Prophetic MLive article from 2021 & why I think Mr. Brightside is the perfect anthem for Michigan football.

Submitted by LKLIII on January 4th, 2024 at 12:32 PM

Snippets from an October 2021 article on MLive, plus my own commentary interspersed as to why I think 'Mr. Brightside' fits so well w/ the Michigan football community these last few seasons.

From the article:
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In many ways, “Mr. Brightside” is an odd song choice to energize Michigan football fans and inspire the team.

The song is about a potentially cheating partner and the jealousy and paranoia that go with it. Some of the lyrics are difficult to comprehend, and often recited incorrectly. None of the band members have ties to the state of Michigan.

But, man, does the song hit hard at Michigan Stadium.....

The first time “Mr. Brightside” blared through the Big House speakers was on Oct. 1, 2016, during a game against Wisconsin......“The purpose wasn’t necessary to hype them up,” Wisenbaugh said. “We obviously have moments, specifically on defense, when we want to get them hype and get them loud, but we also want to create moments of fun and unity."

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Me: 

The song lyrics can't be drunkenly belted out by casual fans who pick up the lyrics on the fly. If one didn't come of age when the song reached its popular peak, it requires effort to learn.  And it isn't a "pump everyone up" anthem. It's an exercise reminding both the team & the fans that regardless of the current situation at the start of the 4th quarter--Michigan was on its heels at that moment in the Rose Bowl--we're all in this together & we have each other's backs: "The Team, The Team, The Team." This is not a meathead song; it's a unifying anthem for a school chalk full of thoughful football nerds.


More article:
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(Michigan, by the way, beat Wisconsin that day in what was a top-10 matchup, 14-7. Jourdan Lewis made a one-handed interception that lives on in highlight reels.) 

While the song was well received, particularly by students, it was not played again during the 2016 season. It next returned for Michigan’s first home game of the 2017 season, Sep. 9 vs. Cincinnati. 

Wisenbaugh said it has played at every Michigan football home game since, with the exception of the 2020 season due to the general public not being allowed at games.......  

The song builds as Flowers delivers lyrics about a man tormented by thoughts of his apparent girlfriend going to bed with another guy....  

According to lyric annotations on Genius.com, “Saints…can even be turned into the sea through jealousy. The sea here is ‘sick lullabies’ (evil songs) that someone has to go through to find reason. … The line about the drowned saint could be a reference to St. John of Nepomuk. St. John, a priest, was the Queen of Bohemia’s confessor -- her husband, the King, had him put to death.” 

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Me:

It's interesting that a song about a jilted lover that's figured out his girlfriend is cheating on him--first debuted as a Michigan Stadium anthem in the 2016 season. One that ended of course, in the heart-wrenching 2 OT loss to the Buckeyes that many suspect was (at least partially) fueled by deeply biased officiating. Then, as that feeling of being wronged & the resulting justifiable anger further permeated the fanbase, Mr. Brightside grew in popularity at Michigan Stadium from 2017 onward.


More article:
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....Michigan’s night game against Washington earlier this season (Note: Remember this article is from October 2021) provided a particularly good atmosphere for the sing-along, as fans -- at the first marquee game they could attend in two years -- pumped their maize pom-poms to the beat. Wisenbaugh recalled the 2017 Michigan State, also at night, in the rain, as the point when “Mr. Brightside” at the Big House “blew up.”

Saturday’s game is a noon start against a team with a losing Big Ten record. (Note: It was Northwestern).  The environment may not be conducive to a memorable sing-along. Maybe in late November, though, when Ohio State visits, the division title will be on the line. Maybe Michigan will be leading late in the third quarter when a certain song is played. And maybe the Wolverines will ride the energy to their first win over their archrival in 10 years.

Mr. Brightside, indeed.

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Me:

How prophetic. 

What's *most* interesting to me at this point, however, is the final few lyrics in the song:

“But it’s just the price I pay / Destiny is calling me / Open up my eager eyes / ‘Cause I’m Mr. Brightside." 

The tormented protagonist justifies his current condition by saying that it was his fate to suffer in this moment. But the most critical question is: WHY? It isn't because he's paying the price for something happened in the *past*, it's because he's paying the price *now* for something better & brighter he's destined to receive in the *future*.

Will these last lines of the song prove to be prophetic too?

Sometime late Monday night, we'll find out.

https://youtu.be/gGdGFtwCNBE?si=XtPV0DTQDR4ZtcIX

 

MGoBoard
Football
Mr. Brightside

Don

January 4th, 2024 at 12:54 PM ^

Coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
And I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside

I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
(It was only a kiss), it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
'Cause I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibi
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside

I never
I never
I never
I never

 

The only aspect of Michigan football that these lyrics are "perfect" for is the current state of recruiting, wherein we see one high-rated recruit after another turn down Michigan and get in bed with another program.

As far as on-field performance goes, it's hard for me to envision a more ill-fitting song.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148358

jmstranger

January 4th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^

I think could be seen as apt description of the lifecycle of a Michigan fan (especially one that became a fan in the success of the late 90s). 
 

