When thinking of sports events it's difficult not to associate them with music or anthems. I have always loved the L.A. Olympics music score (yes, it was John Williams...). Of course the impressive marketing success of the "Barcelona" song by the superb Barcelona born soprano Montserrat Caballé & the glorious Freddie Mercury set a new path for sort of promotional songs and sports events. Some following experiences in this sense have not been that succesfull but others have (Ricky Martin "La copa de la vida" for the French soccer world cup, Nelly Furtado's "Força" for the european soccer championships and mainly Shakira's "Waka Waka" for the South African soccer world championship).
London's rescue of the epic score of "Chariots of fire" was a great move. Composed by the Greek Vangelis (cousin of the always hallucinating Demis Roussos), joined the history and allure of the Olympics with the modern sports spirit fantastically shot in Hugh Hudson's film, through music.
But being honest, the ones that to me have used music (not fan anthems - go to Argentina or Brasil instead- ) best in sports events, have of course been the US Americans. Just enter an NBA Basketball game. Never music has been so integrated with the sport itself (I love that Defense! shout). Or of course Baseball. The one sport that put Creedence Clearwater Revival's genius John Fogerty again where unfair and awful author rights contracts took him away with that "Centerfield" song.
Sometimes, music doesn´t work. The Real Madrid soccer team had an anthem for decades that came from the old glorious years and everyone knew and sung. And then the idea of creating a new one sung by the Madrid born and team fan Tenor Placido Domingo, may not have been that bad. But the song doesn´t work at all.
Other sports want to use music as a driving emotional tool for their communication efforts too. The Volvo Ocean Race made a pitch a couple of years ago to select the composition that would be it's sonic identity.
But the Ryder Cup, very possibly my favourite sport event, doesn't have anything at all, as far as I know. At least we have Seve Ballestero's silhouette on the Europeans' team bag.
What's your favourite music in sports?
Juan Corrales | juan@flyabit.es | @juan_corralesr