NFL on NBC
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Added: 3 years ago
From: KNS1996DFS
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  • This was also the theme music for almost all of NBC's sports coverage in the early-and-middle 1970's.

    For golf, they'd use a slow-tempo, string-laiden version of this music (I wish someone would post it on You Tube!), and for Wimbledon tennis, they'd use a fanfare theme that NBC continued to use through their final Wimbledon broadcast in 2011.

  • Maybe its just romanticizing when I was a kid, but this theme sends chills down my spine! Memories of the NFL in the '70's.

  • This song makes me want to put my helmet on and just punish people on the gridiron.

  • I really liked the original version of the theme that was first recorded by the group Midnite Flite in 1977 called "Don't turn away"

  • Again, it's just an :30 second snippet, and not the entire piece which ran closer to 1 minute, give or take. It's not very 'dynamic sounding' or as punchy/sharp as it was when pristine as when used back in '67 by NBC. The voice-over narrator also detracts from (Tom Hedrick, the Chiefs play-by-play man back then - and a great one.)

    Hope somebody has some luck uploading it.

  • @theprizoner Just look up Super Bowl III - Game Intro. It has a high-quality recording of NBC's AFL theme.

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  • @KNS1996DFS

    All due respect friend, but no. If you read back through the comments going back months/almost a year, I stated the 1968 Superbowl III theme is NOT the same one used by NBC in 1967 for their AFL Football broadcasts/opening theme. 1968 KC Chiefs hilites, 9:12-9:42 mark therein features a short :30 second snippet of what I'm referring to (see my other post of today just below.) Thanks for your reply.

  • @theprizoner Oh. I didn't realize they changed the themes that often back then. I know that was NBC's MO in the Eighties and Nineties (ditto, CBS and ABC), but I had no idea they did it back in the Sixties, too.

  • SUCCESS!

    Sorta.

    The good news: found a short snippet the 1967 NBC AFL opening theme music (I/others had been interested in) on the 1968 KC Chiefs season highlights film. It lasts just :30 seconds & plays under the voice description but you get an idea of how it sounded. Runs from 9:12 -9:42 mark on the film (first :30 seconds are opening title & credits.)

    The bad news: mine is on vhs & I have no way to transfer. If anyone has this and can upload it, we EARgerly await it's musical majesty.

  • Whoops, @theprizoner - I just saw you said that wasn't it.

  • This is the best intro music to football. Brings back a ton of memories when I was a kid watching the games on NBC. Great Stuff !!!!!!!

  • they were the good old days of nfl football they need to bring this soundtrack back.

  • There use to be an NHL on NBC one on here somewhere I can't find it...does anyone have it?

  • Wonder who these musicians are. That sax solo is killer, and someone's fingers had to be tired after playing the clavinet that damn fast..lol great theme for sure..

  • @buscrates Kevin Gavin

  • @buscrates ha!!! he probably cheated and used both hands! ;) now, if it was Rick Wakeman, he could do it with one hand!!

  • I'm surprised they didn't show the Oakland Raiders in any of those clips because they were dominant during that time. Not one clip of Ken Stabler or the Raider defense.

  • The Raiders must have been deliberately excluded. They won their division with Lamonica in 1972 and with Stabler in 1973. Apparently, this video is from 1973.

  • @raiders1967 excluding the Raiders from all things NFL isn't really news to me. Lets see how many prime time games we get this year if any at all again. (eye roll)

  • When I hear this, it's time for football! Who needs babes with muscle cars.

  • @headley62 ...who have no tits, skinny legs, a narrow ass, and mediocre singing voices.

  • NBC also used this theme when they had the national NHL package back in the70's

  • @TheTzdope And for their college football coverage.

  • Not a bad NBC theme - but - not as good as the snappy one NBC used back in 1967 for AFL football. Don't know the '67 theme's title or who wrote it (may have been used in '66 & '68 too), but it's the best ever in my opinion. Could hum it ("da da da da da da dah, da da da da dah da da, da da da da da dah da, da da da da da dah da dah da, dah da da da dah, dah da da da dah, dah da da da da dah, dah dah!") There, I'm sure that helped : ) Never hear it anymore/isn't part of NFL Films music.

  • @theprizoner I think NBC used the theme you're humming for their World Series coverage in the 60's and early 70's,is that correct?

    Search "First World Series Night game"

    And the song in question comes at the :46 mark in that video from 1971

  • @blank77 - Thanks for the info, but no that's not it. That music from the '71 WS was also used back in the 60's on various sports-themed programming including team season highlights football but not what NBC used (at minimum) '67 AFL TV games. I'll find what I'm referring to yet, and will post it when I do.

