Crazy Train… of agony

NCS Football Tradition76

In 1980, Ozzy Osborne released his first solo single called, it was titled Crazy Train. It’ is now one of the most recognizable riffs in rock history. Today the ringtone based on the song has reached double platinum with over 1,750,000 downloads. Hell, it’s even used by the New England Patriots when they enter the field before a game and played for Chipper Jones when he comes to the plate for the Atlanta Braves.

More importantly, to us, it’s played as the Wolfpack take the field for home football games… and I hate it. Every game this year my friends and I made fun of the song, then put our heads down in embarrassment as the disco bass riff rang out through The Carter. And one can only imagine what a 17 year-old recruit born in 1993 would be thinking as the Soul-Train-like graphic steams across the video screen.

I am 33 (I imagine I am in the median or mean of the ages of Wolfpack fans) and Crazy Train is old and outdated to ME! We’ve had such good intro songs in the past, why did we switch directions and go with Crazy Train?

“Here comes the BOOM!”  POD exudes getting hype, you can’t help but feel an adrenaline rush when you hear that song. It even has the line “Here comes the boys from the South”.

Then there is “The Slam“  by Toby Mac. Not as hype, but still a good song. Hell, I thought Tank Tyler’s song “Welcome to the Carter” would have been great! I mean, it’s made in house practically and specifically about our stadium!

Anyways, given the lack of news lately and this coming to my mind this morning I thought I’d see what others think about this. When commenting, post your age with your comment and if you attend home games regularly just to see if demographic matters in this discussion. Also, if you can remember the year and song intro from other years I would like to compile an accurate list.

Intro songs through the years (thanks to WV Wolf):

Welcome to the Jungle by GnR / Van Halen’s Right Now (Big Plays Big Days) / Aerosmith’s Back in the Saddle /  Bodies by Drowning Pool / P.O.D.’s Boom /  Meaning of Life by Disturbed /  Bring the Pain by Abstraxt / combo of The Battle from the Gladiator soundtrack and Blind by Korn

About BAM

I grew up on Jones Franklin Rd with a Wolfpack banner hanging over my bed. UNCW class of 2001.

NCS Football Tradition

Home › Forums › Crazy Train… of agony

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  • 12/10/2010 at 10:59 AM #85453
    nitewolf
    Participant

    I’m with 61Pack. Let the band play the fight song. To Hell with all the loud music.

    I think all the rock music is stupid and BOOM reminds me of the later Amato years with lots of hype and chest thumping and nothing to show for it but lost games and butt-loads of penalties..

    and, yes, I’m under 40.

    12/10/2010 at 11:11 AM #85454
    BAM
    Participant

    One idea my friends and I had (and tried to replicate with our own vocal boxes) was using the laugh from the beginning of ‘Crazy Train’ whenever a penalty is called on the opposing team. We had fun with that.

    12/10/2010 at 11:20 AM #85455
    PackMan97
    Participant

    Saliva’s “Click Click Boom” is a pretty good one, imo.

    12/10/2010 at 11:20 AM #85456
    MrW00Fpack
    Member

    22. And tanks song gets my vote but i could also go back to BOOM and yea they need to stop with that who lets the dogs out except my 58yr father might be very disappointed in that he seems to think its the coolest ever. it gets annoying hearing who let the dogs out and woofs te whole way home after hes heard it all day and its in his head

    12/10/2010 at 11:27 AM #85457
    El Scrotcho
    Member

    Bodies was my favorite when I was a student – but even I’d have to admit that I think it’s a little too over the top and raw for the alumni. It was a good one year thing, but wouldn’t want it long term. POD Boom is second best and works great for highlight clips and is the right length for an intro song.
    This is hands down the best highlight video I’ve ever seen for NC State and you can see why BOOM always works great for this kind of thing:
    http://www.blingcheese.com/video-84/pod+boom.htm

    The main problem with Crazy Train is it’s too long and rambling. And the accompanying graphics that go with it end up being long and rambling as well. An intro song should build to a crescendo and then explode.

    Also agree that Thunderstruck is absolutely perfect for kickoffs. I would be thoroughly disappointed if they ever change that.

