Changed my mind - I'm all in for the RAWK music
I was admittedly skeptical about the piped in music when I heard about it and cringed when I heard we played Sweet Caroline at the WMU game. I decided I'd withhold judgment until I saw it in person at the ND game. After seeing it in person I will say that I am now in support of the piped in music. The atmosphere at the game was incredible and the music definitely got the those not in the student section up on their feet and cheering moreso than what they would have done otherwise. I've been to a lot of big home games over the past 10 years or so ('97 ND, '97 OSU, '02 Washington, '03 Ohio St., '04 MSU, '05 Penn St) and the atmosphere at the game Saturday was better than any of them.
I thought they were judicious with the use of the piped in music and it was not excessive at all. I was not thrilled with the selection - particularly Journey Don't Stop Believin and White Stripes' Seven Nation Army as those are very cliched and overplayed. Eminem's Lose Yourself, on the other hand, was all kinds of awesome, the student section went nuts for it.
They need to work on queuing up the songs so that you get the good part of the song (in Lose Yourself, they played it a couple times but didn't get past the piano intro part). They played them at the right part of the game for the most part and it had a tangible effect on crowd participation.
The notion that the band can play the songs is absurd - you literally cannot hear the band in large portions of the stadium.
I do have a couple of song suggestions:
- Eminem's Welcome to Detroit City
- Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home
-
September 14th, 2009 at 4:09 PM ^
you *don't* like the use of pinch harmonics in every measure?
September 14th, 2009 at 3:47 PM ^
Yeah, I was adamantly opposed to piping in music when it was first talked about. But being at the game this Saturday really turned me around on it. The music did a wonderful job of getting the crowd to make noise. Obviously in an ideal world we'd make that much noise without piping in music, but anything that makes us louder is okay by me.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:49 PM ^
We need music that is loud, heavy, and intimidating. I was thinking along the lines of Iron Maiden or Pantera.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:51 PM ^
This is why I've got a problem w/ the piped in music. It hasn't been terrible so far but it's a slippery slope. Put the responsibility in the wrong hands and we could be listening to some awful stuff.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:50 PM ^
Andrew W.K. I think needs to be played. He went to U of M, his dad is (was?) a professor is here and his songs are simple and pumps people up.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:53 PM ^
Andrew W.K. = horrible.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:53 PM ^
Andrew WK's dad is a prof in the law school here. WK himself went to high school in Ann Arbor (proud community high alum) but I don't think he attended UM.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:52 PM ^
please for the love of Jeebus. "Seven Nation Army" is one of the most overused songs at college football games, namely Penn State games. The students sound ridiculous and they do it after every freaking play almost (just like the ND band played the Imperial March about every other play during Saturday's game).
It will be a lot better in 2010 when they have the new sound system in the stadium, and for the time being I am in favor of the RAWK music, they just need to tweak when they play it and what songs. Especially since some parts of the stadium can't ever hear the Michigan band because of the acoustics (moreso when an opposing band is there).
Raw crowd noise will always be more intimidating than the stupid key jingling, so if the RAWK helps the noise, then rawk on...I think at least two of ND's delay of game penalties were due to crowd noise (the others being due to the fact that Jimmy Clausen can't count).
September 14th, 2009 at 5:54 PM ^
just like how usc played their fight song after every 1 yard gain.
its annoying. leave it in state college.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:08 PM ^
I emailed Mark Riordan a couple suggestions:
1.Madhouse- Anthrax (especially this one because they called the big house a madhouse on sportscenter)
2. Enter Sandman- Metallica
3. Cowboys from Hell- Pantera
4. Crush Em- Megadeth
5. Kickstart My Heart- Motley Crue
what do you guys think?
By the way, no to coheed and cambria (singer's voice is annoying as hell), and no to rap crap. The only rap I listen to is Eminem and they already play that.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:19 PM ^
Kickstart My Heart is an awesome pump up song (and I recommended it to the Maize Rage for hoops this year), but it's not a big sing-along song.
That said, I'd love to see it get a shot.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:12 PM ^
have awful taste in music.
September 14th, 2009 at 6:33 PM ^
they played guns n roses and ac/dc and you liked it.... all the songs I just mentioned are similar to that!
