PMP25: Stadium Songs

I've thought about this one more than any of the other questions that were asked last year. I honestly thought about it during every game last season (except for maybe the snow game when all I was thinking about was how the snow under my feet was packed down so much that any movement might send my feet flying). But this particular question... I gave this question a ton of thought.

The question:

There seems to be a rise in CFB teams having iconic songs played at their home stadium before the 4th quarter (Florida - I Won’t Back Down, Michigan - Mr Brightside, etc). I want you to pick a song that plays at Memorial Stadium after the 3rd quarter ends to get the crowd going/singing along. The hope being this song is synonymous with Illinois Football as we continue our rise.
~JG

I'll start with "traditions." Our stadium traditions were tied to a halftime event that went away in 2007 and, as a result, we don't have any longstanding traditions. The Saturday experience at Illinois made a shift nearly 20 years ago and the void has been felt, I think. Purdue has had that big dumb bass drum for more than 100 years. Michigan has a banner they all have to touch. Ohio State dots an I. We don't have anything similar.

But I don't want this post to veer into that issue. I just wanted to acknowledge it and say that we could really use a 4th quarter song because we don't have a hill that we run down after touching a rock or a buffalo that runs out on the field or a wagon pulled by horses that looks like it's going to tip over every time. If Wisconsin started the Jump Around in 1998, we can start something in 2026.

It's just... impossibly hard to do. I've given this so much thought and I'm not sure it's possible to plan it. I think it just has to happen. Some examples:

• Jump Around became a thing at Wisconsin when that was the song chosen to be played over the speakers before a fourth quarter comeback over Purdue. They wanted to keep the luck of that song (it was obviously responsible for the comeback), they played it again the next game, some students jumped, and here we are.
• Enter Sandman was the scoreboard entrance song for Virginia Tech for several years with no one thinking twice about it until some band members started jumping during the song and then that grew to their entire stadium entrance (and led to Metallica playing a concert inside the stadium when they would not regularly add Blacksburg to their tour).
• Mr. Brightside started at Michigan in 2016 in a similar way to Wisconsin and Jump Around above.
• I Won't Back Down was added at Florida in 2017.
• Even Dixieland Delight at Alabama wasn't added until the song (by the band Alabama) had been out for nearly 20 years.

All of those just... happened. And I think that if Illinois ever eventually does the same thing, it will have to just... happen. The right song is chosen, the crowd reacts, and it becomes a thing. I know that's not the answer you were looking for, but I'm of the opinion that "we should do THIS" would not lead to anything being adopted as our official 4th quarter song.

I can list a few suggestions, though. They're all dumb, but I can list them. Maybe I'll categorize them. Three categories:

A Popular Song

We'll call this the Mr. Brightside or Jump Around category. Those schools just landed on random songs for those traditions. I've considered maybe 100 different songs over the past year and here are some suggestions. And I'll include a YouTube link for each song:

-> Song 2 by Blur ("woo-hoo" preceding the guitar riff)

It's played in stadiums and arenas everywhere – it was written to kind of mock stadium anthems – but no one has ever claimed it. It could be claimed.

Pros: Flips back and forth between quiet and loud which could create a "subdued dancing followed by mosh pit" dynamic in the student section.

Cons: Has been played in stadiums for 25 years so I'm not sure it's really claim-able.

-> Remember The Name by Fort Minor ("10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will")

Great opening line feels right at home in a football stadium, culminating with "100% reason to remember the name."

Pros: Isn't "old guy rock" like everything that's coming from my brain.

Cons: After the students chant the "remember the name" line, then what?

A Song Connected To Illinois

We'll call this the "Calling Baton Rouge" (LSU) or "Country Roads" (West Virginia) category. The problem: there's not a single song about Illinois that's going to be as iconic as West Virginia fans singing "West Virginia... mountain mama...".

-> Champaign, Illinois by The Old 97's

We play it at every single tailgate. I've never known why it's not played inside the stadium. It's... kind of perfect? I mean, can you beat these lyrics?

Oh and if you die fearing God
And painfully employed
No you will not go to heaven
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois

Pros: The lyrics. Here's a whole stanza leading into the chorus:

Up north in Chicago
Where booze makes no one blush
Memories come back to you
In a double bourbon rush

But memories aren't all bad
Yeah and neither, my friend, are you
there is an argument there must be some heaven left
for hearts that are half true

Oh and if you spend your whole life
Driving horses into Troy
You will not go to heaven
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois

Cons: The whole "Champaign is hell" vibe. That's not what the song is saying – it's purgatory, not hell, and I rather enjoy the whole "there must be some heaven left for hearts that are half true" vibe of One Of The Cities In Illinois That's Not Chicago – but I fear that whenever it's heard (or sung) it will be given the interpretation of "you won't go to heaven, you'll go to hell."

One more note on this song: It's The Old 97's writing new lyrics (and changing the beat) of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" so Dylan gets songwriting credit. AND, Bob Dylan once wrote a song called "Champaign, Illinois" with Carl Perkins (recorded by Perkins). Some lyrics to that song:

I got a woman in Morocco,
I got a woman in Spain,
Woman that’s done stole my heart,
She lives up in Champaign.

So yeah... Bob Dylan... Champaign... the backing tune being 'Desolation Row' which describes the three decades of Illinois football prior to Bret Bielema...... it all just fits.

-> Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

I mean, come on, the album is called "Come On Feel The Illinoise." And the first track of the album is called – I kid you not – "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois." A UFO that was, in fact, first reported to the authorities by the father of our neighbor across the street when I was growing up in Highland.

Pros: As far as sing-able songs go, the "all things go, all things go" part really would work for a group sing-along.

Cons: I'm not sure a Sufjan Stevens song is gonna work inside a stadium. In fact, I know it wouldn't work inside a stadium.

A Song Where The Band Could Participate

There are college traditions that include the band. Hang On Sloopy has been a thing at Ohio State for 60 years. The band plays Hang On Sloopy and the fans chant O-H-I-O on the off-beats after the chorus:

"Hang on sloopy, sloopy hang on"
(pause) "O" (pause) "H" (pause) "I" (pause) "O"

I don't know what song this could be, but we could work something up with I-L-L. Let's call that idea #1 under "band participation" even though I don't have a song to suggest.

Or we could get theatrical with something like:

-> Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance.

Tap back into your Emo phase and hear me out. At the end of the third quarter (yes, really) we could build something around the first 2:30 of this video:

If only we had some drummers somewhere in the stadium who could play the famous "one, tri-puh-let two, tri-puh-let three, tri-puh-let tri-puh-let tri-puh-let one" intro. WAIT. There's 10 people with snare drums strapped to them right there in front of the students.

Pros: It's so incredibly Emo Rock that even the Gen Z students would love it in a retro way.

Cons: What does it even mean? Why would we be singing "my father took me into the city to see a marching band?" What does that have to do with Illinois Football?

Regardless, ending the quarter break with the stadium singing the "CARRY ON" chorus before the fourth quarter would be pretty badass. At least for this 53 year-old.

That's it. That's all I've got for you. If I'm voting it's either "You Will Not Go To Heaven" or "Black Parade."

Which seems to indicate that I should probably see a therapist.