Simply The Best: 5 Great Sport & Music Team-Ups

Simply The Best: 5 Great Sport & Music Team-Ups

Posted
tina turner football promo
Sydney, 1993. Photo by Patrick Riviere/Getty Images.

Sports and music go hand-in-hand. No matter what the game, sports anthems pump up the players, fire up the crowd and bring the game to life. A stadium-sized sing-along might just have the power to propel your team to victory! 

From a pre-season pump up to grand final night, sports anthems get you psyched, make you jump, make you cheer and can even make you cry – it's an emotional rollercoaster!

Here are 5 times sporting moments allowed music to really enhance the ride.

1. Tina Turner | “The Best” | 1990 NSWRL Advertisement

“Simply The Best” has been THE anthem of Aussie NRL for 30 years now. This 1990 NSWRL Ad didn’t just ramp up the competition, it basically revolutionised the sport forever more. They replaced Rex Mossop and his dubious “Mossopisms” with a genuine international diva, perhaps the most ferocious one on the planet. Football discovered its showbiz side and rugby league, for decades the game of working-class tough guys, was suddenly sexy.  

So how did the American queen of rock become the ferocious face of football? According to 2008’s A Centenary Of Rugby League, historians, David Middleton and Ian Heads claim, there was no grand scheme. The NRL wanted to connect with female fans and someone knew someone, who knew someone else… who knew that Tina Turner’s Australian manager, Roger Davies was a rugby fan. He pitched the idea to Turner, who agreed, but was only available to film on one day, in England. Two very lucky players, Cliff Lyons and Gavin Miller happened to be over there at the time and got to shoot the commercial with the superstar. 

According to Middleton and Heads: “Under a veil of secrecy, leading players Cliff Lyons and Gavin Miller, who were spending the off-season with Leeds and Hull KR respectively, were ushered to the British capital alongside Turner.” Aussie match footage and pre-season training cuts were edited in later. 

A few years later, Turner delivered this iconic performance of “Simply The Best” at the 1993 NRL Grand Final, presented the victors their trophy and affirmed her place as the face, voice and defiant spirit of Aussie rugby. 

Tina Turner | “The Best” [1993 NRL Grand Final Live Performance]

2. AC/DC | “It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll)” | 2013 AFL Advertisement 

In 2013 the AFL pretty much flipped the script and aligned themselves with, arguably our all-time biggest Aussie export, AC/DC to introduce the game to an international audience. With scenes cut around the world, the ad captures the shock and amazement on the faces of people who have never experienced the adrenaline rush of a high impact AFL game before. Aussie underdog anthem, AC/DC’s “Long Way To The Top” becomes a war cry as players climb each other’s shoulders and leap metres into the air, crashing to the ground, and each other, with nothing more than a mouthguard to protect them. 

When you take it out of context, AFL sure looks wild! American NRL players, armoured head to toe, wince in empathy as players fall from great heights. AFL is unique, thrilling and VERY Australian – qualities AC/DC holds in spades. It's a perfect match!

3. We're The Superhumans | Rio Paralympics 2016 Trailer

When it comes to sports anthems, fast-paced, amped-up theme songs may be the usual rule, but the 2016 Rio Paralympics took a decidedly different approach with equally impactful results. 

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games had some big shoes to fill after the 2012 “Meet The Superhumans” campaign branded the Paralympic athletes as superhumans and saw the Paralympics sell out for the first time ever. But they managed to step it up with "We're The Superhumans," a celebratory commercial involving more than 140 people – with just as many non-athletes as Paralympic stars –  flying planes, tap-dancing, rock-climbing and even stunt driving wheelchairs through walls. The ad is set to the tune of Sammy Davis Jr's "Yes I Can," performed by a band composed of musicians with disabilities, exuding a level of confidence and joy that undoubtedly changed people’s perception of what life with a disability might be like.

4. Johnny Cash | “Hurt” | Nike ‘A Little Less Hurt’ Campaign

Another campaign that proved that rules are meant to be broken was Nike’s choice to feature Johnny Cash’s cover of the Nine Inch Nails piano ballad, “Hurt” in an ad based on the devastation of defeat rather than the triumph of success. Sports ads usually project an image of defiance and glory, but this one comes with the message that success takes hard work and failures along the way are inevitable, but with a comfy pair of Nikes to get you back on your feet, anything’s possible. I’m sold!

5. Bon Jovi | "This Is Our House" | 2011 NRL Advertisement

The NRL stuck to their international superstar game plan when they teamed up with US rock stars, Bon Jovi for their 2011 advertising campaign that centred around their rallying anthem, “This Is Our House.” The primal call-to-arms was a tailor-made sports anthem, crafted by Bon Jovi as a homage to the game of football, in all its forms.

Jon Bon Jovi: “We wrote “This Is Our House” to be a sports anthem and House has found a home in the US on the playing fields of the New York Rangers, the New England Patriots, and the NFL.” The song has crossed the shores and proved its motivational, team theme to be universal.

Next season will mark 30 years since Tina Turner’s "Simply the Best" became rugby league’s enduring anthem and the buzz has been building that the NRL and Tina’s long-time manager, Roger Davies, maybe talking about getting the party started again. Exactly what that means, we’ll have to wait and see. Until then, soak up all the power and the glory of This Is Tina Turner on Spotify:

Get the 30th Anniversary Edition of Simply The Best on limited edition black and coloured vinyl here. 

Listen to the Tina Turner Essentials on Apple Music:

Related Posts

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE