What Is Your Favorite Michigan Marching Band Song (not including The Victors)?
Mates,
Of at least some relevance to football is our glorious marching band. On the way home I was hunting for music and played 'Hawaiian War Chant' at a rather loud level - always good when driving an old diesel truck. I submit that is probably my favorite MMB song outside of the obvious choice of 'The Victors'.
So what is your favorite song you like to hear the band play on Saturdays at the Big House?
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
MMB and Washington were both staying at the UCLA dorms in the week before the game. Every morning at breakfast, the Husky band would stand up and sing a rather tuneless version of their fight song, Bow Down to Washington. The they would cheer and sit down to their cereal. The last morning, we did an a capella version of John Stout's amazing Funeral for a Friend arrangement. After Washingtonsang, we all stood as one and started singing, starting in the low bass notes and building up into Awesome harmonies with the percussion pounding on the tables 200+ strong. Then we at back down and started eating again. The Huskies sat there stunned, and then broke out into applause. We OWNED them!
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
This is probably cheating because it's a stand tune AND it contains a very quick, jazzy type version of the Victors which immediately goes into the drum cadence/cheer of "Ohhhh, Ohhhh, Ohhhhhh!, Let's go blue!' The band alternates between that and 'Let's go blue," on first downs.
The first time I ever heard the MMB play it was during the horrific Spartan Savings Time game in 2001 but I fell in love with the tune/cheer when I heard it on TV.
To hear it, listen from 6:26 - 6:53
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
thats Cheer #1
Former MMB member here. If my memory serves me correctly, former director Prof. Jamie L. Nix wrote this on a plane soon after he was named as director of the MMB. I think he told us he wrote it because when he was a grad student here in the '90s, all they had was "Let's Go Blue" and they needed some more tunes.
The little-known lyrics to Cheer 1:
Don't you know who I am?
Don't you know who I am?
I'm pissed, I'm pissed, I'm Jamie Fucking Nix!
(Wrote this on a plane!)
[transition to "Ohh" cheer]
Hawaiian war chant
Temptation
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Nothing better than the Entry Cadence (at 220+ BPM) out of the tunnel followed by the M Fanfare.
Wonder why they don't anymore?
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
I never memorized it because we didn't play it much :(
This is a purely selfish choice, but at the Purdue game in 1985 many of the local high school bands participated in the halftime show. A senior at Huron at the time, it was my one and only time playing on the field at The Big House and I will NEVER forget the sound and vibration of the entire MMB marching across the field at us playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It still gives me chills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSBj9Q0yGYk (sorry, the embed trick still eludes me)
That would be yours truly playing trombone and 9:29 and 9:39. What a thrill.
half time score 47-0 over purdon't. lets hope history repeats itself.
Yep: Cover down and check the cap. We were wearing the old MMB uniforms and they were debuting their new ones. Not a lot of effort was made to fit the old unis to the high school kids and I think my hat must have been sized for Andre the Giant.
Former MMB member here. We need more MMB questions on this blog. My top three non-Victors songs are:
1. Temptation
2. I Wanna Go Back to Michigan ("Mother and father pay all the bills and we have all the fun ..")
3. War Chant
One of the annual highlights of being in MMB was during the week before the first game, we'd march over to the football practice field, Bo would have all his guys take a knee, and he'd say something to the effect of, "I asked Mr. Cavender to bring his band over here so that you could hear THE BEST GODDAM FIGHT SONG THAT WAS EVER GODDAM WRITTEN! And you're GODDAM LUCKY that every time you do something worth a damn on the field, this band - WHICH IS THE BEST GODDAM BAND IN THE COUNTRY - is going to play this song for you!"
Then we'd play The Victors, and we'd feel glorious.
we got your back today brother.
The MMB is THE SHIT. I got to play a halftime game when I was in high school (Purdue 85) and my daugther played band day with them last year (Maryland). Lifetime experiences for both of us.
And as my daughter's band conductor says, the band always wins.
I picked your mgoblog name as my favorite song!
I've not been here long, but I've not experienced any shit directed at the band. I guess the longer I stick around...
I got goosebumps reading that.
Hawaiian War Chant
Any Percussion Feature
But a special shout out to the drumline for their cadence, the walk to the stadium from Revelli and the step show in general. If you haven't been... go.
M Fanfare, that first note always sent chills down my spine. Playing that in front of 100,000+ is something I wish everyone could experience just once. And the roar that went up at the end when the drum major does his backbend is just........I miss the MMB.
Varsity. I ashamedly haven't memorized the lyrics yet, but there's something about hearing that song that makes me feel like I'm going back in time. It feels so traditional and pure college football-esque. Like an old time pep rally of sorts. So far removed from the likes of blasting that dreadful Seven Nation Army through the speakers every three minutes. I have no idea if that makes any sense to anyone other than me, but that's how it makes me feel.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
All of them.
Probably Kashmir. Admittedly, the Led Zeppelin show is one of my favorite shows we did in the MMB (the other being the Cirque du Soleil show in 2007), and while the Stairway to Heaven arrangement is amazing, Kashmir somehow has lived on beyond 2006.
If you wanted to be a pinball wizard.
ALL OF THEM!
I am SOOOOO looking forward to the Big House experience this fall with the expected return to prominence of the Michigan Marching Band. A little tiny bit of RAWK is OK with me, be it was shameful how the MMB was relegated to an afterthought over the last several seasons.
As a "Band Geek" through my high school years and first year of college, I appreciate the hard work that is put in by the MMB.
BTW, nothing thrills me quite as much as the M Fanfare during the pregame. Like others have said in this thread, it sends thrills up and down my spine every time!
It's too hard to pick only one
I love that the band folks are chiming in. Before stadium expansion the band during games was by far one of my favorite parts of the big house experience. What say you now band folks? Is it the same better or worse? From my perspective I'd like to see the MMB have a resurgence just like the football team. Between living in California, Florida and the NE, and attending games that the school down south plays non UM opponents... unfortunatley I have to admit that they are impressive. Without heart and fan bias the OSU marching band is awesome and innovative. What would it take to allow the MMB to be on the same level? We need more Harbaugh!
and I know we were better than those bastards then.
We took the tour the morning of the App State game (this past season) so my son (HS rising senior) could see the campus and we all attended the game after the tour.
Things I noticed were...
1. there's too much piped in music. We have a band. Let them play all the music.
2. The shit band (small group of really good musicians from the MMB who went to each section and played quick tunes between plays; I was told they were called the 'shit band' because people threw stuff at them in the 60s and early 70s)...wasn't what it was compared to the late 70s and early 80s version. I didn't hear the Rocky and Bullwinkle theme once and I don't think there were enough MMB members in the shit band.
If some of the old people bring up how refined and classy we were back in the day, feel free to bring up this story to tell them. That, and Boone's Farm Strawberry Wine.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
EIGHTS!!!
Because that means we're up by a ton in the 4th quarter, and the drumline will finally listen to the requests of the band (read: trombones).
People who have been close enough to hear what the band shouts during Eights will understand why it's a favorite.
2. Blues brothers
I love anything by the band
M Fanfare is probably my favorire band tune outside of the Victors. It's a really great piece.
Small piece of trivia on the Blues Brothers (I Can't Turn You Loose): If you assume the original recording of the song is "right" there are some "wrong" notes in the melody of the M Band arrangement (which I only noticed because at one point I was for some reason trying to arrange something from the original recording and realized it was different than what the band was playing).
While this drives me nuts because I'm anal about things like that, I'm sure no one but me has ever noticed or cared.