September 14th, 2009 at 8:44 PM ^
from songs everyone knows. those aren't my personal listening habits.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:45 PM ^
Word.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:19 PM ^
is they're never going to find a playlist to satisfy everyone. maybe they'll never find a playlist that satisfies even half the student section, but the crowd responded and so did the football players. it's been significantly louder in there than it ever has been in my 4 years of being there and while you can't say 100% of that is due to the music (i hear the football team is sweet again too), you also can't say the music hasn't boosted the noise in the stadium which we so love to complain about
September 14th, 2009 at 4:24 PM ^
Playing Welcome to the Jungle is never wrong.
The song must have been the result of a scientific experiment.
That sequence of notes coming from Slash's Les Paul, run through a delay pedal and a Marshall amp was carefully engineered to trigger the body's production of adrenaline.
No one is immune.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:00 AM ^
Just wait til you hear it 8 times a game.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:35 PM ^
#1A The Student Section
#1B The Players
Everyone else has to come second. Music that is not mainstream is not going to work. As much as I would love to hear some of my favorite tunes, I know that most Motley Crue tunes won't go over well in the stadium. And the ones that could, would get cut by Bill Martin. "Girls, Girls, Girls" for example. So we are stuck with tunes that in most cases are used at other stadiums.
But we can make it our own. We can lean the play list heavily towards music with Michigan and/or Detroit ties. Eminem, White Stripes, KISS, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and others.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:41 PM ^
The players come FIRST! The students aren't busting their asses all week long so they can win a game.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:13 PM ^
IF the players truly come first, and IF the music selection at Washington Redskins games can be considered representative of other pro teams/stadiums, then you would expect to hear a LOT more hip hop. Soulja Boy, Unk (Walk It Out), and other "hot" hip hop/R&B songs of the day were heard the last time I was at FedEx Field, and the players were bobbing their heads and strutting around during warm-ups.
While this selection/genre may also appeal to the players on your average college team, I suspect a large majority of the fans (I'll reserve further comment on which ones) would not enjoy or endorse this selection. So I must respecfully disagree that the players are the primary concern when the RAWK is selected. In fact, I would take it a step further and assert that very few college-age players (regardless of demographic) grew up with many of the songs that have recently appeared on the playlist (AC/DC Thunderstruck - 1991; GNR Welcome to the Jungle - 1988; Neil Diamond Sweet Caroline - might even predate ME).
September 15th, 2009 at 1:01 AM ^
You know who pays the bills don't you?
September 15th, 2009 at 3:03 AM ^
There are plenty of people on that waiting list who could give a shit if they pipe in music. I doubt they're worried about putting off fans.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:42 AM ^
That wasn't what I was implying. I just take exception to the idea that the student section should come first and the rest of the crowd should be an afterthought. Sure, the student section is the loudest part of the stadium and that contributes to the product on the field, but the support of the alums sustains the program and contributes at least as much to our success. Let's keep everyone happy.
Maybe the Music School could put together a few dramatic tunes that would appeal to both young and old.
September 15th, 2009 at 8:48 AM ^
The reason why the student section should come first is not a matter of who is paying the bills, but rather an effort to generate as much excitement as possible in the stadium. Trust me, I am one of those long removed from paying tuition and am currently helping to pay the bills. If the music goes over like a fart in church with the student section, it is going to bomb with the rest of the stadium. If the students are into it, then the rest of the stadium will be into it.
I completely agree that the alums contribute greatly the to financial success of the program, but we can also agree that many alums in the stadium have contributed to Michigan Stadium being somewhat quiet over the years as well.
September 15th, 2009 at 6:57 PM ^
I take exception to your idea that the majority of the people in the stadium on gameday are alumni. It's much closer to 50/50, and I'd be willing to bet most non alums could give a shit about the band.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:36 PM ^
You're taking exception to an idea that was never articulated.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:44 AM ^
Sure, the student section is the loudest part of the stadium and that contributes to the product on the field, but the support of the alums sustains the program
September 16th, 2009 at 4:01 AM ^
That quote is referring to the financial support alums provide that students can't. This comes in buying tickets and donations. The stadium wouldn't be as loud as it is if the students didn't cheer like they do and alumni didn't shell out the money for the renovations.
