But then I happened upon a curious post on HuskerExtra.com titled "Sirius still part of tunnel walk." It was one of those everyone-calm-down-posts that they're fond of but it meant that there was actual growing talk out there that Nebraska was considering a change. As I'm never on message boards and, somehow, this hasn't become a hot topic up north. I hadn't heard anything about it.
This morning the Omaha World-Herald confirmed these rumors further. Before asking me to pay for the rest of the story, I got this out of them:
"For more than a decade, Nebraska has entered the field before kickoff to "Sirius," the Alan Parsons Project creation. But rumors this week suggested NU may have enlisted Nebraska native DJ and mix artist Mikey Bo to overhaul tradition."
First of all, I've never really liked the fact that Nebraska has used "Sirius" as their entrance music. It's not so much that it's not a great song (an inarguable fact) as it's not our song. It's not even Alan Parson's song anymore, it's Michael Jordan's song. The Chicago Bulls made it famous and then thousands of high schools across the country bought a copy of Jock Jams and used it as their entrance music as well. Was it the best Nebraska could do? I never thought so but 13 years since the first tunnel walk I figured it was firmly entrenched as some sort of Nebraska "tradition." Now that's not the case.
As the World-Herald noted, this guy named Mikey Bo is rumored to be involved so I went back to his page and immediately I had some reservations:
- Strike 1 - I loathe MySpace. Aesthetically and grammatically it has set the Internet back 15 years. It always looks awful and frequently lacks basic capitalization.
- Strike 2 - Go to the page and you'll see Mikey wearing one of those ridiculous straw/mesh trucker hat thingys while striking what I guess is a hick-hop pose. My confidence in his ability dwindles.
- Strike 3 - Reading through Bo's bio, it's obvious that he is a "country" or "farmboy" as a marketing tool, the same tactic that has led to John Deere t-shirts being sold at JC Penny and essentially ruined modern country music. Maybe he did grow up on a farm, cultivating sugar beets and branding cattle but those people rarely see that as a selling point, they just do it.
There are a number of lesser-known songs by under the radar artists I'd love to nominate here, but I think there's something to be said for familiarity. However, you can't go too familiar as that's the problem we already are facing. After thinking about it for about six seconds I arrived at the perfect choice, Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold". For my money, there isn't a better song to encapsulate Nebraska's Western agrarian culture that could still inspire you to rip somebody's head off (see clip below).
My only qualm is that the song could be too sedate for some so how about something heavier? I refuse to use "Thunderstruck" like everyone else so how about Metallica? They're palatable to a large cross-section of people. Virginia Tech already uses "Enter Sandman" to great effect and West Virginia is reportedly using "For Whom the Bell Tolls" starting this year. Two great songs already eliminated, but there is "Battery". It has a vaguely spaghetti-western guitar intro and features a slow build from soft to ear-splitting which is essentially the only qualification for an entrance song. I really think this is the pick but I'm also pretty sure nobody will go for it. Too heavy perhaps.
But there is one more option. Metallica has long used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as their concert opener so why not combine the best of both selections above and use a slightly rockier version of the Morricone classic. It's out there:
See how well that works? I'm ready to play Nevada right now. In street clothes. We could get DT on this, have him take the song and put it with last year's tunnel walk video footage, maybe throw in a little footage from the Great Depression as he's done before, and it would be one hell of a promotional video.
It may not happen this year, but that's okay. It will happen and "The Ecstasy of Gold" is a much more poetic title following a conference championship season anyway.
Enjoy the game, enjoy the weekend.
**UPDATE**
Thanks to commenter Christopher, we now have updated information on the mysterious MikeyBo courtesy of Huskers.com. Looks like Sirius will not be totally replaced (unfortunate) but Mr. Bo has seriously upgraded his choice of headwear (fortunate). Now put it on straight.
--BrandonVo
11 comments:
A youtube video doesn't do the old tunnel walk justice and it won't do anything for the new. Keep an open mind and EXPERIENCE it before you go trying to make changes.
The guy is a producer, not a spokesperson, who cares how he markets himself. Who cares if he has a myspace page? Every new movie does. Did you stop going to movies because they use the myspace (more users than any other community-based network) as a marketing tool?
It's not solely about the style of music, but the application of the music as well. "Sirius" on it's own does nothing for me, but play that song at a Husker game and I've got goosebumps. As soon as I heard this new version, I called my wife to tell her that Nebraska has remixed the theme song and I love it. It's like a slow war chant. Apparently the panel at Nebraska (responsible for making these decisions) likes it too.
Put your eight tracks away and give it a chance gramps.
-Ray
My one reservation about the MikeyBo (really?) track replacing Sirius is the loss of the participatory element. Sirius works well 'cause the 85k white people in Memorial Stadium can clap in unison to its beat. This track, while plenty good on its own, doesn't seem like it would be good for that.
To be fair, someone put together last year's tunnel walk video with this song, and it looks pretty great.
Upon further review, Mike Bohuslavsky is a David City Aquinas grad. I am no longer a fan.
Nice post Brandon. I was trying to come up with alternative songs myself but you have nominated some good ones.
I actually think NU missed an opportunity here. Just look at all the discussion this topic has generated over the internets the past few days. If back in May they would have announced a competition to develop a new tunnel walk song, just think about all the options they would have had.
No offense to Mr. Bo. I actually like his remix. But, what would NU have had to lose by opening up the process? If Bo's song was the best it still would have won, no?
BTW, props to him for finding a way to turn "Mike Bohuslavsky" into a hip hop DJ name!
Ray,
Gramps? I'm proudly part of the coveted 18-34yo male demorgraphic!
