When Garth Brooks recorded his version of “Callin’ Baton Rouge” — an up-tempo country hit previously produced by New Grass Revival and others — he had a specific vibe in mind.
“New Grass recorded the song for bluegrass festivals,” Brooks said. “We recorded the song to be played in stadiums and arenas, with one lone purpose. … Get people fired up!”
Nowadays, Brooks’ vision comes to life at LSU’s Tiger Stadium when that catchy intro begins and thousands of football fans yell a heartfelt “LOUISIANA!” when the state’s name is mentioned in the first line of the song.
“CBR sang at LSU seems more like a war cry than a tradition,” Brooks said in an email to The Associated Press. “I get goosebumps every time I hear them sing it.”
Callin’ Baton Rouge at LSU is just one example of a trend sweeping college football. Pep bands and fight songs still have their place, but now fans at some of the most prominent programs have embraced the stadium anthem as somerthing of a modern tradition. Rock, country, hip hop, electronic dance music … different genres can work at different places. Perhaps the most famous of these is House of Pain’s “Jump Around” at Wisconsin, now in its third decade of inspiring Badgers fans to do just that.
Others include “Mr. Brightside” at Michigan, “I Won’t Back Down” at Florida, “Shout” at Oregon, “Sandstorm” at South Carolina and “Dixieland Delight” at Alabama. Sometimes fans add their own colorful lines to the lyrics — a good way to get a song banned if you’re not careful.
Even Notre Dame — which still puts generic diagonal lines in the end zones, and where the band plays an iconic rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture — has introduced flashing lights and more modern music in recent years.
“In the world right now, where you have to play for today and figure out what’s motivating people and what’s getting people genuinely excited about what’s going on at a university, at a team, at a brand, you have to ride that to the full extent you possibly can,” said Columbia University lecturer Joe Favorito, a sports and entertainment marketing consultant. “I mean, who knew that a Killers song was going to become an anthem at the University of Michigan, and how that gets played out? Mr. Brightside, now you ask kids who go to Michigan, and they’re going there because of Mr. Brightside. I don’t think The Killers ever had that in mind.”
Some schools are notable for their pregame or postgame tunes — think “Enter Sandman” at Virginia Tech or “Country Roads” at West Virginia — but the break before the fourth quarter has proven an ideal spot for a crescendo. Plus, there’s an extra benefit in waiting until then before playing the crowd favorite.
“How do you keep students at the game longer and longer? When you’re blowing opponents out, people are leaving,” said Jake Stocker, director of game presentation at Michigan. “If you do Brightside that first break in the third quarter, it’s done and people are leaving. … We moved ‘Mr. Brightside’ to the third and fourth quarter break just to set it as more of a tradition there to at least keep people in their seats until that point.”
Michigan, of course, has its own famous fight song and a band that’s an important part of game day, but in this era of constant (and lengthy) television breaks, there’s plenty of time for everything.
“We always know that we have enough time in that third and fourth quarter break,” Stocker said. “The band plays Blues Brothers and then we do ‘Mr. Brightside.’”
Wisconsin’s tradition began in 1998 when tight end Ryan Sondrup, working an internship in the athletic department while injured, was asked to think of ideas for game day operations. He went to a sports bar while brainstorming with friends and teammates, and they played songs on the jukebox, including “Jump Around.”
Sondrup talked it over with his bosses.
“They were more interested, I think because I was on the football team, in what would get the guys fired up,” Sondrup said. “We were talking more like before-the-game-type stuff. I said, ‘Well, actually, if you could play some of this during the game, like in a key moment or something to get everyone riled up.’ And we’d circled ‘Jump Around.’”
There were some complaints from older fans about the music, but it was a hit among students (and among some of the visiting teams), and it’s certainly stood the test of time.
“It’s all-encompassing of all people in Wisconsin. Everyone knows ‘Jump Around,’” said defensive tackle Erik Waisanen, who was bartending that day of the brainstorm. “It’s been so intertwined with Wisconsin football, Wisconsin athletics. There’s times now where because people know (his involvement), they’ll be at a wedding and I’ll get a video, and the bride and groom are Wisconsin grads and on the video, people I don’t even know will be doing ‘Jump Around’ at their wedding as one of their dances.”
While “Jump Around” had no big connection to Wisconsin, Florida fans have good reason to sing along with “I Won’t Back Down” because Tom Petty was a Gainesville native. “Callin’ Baton Rouge” fits at LSU games for even more obvious reasons.
Brooks, however, went to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have played his “Friends in Low Places” at games, and Brooks may have a new tune at some point intended for specific use at Oklahoma State games.
“For the last 20 years, I have so wanted to sing a song that would represent my alma mater and the people who make that college the best. I am in the middle of recording a song I would love to pitch to them to start playing if the song turns out the way I hope it does,” Brooks said in the e-mail. “It’s called COWBOY BLOOD. The lyric fits the cowboy life and the music was recorded to fire people up.”
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AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee and Aaron Beard and Associated Press Writer Mike Householder contributed to this report.
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