Media experience: piped-in music and TV timeouts
My pop made a great point about the piped-in music - "when you have bajillions of TV timeouts you have to have enough music to play." I might care more for the music if it wasn't cliche stadium music (AC/DC, Journey, Guns 'N Roses, Sweet Caroline - surprised they didn't play Enter Sandman), but I do wonder if the all-out control of the networks on the game procedure has something to do with it.
Maybe the networks want loud music when they come back from commercial? But I think it mostly is the obsession with a "marketable" product, like the game is not enough to please the crowd, and doing it like everyone else does.
I haven't seen anyone bring up the timeouts; the second half in particular had tons of really long TV timeouts that ruined the flow of an already-dragging ballgame.
Where I went to grad school, they remodeled the basketball arena, and starting running ads and piped-in music during timeouts instead of the band. The students hated it, but after a couple years everyone who knew the old way graduated and the outcry quieted, and now it's here to stay. Boo.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:57 AM ^
I could do without the piped in music.
But if this is the price to pay to bring us into the current century as far as marketing the program, than I can live with it. If this brings us closer to a night game, I'm all in.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:02 PM ^
so I'm curious... did it help the energy in the stadium at all? It seems like that's the only good reason to do it, and if people aren't getting even a little bit more excited because of it, get rid of it.
September 6th, 2009 at 2:34 PM ^
I was in row 15 of the student section and everyone around me was pissed about the commercial music. We yelled for them to stop... to no avail. Some middle-aged women could be seen dancing to Neil Diamond though.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:53 PM ^
No we didn't. I am a student in the student section (sec 31, row 9) and nobody was complaining. In fact we liked the piped in music rather than the usual Ads they run on the jumbotron during TV ads. However, the basketball ad was pretty cool. Everyone around me in the lower part of the student section singing Sweet Caroline and Journey.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:13 PM ^
Problem is, those songs suck.
I wanted to shoot everyone around me singing Sweet Caroline. Unfortunately that would have been 80% of the student section.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:04 PM ^
that it was alright. The piped in music was somewhat enjoyable during the boring TV timeout when nothing else was happening anyways. Nobody around me seemed to think the piped in music was bad either. I could go either way on it, really.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:06 PM ^
I liked the music. I think it wasn't played to loud and the upgrades to the sound system they made helped a ton. Everyone in the north part of the stadium singing sweet caroline was alot of fun. I think it kept alot of energy in the crowd which gets notoriously dull as the game goes on. There were a ton of Rich Rodriguez chants going on too that were pretty loud. I liked that the team joined in too. That was a major highlight of the game for me. The press needed to hear that the fanbase was behind him.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:42 PM ^
I liked the music and everyone that I talked to (all students) really seemed to like it too. It gives you something to do during the long TV timeouts. Sweet Caroline was awesome in the student section, everyone was singing along.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:11 PM ^
I hated it. There were two fantastic bands the stadium yesterday. On top of that, the MMB has played most of those songs in the last 5 years. If the athletic department wanted those songs to be heard, they should've asked the band to play them. Piping in music is a way of telling the band "we don't want or need you."
On the other hand, it did work. People had a great time singing along. "Thunderstruck" during idle time waiting for the team to come out of the tunnel was effective. But the students should be able to get excited beyond the exhortations of the press box.
We'll discuss this on the HSR quite a bit this week, I imagine.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:28 PM ^
Seconded. It doesn't do anything to enhance my "gameday experience". The -2 rushing yards for most of the game = yes. The Boston Red Sox's "Patented" pump up song? Not so much. I was looking around for pink M hats and jerseys.
On another note, JeremyB, how many MMB members are there now? I know they stopped the best entrance announcement ever last year, but unless if they have some crazy excessive-syllabic number, they need to bring back "X number Member Michigan Marching Band".
Alliteration always wins.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:34 PM ^
The number of total members in uniform varies from year to year, but is usually around 300. The number of people in pregame itself is fixed (annually, plus or minus a couple depending on the number of twirlers), but has been well above 235 for many years. Hence its removal from the announcement.
I would also rather they just get an accurate count and include it; Carl's pacing feels much better with a number in there.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:37 PM ^
I whole-heartedly agree. How am I supposed to announce along with him when he's getting it all wrong!?
But yes, the pacing is very off and it would flow a lot better if any number was in there.
"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the ROUGHLY TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-ISH member, mmmmmMichigan mmmMarching Band!"
September 6th, 2009 at 12:37 PM ^
Its not as much as we dont need the band, but since 80 percent of the stadium cant hear the band, we dont really have the band.
Thriller was a lousy experience for a majority of the stadium because we could not hear it. I understand the placement of the band is permanent and that its locale has a lot to do with the poor acoustics, but it was the first time in 5 years folks in my section had some music to listen during the long tedious stretches of TV timeouts.
Its too bad about the band as the MMB remains my favorite band after the Grateful Dead.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
Agreed. I was in the south end of the stadium, and the Western band, who were simply lined up along the sideline, were loud as hell. I can't imagine the other side of the stadium couldn't hear them. Maybe I'm naive. Maybe it's both.
