Listen to Williams' Sunday Night Football Theme!

[tpigeon 3]

http://broadcastingcable.com/contents/vide...o/SNF_Theme.mp3

Ted

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

So...that was for real? Wow!

All I can say is...boom-tzzz!

[BigMacGyver 0]

So... maybe that is the mysterious new project he was working on?

[tpigeon 3]

It's the real deal. Check the NFL Network Themes thread. There is a link there to the press release.

Ted

[tpigeon 3]

The percussion reminds me of the carbon freeze rendition of the Imperial March as the smoke clears around Vader's mask, and the brass reminds me of the Meet the Press theme for some reason. I love it though, and I'm imagining all the Montage possibilities with Al Michaels' voiceover.

Ted

[thx99 1,740]

In case the direct link to the mp3 file above is removed, here's the site where you can download it:

http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6367039.html

Thanks for the heads-up, tpigeon!!

[tpigeon 3]

Woops, I forgot I can't post direct links. Good call, thx99! Thanks for updating it.

Ted

[pi 0]

That sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.

[Red 75]

It reminded me of the Federation March.

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

HELL F*****ING YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[SomeNewGuy 0]

Sounds like "The Arena" if it had been in an Indiana Jones movie. Boom-tzzz, motherf*cker.

[Jediwashington 59]

Nice to hear new work of his...nothing that exciting though. Kinda...lacking a bit acctually. But it'll sound great for it's purpose! Those poor Trumpets.

~JW

[Jeshopk 8]

I'm glad he stayed true in some mannerisms to football music of past. Pretty astute of him.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Boom-tzz, bitches!

- Marc, who'll leave the link, as it all seems to be alright.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

...the mix isn't bad, a bit too close, but not bad.

But nothing new or immensly impressive really. Pretty much run of the mill auto-pilot Williams.

How many times have we heard relentless snares with heavy and low brass hits with rapid fire trumpets now?

[ChrisAfonso 186]

Well, you can't expect musically challenging things from a tv football jingle... had he written something sophisticated they would probably have rejected it. It serves its purpose and sounds nice for that, that's all it's supposed to do

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Sounds great, too bad it was written for football!

I'm expecting KM's typically enthusiastic "Newly Composed Minor Piece" response

Ray Barnsbury

[KingPin 201]

Wouldn't it be cool if Williams premiered an expanded version of this at the Bowl?

[King Mark 3,631]

Sounds great, too bad it was written for football!

I'm expecting KM's typically enthusiastic "Newly Composed Minor Piece" response  

Ray Barnsbury

I live for days like this.Wow,the unused cue for the Anakin's march to the Jedi Temple

it's very cool....but so short...I hope there's a "concert version"

K.M,Who thinks we should still record Sept 7's broadcast.

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

Wouldn't it be cool if Williams premiered an expanded version of this at the Bowl?

Good call, my young Padawan!!

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

So... maybe that is the mysterious new project he was working on?

Wasn't that mysterious new project something that he's been working on for a while? At least that's the impression it made to me. This here sounds nice, but also like something Williams quickly wrote down during lunch break... a few ideas from The Patriot and ROTS slapped together with a constant rhythm.

[John Crichton 4]

Football=boom-tzzzz!

I'm with KM, we need a longer version.

And I actually just bought Madden '07 the other day (first Madden I've bought in 5-6 years). I wish there was a way to get this on there, I'd actually turn the music, or "music" in the case of what came with the game, back on.

[Vaderbait1 1]

That has to be the most epic sports music I've ever heard. All the others just sound like synths or they're trying too hard. How much do you think Williams gets for a 30 second piece like that?

[Saxman717 22]

Absolute proof that JW is basically squeezed dry for truly unique and catchy themes/jingles. His prime (late 70s-early to mid 90s) yielded dozens of brilliant, catchy, unique themes. Recently, with the exception of a few scattered brilliant moments here or there, he is effectively being paid a premium to dish out cookie-cutter, uninspired, repetitive, and cliche musical ideas that so many are quick to eat up and blow their loads over because "OMG John Williams wrote it".

Just as I don't buy clothing by brand name alone (like buying a $100 t-shirt by Tommy Hilfiger), I don't get all excited over every musical ditty that JW creates, just because he is JW. I hold him to a very high standard, and he has consistently come up short 75-85% of the time in the past 6-7 years or so. *sigh*...

