Carter-Finley Karaoke

NC State’s athletic department is currently taking votes for a sing-along anthem to be played between the third and fourth quarters at Carter-Finley Stadium. You can find the article and vote here.

Let’s take a look at the 3 songs mentioned in the first paragraph of the gopack.com article. First, “Sweet Caroline” was played at Red Sox games because Fenway’s music director had heard it played at other sporting events and would play it at random late in the game if the Sox were winning. The fans soon began to anticipate the song as a good luck charm and is now a tradition.

Second, “Hang On Sloopy” was played at Ohio State because a marching band member convinced the band director to let the marching band play the song. The crowd at the Horseshoe had a positive reaction so the band started to play it at every game and is now a tradition.

And third, House of Pain’s “Jump Around” (not Van Halen’s “Jump” as initally stated in the article. Imagine that, sloppy editing on gopack.com although it is now fixed) just happened to be played at Wisconsin in an ugly game against Purdue. It pumped up the crowd and the team and is now a tradition.

Notice a theme? None of these traditions were manufactured. A song just happened to be played at the stadium, the crowd liked it, so they played it again next game and now it is played every game. It just happened naturally, there were no polls or votes or anyone telling the fans what song they are supposed to like.

So NC State’s athletic department, on the cutting edge as usual, is trying to manufacture traditions because other teams are doing it too (see also the new wolf statue in the tunnel. The Cranberries album “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” must be popular in the athletic department these days). Although, I’m not sure how we were going to naturally create a tradition when the jumbotron is usually playing a Fox 50 commercial, the wacky donkey House-Autry ad, win Chuck’s Truck or reminders to recycle (even though it is a worthwhile cause).

Now let’s take a look at the 5 finalist songs. I’m a big music fan, I may not be up on every new indie band but my iPod has a pretty wide range of music. So this is my take on these songs, you may or may not agree, I understand music taste is subjective.

First, “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel. Decent choice, I’m neutral on this song. It’s not on my iPod but I don’t hate it either. Along with the Sugarhill Gang’s “Apache” it seems to have caught on some with the student section. Of course, instead of letting these songs catch on naturally we have to go through the official voting process.

Second, “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. Really? That’s not even the best Bon Jovi option, I would have gone with “Livin’ On A Prayer”. If we have to have some 80s hair metal, why not Ozzy’s “Bark At The Moon” which would at least tie in with our mascot.

Third, “Song of the South” by Alabama. I know some of Alabama’s stuff, like the mountain music that grandma and grandpa used to play. But I have to admit I was not at all familiar with this song. Which adds a degree of difficulty for singing along plus are you really going to get the crowd to sing “Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat, They oughta get a rich man to vote like that”? And nothing against country music, but it also plays into the redneck/tractor stereotype.

Fourth, “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. I’ll say up front that I am a big Tom Petty fan, I celebrate the guy’s entire catalog. When you get a packed crowd at Walnut Creek singing along to the chorus it’s actually pretty cool and the lyrics are fitting and pretty easy to remember. But as much as I love this song, it just doesn’t strike me as a football pump you up type song or more of a fun song like “Hey Baby” and “Apache”.

Fifth, “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones. Starts off with another classic Stones riff but after the first line can you honestly sing the rest of the verse off the top of your head? Neither can I and I’ve probably heard the song at every Hurricanes game I’ve been to over the past 10 years. In its defense, the line in the chorus “You make a grown man cry” is actually pretty fitting for State athletics. But either nobody in the athletic department bothered to take the time to read the lyrics or Mick Jagger’s sexual innuendos went completely over their head. Just a sample of some of the lyrics are “I’ve been running hot, You got me ticking gonna blow my top“ or “If you rough it up, If you like it you can slide it up, slide it up” and of course “You make a dead man come”. Sounds like a perfect sing-along with your kids at the game doesn’t it?

Another problem I have with the finalists is that none of the songs have any sort of connection to the school. For example, as a WVU fan, “Country Roads” is a perfect song for Mountaineer Field, John Denver even played it live when the stadium was dedicated. There may not be a lot of wolf songs but just off the top of my head there are the aforementioned “Bark At The Moon”, Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”, Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf”, Metallica’s “Of Wolf And Man”, Whitesnake’s “Still Of The Night” and oldies like Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh’s “Li’l Red Riding Hood” and “Werewolf” by the Frantics (although more of an instrumental). At least a song like one of those would be unique and fitting and not just some song drawn out of a hat.

I can anticipate this being a colossal failure with half the crowd not even paying attention that we’re supposed to be singing now and the other half not knowing the words. And sprinkled in will be those of us who will refuse to participate on the grounds that manufactured new traditions like this have a high probability of lame.