    12/10/2010 at 11:30 AM #85458
    Pack Mentality
    Participant

    I think Pantera’s “mouth for war” would be great. You can have just the instrumental part or with lyrics. Age 35

    12/10/2010 at 11:30 AM #85459
    wolfweiser
    Member

    For the purposes of the pumping up the crowd, a lot of songs work. One thing that makes “Here Comes the Boom” great is the video of the big hits from previous games that is played along with it, you can’t help but cringe and scream BOOM with each hit. That is what fires me up, imagine the absolute euphoria we could have experienced this year with Nate!

    I love classic rock, Thunderstruck is good for the kickoffs, Crazy Train is good too, but for the reasons above I prefer Boom. The wolf howl is awesome, but it does need to be backed off just a little.

    I am 40 and approved this ad.

    12/10/2010 at 11:32 AM #85460
    Master
    Participant

    Do you know the difference between mean and median?

    I’m 54 and I like all kinds of music from 50’s to MM, BEP and literally all things in between. If you focus on one type of music (WTH is “getting hype” or “not as hype”???) you are ignoring the pre-game thought process of the vast majority of the crowd.

    Country music is vastly more popular than anything that’s been mentioned on this thread, but can you imagine hearing that just before the team runs onto the field. Some feel the same way about your choices.

    Sounds to me like you enjoy anything with a “threat-level-red” beat in an urban or grunge genre. I guess that works if you’re hoping to pump up the students. It has an opposite effect for a lot of others – particularly traditionalist – who detest that kind of music. We have two fight songs that everyone should know and love. Outside of that, it’s a crap shoot on what kind of music gets a crowd fired up to watch football and cheer for their team. If you’re looking for anything stronger than that, I think you’re hoping for too much.

    Final thought, is there anything more adolescent than a music snob?

    12/10/2010 at 11:32 AM #85461
    BAM
    Participant

    Yeah, the Training Day / ‘BOOM’ montage is the best we’ve ever had.

    12/10/2010 at 11:35 AM #85462
    BAM
    Participant

    “Do you know the difference between mean and median?”

    Yes, I took Stats in college. Using the mean, really old fans would have disproportionate pull on the average age. Using median, I probably am very close to the representative average age of a Wolfpack fan. We won’t even go into mode.

    12/10/2010 at 11:39 AM #85463
    wolfpack821
    Member

    Kind of off topic, but whatever happened to the videos of Mr. Wuf beating up on the opposing teams mascot before the game (usually based on a popular movie at the time). I remember the one against ECU was set to the Pirates of the Carribean music and was really cool. Also the one against UNX from four years ago set to the movie 300 was really awesome. I wish they would continue with those.

    12/10/2010 at 11:42 AM #85464
    BAM
    Participant

    “Sounds to me like you enjoy anything with a “threat-level-red” beat in an urban or grunge genre. I guess that works if you’re hoping to pump up the students.”

    Yes, the goal is to pump up those who can make the most noise, which is usually the students, 20 and 30-somethings… and not the elderly. Also, you want to get the players hyped up (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hyped+up) and ready to kick some arse.

    “It has an opposite effect for a lot of others – particularly traditionalist – who detest that kind of music.” I guess those people are offended at any sporting event? Why stop now?

    12/10/2010 at 11:44 AM #85465
    nitewolf
    Participant

    I wish they wouldn’t continue with those videos…they’re extremely corny and doubly embarrassing if the Wolfpack loses. My most hated video, though, had to have been in 2005 when unc was playing us. At halftime, after getting punked out for two quarters, someone decided it was a good idea to play a video of State students making fun of the heels (smurf references and the like)…the response was dead silence with a few hisses in the mix. I believe that video came from the same genius crew that decided ‘mexi-cam’ was funny…

    12/10/2010 at 11:49 AM #85466
    Master
    Participant

    Hard to please any one of those groups without “possibly” offending the rest. It’s possible the powers making the decision have identified the music which connects with the largest group, but dissappoints the largest cohort – the students. Just sayin….

    12/10/2010 at 11:53 AM #85467
    BAM
    Participant

    “It’s possible the powers making the decision have identified the music which connects with the largest group, but dissappoints the largest cohort ”

    I think you are giving them way too much credit. Do you really think anything is “thought out” by that rag-tag marketing department?