[Vaderbait1 1]

Absolute proof that JW is basically squeezed dry for truly unique and catchy themes/jingles. His prime (late 70s-early to mid 90s) yielded dozens of brilliant, catchy, unique themes.

It's a 30 second piece for football, how imaginitive or creative could it be? I'd say this is considerably more creative than efforts by other composers for sports in the past. On the surface it soudns kind of similar, but this is clearly more professional, epic, and developed than the others.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

That has to be the most epic sports music I've ever heard.  All the others just sound like synths or they're trying too hard.

LOL

Whatever.

[Vaderbait1 1]

Whatever.

Can you name one that's better? Most of them sound like they were trying to be epic but only had three instruments.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

OMG thats so cool! So is that the new secret project he mentioned?

[Saxman717 22]

That has to be the most epic sports music I've ever heard.  All the others just sound like synths or they're trying too hard.  How much do you think Williams gets for a 30 second piece like that?

Are you serious?? It sounds like an exercise from a Music Theory course, with a bland theme and a repetitive, vamped, cliched background. It also sounds incredicly similar to a # of prequel marches. Compared to the other football themes out there, this sounds somewhat ridiculous.

Absolute proof that JW is basically squeezed dry for truly unique and catchy themes/jingles. His prime (late 70s-early to mid 90s) yielded dozens of brilliant, catchy, unique themes.

It's a 30 second piece for football, how imaginitive or creative could it be? I'd say this is considerably more creative than efforts by other composers for sports in the past. On the surface it soudns kind of similar, but this is clearly more professional, epic, and developed than the others.

Does it sound like a football theme? Not in my opinion. It sounds like something JW pasted together in a day from the prequel marches, just like he's done w/ a number of projects recently.

I guarantee he didn't sit there for a good while and actually brainstormed a "football-sounding" theme/style. He just took the money and issued a cookie-cutter 30-second segment. No inspiration to be found here, and THAT is what distinguishes the latter-day JW from the brilliant "in-his-prime" JW.

[ST-321 4]

What a surprise and what an odd combination. JW and football.

When do we get to hear the theme for the pre-game show?

[Vaderbait1 1]

I guarantee he didn't sit there for a good while and actually brainstormed a "football-sounding" theme/style.

Your arguments aren't adding up. First someone says it's generic, then you say that it's not football enough. Seeing as how most sports music sucks really bad, I'd say this is a step up. And I for one, happen to be a sucker for marches, though this obviously doesn't go on long enough to develop worthwhile.

[Romão 2,274]

It sounds nice and serves its purpose. I enjoyed listening to it. There isn't really much more to it nor should there be.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

That has to be the most epic sports music I've ever heard.  All the others just sound like synths or they're trying too hard.

Two words: Rudy. Goldsmith.

[Saxman717 22]

I guarantee he didn't sit there for a good while and actually brainstormed a "football-sounding" theme/style.

Your arguments aren't adding up. First someone says it's generic, then you say that it's not football enough. Seeing as how most sports music sucks really bad, I'd say this is a step up. And I for one, happen to be a sucker for marches, though this obviously doesn't go on long enough to develop worthwhile.

How do my arguements not add up?..........1) Generic 2) Not football-enough. Pretty straightforward, and if anything, there are two major issues instead of just one ---- it's not even a good NON football theme. It just sucks, plain and simple.

If this were written by any other composer, would you all be eating it up and glowing over it so much???

[Adam 1]

My first reaction was that it did sound very footballish. Partly it maybe connects a little bit with music I've heard in NFL Films Highlights. But more I think its because the NFL has always played up the war analogy. The whole idea of warriors battling in the trenches and that kind of thing. So I think the music is very evokative of that. Very brutish music.

Great to hear some new JW music. Feels like its been forever.

- Adam

[Ollie 1,059]

How do my arguements not add up?..........1)  Generic     2)  Not football-enough.    Pretty straightforward, and if anything, there are two major issues instead of just one ---- it's not even a good NON football theme.  It just sucks, plain and simple.

If this were written by any other composer, would you all be eating it up and glowing over it so much???

And after all that it's just your opinion.

[King Mark 3,631]

Yeah Saxman you just pop in from time to time to complain how much JW sucks.You had similar words for Revenge of the Sith if I recall.