  • @theprizoner Okay.Took a guess about that.Now you got me interested about that AFL on NBC theme.I like to hear it,too.

  • @theprizoner this was used from 1972 to 1975

  • @theprizoner Search "Super Bowl III - Game Intro" That might be your song.

  • @soxpacker Thanks but no that isn't it. The 1967 NBC AFL game broadcast opening theme wasn't slow like the 1968 SB III clip you referenced, rather up tempo like the 1973 NBC theme. The 1967 opening used - several trumpets, timpani drums & flutes. It also was not as long as the '73 version seen/heard here - probably :50 - :60 seconds. Wasn't exclusive to NBC - it was also used 1967 This Week in the AFL highlight shows, these being non-NBC produced. Have it somewhere, just haven't found it yet.

  • @theprizoner Search for the original broadcast to Super Bowl III. Is it that music?

  • Unfortunately, the first season I remember is the first post-merger season, 1970.  I wish someone would post the theme about which you speak.

  • @cmills1988 what makes this intro white??

  • This classic intro got me so pumped up, I ran outside and horsecollar tackled the 83 year old lady that lives next door.

  • this theme gets me fired up for some footbaaaaalll!!!

  • Best sports theme...ever! Remeber this a little, little kid

  • Makes me think of Curt Gowdy.

  • Boy do I love this... brings back so many memories.

  • Yet another great theme that I prefer over today's crappy music.

  • This theme brings back a lot of memories of watching Raider football back in the 70s (being from the East Bay - I was (and always will be) a Raider fan and watched them on KRON TV 4)

  • @badgersushi I grew up in the east bay too, this intro was the best. Also a Raider fan, I remember the music intro being played to different nfl action clips, especially in the play-offs, they would show more clips of the two teams playing (see 1975 afc championship game intro). Those were times when the NFL was building its popularity and everything they did was special. A lot of those games you can get on dvd, the original broadcast. The good o'l days

  • I remember this intro, it was such a funky montage. It always got me pumped up to watch the game!

  • the hockey version used to be posted here. Haven't seen it in a while now.

  • Hearing this song the first time, all I could think of was background music to a dramatic scene in C.H.I.P.S. or some 70s TV drama. However, if they gave it a modern reinsturmentation...it could really work. Perhaps use it on a Sunday night for a throwback jersey game or something w/Al Michaels wearing a fake afro.

  • @marquettefootball No... they need to reinstate it for EVERY game. Also reinstate the NBC News theme from the John Chancellor days.

  • Now that we have NHL Hockey back on NBC, I really wish that NBC would go back to this Theme Song for their Intro for "NHL Game of the Week". How I love it very much when NBC Sports had it back when they did cover NHL Hockey back in 1974. This Theme Song was the best one ever done by NBC.

  • Does anyone remember NBC also using this for their Hockey Games?

  • @Jiltedin2007 Yeah,NBC did use this theme for hockey and Baseball,too.

  • I am 43 and this is one of the greatest songs and pregame music ever!!! They need to bring back this, the NFL today song from the 70's and early 80's, and the traditional DA DAA DAA DAAAAA Monday Night Football starting theme. That would be great to hear them all again.

  • The Monday Night Football theme is here at YouTube. I agree with your characterization of this song as one of the greates songs and pregame music ever.

  • Awesome-priceless stuff! I was 9 yrs old, my team was Miami. The two things I love about this intro; was the music, and then Tommy Casanova in one the cuts shown back peddling into pass coverage. Great Video!

  • This is ridiculously cool. Made 4 years before I was born.

  • Wha..! Oh G*t, what a mesmerizing song!!

  • Haven't seen this in 36 years. Wow, what memories. Best of all I loved the Dolphins, so seeing that player dress and slap his helmet at the end was awesome. They truly don't make'm like they used to.

  • Best NFL tv theme ever.

  • @raiders1967 ...I Agree...It Is the best NFL theme ever.

  • This video was awesome! NBC should use an updated version of this video.

  • Bear in mind that most of the coverage in 1973 for the NFL on NBC were mostly for the Miami Dolphins and the up-and-coming Pittsburgh Steelers, depending on the time the game was played. I remember this theme music very well, and the video as well. What nostalgia too...the old San Diego Charger throwback uniforms! And these are being used today. Awesome!

  • I wish the NBC would use this for the Sunday Night Song and CBS use the 80's version of NFL Today music. Then life would be grand!!!

