come for Sanders and the franchise. Enjoy the clip.
The second NFL Primetime track from Good Morning America! (that I know of) is also one that I have just one clip of. "Spearhead," by Zoë Kronberger under the alias Zoë de Souza, provides a well-balanced mix of synth, trumpet, and electric guitar. It actually sounds like it could be the battle music for some sort of sci-fi RPG, and that genre's standard of energetic determination also fits well for sports highlights. Kronberger's career has been a bit back & forth. According to her website (linked above): she trained as a graphic artist, then switched to music during the '70s & '80s, then gradually focused more on visual art from the '90s on. Good Morning America! also contains several more solid tracks by de Souza/Kronberger, including the rather trippy "Steel Breeze." Unfortunately, as I mentioned on my previous post, finding anything beyond a bootleg vinyl rip of this album is a difficult proposition.
The aforementioned clip with Spearhead features the Cowboys & Steelers long past their 1970s prime. In fact, 1988 was the last ever meeting between hall-of-fame coaches Tom Landry & Chuck Noll. From watching Primetime episodes from the late '80s, I gather the football media was often asking whether the game of football had passed both Landry & Noll by. Noll would prove that false just one year later when he won his only NFL Coach of the Year award by taking a bunch of raw rookies & unheralded veterans to the Divisional Round. Unfortunately for Landry, he never got the same chance as he was unceremoniously & infamously fired by new Cowboys owner Jerry Jones following the 1988 season. He never coached again. Anyway, here's the last go 'round between these Super Bowl arch-nemeses.
The next couple weeks will feature two songs from the same album that may have been used as little as one time on NFL Primetime. The only highlight I have of "N.Y. Giants," by Grid Lock guitarist/composer Ray Russell, was for a game that ironically had nothing to do with the New York Giants. In 1988, the Cardinals had just uprooted themselves from tepid fan support in St. Louis and had to get ready for nearly 20 years of similarly apathetic support in Phoenix. Despite this, and the franchise's historically underwhelming win/loss record, expectations were high for the 1988 Phoenix Cardinals. The still had Neil "The Grand Cannon" Lomax who, though not on the level of a Joe Montana, was still one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. They also had star WR Roy Green and a decent chunk of other talented players. An 0-2 start that included a loss to an ultimately terrible Cowboys squad in the Cardinals' first ever game at Sun Devil Stadium probably dinged their egos a bit, but they won 7 of their next 9 games (including a 23-point comeback over eventual Super Bowl champ San Francisco) and were actually leading the NFC East after Week 11. Unfortunately, 1988 then became the ultimate "what coulda been" season for the Cardinals franchise. Lomax suffered a leg injury in that last win over the Giants and, though he would eventually return, the team wasn't the same and they lost 5 straight to end the year. Even worse, Lomax never played a regular-season down again following 1988 due to a chronic hip condition and the Cardinals wouldn't see anything resembling consistent QB play again until 2007. The franchise's near misses in the late '80s (they also choked away a postseason spot in their final year in St. Louis) combined with the sudden post-Lomax loss of offense led to just one playoff appearance for the franchise from 1983-2007 and largely terrible home attendance over that span. It's easy to speculate how things could've been different if only Lomax hadn't been hurt or if he hadn't had to retire or even if the team had been able to rally once he returned with 3 weeks to go in the '88 season. Things are finally going well for the Cardinals now, but it really seems like it shouldn't have taken anywhere near that long.
Anyway… the aforementioned highlight showcasing N.Y. Giants was the first-ever regular-season game for the Phoenix Cardinals. Against the Cincinnati Bengals, who would surprise everyone by dominating the AFC that year, Phoenix would kinda foreshadow the tail end of their season by blowing a perfect chance to win the game late. Oh, as for the song itself: nothing from the Good Morning America! album was ever released beyond vinyl, as far as I know, so trying to find a bootleg rip online is probably your only option.
Another track that has made its rounds on various NFL Primetime download collections, "Power Cutter" is one that makes no attempt to stand out. It's more generic, repetitive, and background-ish than perhaps any other Primetime song, and it was clearly intended to be nothing more. It works surprisingly well, however, because it at least provides a nice beat & some steady energy for your football-viewing enjoyment. Power Cutter was created by the same trio that gave us The Event, and is also contained on the same, impossible-to-find FirstCom album. You shouldn't have much trouble obtaining a legally dubious, lower-bitrate version on the web, but good luck finding an official, high-quality cut.
Power Cutter's featured highlight has two, then-new teams squaring off in an entertaining game in Jacksonville. Fun fact!: despite playing only two years in Baltimore, Vinny Testaverde was the Ravens' all-time leader in passing yards until Joe Flacco passed him in 2010.