Let’s say you first became a fan during the Championship run in 1997: it starts with a kiss, this epic (even romantic) moment etched in your fandom forever. From there, things are good for a while but it’s on the downward slide from that first high. Lloyd Carr retires and the following eras make your stomach sick and wonder how it ended up like this. Then Harbaugh gets there in 2015 and in 2016 you’re singing “hey that all sucked but it’s just the price I had to pay to get to where destiny is calling”… now 8 years later, destiny has arrived. 
 

Works for me + now it’s become a fun tradition 

Joined: 05/23/2010

MGoPoints: 9450

Mr. Elbel

January 4th, 2024 at 2:14 PM ^

It is ill-fitting now, but it hasn't been for the past few decades of Michigan football. The verse is just a singalong. The real stuff is in the chorus, especially when the music cuts and we belt out the rest. It has less to do with the product on the field and more to do with the fanbase itself. We've gone from BPONE to Destiny, and this song corresponded throughout the time that it changed from one outlook to another.

Joined: 03/02/2014

MGoPoints: 21395

ApheXtal

January 4th, 2024 at 1:06 PM ^

That 2017 UM-MSU game, it was perfect, absolutely euphoric. We were miserable, the rain coming down in sheets, Michigan fumbling the ball seemingly every other play, but still being in the game, that song was such a release and incredible in the moment. Still get chills thinking about the crowd screaming the end of the chorus as the song cut out as the commercial break ended.

I never thought that it would stick, and didn't think it should. It was something that worked in that specific moment when the stars aligned, and that was it. After a while, it just felt forced and half-assed - a lot of times the song would start late, or not cut out at the right time, etc. It also just didn't have the same power hearing the DJ screw it up as Michigan was beating Hawaii by a billion as it did when we needed something, anything, to grab onto in that MSU game.

I don't know whether it's Michigan's recent success, or the song becoming more closely linked with Michigan beyond Ann Arbor, but I'm sold on it now. It's fun, it gets the crowd into it, and if we're going to have piped-in music, I'd rather it be this.

Joined: 09/11/2011

MGoPoints: 67

Booted Blue in PA

January 4th, 2024 at 1:09 PM ^

personally..... It struck me that as Michigan fans, living through the dark ages from 2000 to 2021... we were all Mr. Brightside.

Bpone turning loyal fans to the sea of dispair

Swiming through hope that THIS season was going to finally be the one.

Choking on all the excuses and what ifs, every year

It was the price we paid for bleeding Maize and Blue

Destiny was still calling, undying hope (eventually tides would turn)

each August opening our eyes, hopeful for another season a new start.....

because we were Mr. Brightside.

 

but that was just this one man's take  

(I took my youngest to the game vs lil bro in '17, it was his first time in the Big House, GREAT experience, minus the disaster of a game Michigan played)

Joined: 12/18/2018

MGoPoints: 60408

RibbleMcDibble

January 4th, 2024 at 2:01 PM ^

I think that's about right. 

From "The Game of the Century" through 2020, Michigan was 104-70 for a .597 winning percentage. 1-13 vs Ohio State, 5-9 vs. Michigan State, 5-7 vs. Penn State. 3-8 in bowls. Zero Big Ten titles or playoff appearances.

That's just 14 years of mediocrity for a program with Michigan's history and resources. The only real sustained bit of success was the 6-4 record vs. Notre Dame. Never really getting over anything but a "good" season (2011 maybe being the only one that left fans satisfied, maybe 2016 with the idea that things were close to breaking Michigan's way). 

Compare that to 39-3 for a .928 winning percentage, 3-0 vs Ohio State, 2-1 vs Michigan State, 3-0 vs Penn State, 3 Big Ten titles, 3 playoff appearances. We will see how the bowl record shakes out after Monday. 

Incredible turnaround. Thank you Connor. 

Joined: 10/24/2023

MGoPoints: 7725

Clarence Beeks

January 4th, 2024 at 2:42 PM ^

They played Alabama’s song, as well. Those were the only two. It sort of took the stadium by surprise when Mr. Brightside happened because they turned off the lights (so very momentarily) and our whole section had this moment of “oh crap, the lights just went out, what’s wrong” and then the song started.

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 22814

Mike Jones

January 4th, 2024 at 1:50 PM ^

Did not know this started at 2016 Wisconsin!  That was a good one.  It started drizzling and I was hungry so we walked to Fraser’s in time to see that highlight reel interception.  An all-time great play.  

Joined: 11/10/2023

MGoPoints: 2192

Mr. Elbel

January 4th, 2024 at 2:08 PM ^

It's the chorus that everyone belts out. Most of the song is a singalong. The end of the chorus is the part that a rousing anthem for Michigan fans:

"But it's just the price I pay" to me is Rodriguez/Hoke/beginning of Harbaugh's tenure. It's heartbreak. It's BPONE. It's the entire feeling on this blog for the majority of its existence. We suffered as a fanbase through heartache and went through hell together.

"Destiny is calling me" is the expectation of the future. We're looking past the painful past and onto something greater.

