Carter-Finley Karaoke

NC State’s athletic department is currently taking votes for a sing-along anthem to be played between the third and fourth quarters at Carter-Finley Stadium. You can find the article and vote here.

Let’s take a look at the 3 songs mentioned in the first paragraph of the gopack.com article. First, “Sweet Caroline” was played at Red Sox games because Fenway’s music director had heard it played at other sporting events and would play it at random late in the game if the Sox were winning. The fans soon began to anticipate the song as a good luck charm and is now a tradition.

Second, “Hang On Sloopy” was played at Ohio State because a marching band member convinced the band director to let the marching band play the song. The crowd at the Horseshoe had a positive reaction so the band started to play it at every game and is now a tradition.

And third, House of Pain’s “Jump Around” (not Van Halen’s “Jump” as initally stated in the article. Imagine that, sloppy editing on gopack.com although it is now fixed) just happened to be played at Wisconsin in an ugly game against Purdue. It pumped up the crowd and the team and is now a tradition.

Notice a theme? None of these traditions were manufactured. A song just happened to be played at the stadium, the crowd liked it, so they played it again next game and now it is played every game. It just happened naturally, there were no polls or votes or anyone telling the fans what song they are supposed to like.

So NC State’s athletic department, on the cutting edge as usual, is trying to manufacture traditions because other teams are doing it too (see also the new wolf statue in the tunnel. The Cranberries album “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” must be popular in the athletic department these days). Although, I’m not sure how we were going to naturally create a tradition when the jumbotron is usually playing a Fox 50 commercial, the wacky donkey House-Autry ad, win Chuck’s Truck or reminders to recycle (even though it is a worthwhile cause).

Now let’s take a look at the 5 finalist songs. I’m a big music fan, I may not be up on every new indie band but my iPod has a pretty wide range of music. So this is my take on these songs, you may or may not agree, I understand music taste is subjective.

First, “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel. Decent choice, I’m neutral on this song. It’s not on my iPod but I don’t hate it either. Along with the Sugarhill Gang’s “Apache” it seems to have caught on some with the student section. Of course, instead of letting these songs catch on naturally we have to go through the official voting process.

Second, “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. Really? That’s not even the best Bon Jovi option, I would have gone with “Livin’ On A Prayer”. If we have to have some 80s hair metal, why not Ozzy’s “Bark At The Moon” which would at least tie in with our mascot.

Third, “Song of the South” by Alabama. I know some of Alabama’s stuff, like the mountain music that grandma and grandpa used to play. But I have to admit I was not at all familiar with this song. Which adds a degree of difficulty for singing along plus are you really going to get the crowd to sing “Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat, They oughta get a rich man to vote like that”? And nothing against country music, but it also plays into the redneck/tractor stereotype.

Fourth, “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. I’ll say up front that I am a big Tom Petty fan, I celebrate the guy’s entire catalog. When you get a packed crowd at Walnut Creek singing along to the chorus it’s actually pretty cool and the lyrics are fitting and pretty easy to remember. But as much as I love this song, it just doesn’t strike me as a football pump you up type song or more of a fun song like “Hey Baby” and “Apache”.

Fifth, “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones. Starts off with another classic Stones riff but after the first line can you honestly sing the rest of the verse off the top of your head? Neither can I and I’ve probably heard the song at every Hurricanes game I’ve been to over the past 10 years. In its defense, the line in the chorus “You make a grown man cry” is actually pretty fitting for State athletics. But either nobody in the athletic department bothered to take the time to read the lyrics or Mick Jagger’s sexual innuendos went completely over their head. Just a sample of some of the lyrics are “I’ve been running hot, You got me ticking gonna blow my top“ or “If you rough it up, If you like it you can slide it up, slide it up” and of course “You make a dead man come”. Sounds like a perfect sing-along with your kids at the game doesn’t it?