  • Remember the Disco version of this theme. I would certainly like to hear it again. Brings me back memories from my youth.

  • The disco version is here at YouTube.

  • Where on YouTube can I find it?

  • Midnite Flite -- "Don't Turn Away"

  • i'm with rickelz16 anyone with mlb game of week ? I know it from memory

  • Not at all.

  • I don't think I've ever seen a comment so thoroughly...negated (-7) . I made a rather innocent remark, I thought, it was my first instinct, in any case. I'm not a racial minority, but I grew up in a very diverse setting. After watching it again, I suppose I may have been too harsh, although I still see a lot of white people, because the great majority of players shown in detail, suiting up, are, in fact, white, and I don't think it matches the breakdown in that period. But I could be wrong.

  • Yeah, it comes off that way, but if you didn't mean it that way, then say so. Thinking back, there probably more white players in those days, but black players got the same credit for performance that they do today as far as MVP awards and stuff. No harm to me though.

  • If anyone has the MLB game of the week intro from this era, please show. Thanks.

  • How I wish I could again see some team ANY TEAM line up with two tight ends and two running backs and just run the ball. Instead we get the spread offense on third and one.

  • Headley62 said it all! How DO you update perfection of the Untouchable

    '70's. There will never be another era like that again. I hardly believe kids today think twice about turning on an NFL game let loan have a significant player the idolize. I use to draw Jim Zorn's #10 on a white thermal long sleeve with his name across the back and wear it outside in the park to play games - IN THE BRONX NY! That's right. I also did that with Sammy White of the Vikings. We're are we now?! =(

  • I loved this theme song NBC Sports had better when they were doing Hockey.

  • Great theme song from the best era in NFL History, back when players were real men.

  • it was a good era in football the nfl today on cbs had a better theme though, but it's not bad.

  • I wish the Cleveland Browns would at least give Pittsburgh a game. Sure they have better talent, but let them know they were in a football game instead of rolling up and quiting like a bunch of pussies for Christ sake. Even if you can't beat them, make them pay for the goddamn victory. I'm tired of this shit. We hit harder in CYO.

  • When the NFL started with the massive rule changes in

    1978, it has been all downhill since. Has anyone seen the new NFL shield logo? It looks like something from a poorly written comic strip. The old logo was perfect.

    Keep changing things NFL. You'll soon be the FFL

    Fucked up football league.

  • The new NFL Shield is kinda weak.

  • Love this! And especially those old throwback San Diego Charger uniforms! A blast from my past! Thanks!

  • For all you kids..those are real men playing football right there.You've been robbed.The NFL has become "watered down".

  • I have to respectfully AGREE with dolphinbuc 100 PERCENT!!! This s#!t called football is pure Bulls#!t at best. It is "watered down." Thank you Mr. dolphinbuc whoever you are for showing these kids that they have been robbed.

  • haha!!! ;) amen!!!

  • You got that right. Nothing was better than the old AFL. Remember the head slaps and bumping the recievers all over the field? Every team had two enforcers on defense. Just in case.

  • wow wow take me back waaaayy back! good days they were and if I had the choice I'd turn back the clock just to revisit those great days, teams, players unforgettable. I just want to be 10 again!

  • someone had the hockey verson on here a while back. Please re-post!

  • This theme has been rattling around my brain for months. I remember this from when it was first on, and consider it the best NFL TV theme since the mid-60s, when I started watching. Thanks immensely for posting!

  • A great theme!

  • If this doesn't get you in the mood for football,

    then nothing will.

  • THIS THEME COOKS!!!

    GREAT JOB!

  • I definitely rember this theme used in 75 and 76. Most memorable was the playoff game between the steelers and colts. The steelers destroyed them completely.

  • A small airplane crashed in the stands right after the

    game in Memorial Stadium in the 1976 playoff.

  • AWESOME!

  • Absolutely agreed, before my time but THAT was a great theme for the NFL on NBC.

  • I will take this over Faith whatever her name is any day

  • man i love that music brings back memories

  • Does anyone remember this being used for the NHL on NBC using hockey clips? Totally awesome too!

  • Yes, I do.

    I wonder if any recordings still exist of the rarest version of the NBC Sports theme: Before the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics, the L.A. Philharmonic reportdely recorded for NBC a medley done in symphonic style of both "Don't Turn Away" and "Bugler's Dream", which would have been the opening music for their telecasts of the Moscow games.

    The piece suposdely begins with a symphonic version of "Don't Turn Away" and then dissolves into "Bugler's Dream".

