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Tag: miscellany (Page 2 of 8)

Thunder-striking Thunderstruck

March 13, 2022 /

I’ve been attending lots of high school sporting events of late–football games, basketball, wrestling, etc. Much of the time, the public announcement system will play random music prior to the start of the competition, but you’ll often know when the game’s about to kick-off when you hear that familiar riff from the band AC/DC:

You’ve been…thunderstruck!

I’m certainly happy to see the nods to songs of my youth–I’m always trying to get my children to appreciate the songs I grew up with. However, Thunderstruck can’t be the only song of its type to fire-up the fans for the upcoming contest. What are the attributes of the song that make it the go-to tune for these sort of events?

  • Upbeat, driving rhythm. Thunderstruck starts off at a fast tempo with driving guitar and drums and builds up into the opening verse and chorus, helping to energize competitor and fan alike.
  • Long introduction. The overall instrumental introduction is long, clocking in at 1 minute, 4 seconds until the first verse kicks in. This long introduction allows sports announcers time to welcome the crowd, introduce the athletes, and provide sundry details.
  • Somewhat innocuous subject matter. Given that these are school events, whatever entertainment material used should be “safe for school”. While some of the lyrics of Thunderstruck are certainly questionable, they are generally obscure and viewed by most in attendance as benign. To some degree, the song does extol the importance of personal fortitude, so there are probably bonus points to be had for lyrical subject matter that lauds competition and perseverance.

With these attributes in mind, what other song might be a decent substitute for this AC/DC classic? Perusing my own catalog, I’ve come up with several potential alternatives:

Guns n’ Roses — Welcome to the Jungle (45 second intro)

Let’s go ahead and get this one out of the way: Welcome to the Jungle is the common alternative you’ll hear at sporting events in place of AC/DC.

AC/DC — Hard as a Rock (43 second intro), Burnin’ Alive (49 second intro)

AC/DC has repeated their Thunderstruck formula multiple times throughout their career. Here are two examples from their 1995 album, Ballbreaker.

Aerosmith — Back in the Saddle (25 second intro)

This Aerosmith classic doesn’t have the a very long lead-in time until the chorus kicks in, but the musical build-up is sure to energize the crowd.

Armored Saint — Left Hook From Right Field (1:14 intro)

Armored Saint provides some great options for these occasions, although several of their songs can be a little explicit, so do your homework.

Cinderella — If You Don’t Like It (46 second intro)

I count Cinderella as one of my favorite 80s bands.

Helmet — Unsung (40 second intro)

While the intro’s a little shorter than ideal, the guitar and drums are driving and sure to set a nice, competitive atmosphere.

Led Zeppelin — Immigrant Song (18 second intro)

Like Guns n’ Roses, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this Led Zeppelin classic. My guess is AC/DC has found new popularity due to the band’s inclusion in the various Marvel movies. The same could be said of Led Zeppelin. Immigrant Song would likely strike a chord in the hearts of both the young and not-so-young in attendance.

Powerman 5000 — Top of the World (44 second intro)

Like their name, Powerman 5000 delivers high octane tunes sure to invigorate sports fans and participants alike.

Queen — One Vision (38 second intro)

A great classic from the Iron Eagle soundtrack that needs mentioning.

Saxon — Solid Ball of Rock (1:16 intro)

Saxon is the author of several, hard, driving ditties sure to rile up the masses.

Tesla — Modern Day Cowboy (37 second intro), Ez Come Ez Go (56 second intro)

Another of my favorite 80s bands, Tesla has produced some heavy, inspirational tunes worthy of sports competitions. An interesting note is the band’s mention of “the U.S.S.R.” in Modern Day Cowboy.

Honorable Mentions

So, these are my thoughts on potential Thunderstruck replacements from my own song collection. Thoughts? Other suggestions?

Vacation themed songs

December 30, 2021 /

Every year, usually in December, I edit down all the raw video I’ve collected of family activities over the last 12 months into a “family movie” that I force let family and friends watch. This year is no exception. I’m particularly excited about the Marvel-style opening segment I built.

I break my movies into chapters by subject such as Christmas related activities, Sports, Theater & Art, Graduations (if any of the kids have graduated from a school that year), etc. Each segment is comprised of edited, relevant video, and, occasionally, a photo montage.

Most years my family goes on a family vacation, so naturally I include video and photos of our exploits. Any photo montage I include is only complete if I set it to music and as these photos are vacation-related, the music should be vacation-themed in some way. To that end, then, here is a list I’ve compiled of vacation-themed songs I look to when editing my family vacation media for the family video:

Holiday Road — Lindsey Buckingham

“Holiday Road” is the theme song of National Lampoon’s Vacation–the quintessential family vacation movie. The movie documents just about everything that can go wrong during a family vacation. I find it cathartic that, while things often go wrong during my family vacations, they never go as off-the-rails as the Griswolds’.

Vacation — The Go-Gos

A classic from the great band of the 80s and perfect for your vacation segments in your videos.

Island in the Sun — Weezer

The opening line to this song is: “when you’re on a holiday…”. I’d say that fits my criteria. This is a laid-back song that definitely evokes stress-free days on the beach or somewhere far away from your daily toils.

Come Away with Me — Norah Jones

Here’s another breezy song that exhorts you to grab your favorite people and head out to “fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high” or other such remote destinations.

Going Up the Country — Canned Heat

Here’s a little ditty from the 60s about leaving the city and going to some place you’ve never been to before.

Bang the Drum all Day — Todd Rundgren

One could argue that this really isn’t a vacation song: sure, the singer doesn’t want to work, but he doesn’t want to play, either. He just wants to bang his drum all day. Nevertheless, the song is funny and feel-good and should work well under vacation footage.

Come Go With Me — Exposé

Another 80s tune about getting away from your mundane realities.

Sailing themed songs

If your vacation happens to include some sailing adventures, here are a few options that might work for you:

Vacation — Connie Francis

I am a sucker for oldies songs that hit on the themes I need, and this certainly fits the bill.

Lorem Ipsum

November 27, 2021 /

If you’ve done any sort of user interface software development, you’re probably familiar with the use of “lorem ipsum”. The basic idea is that you have a page that will, eventually, display some word content; however, at the moment, you don’t have any of that content available. So, to at least get an idea of what that content will eventually look like on your page, you fill in the space with a bunch of nonsense words and sentences.

The internet makes available a number of “lorem ipsum” word generators, so it’s pretty easy to fill in your content holes with filler words when needed.

(As an aside, many years ago, I attended a security conference in Las Vegas. The main stage for the keynote speakers was huge and decked out like a concert hall:

A shot of the stage at the conference I attended

One of the keynote speakers was enumerating all the security breaches over the last year with a montage of images from news websites relaying all the events, each crime made clear in bold headlines. The funny part was, on most of the slides, if you tried to read the parts of the stories under the headlines, the text was simply lorem ipsum text! I wish I would have had the foresight to taken a photo!)

As with all things on the internet, there are many great and hilarious takes on lorem ispum. One of my favorites is Bacon Ipsum, which is a pork-ladened interpretation of the concept. If you find yourself in need of some nonsense text, check out this article that lists 25 great lorem ipsum generators.

One generator I don’t see listed there but I do use frequently is Corporate Ipsum, which injects all the latest corporate speak and buzzwords into your text. Even if you have no need for fake content like this, you’ll at least get a good laugh from these.

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