I don't know how you got "50+ percent of those in attendance are alumni" from that.
September 16th, 2009 at 6:42 AM ^
Saying "Alums are supporting the program financially" is tantamount to saying "non-alums are not supporting the program financially", which is not true. Non-alums fill a large portion of the seats on Saturdays, they buy the vast majority of Michigan related merchandise and, yes, they even make donations to the University. And I'm willing to bet the majority of them don't care about the "musical tradition" of Michigan football.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:06 PM ^
Those two aren't equivalent at all. It's not like I argued that alums were a sufficient condition for our the type of product we want, only that they are necessary. Of course the support of non-alums is also necessary, without them we'd be MSU. I never implied that we should only consider what alums want, only that we should consider more than what just the student section wants. I chose alums specifically to make that point because they're an older crowd than the student section and not as into Eminem, but at least equally important, as a group, to the program.
If it's not to too auto-fellating I'll quote myself, "Let's keep everyone happy."
September 17th, 2009 at 9:53 PM ^
I'm with ya on pretty much everything you've said above here, but... I'm not an M alum. I care about all of the U of M traditions, is it possible for me to care as much as an alum? I have no idea...
But still, you may be right. I could well be in the minority of non alum fans.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:46 PM ^
I thought I would hate the RAWK Music but it was not too bad. I liked the AC/DC stuff they used. My suggestion would be to use stuff like:
"Bodies" by Drowing Pool
"Chop Suey" by System of a Down... (cue in "when angels deserve to die" just as the game closes with ND...so that the lines "Father, why have you forsaken me" is hitting full volume just as they head to the dressing room as losers)...anything by System of a Down would work for me.
Just about anything by Kid Rock.
"Dragula" by Rob Zombie
(no Metalica...my ex wife like Metalica...I am now avowed to dislike them)
Old Metal like Rockin After Midnight, Two Minutes to Midnight, Iron Man and the like...
...you get the idea
September 14th, 2009 at 4:59 PM ^
love to hear that song, "I hate everything about you" by three days grace when we play our rivals. I also think the beat in that song "throw it up" by lil jon is intense and would be a pretty sick.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:11 PM ^
for the WMU game and the band is basically a non-entity in probably half the stadium. If that's the case, then getting the rest of the crowd rowdy requires some kind of speaker set up. The possibility of splitting up the band has already been shot down.
September 16th, 2009 at 8:24 AM ^
I sat in the oposite corner of the stadium in respect to the band at the ND game and I barely heard them once because it was so loud they were drowned out.
September 16th, 2009 at 5:30 PM ^
for some changes to the band. Maybe the piped in music will challenge them to compete a little more for attention. I've heard cow bells louder than our band (and it get's me more jazzed up).
September 14th, 2009 at 5:41 PM ^
Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of "Hail To The Victors" from their Columbus show.
I'll also take this moment to ask if anyone on the board has a copy of that song? I'll even pay dollar for it.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:31 AM ^
You'd have to do some digging to find it, though.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:45 PM ^
why not till I collapse? It is a good theme and all.
Or some M.O.P. Ante Up? Goes with all in...
We gotta get shit CRUNK!!! for these kids from the dirty south!
September 15th, 2009 at 3:22 AM ^
Pharoah Monche "Simon Says"
GET THE %&$@ UP!!!
September 16th, 2009 at 8:26 AM ^
I am a die hard Michigan fan but live in basketball country USA, Louisville KY. Ever since they built Papa Johns Stadium they have played piped in music and even at the end of last year when "Crapthorp" was at his worst I went to a game for the hell of it (and the tailgaiting plus free tickets!). I have to say that the crowd was just as pumped up when the music came on even when the team was getting smoked.
I love the Michigan band and I believe in honoring tradition but I also believe there is something about music that just puts the crowd/athletes in a certain mindset no matter what is the score is or what team they are playing.
One of the songs they play here just before Kickoff as the players are on the field is " We Ready" by a rapper who's name I believe is Archie. They play the instrumental version and the whole place explodes.