Another problem I have with the finalists is that none of the songs have any sort of connection to the school. For example, as a WVU fan, “Country Roads” is a perfect song for Mountaineer Field, John Denver even played it live when the stadium was dedicated. There may not be a lot of wolf songs but just off the top of my head there are the aforementioned “Bark At The Moon”, Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”, Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf”, Metallica’s “Of Wolf And Man”, Whitesnake’s “Still Of The Night” and oldies like Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh’s “Li’l Red Riding Hood” and “Werewolf” by the Frantics (although more of an instrumental). At least a song like one of those would be unique and fitting and not just some song drawn out of a hat.

I can anticipate this being a colossal failure with half the crowd not even paying attention that we’re supposed to be singing now and the other half not knowing the words. And sprinkled in will be those of us who will refuse to participate on the grounds that manufactured new traditions like this have a high probability of lame.

About WV Wolf

Graduated from NCSU in 1996 with a degree in statistics. Born and inbred in West "By God" Virginia and now live in Raleigh where I spend my time watching the Wolfpack, the Mountaineers and the Carolina Hurricanes as well as making bar graphs for SFN. I'm @wvncsu on the Twitter machine.

Fans NCS Football Tradition

108 Responses to Carter-Finley Karaoke

  1. Bynum State Fan 08/20/2008 at 4:41 PM #

    Say Wham huh RedFred. How about “Wake Me Up before You Go Go”! or Careless Whisper? Those are the only songs by Wham I know. I agree, I like Heston, Burl Ives, and even a little Walter Brennan. Good stuff, but the kids wouldn’t know what the hell was playing.

  2. Bynum State Fan 08/20/2008 at 4:44 PM #

    The more I think about it, I think that Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham & The Pharoes would be a good tune. That song and Wooly Bully are the only tunes I know by that group. Did they do anything else that was popular?

  3. Ismael 08/20/2008 at 4:45 PM #

    Anything from The Sound of Music would make the BOT giddy…

    Doe, a deer, a female dear,
    Ray, a drop of golden sunnnn.

    When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when im feeling bad,
    I simply remember my favorite things, and then i don’t feel…
    sooooooo saaaaaaad.
    ….

    (Markus Kuhn’s favorite)
    Edelweis, edelweis, bless my homeland foreverrrrrr

    So long, farewell, auviedersang (sp?), good night,
    Adieu, adieu, to you and you and youuu

    (oh sorry…)

    yeah, rock on baby

  4. Bynum State Fan 08/20/2008 at 4:48 PM #

    Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal band?

  5. Dr. BadgerPack 08/20/2008 at 4:49 PM #

    Why not just go with Bloodhound Gang… “I Wish I Was Queer (So I Could Get Chicks)”

    Or my favorite from about 2:00 in the morning at 5-0… “You’re Pretty When I’m Drunk”…

  6. Bynum State Fan 08/20/2008 at 4:49 PM #

    “Do you really want to hurt me” by Boy George & The Culture Club. Sounds like a plea from our team to the opposition.

  7. wufdog 08/20/2008 at 4:52 PM #

    Bynum-Warren Zevon does the werewolves of London. I just hope they do not pick Bon Jovi, anything but that. I vote for the Pina Colada song by Rupert Homes, because I like pina coladas-but I’m not in to yoga.

  8. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 5:08 PM #

    Bynum, you know one more Wham song than I do then.

  9. john of sparta 08/20/2008 at 5:11 PM #

    since they were born in 1990, the current Freshman class doesn’t
    know anything about the nominated songs, unless they were forced
    to listen to their parents’ CD (what’s that?) while on the way to
    school or practice. my son is a Junior, and he says all the
    songs are Creepy-Old.

  10. spanky 08/20/2008 at 5:53 PM #

    “I Wanna Be Sedated” would be an appropriate fit…
    There are a couple of other Ramones songs that would also be appropriate… “Strength to Endure”, “Psycho Therapy,” “Somebody Put Something in my Drink” (<<—under the assumption that after this season the title of the song is a request and not a statement)

    These are truly awful selections…

  11. haze 08/20/2008 at 5:53 PM #

    “Blister in the Sun”… becoming more appropriate with each appearance of this topic.