  • I haven't heard this theme in over 30 years, awesome! Reminds me of good times when both Raiders & A's were on top of the sports world ( & yes I'm from Oakland)

  • I remember when the Raiders and Steelers were the best rivalry in the NFL. The 1976 opener when George Atkinson clubbed Lynn Swann going over the middle.

  • The Raiders and Steelers. Holy S---T! Were those years the best. What a defense the Raiders had. Tatum, Atkinson. . .And offense? How can you forget Stabler threading a needle. Im hoping if I keep playing this, those days will come back.

  • The "Snake" was one cool customer.

  • them was the best 2 blue collar teams also

  • Hey no5isme! You old enough to remember Daryll LaMonica and George Blanda?

  • Yes. I remember watching Blanda start a game at age 45; it was sad that all he could do was hand-off and run away from the opponents.

  • Yes...reminds me of the ol OAK vs. KC days of Madden and Stram. Classic intro!

  • Thanks for posting this. I remember this when I was a kid watching the NFL. This music is great. Our high school band, John Marshall in Cleveland, Ohio use to play this. Nice action of the Cleveland Browns!

  • Big question...does anyone have all or a partial version of a game close featuring the music and sung version of "Don't Turn Away" by Midnite Flite?

  • the guy that falls on his head, ha ha ha

  • This theme was cobbled together in a lot of different ways depending on it's use. The hockey version and Orange Bowl version seen elsewhere on You Tube ars slightly varied from this football theme. How awesome it would be to hear the whole theme uncut.

  • This clip is missing about two seconds up front, but the clip shown here is the longest version I remember. A shorter version (about half as long) was used for a couple years after this.

  • ur right the part from :19 to :46 was taken out after the first season and the theme was used in that condensed form after that.

  • Although I think the full version was still used in the music trail right after the open as the announcers are introing the game over the establishing shot of the stadium. Have very fond memories of this music from the 1975 World Series...

  • If NBC decided to use this now, they'd probably muck it up with some remixed version with extra beats & such. This is sooo classic! I would jump out of my seat if they broke it out for the Super Bowl.

  • Who composed this music?

    Could it have been Ed Kaheloff??

    Anyone who heard it way back when never forgets it!

  • Thanks to TServo2049, I can tell you that the composer is Kevin Gavin. Look up "Don't Turn Away" by Midnite Flite. I think you'll recognize it.

  • @KNS1996DFS who had the original version??? Midnite Flite says 1977, but this says 1973.

  • @getula1964 Kevin Gavin composed this theme, and then adapted it into the disco version.

  • I am not sure, but it sure sounds like Frank Comstock, he did music for Jack Webb productions ie; dragnet and adam-12 ...call it an educated guess

  • And now to the Orange Bowl in Miami. Here are Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis........

  • This music was used for almost all of NBC's sports coverage during the mid-1970's (For golf, they used a slower, string-laiden version).

    The visuals were similar: A locker-room, players geting dressed, and then the action!

    The font indicating the title "NBC Sports/NFL Football" and the animation revealing the title were the same font and animation that NBC News used at the time for one simple reason: NBC Sports was still part of the NBC News division in the early/mid 1970's.

  • True, they used to refer to NBC Sports as "a service of NBC News."

  • God, I remember that!

  • Or in closing credits "This has been a Sports Production of NBC News".

  • This song was cool! Great games on NBC!

    Oakland, Pittsburgh, Kansas city and

    Miami!

  • man they need to use this instead of that new lame crap they play, THIS IS FOOTBALL GAME MUSIC AND A DAYUM GOOD INTRO VIDEO!!!

  • Not a single shot of any Oakland Raiders in the video.

  • thats cause the year this come out Miami was on the top of the NFL world, but yes, there should be Oakland Raiders clips

  • PLEASE ADD THIS instead of THE HORRIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT THEME THEY USE NOW!!!!

  • Amen brother!

  • This is soooo classic, I wish someone would use it today, the music/NFL theme on CBS is especially brutal.

  • This theme was great. The song that NBC used for SB's 13 and 15 was great as well. They should bring that back this year since they are televising the Super Bowl. Too bad this intro wasn't the beginning to a game that someone had to put up here.

  • This is fantastic! Thank you for posting it. You know how you have something stuck in your head that you swear you remember but no one gets it? This was it and now I can see it again! I remember being a little kid sitting right in front of the TV every week waiting for this intro. Thank you again for bringing it back!

  • Amen!