    12/10/2010 at 11:53 AM #85468
    i-might-pay-tuition-but-I-still-hate-UNC
    Member

    Maybe I’m just too immature, but I loved “boom” and the videos. My favorite was the Jurassic Park – VT video with the wolf eating the caged up turkey. Win or loose, the stadium was 10x more hyped than when we just play the fight song with some lame video. I understand that some people don’t like it, but it has to be a better way to start a game than the tranquil and UNC-like environment that we had at kick most of this year.

    You want to know what should really be done? Ask the football players. They are who needs to perform. Who cares what you or I like??

    12/10/2010 at 11:54 AM #85469
    LRM
    Keymaster

    I watched Alabama run out at Bryant Denny to simply the band playing the fight song (after an into video like we have) and it was a subtle yet awe-inspiring moment.

    Our band has grown and improved so much over the past decade, and we really should use it to our advantage like so many other schools do. I really like how they’re playing more between plays (the quick N-C-S-U Go State one in particular) and they were great at Kenan. And yet we drown out half the fight song during the intro with pumped-in noise.

    I get more peturbed each season with the increased amount of noise they pump into C-F, and I blame the Canes influence for that.

    12/10/2010 at 11:55 AM #85470
    BAM
    Participant

    Kinda on topic, I also think we should once a year have Kevin Nash (right?) in person to scream out “Wolfpack In The House!!!!!” … I think it would be especially awesome for a Thursday night or other nationally televised game.

    12/10/2010 at 11:58 AM #85471
    BAM
    Participant

    “You want to know what should really be done? Ask the football players.”

    Great idea! If they choose it, I have no qualms. I just fear it’s some disconnected computer jock making the call now.
    Now that I think about it, I guess my real problem with Crazy Train is that there is no climax or crescendo, it’s just kinda blah the whole way through. Anyways, I’m not saying my opinion is correct, I mainly just wanted to hear others opinions and you all have done that! Thanks!

    12/10/2010 at 12:01 PM #85472
    BAM
    Participant

    “One thing that makes “Here Comes the Boom” great is the video of the big hits from previous games that is played along with it, you can’t help but cringe and scream BOOM with each hit. That is what fires me up, imagine the absolute euphoria we could have experienced this year with Nate!”

    Agreed and agreed!

    12/10/2010 at 12:03 PM #85473
    Wolfpack_1995
    Member

    “Right Here Right Now” by Van Halen was my fav. I would like to see this back in the mix. Very good intro imo.

    12/10/2010 at 12:11 PM #85474
    SeaWolf
    Member

    unx had a better intro than us, and they used this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7vF8zGeljA

    I think there is some power in classical music (see 2001: A Space Odyssey).

    If we are going to go that route. I vote using the whole Muse intro from the U2 360 tour. http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=AKED_4rTHiA&feature=related

    It’s a combination of a scene in Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet followed by the song “Uprising.” http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog

    If you want to go the single song route, might I suggest Audioslave’s “Cochise.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDMvN45sjo4

    The problem with “Crazy Train” is the huge lull between the song finishing and the players running out. It makes me angry thinking about it.

    12/10/2010 at 12:17 PM #85475
    nitewolf
    Participant

    LRM, I think you are right on the money.

    I believe NCSU has always had a passionate-enough fanbase and, in my opinion, one of the better and underrated marching bands in Division 1 to whip the crowd into a frenzy all on their own.

    Some folks may call the rock music stuff a ‘genrational thing’ but I think it’s more of a ‘conditioning thing’ since it’s probably all that some of the crop of fans that have been to CF in the last 12 years have been used to. I still believe the fanbase can make enough noise without all the extras.

    12/10/2010 at 12:21 PM #85476
    leftbrain99
    Member

    My opinions:
    1) Mic the band.
    2) Current use of the loudspeaker system is modest and effective (was overdone during the Amato years)
    3) Don’t bitch about music unless you have the words to the REAL fight song (not the Red & White song) AND the Alma Mater memorized, and sing them (or at least say the words) while played. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_State_Wolfpack#NC_State_Fight_Song

    12/10/2010 at 12:39 PM #85477
    baxter
    Member

    As a music enthusiast I have no respect for pod and it frustrate me to read about Oregon where they blast awesome music in practice. I would like something modern, with a sick beat, rap, hip hop maybe a mash up of a classic beat and nice flow of lyrics…. there is a lot of great music out there that can fill the 30 to 60 seconds necessary for pump up way better than a $***ty loop of crazy train with awful video editing.

    25, attended Cincy, vt this season

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