This time it's not about sexual assault, but an equally polarizing subject: what song should be playing as the football team takes the field? As you can imagine with a message board full of presumably white guys who like football, Metallica was an overwhelming favorite, with a bunch of other songs by watered down rock bands. Below is what I had to say:
Instead of just listing off every crappy song I've ever heard on 93X, I thought I'd give a little insight towards this subject.
First, the Gophers always take the field first to the sound of a cannon popping (provided by our very own Cannon Man), which triggers an eight count drum cadence and finally leads to our school's fight song, The Minnesota Rouser. This is the song we should always enter with because it's entirely unique and no other Division 1 college or NFL team enters the field to that song. So we got that going for us, which is nice.
Now the subject of this thread should read "POLL: This is what the Gophers should wait in the tunnel too..." because that is when they usually crank something over the speakers. I noticed last year that they had a video playing during this time, too. I like where their head is at on this one, but it was very poorly executed. I don't even remember what song was playing, but the video with clips from the movie "300" and players/coaches awkwardly trying to fire up the crowd was just awful. To start, they should scratch that video and make a new one using that "We Will Make History Again" clip and maybe add some more game highlights from the past and present. It really can't be that difficult. That annoying hipster punk on those "Hi, I'm a Mac" commercials leads me to think anybody could put this together.
Onto the music, where things get a little more tricky.
As mentioned before, they will enter the field to the cannon, drums, and Rouser. During the time waiting in the tunnel, the idea is to build some excitement and tension in the crowd. A song that begins with a slow crescendo and adds layers of instrumentation accomplishes this task. A lot of those orchestra movie scores and rock songs mentioned in the previous thread fit this mold. It's not too difficult to find songs that fit this criteria.
Where it gets more complicated is finding a song that will seamlessly transition into the cannon/drum cadence/Rouser. A lot of the songs mentioned have great intros and great build-up, but there's really no place to stop the CD and strike up the band without it sounding like someone in the sound booth or leading the band missed a cue. I mean, AC/DC's "Hells Bells" is a great song that really gets the blood pumping, but there's no real peak to that intro. It just levels off.
There are three songs I saw discussed that would work:
1. Metallica's "Enter Sandman" - Kind of a no brainer. The part to transition from CD to band would be right before all the parts come in unison to play that main riff. The drum beat goes to cut time and crescendos just before it. It really is perfect.
I wouldn't choose this one, however, because it's too easy. Any former jock under the age of 35 has taken the field of play with this song blasting at some point. You hear it in arenas and stadiums everywhere. I generally scoff at college teams that play this as an intro and call it "tradition"(I also laugh and shake my head at Wisconsin when they play "Jump Around"; again, you hear this song in just about every arena and stadium, but for some reason, those morons at UW think they are special for being the only ones to take the lyrics literally).
2. Refused's "New Noise" - This isn't a really a well known, mainstream rock song, but it has been used every now and then on TV sports broadcasts. I also recalled it was on the soundtrack for the "Friday Night Lights" movie. It is a killer intro and it has a perfect transition spot right after the lead singer belts out "Can I scream?!" or something like that. I can't really tell what he's saying.
But as aerosk83 mentioned in that post, it has a long pause right before the lead singer comes in which might be too much. It's a cool effect when you're listening to it at home on your CD player, but that effect would be lost in a stadium full of 50,000 yelling fans.
3. Korn's "Blind" - This may be my favorite choice. I am surprised that you don't hear it more at sporting events. It has an eerie build-up with those cymbals and dueling guitars that peaks with the lead singer belting out "ARE YOU READY?!". The obvious transition spot would be right after that.
The "Are you ready" thing also fits because that is what the announcer shouts during the marching band's pregame show right before they play the Rouser while in the block M formation. Perhaps some folks would even be duped into thinking the Metrodome announcer is the one belting out the phrase both times. I know my mom would.
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