  • Why don't they use this one now instead of that DAMN female country singer...whatever her name is, Faith something

  • I don't mind that they use an intro like they do, but why do they have to use Faith Hill? Say what you will about P!nk, she was no worse than Hank Williams Jr. Faith Hill might be.

  • A theme song to a television program should have no lyrics whatsoever.

  • Actually, NBC used this theme during a game's closing credits (time permitting), and there were lyrics. I can hear them now, but couldn't recite them for you. I would love for someone to post the closing credits w/theme song.

  • I totally agree. This is far better than the garbage on now.

  • Wow that actually brought a tear. I was looking for exactly this and THANK YOU for saving it and putting it on You Tube. Brings back memories of myself as an 11-year-old perched on the ottoman in the living room waiting for the Browns to get beat again. Awesome theme and remembrance of great TV football past.

  • Mostly by the STEELERS!!!

  • Yep, true that, gotta admit. The 1975 42-6 shellacking was especially remembered. But every game we'd gather around the TV hoping for a miracle.

  • I was 11 then too. Lived in Cleveland. I still do.

    This music really got me into the football mood.

    It's fantstic. It makes me want to go out on a football

    field again and clean someones clock one last time.

  • SUPER!!!!!

  • it just seemed like there was more passion in the game back then, the backs ran harder, the quarterbacks got hammered, not like todays game... bring me back.

  • i think passion is there today but maybe our passion has changed. speaking for myself i use to live and die with my team and live and die with what was said about my team.times have changed but so have i.great opening

  • I know you understand thatoffense has been the face of the league since the beginning....the powers that be want to market Football to the average person that don' know jack about Ball....What I've seen from the leagues front office as of late concerning rule changes is terrible for the game. Their handcuffing the defense and making it easier for the offense.

    THINGS WILL GET BETTER THOUGH. I HAVE FAITH!

  • Awesme theme, they don't make them like this anymore.

  • I thought that the NBC news and sports division was one big group and had similar introductions like that in news and special events.

  • At the time, both news and sports used the same italic block lettering .. and in fact a number of NBC affiliates also used that same logotype on their local news shows during the period. The arrival of the infamous "N" in 1976 (I know it was on New Years Day becuase they plugged the heck out of it during their parade and bowl coverage that year) put an end to that. The block lettering and the NBC "snake" went into the retirement and for a short time, the Peacock was hibernating.

  • There's a very good reason NBC News and NBC Sports used the same font for titling: Until the mid-1970's, sports at NBC were under the auspicies of NBC News.

    In fact, at one time, sports at all the networks were part of the news divisions.

    ABC was first to separate sports from news (1961?), then CBS did it a few years later. NBC kept sports in the news division until the middle 1970's.

  • great info ... and then of course ABC Sports ceased to exist as it was gobbled up by the self proclaimed "world wide leader" the four letter network

  • God, BOTH NBC and CBS had awesome NFL show themes at this time...

  • Yeah, but NBC was much better. Really gets you going!

  • This song was very good! It got me excited every Sunday afternoon. But my all time favorite football intro was the one used by NBC-TV in 1968, for the American Football League. That song was super awesome! Also, the theme for Super Bowl Three, also done by NBC-TV later that football season was fantastic too!

  • WONDERFUL!

  • The following video clip from 1973 would be rated a 5. Any Questions?

  • Yeah, why don't they use this on Sunday Night Football, that would be incredible!

  • The network would not use that theme because of money. Some people have never believed in old school openings -- like those from 1973. That may not be much of an answer; but I believe they worry too much about their ego and their prestige.

  • How about a new, updated version of this music for "Sunday Night Football"??

  • How does one update perfection?

  • Ive been looking for this theme! Awesome! I wish I could find the MLB one though. That was great with Boog Powell rounding 3rd base.

  • NBC SPORTS should use this 1973 theme song, now that they have the rights to show NFL Sunday night football...Awsome theme song.

  • For some reason the music gets pulled by youtube every so often. I don't know what the problem is? The Hockey Night in Canada theme song can be found everywhere. And especially when this NFL theme isn't even used anymore. So whats the problem?

  • I wish Itunes sold it.

  • anyone know how to get this piece so it can be put on an ipod?

  • This was best NFL Intro music ever, and it was through whole 70's and part of 80's

  • What game was this intro for?

  • This was the standard intro for all games. In the good ol' days, the theme wasn't customized from week to week as NBC and ABC/ESPN do nowadays. The player suiting up, I think, is Joe DeLameillure, offensive guard for the Bills.