The Music of Sam Spence and the NFL Playoffs Just Seem to go Together

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The Music of Sam Spence and the NFL Playoffs Just Seem to go Together
by Nick Law - December 27, 2008

The NFL playoffs are officially underway. As I sit here typing this on a brisk early January evening, it appears that the Arizona Cardinals are currently leading the Atlanta Falcons 21-17. Wait, make that 28-17. Man I wish my Browns had Tim Hightower…

Being that it’s the postseason, I thought we’d take a look at some of the greatest football music. No, not “Are You Ready For Some Football?” by Hank Williams Jr., although I must admit that I like his song better than that blatant Joan Jett rip off that Faith Hill sings before every Sunday Night Football Game.

I’m talking about the music of Sam Spence, the American soundtrack composer best known for his work with NFL Films. You know, the ones that you used to watch on ESPN after school where every game seemed to be played on “the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.”

Spence began his career in Munich before moving to L.A. and becoming a music director at the University of Southern California. Shortly after making his mark at USC, he was commissioned in 1966 to score the mini-documentaries that would introduce football fans to his work, as well as the baritone voice of John Facenda.

Spence’s work and the NFL are almost synonymous at this point. More recently, he has collaborated in 2005 with hip hop music group Da Riffs to remix some of his earlier work for the soundtrack of Madden 06. The collaboration went over well with fans of the popular video game franchise and Spence and Da Riffs were subsequently asked to work on the soundtracks for Madden 07, Madden 08 and Madden 09.

Fans of the Burger King commercials featuring “The King” being spliced into famous NFL highlights of recent years will recall various Sam Spence tunes such as “Roundup” and “Ramblin’ from the Gamblin” being used as the background music.

Outside of the football world, Spence’s music has been used in such famous television shows as The King of Queens, WWE Raw and Spongebob Squarepants. One of his most well known songs, “The Linemen”, was used in one of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons in a montage that showed Marge Simpson happily selling pretzels to the townspeople of Springfield, completely unaware that Homer had paid Fat Tony and the mob squash her competition.

The aforementioned shows are just some recent examples of Spence’s work transcending its original intentions. I’m sure that if you look harder, you’ll hear it in a number of other mediums as well.

If you find yourself watching the NFL Wild Card matchups this weekend and getting annoyed by the sound of John Madden’s voice (I know I always do), do yourself a favor and mute the television. Find some of Sam Spence’s music to go with the game. You’ll find yourself feeling like your back home after school watching the NFL Films on ESPN. Just don’t expect to see the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field any time soon. It turns out that Aaron Rodgers kinda sucks after all…

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