"Open up my eager eyes" is the line that gets me. It's the folding chairs bobbing up and down on the sideline. It's believing there's something greater coming than what's behind us and opening up our eyes to see it coming. We as a fanbase were hungry for wins, were hungry for the culture that's now been built. We were eager to beat Ohio State and win the B1G. And we're eager to win a national championship.

"I'm Mr. Brightside." Michigan fans are NOT Mr. Brightside. We're BPONE. We get nervous when we play Toledo now because we've seen that game before. We have flashbacks to worse times. We're the SOL of college football. But declaring that we ARE Mr. Brightside is a changing of culture on purpose. It's belting out what we hope to be in order to convince ourselves that we have a bright side to look forward to. We've been in the dark so long.

 

When I sing this song, and specifically this part of the song, it used to be because I hoped we could turn it around. We used to be the man in the song hoping that there was destiny to eagerly look forward to. Now, it is even more powerful, because we have lived that destiny together. Our eager eyes look for the bright side that we know is there because we've seen our dreams come true already. Now we get to look forward to something even greater, and we look at it not out of eager desperation, but eager excitement. I love this song because it encapsulates my experience as a fan for the past two decades or so, going from expecting great things and coming up short with Carr, disappointment with Rodriguez and Hoke, and then initial disappointment with Harbaugh followed by beautiful, championship football. Nobody's got it better than us.

Joined: 03/02/2014

MGoPoints: 21395

BlueMk1690

January 4th, 2024 at 2:31 PM ^

There's an air of self-pity to the song. Michigan was a self-pitying fan base for a long time. BPONE being a good example of that type of thinking. It was tough times for Michigan football, 2004-2015 in particular, but really no tougher than say what Nebraska, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas or USC have gone through at times in the recent past. And yet only at Michigan did it articulate itself in this peculiar form of ennui and Weltschmerz.

It's ironic that the song became a stadium favorite and identified with the fanbase just as Michigan was actually re-emerging as a top program. Maybe that is indicative of the old adage that it's darkest just before dawn, but I think it's also indicative of the lack of patience a lot of people had with the Harbaugh regime.

Joined: 02/04/2011

MGoPoints: 12935

Mr. Elbel

January 4th, 2024 at 3:32 PM ^

The irony of it all is what makes it an emotional song for this fanbase. We lived through BPONE and are now seeing our destiny fulfilled. When they first played the song in 2016, our destiny was still in front of us. The meaning of it has changed from a far off destiny that we hoped for but had little chance of grasping. Now we've made it. We're living in the destiny sung about in 2016 and the players who made it happen are legends. Now we sing to remind ourselves of the belief that saw our destiny become a reality.

Joined: 03/02/2014

MGoPoints: 21395

Clarence Beeks

January 4th, 2024 at 2:35 PM ^

It's an exercise reminding both the team & the fans that regardless of the current situation at the start of the 4th quarter--Michigan was on its heels at that moment in the Rose Bowl--

I am virtually certain that Mr. Brightside was played during a TV timeout in the third quarter and that Alabama’s song - whatever that was - was played between the third and fourth quarters.

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 22814

931 S State

January 4th, 2024 at 9:01 PM ^

Can verify that Mr. Brightside was played at 4:30pm (timestamp on my phone) during the media timeout following a Michigan punt with 3:44 remaining in the 3rd quarter. Fowler references it in the broadcast when they return from commerical.

Dixieland Delight was played during the media timeout at 13:32 in the 4th quarter after another Michigan punt after going 3 & out on the series following the Alabama TD to go up 17-13.

It was a pivotal moment in the game. Michigan had done nothing offensively in the second half,  had just given up the lead, and suddenly Milroe was making plays on the ground. I was thinking, "I know how this story ends". And the Rose Bowl version of Special K, annoyingly from the perspective of a Michigan fan, but perfectly timed from the perspective of a fan of College Football, queued up Dixieland Delight. Rose Bowl, sun is setting, storied program with an Yost-worthy tradition with the R-rated ad-libs during the chorus. It was hard to enjoy and admire it because of the circumstances of the game itself but it was one of the best moments in the game as a fan of the Tradition of college football. 

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 1964

isleberg

January 4th, 2024 at 4:42 PM ^

The song narrator is from the POV of Michigan Football

The cheating lover it refers to are all the National Championships that Michigan could have won but never had the chance to play in.

We've been jealous of all those who got to be with her every year.

But destiny is calling.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 36

buddhafrog

January 5th, 2024 at 11:47 AM ^

“But it’s just the price I pay / Destiny is calling me / Open up my eager eyes / ‘Cause I’m Mr. Brightside." 

This is the purpose of this song. This is what people instinctively know when they listen/sing. We are Mr. Brightside. We will continue to believe. And we will be hurt b/c of it. But it's worth it. Destiny is calling. You'll never get there unless you believe.

And poetically, this mirrors the coach and the team. Give it your all and never give up. I choose to believe that at the Rose Bowl, during that terrible 3rd qtr, the crowd singing this song gave the team the energy needed for victory. 

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 21378