I also posted something like this in the other thread on this topic, FWIW.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:59 AM ^
I love the band as much as anyone, but there are certain types of songs that you can't reproduce with the same effect with a marching band. When I'm looking to get pumped up with my ipod on, I'm not listening to the MMB version of Eye of the Tiger; I'm listening to the rock version. There's something about the electric guitar and the vocals that is different. Am I saying that the band should be replaced with rawk music? Hells no. I'm saying that it isn't the end of the world if the unique sound of an electric guitar is used to pump up the crowd every once in a while.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:12 AM ^
Welcome back from the suck, chunkums.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:32 PM ^
Maybe the networks want loud music when they come back from commercial?The music was only on for a brief clip before commercials, usually just long enough to figure out the song. That said, if they were to play those songs instead of Kenny Chesney or DMB, I think a lot more people would have a lot less to complain about.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:41 PM ^
This would be cool if it broke out Michigan Stadium. Of course, I hope we have plenty of paramedics on site to revive the wine and cheese part of the crowd if it happens, though. And this clip doesnt do it justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecksP6Sxbgs&feature=related
September 6th, 2009 at 2:15 PM ^
i would be ashamed if that broke out at M Stadium. Seriously, it would be "cool"? there is a whole nation of gimmicked-out arenas to play this stuff. How does my team dancing on the field improve my football-watching experience, or more importantly, the buckeye-fucking experience?
September 6th, 2009 at 2:49 PM ^
Isn't the team having fun a good thing?
September 6th, 2009 at 2:53 PM ^
when I heard "Welcome to the Jungle" on TV coming back from a commercial break. I'm sure Brian will make mention of the piped in music tomorrow.
September 6th, 2009 at 3:03 PM ^
I can do without the piped-in music.
What I'd like to see:
GIANT new HD video-scoreboard-screens to replace the existing ones. The current ones have done their time and just looked outdated to me yesterday as well as being further dwarfed by the enormity of the stadium enhancements. Plenty of video stuff could be shown for our viewing pleasure during the long TV timeouts (M-related stuff, player interviews, highlights, etc.).
September 6th, 2009 at 3:40 PM ^
I'm not a big fan, but I can live with it if it at least has some kind of a local theme and seems football-appropriate (i.e., not a flamboyantly lame song like "Sweet Caroline").
September 6th, 2009 at 4:46 PM ^
Again, Sweet Caroline was played at the Joe during the Wings playoff run with fans specifically singing on the "Good times never seemed so good" line. I'm 90% sure the intent here was the same.
September 7th, 2009 at 2:00 AM ^
I don't care. We're not the Red Wings.
September 7th, 2009 at 3:25 AM ^
You claimed to be fine with a "local theme". They clearly chose multiple songs that were popular with fans of a local sports team during the playoffs and appropriated them for the Michigan Stadium crowd. I wouldn't be shocked if they used the same DJ. Given the age of "Sweet Caroline", I'd venture to guess that many of the students singing it know it from either the Wings or the Red Sox.
The principle of playing a song such as "Sweet Caroline" is for the crowd to sing a particular line reflecting a mood, in this case "Good times never felt so good". In essence, it's an effort to make crowds more like English soccer crowds. I'm fine with it as long as the student section deems the songs worthy of singing... which they clearly did on Saturday.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:19 PM ^
If a problem w/ the band music - as several have mentioned - is that 80% of the stadium can't here it, why not put mics in the band section?
Seems like a pretty simple solution.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:58 PM ^
You cannot mic the band it is against NCAA rules. Besides it would require a fair amount of sound engineering to make it sound decent without picking up a single instrument or section.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:09 PM ^
I was at the game, but DVR'd it for my own personal UFR. Was anyone else's ABC feed quality awful? specifically in the goalpost camera?
September 6th, 2009 at 11:58 PM ^
I did the same and thought it might have been my HD. Glad to hear it was fuzzy from some camaras.
I was at the game and the piped in music actually got the players pumped which turned into the fans getting pumped. I am not for it all the time as I love the band, but it was cool to see the players get into it in the game thus getting us into it.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:53 AM ^
My section of the stadium, with the exception of "Welcome to the Jungle", was pretty decidedly meh with the canned music. And they didn't get excited and cheer until the MMB played again. (No there weren't any bluehairs around me.)
And maybe it was just me, but when "Sweet Caroline" came on, it looked like the Michigan players on the field were looking at
each other going "WTF is this?"
Next to the MMB playing every damn break there is (LOUDLY), my request is that they play stuff that's supposed to fire the football team up, not make them wanna hold hands, sing karaoke and do kicklines.
September 7th, 2009 at 7:51 AM ^
Works when your ahead 31-7 with 6 min to play. Whoever is the DJ needs to be a little selective on the tracks.
Personally - didn't like it. If I want piped in "RAWK" music I'll go to a Redwing hockey game. That's kind of whay it reminded me of. Ice Hockey faceoff time.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:12 AM ^
I would love to see Cool Video clips. Take portions of old movies.....John Belushi Animal House, Al Pacino "Inches Speech"....Rocky Balboa running the stairs, MIracle, etc. Bo Schembechler "Team Speech" Clips from Longest Yard, Slapshot, Waterboy, Replacements...The Comebacks.....
There is a time and place for Piped in Music.. However, the music should not be "OT" Off Topic. Local Flavor KIss "Detroit Rock City", KId Rock "Cowboy" Bawitda" "My Name is Rich RoooooooD", Bob Seger, Eminem, MC5, Iggy Pop, White Stripes Red Hot CHilip Peppers etc. Establish our HOME FIELD by rocking our HOME BOYS.
I still want to hear a Awesome version of The Victors on guitar-LOUD. I still favor Brassy "Hit Em Hard" and "Play Some D"
September 7th, 2009 at 9:13 AM ^
[/sarcasm]?