  12. Dr. BadgerPack 08/20/2008 at 5:59 PM #

    “What, You Call This S#&! Football?”

    I can’t remember who wrote that one…

    Or Jed’s favorite “Just Turn This Thing Up, So They Can’t Hear The Boos on TV”…

  13. haze 08/20/2008 at 6:06 PM #

    When we inevitably decide to “start a new tradition” (oxymoron) for the basketball games, I nominate the embarrassingly appropriate Glory Days.

    “Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
    a little of the glory of,
    well time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister
    but boring stories of glory days”

  14. PhilipRiversWannabe 08/20/2008 at 6:06 PM #

    Something by Limp Bizkit. IT’S A ****** UP WORLD!!!!!!!1

  15. McLovin 08/20/2008 at 6:29 PM #

    Personally I agree with all the remarks about how you have to start the tradition (not vote on one).

    I think “Hey Baby” would actually work on that point. Our marching band has been playing it on and off over the past few years and most people (especially the students) have embraced it. I know I have. It’s a young tradition but I think it could grow.

    Added Bonus: It’s an easy chorus to remember, which gets the crowd INVOLVED. Doesn’t necessarily need to get em pumped up, just give them a feeling of comradery.

    On a side note, I would honestly rather have “Hungry Like the Wolf” however. Great song and wolf reference 🙂

  16. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 6:30 PM #

    Um, we’re supposedly starting “TRADITION” here.

    The last thing we should be worried about is wondering about what some seventeen year old thinks is cool at this particular point in time.

  17. packpigskinfan23 08/20/2008 at 6:32 PM #

    How much you want to bet the lyrics scroll across the jumbotron, and STILL no one will sing it.

    The only ones I would EVER sing is Jump Around, or I Wont Back Down… I agree that I Wont Back Down is too mellow though. Hey Baby would be good, but then the band couldnt play it every other song! Jump Around

  18. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 6:38 PM #

    “Shamalama Ding Dong”

  19. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 6:39 PM #

    ^I thought that post would get the moderation flag too.

  20. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 6:46 PM #

    Some Chuck Berry maybe???

  21. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 6:53 PM #

    Train, Train, take me on out of this stadium…

  22. b 08/20/2008 at 7:19 PM #

    I know raps out, but try this overseas group, the Wolfpack (apropos) and their song “Bow to the wolves” on youtube—-just joking, since they are essentially unintelligble and overtly violent.

    Apache is the jam, and I love that we use it. Creativity would be challenging the students to come up with some chant that goes with it, rather than force feeding pointless songs down the fans throat.

    Didn’t Apps’ fans sing “Hey Baby” when they won their first ‘ship? Should we be emulating them?

    I’d pick Petty from those five, even though this song of his is not necessarily upbeat enough to get people pumped. Running down a dream or Freefallin would probably be more appropriate, “American Girl” is one of my faves.

    The others just suck to me. I’m one of the five people who never gave a crap about the Stones, the only song of theirs I like is Harlem Shuffle and it was a remake. Probably ought to be Soundgarden’s “Blackhole Sun”, because we are likely gonna want the pain washed away this season.

  23. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 8:31 PM #

    Lame proposal or not, something like this is not about any of our personal preferences for music, or who listens to predominately rock, rap, country, R&B, classical, or show tunes for that matter. The idea is have a song that is fairly timeless and has the potential to get people (of all ages) up off their arses and pumped up about what’s going on.

    There are many songs like that out there, they’re just aren’t any of them on the proposed list.

    Though I’m thinking that it maybe a tall order for any song to pump the crowd when it will won’t be played until between the third and fourth quarters. If that is the case though, how about Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver”? It could really catch on IF anyone is still awake that late in the game.

  24. CStanley 08/20/2008 at 8:32 PM #

    For those clamoring for Hungry Like the Wolf…does anyone actually know the words to this song???

    This is just a horrible, HORRIBLE idea and I predict will die quicker than it was ever thought up.

  25. redfred2 08/20/2008 at 8:38 PM #

    Thinking about the OL, and the QB’s, how about “Get Up Offa That Thang”?

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