K.M.

[Ollie 1,059]

It's not the greatest piece he's ever written but it works for the subject matter.

[King Mark 3,631]

no it's not among his best piece ever,but it's catchy and it made my day anyways.This could have been a Star Wars theme easlily.

K.M.Always happy to hear new JW music

[Adam 1]

I'll be curious to see if this was written for a set montage that will be the same every week or whether different images will be edited in every week. It kind of sounds like he throws in a lot of extra boom-tzzs to be timed with violent tackles and that kind of thing.

- Adam

[King Mark 3,631]

it seems a bit short for a theme that will be used in various settings.I'd say there is yet more of this to hear.

K.M.

[Eric_JWFAN 11]

Uhhhh... where the heck are the strings??

Either they forgot to turn up the levels of half the orchestra in the mixdown, or this isn't the "full" symphonic version but rather one of many miniature bumpers or variations of the main title.

Just sounds too weak to be the main version imo.

[Saxman717 22]

Yeah Saxman you just pop in from time to time to complain how much JW sucks.You had similar words for Revenge of the Sith if I recall.

K.M.

Yeah, I had similar thoughts (initially) about RoTS, and perhaps that's because a lot of it reminded me of the lack of ingenuity contained in this piece.

I've popped in these two times, because it's just so crazy to me how so many people on here blow their loads over everything JW dishes out --- do you truly believe that this stuff is better than the works that he established himself with?

People talk of him "maturing" as a composer, and that this stuff is more contemporary, more refined etc. Are you kidding me? If so, why would I take ANY of his late 70s to mid 90s music in place of this stuff (and I know deep down, all of you would too).

Yes, this is very similar to some prequel music. That is bad in 2 ways. One is that he is rehashing old, stale work. Two is that considering this sucks, it just reiterates how uninspired/lazy much of the prequel scoring was as well, along with plenty of his other scores (in general) in the past 6 years or so.

Too many projects / too little time / lack of focus / already-established reputation / old age / waning of ideas = what we are hearing now. It's just so weird how people on here eat it up like candy.

And I say this as at least as big of a JW fan as any of you. A lifelong fan. I just have high standards, and it is JW's "fault" --- his older works were just so brilliant. I just refuse to cut him this much slack, and will always stick to my belief that he should never have strayed from his earlier style, and that his downfall was taking on too many projects and not devoting enough time / energy to projects as of late.

[King Mark 3,631]

Superman,ESB,Raiders,E.T, and ToD will never be beaten

That said ,some of the scores he wrote in the last 5 years,like The Phantom Menace,Revenge of the Sith,Harry Potter 1 and 3 and A.I. are ALMOST as good as the early stuff.I listen to them as much as Raiders and ESB.And I like those scores much more than some of his 80's efforts,like the River,Presumed Innocent and such...

I bet you didn't nother to make an expanded RotS,most of the great unrelesed cues are in near c.d. quality now.You can't judge only by the OST albums.Even Retuen of the Jedi sucked if you only listened to the OST,at least that was my impression in 1983.

In some cases,like Minority Report,that lost me,but not more than some of the mid-90's stuff.

K.M.

[Saxman717 22]

Superman,ESB,Raiders,E.T, and ToD will never be beaten

That said ,some of the scores he wrote in the last 5 years,like The Phantom Menace,Revenge of the Sith,Harry Potter 1 and 3 and A.I. are ALMOST as good as the early stuff.I listen to them as much as Raiders and ESB.And I like those scores much more than some of his 80's efforts,like the River,Presumed Innocent and such...

I bet you didn't nother to make an expanded RotS,most of the great unrelesed cues are in near c.d. quality now.You can't judge only by the OST albums.Even Retuen of the Jedi sucked if you only listened to the OST,at least that was my impression in 1983.

In some cases,like Minority Report,that lost me,but not more than some of the mid-90's stuff.

K.M.

I agree that these film scores have some great moments that harken back to his early brilliance and rival to match it. The main letdown for me has been that these moments only come at certain points in the scores, instead of the score *as a whole* being brilliant. Many of his earlier works were written to provide the film with wall-to-wall music, flowing smoothly and brilliantly from one track to another. Repetition was minimal, and all background scoring was unique and hardly ever cliche.

