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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The sounds of college football have changed over the years, with pop culture songs becoming part of the show at stadiums across the country.
Fight songs, though, have withstood the test of time and still ring true.
From “Rocky Top” at Tennessee to “Fight On” at USC, school bands cranking up the familiar notes and rhythm and thousands of alumni joining the student body in belting out the long-familiar lyrics are a touchstone of the nostalgia surrounding the game itself. It’s a chance to cheer in common or at least try to shake off a disappointment.
Like the teams themselves, fight songs tend to spark much discussion on the topic of which one is the best of the bunch or at least the most familiar.
To Georgia Southern sport management Prof. Chris Hanna, “The Victors” at Michigan and “Notre Dame Victory March” are in the conversation for the mythical national championship of music.
“Those two have separated themselves,” said Hanna, who has studied and written about college fight songs. “Those are the two most popular, and well known.”
Michigan’s familiar fight song dates to 1898 when a music student at the school, Louis Elbel, wrote it following the Wolverines’ 12-11 win over the University of Chicago for their first Western Conference football title.
“Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the champions of the West!” Elbel wrote back when the Midwest was still more of a notion than the commonly known region it is now.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Chad Smith, who grew up in suburban Detroit rooting for Michigan, used the fight song as part of his act when the Red Hot Chili Peppers made a tour stop near Ohio State’s campus just for laughs.
“At the end of the concert, I came out, I said, `Hey, I think we got time for one more song. You guys want to hear one more song?’ And they’re like, ‘Yay,’” Smith recalled. “I’m like, `It’s a really good song. I think you’re really going to like this one.’”
Then, Smith started signing “The Victors,” and heard a chorus of boos before dropping the microphone and walking off stage.
“They screamed louder than they screamed all night,” said Smith, who announced earlier this month he’s gifting a need-based music scholarship to the University of Michigan. “It was great.”
“Notre Dame Victory March,” written by Notre Dame graduates and brothers, Michael and John Shea, was copyrighted in 1908 and became even more well known after the 1993 film “Rudy.”
“If you’ve ever seen ”Rudy,” they have it humming in the background at practice,” said Detroit Lions tight end Brock Wright, a former Fighting Irish star. “It’s just kind of filled with rich tradition.”
USC’s “Fight On,” was born in 1922 after students Milo Sweet and Glen Grant teamed up to create the iconic song kicked off by trumpets. It makes Hanna’s list of top fight songs along with Oklahoma’s “Boomer Sooner,” and “On Wisconsin!”
Hanna was part of research on 130 Division I college football fight songs that found more than 90% of the songs had themes that included the name of the university, an exclamation and togetherness.
“Fight songs ramp up your emotions because of the value you place on the connections to your school,” Hanna said. “These songs are passed down by generations and you learn them as kids.”
Michigan backup quarterback Davis Warren grew up in Los Angeles rooting for UCLA — which has “The Mighty Bruins” and “Sons of Westwood” for its fans to sing — but quietly digging USC’s fight song.
“It’s classic,” Warren said. “I think ours is the best, but that is one that you hear and it just sounds like college football.”
Bands in stadium from coast to coast used to get more air time, filling timeouts with fight songs and hit songs before, between and after whistles. In recent decades, piped-in music has become the norm while marching bands take a break whether they want one ore not.
House of Pain’s “Jump Around” at Wisconsin is now in its third decade of inspiring Badgers fans. “Mr. Brightside” at Michigan, “Callin’ Baton Rouge” at LSU and “Shout” at Oregon” are just a few that have become part of the gameday experience.
“Those are cool, obviously, but we don’t sing ‘Mr. Brightside’ after we win,” Davis said. “We sing ‘The Victors’ after we win. Even in the era of sound effects and music, having the band right there playing fight songs , when we’re home and away, I think is a really cool tradition in college football.”
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Associated Press Writer Mike Householder contributed. Follow Larry Lage on X
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