Welcome to Continental Drift! This is our second episode back this semester, AND it’s a special one! This episode aired a week before the Super Bowl, so we wanted to take this opportunity to explore the Super Bowl, as well as the wider world of sports and the music that’s been used for them throughout the world, whether catchy World Cup songs that defined FIFA, or entertaining half-time performances that we’ll never forget. You can find the playlist here and listen back to the episode here!

Without further ado, here are some fun facts on the Super Bowl…

• The first Super Bowl took place in 1967 after the two football leagues in the US—the American Football League (or AFL) and the National Football League (or NFL)—decided to merge and agreed to participate in a championship game at the end of every season.
• The name “Super Bowl” was originally offered up as a joke by Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, but after a year of the event being called “the AFL-NFL World Championship Game,” the “Super Bowl” was chosen as its official title.
• Throughout the history of the Super Bowl, the two things that both sports fans and non-sports fans alike have been able to enjoy are iconic commercials and especially the Half-Time Show Performances. Some of the most memorable ones being by Prince, U2, and Katy Perry (seriously…I mean how could anyone forget about the Left Shark?)

So, up next, we have “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince, “Beautiful Day” by  U2, and “California Gurls” by Katy Perry…performed in 2007, 2002, and 2015 respectively.

“Let’s Go Crazy” // Prince

“Beautiful Day” // U2

“California Gurls” // Katy Perry

Moving on from the Super Bowl, let's talk about some other sports, yeah? So, there’s this cycler from Belgium, his name’s Eddy Merckx. He is to date the single most successful cyclist in the world, winning 5 Tours de France and 6 other Grand Tours. If there were a biking god, it would pray to him. And so do the people! To the extent that there are no less than four songs written about just how good he is at biking. Up next is just such a hymn by the name of Eddy Prend Le Maillot Jaune.

Eddy Prend Le Maillot Jaune // Pierre-André Gil

Some of the most exciting sporting events have existed not only on live TV, but in film and video games as well, so we’re going to pay tribute to one of the greatest, although fictional, boxers of all time (and one of the 7 I can actually name)…Rocky Balboa. Up next is the hit song “Eye of the Tiger” created for the 1982 film Rocky III that was a SMASH hit (ba-doom-tssssssss).

Eye of the Tiger // Survivor

Those of you who spent your childhood beating up cars in arcades may recognize this next funky little tune from Japan. In Street Fighter 2, you play as a variety of characters including the American brawler, Guile, whose stage theme is about to play. Why is this in the sports episode? Well seeing as Street Fighter has made a name for itself in E-Sports, and being a Japanese gaming franchise, we felt it’d fit right in!

Guile’s Theme // Capcom Sound Team

You folks listening at home may be asking yourselves, “when will the fighting end??” NOT YET WE STILL HAVE COMBAT SPORTS

So, up next we’re gonna take a bit more of a traditional approach; in Brazil, there’s a martial art/dance form called capoeira, and the thing about capoeira is that it has a particular associated type of music. It’s a defining trait of that form of entertainment, and so the music and the martial art are inextricably linked. Here’s some of that comin’ down the pipe!

Cânticos de Capoeira // Mestre suassuna e dirceu

Now we’re kickin’ it old school; Entrance of the Gladiators is the next track you’ll hear. This piece is by a Czech artist, but gladiators are a type of armed combatant in ancient Roman entertainment. There were different types of gladiators, usually enslaved fighters from across the ancient world, who usually would be put into an arena to perform in a range of scenarios. That said, even though gladiatorial history is remarkably bloody, you may be more familiar with this piece if you’re used to clowning around.

Entrance of the Gladiators // Julius Fučík

Now, the thing about humans is that we’ll fight anything. These hands are rated “E” for everyone, and everyone includes animals, as evidenced by the practice of bullfighting in Spain. A bullfight will consist of 3 matadores each designated to take on 2 bulls; it is a fight to the death, which is kinda… well it’s a thing that people do. Though the human can die and often matadores do get gored by bulls, it’s usually the bull who dies, so due to concerns involving animal welfare, as well as other factors, it’s sort of declined in popularity. But there’s still some pretty interesting music that accompanies bullfights, so here’s some of that.

Yo Quiero Ser Matador // Ballroom Latin Dance

We’ve got one more fight for you all, and it comes to us from Thailand; Muay Thai is a Thai martial art, sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, which, though there are traces of it as far back as the 1500s, first gained wide popularity within Thailand in the mid-19th century, as the then-king of Thailand was particularly interested in it. The music played before a fight in a Muay Thai match is called Sarama, and is played with increasing intensity as the fight carries on. 

Muay Thai (Ethnic) // Reliable Source Music

They say there’s nothing more American than Mom, baseball, and apple pie. Now, we don’t have any apple pie, and neither of our moms are from the States, but we do have baseball! "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" isn’t just a request, it’s a memory if you’ve been to at least 1 baseball game in your life or consumed baseball media as a kid. 

Take Me Out to The Ball Game // The Andrews Sisters, Dan Dailey, Vic Schoen & His Orchestra

This next song, called "The Hockey Theme", comes to us from the folks up north in Canada! So, hockey is a pretty big export of Canada’s. Hockey is to Canada what baseball is to the US, so it’s no surprise that this short instrumental tune is considered Canada’s unofficial second national anthem!

Hockey Night in Canada: Theme // Dolores Claman, Caliban Quartet

The sun never sets on the British Empire, and nowhere is this more evident than the fact that cricket is played in pretty much every member of the Commonwealth. In 2011, the Cricket World Cup was hosted jointly by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. De Ghuma Ke is the theme composed for the World Cup that year, and has 3 versions: one in Hindi, one in Bengali, and one in Sinhala, for each of the host countries. We’re going to play the Hindi version for you.

De Ghumaa Ke // Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

In the realm of soccer, only one artist has reigned supreme in the creation of anthems for the World Cup. Not only do her hips not lie, BUT her songs don’t fail to bring the joy and excitement of soccer to the heart of anyone that listens. Seriously, when Carolyne was a goalkeeper back in the day, she knew she was ready to crush her opponents after one listen to the Queen of Latin Music. In the words of one random Youtube commenter: “If Shakira could make all the World Cup songs, the world would be a better place.”

Up next! We have “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” and “La La La (Brazil 2014)” by none other than Shakira.

Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) // Shakira

La La La (Brazil 2014) // Shakira