This music is lacking in ingenuity, and that is what distinguishes it from his past brilliance. It is this kind of music that has plagued his scores as of late (this, and exctremely boring "mood" music), and it is this kind of music that separates brilliant JW from "matured" JW.

I'd say the change started after Jurassic Park, with major changes occuring after TPM (a response, perhaps, to its treatment in the film?) As of late, he is less concerned with producing flowing, brilliant scores wall-to-wall. He has such little time between each project (and sometimes has 2 or 3 at the same time), that he's cutting major corners, and the music quality has declined.

[Adam 1]

Well its only 45 seconds. Its not like people were saying that this was ET. I think Saxman is the one over-reacting here. I've been enjoying it and I think it will probably work well for what it was written for. This is kind of Star Warsy but that's because I think he was going for the whole battle metaphor like I was saying. If he wrote battle music for Memoirs of a Geisha, Saxman might have a good point.

- Adam

[Eric_JWFAN 11]

Superman,ESB,Raiders,E.T, and ToD will never be beaten

That said ,some of the scores he wrote in the last 5 years,like The Phantom Menace,Revenge of the Sith,Harry Potter 1 and 3 and A.I. are ALMOST as good as the early stuff.I listen to them as much as Raiders and ESB.And I like those scores much more than some of his 80's efforts,like the River,Presumed Innocent and such...

I bet you didn't nother to make an expanded RotS,most of the great unrelesed cues are in near c.d. quality now.You can't judge only by the OST albums.Even Retuen of the Jedi sucked if you only listened to the OST,at least that was my impression in 1983.

In some cases,like Minority Report,that lost me,but not more than some of the mid-90's stuff.

K.M.

I agree that these film scores have some great moments that harken back to his early brilliance and rival to match it. The main letdown for me has been that these moments only come at certain points in the scores, instead of the score *as a whole* being brilliant. Many of his earlier works were written to provide the film with wall-to-wall music, flowing smoothly and brilliantly from one track to another. Repetition was minimal, and all background scoring was unique and hardly ever cliche.

This music is lacking in ingenuity, and that is what distinguishes it from his past brilliance. It is this kind of music that has plagued his scores as of late (this, and exctremely boring "mood" music), and it is this kind of music that separates brilliant JW from "matured" JW.

I'd say the change started after Jurassic Park, with major changes occuring after TPM (a response, perhaps, to its treatment in the film?) As of late, he is less concerned with producing flowing, brilliant scores wall-to-wall. He has such little time between each project (and sometimes has 2 or 3 at the same time), that he's cutting major corners, and the music quality has declined.

And I'm willing to bet that JW took out his manuscript paper and pencil, and composed this theme in under twenty minutes, most of which was for orchestating. My guess is he probably improvised it at his piano the first time he sat down to work. It's that simple.

With that said, I kinda like it. But as I mentioned above, I think there's more to it than this particular clip.

[Saxman717 22]

Well its only 45 seconds. Its not like people were saying that this was ET. I think Saxman is the one over-reacting here. I've been enjoying it and I think it will probably work well for what it was written for. This is kind of Star Warsy but that's because I think he was going for the whole battle metaphor like I was saying. If he wrote battle music for Memoirs of a Geisha, Saxman might have a good point.

- Adam

Yes, let me say that I realize I'm over-reacting based on just this little football clip.

You touched on the key though......"it is kind of Star Warsy"............ARRRRRGHHHH!!!!!! It is a horribly cliche, simple, uninteresting, sloppy piece, and YES, it is very PREQUEL Star Warsy. This little clip has helped to bring my frustration with many parts of the prequel scores back to the surface. (and by "prequels", I really mean most of the scores in the past 6-7 years).

[tony69 0]

Wow, i didnt like the theme AT ALL. i must say it seems quite bland... in my opinion. he keeps on repeating that trumpet fanfare over and over. 6 times is way too much... and the melody isnt THAT catchy. just my honest opinion. i agree with someone above. he wrote it in 20 minutes. and strings for the unaware, is there. its doing the regualr willaims type of trill thing like he did for star wars. its at hte very end. I wonder how much musicians get paid to record 10 seconds.... omg he needs to redeem himself with...INDY 4!!! YAY.

[King Mark 3,631]

well,i like it.

K.M.