I don't have a problem with the song. The contrived hick-hop angle? Please, but, as you noted, that has nothing to do with the song. It's fine. I like it better than I do Sirius on its own, but it's far from the best choice in my mind because it's still the song that was used to introduce the Chicago Bulls.
But, maybe after experiencing two weeks hence I'll change my mind. (Probably not.)
Christopher,
Thanks for that link it's...ummm...interesting.
Great work Brandon!! I for one think that Sirius should have been retired when Frank took over. After a trip to Manhattan, Kansas and watching the Purple Pussies come out to Sirius I was ready for a complete overhaul. I've always been partial to starting the tunnel walk with Korn's Blind mixed with something modern and edgy. The tunnel walk is a little bit of a game day gimmick, but it is also an extremely important recruiting tool. I would say the majority of the athletes that we try to impress with something as emotional and intense as the tunnel walk don't feel the same about changing the song as the average middle aged fan that wants everything to stay the same. The change, while not enough for me, is long overdue. Now I just hope that they will find some modern tunes to play during down time during the game that don't make me want to weep.
Nebraska 42 Nevada 10
Strike 1 - After reading the last sentence of my previous post. Two more things: 1. Keep up the great writing! It is truly enjoyable! 2. I'm loving your "general store." Soon they will all be mine.
As one on his last stand among the 18-34 demo, I just had to chime in on this...but first:
Among his multiple incorrect uses of "is" in the plural present tense (suck on that sonny-boy!) I noticed in the second half of the Perrault Q&A a comment you made comparing the CWS to the Super Bowl. Anyway, it brought to mind this episode of "Flip this house" that the lady had on last weekend. This guy was a Clemson fan and he was flying with his kids to Omaha to take them to watch the Tigers in the CWS on father's day...and since the guy had a friend whose father took him to the Super bowl with their family when he was a kid, he took a bunch of his kids' friends to Omaha in turn. So I don't exactly know what point I was gonna make, since it's been so long (that one's long gone from the front page) but I just thought it was important to note that, to at least one guy, a trip to Omaha for the CWS ranked right up there with Super Bowl.
(But in the words of a comedian whose exact identity escapes me) I told you that story to tell you this one:
The reason it took me so long to get around to posting about the two-week old Matt Perrault interview is that I've been in my own little tunnel-walk oriented conundrum...The local high school down the street out here in Bumblefuck installed a jumbotron into the football stadium over the summer. Due to my background, one of the coaches I know kind of enlisted me to do a little pro bono work in starting a high school video production company from the ground up with in three weeks with a bunch of 17-year-olds who don't have a clue what's all to be done. As fun as that may sound, one of the many editorial decisions that I have on my current plate is what song I want to switch to for a locker room runout/stadium entrance (as nothing that I'm going to be associated with will empoly the Bulls/Yankees/Half the NFL-ripoff...and ours is one of the thousands of high schools you mentioned that have used such to take the field to in recent years). I've been a proponent of a certain song since NU's started their grand "tradition" of playing the Chicago Bulls theme song in the fall of my Senior year in Lincoln. I thought it was an unoriginal joke then and (as you aptly note) it's only become increasingly hackneyed since. So given the aforementioned choice that's before me, I'm sticking with my gut and going with what I thought NU should've used back in '94..."Walk" by Pantera. Of course, I was a lot more partial to Pantera back then...I'd listen to them all the time and whip myself up into such a froth that I'd often throw the nearest chair through the nearest plate glass window. Could you get a more perfect song for the tunnel walk than that? The thing's got "Walk" right there in the title!? So (speaking for myself) to this day I've still yet to hear a tune that I feel better sets the tone and establishs the attitude you want your team to embody when they take the field. Even if the old ladies don't care for it, at least they can still clap along and it'll only take a couple of minutes, so what the hell, I figure. As recently as a year ago, my wife & I used it as a bed for our wedding reception intros. I'm going to go out on a limb and suppose that there aren't a lot of married folks who can say that...but that's just how we roll, I guess.
Anyway, my concluding point would be that everyone has their own personal, private, perfect track for the tunnel walk...but to me, the main selling point of Mikey Bo's version is that it's "Not Sirius" and that's one thing that the majority has managed to come to a general consensus on in recent days. The part of the story I like best is where they blended the old with something new and got a Nebraska native and UNL alum to mix it all together and create something that's completely unique to ourselves. That's the spirit that I see sort of getting lost in all of this (mainly by those that are getting all bent out of whack over tinkering with a 13-year "tradition" that was lame in the first place). While I might not know diddly-squat about Mikey Bo and know even less about his music...it seems from what I've read that he's been pretty successful and is quite well-respected among those who are much more knowledgeable than I about such matters. And I'd be willing to bet that the crowd who raves on his myspace comments about how his "beats are fit for kings" (or some such nonsense) are a little more hip than I am as to what type of thing the "kids" are into nowadays. So I'd say Mikey Bo sounds like the man for the job to me. Anything that might help to get more 18-year-old studs to sign up...hell, I'm all for it. Like I said, being "Not Sirius" already makes it 100 times better in my book.
I hope I can get more time to come around as we get into the season...til then I'll just apologize for my verbosity and try to stick to quality over quantity from here on out...
You came close, Shava, but you forgot the two 50-yarders by Adi:
UN-L: 48
UN-R: 10
GBR
PS: if you click the link on my name, it'll take you where you can download all 4 versions of Project Husker in divx format (much better quality than youtube). When you've got some time to kill, drop by and check out Eliot's Husker Media blog, he's already got a lot of interesting stuff up there and I'm sure he'll have plenty more to come as the season goes on.
Did I just say that? I meant "...the crowd who raves...IS a little more hip..."
I therefore withdraw my prior criticism of Matt Perrault's written grammar, for I am no better.
Post a Comment