NRL needs another Tina Turner
Columnist By Melanie Dinjaski, 20 Jan 2012 Melanie Dinjaski is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Jon Bon Jovi, NRL, NRL 2012 Season, NRL premiership, Tina Turner
As the 2012 NRL season fast approaches, we prepare ourselves for another year of listening to Bon Jovi’s horribly try-hard ditty and theme song for the NRL, ‘This is our house’. But even though the NRL own the Australian rights to the song until the end of 2013, it’s got to go. Now.
Sorry Bon Jovi. You don’t cut it.
Of all the NRL theme songs and intros (and I’m including Vanessa Amorosi and Lee Kernaghan’s slaughtering of an Easybeats classic for a Friday Night Football promo in 2000) yours Bon Jovi, is the worst.
When Marketing Manager Paul Kind announced the acquisition of Jon Bon Jovi and his band to sing the NRL theme song last year, we all thought it was a godsend.
Mr Bon Jovi, 80s rock icon and sometimes actor, agreeing to sing for OUR national rugby league competition, all the way over in little ol’ Australia?! He’d put in clever lyrics, add a solid beat and maybe even put his face to the NRL?! What a deal!
Turned out it wasn’t a godsend. It was utter rubbish:
Based around the American sports terminology of ‘our house’ which refers to a team’s home ground, what we got was a try-hard anthem-esque tune that is more likely to make someone punch Bon Jovi, than the air.
But that was the song. Maybe the video would be better?
Wrong.
The clip accompanying the theme song featured inanimate stock footage of Jon Bon Jovi from a US concert, with his mug popping up on an unidentifiable stadium that appeared to be made of big LCD screens and surrounded by a rollercoaster – because THAT’S realistic.
The NRL highlights that were thrown in were okay, but proved there is such a thing as too much flame-effect.
Well surely we were the only sport that would be getting access to the song and video?
Wrong again.
It was a non-exclusive, commercial endeavour by the band. So rock’n’roll, right? By Bon Jovi’s own admission the song was especially written to be sold to sports association peoples (read: SAPs) for major sports promotions.
Sell it they did, too. Along with the NRL in Australia, the USA and Canada have each been playing the exact same thing to promote the NFL (just with their sports clips intertwined). Now that the NFL is becoming more and more popular in Australia, it’s not as if we can just ignore this fact either.
It’s just not the same is it?
There was something a lot more genuine about past NRL theme songs.
Whether it was Tom Jones changing the lyrics of En Vogue’s ‘Whatta man’ to ‘Whatta game’ in 2000, the Hoodoo Gurus doing something similar in 2007, or Tina Turner forming a scrum alongside the forward pack of the Brisbane Broncos in 1990, these efforts struck a chord with us in a way Bon Jovi doesn’t.
Shared by the band through their Facebook and Twitter when it was launched by the NRL, the idea was to spread the word of rugby league to the touring rockers’ huge fan base overseas. But this made the end product far too foreign, impersonal and commercially tacky.
We know we can do better, so what’s stopping us?
Let’s get rid of Bon Jovi and take a step back. Reconnect with what has worked well in previous attempts. The big names aren’t important. What’s important is producing something that truly captures the spirit of this great game.
Hot tip: it’s not close-ups of a washed-up old man in leather lip syncing a generic “rock” song.
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You can follow Melanie Dinjaski on Twitter @MelanieDinjaski.
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- Jon Bon Jovi, NRL, NRL 2012 Season, NRL premiership, Tina Turner
January 20th 2012 @ 8:05am
Pete said | January 20th 2012 @ 8:05am | Report comment
I dont mind the ad and the song. It’s easy to bag something but what about coming up with an idea to replace it.We cant go back to the past with Tina Turner.
The game needs to move forward , not backwards to the 80′s.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:10am
Rodney McDonell said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:10am | Report comment
I Disagree! Think Beyonce doing “Simply the Best” in a duet with Tina Turna! WOW!
January 21st 2012 @ 12:33pm
Tom of Brisbane said | January 21st 2012 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
Or how about “If you like it then you gotta put a ring on it”. Premiership ring, geddit?
Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week
January 20th 2012 @ 9:41am
B.A Sports said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:41am | Report comment
I agree it would be nice if the author had come up with some alternatives other than trotting out (or probably wheeling out by now) Tina Turner, who nobody born in the last 25 years would reate to.
And for the record, its not like rugby league was the only sport that used “Simply the Best” either. It was used around the globe also, most notebly in English football.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:52am
Melanie Dinjaski said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:52am | Report comment
The song wasn’t just for us of course. But that video WITH the song made it for me. No other league has Mario Fenech and Benny Elias featured alongside Tina Turner!
January 20th 2012 @ 8:19am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 8:19am | Report comment
The “this is our house” goes down very flat in Melbourne. Poor choice indeed. I don’t know whether the NRL chose the song in response to the AFL’s push into NSW and QLD but its hardly going to win over fans in new territories much like the “Game that made Australia” bombed for the AFL in NSW.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:10am
NF said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:10am | Report comment
“Game that made Australia” bombed for the AFL in NSW…..you forgot QLD too where it bombed it.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:11am
Rodney McDonell said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Really?I’m a storm fan and don’t mind the song and the only time i’ve ever heard anything against it is from randoms on the net!
January 20th 2012 @ 9:18am
danwighton said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:18am | Report comment
I think a lot of folks below the Barassi line thought it was in response to the AFL’s new teams (which it wasnt), rather than an attempt to get a world famous rock band on the cheap (which it was).
January 20th 2012 @ 9:24am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Really? maybe you should read this.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/bon-jovi-song-named-nrl-theme/story-e6frexnr-1226003120218
“Not only is the association with Bon Jovi an automatic triumph for the NRL, the title track is also a clear backhander to the AFL, who continue to threaten the Sydney and Queensland market.”
Is the Daily Telegraph below the Barassi line.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:48am
Ken said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:48am | Report comment
The Daily Telegraph said it so it must be true….
Unless someone involved confirms it (that comment certainly wasn’t referenced to a source in that story) none of us will really know whether that was an intended subtext. It certainly hasn’t been promoted that way, with the advertisements focussing on the tribal nature of individual teams. For what it’s worth I doubt that the AFL came into this one, the song was from a big name and had been doing the rounds of North American teams for a few years – it was there and they went for it.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:51am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:51am | Report comment
I’m just refuting the suggestion that it was somehow a below the Barassi Line response.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:58am
Brendan said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:58am | Report comment
Dont believe the Daily Tele RedB, no one takes it seriously up here in Sydney…
January 20th 2012 @ 10:51am
Nathan of Perth said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Yeah, but you don’t think the Telegraph was clever enough to make that link on their own do you, Brendan? They obviously heard it from someone else up that way!
January 20th 2012 @ 11:03am
Brendan said | January 20th 2012 @ 11:03am | Report comment
I think that the Daily Tele come up with their ideas in the same way that ‘The Family Guy’ was shown in a South Park episode.
A group of manatees, who live in a large tank, pick up “idea balls” from a large pile of them, each of which has a different noun, a verb or a pop culture reference written on it, and deliver them, five at a time, to a machine that then forms a Family Guy cutaway gag based on those ideas”.
The Daily Tele is akin to the National Enquirer…
January 20th 2012 @ 10:01am
Mark Young said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:01am | Report comment
I haven’t heard of the ‘Game that made Australia’ campaign?
What was it about??
January 20th 2012 @ 10:04am
Brendan said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
Its not worth knowing, it will give you a migraine!
January 20th 2012 @ 10:36pm
me, I like football said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:36pm | Report comment
I liked it
January 20th 2012 @ 11:55am
Boomshanka said | January 20th 2012 @ 11:55am | Report comment
Right up there with the “In a League of its own” campaign.
Yes, the AFL finally on the world stage. Albeit a virtual one.
January 20th 2012 @ 3:09pm
Melanie Dinjaski said | January 20th 2012 @ 3:09pm | Report comment
Great song with “Game that made Australia” one. Properly captures it all. I quite liked the Dropkick Murphys one for the AFL as well.
And Brendan, I wish I could “like” your South Park and DT analogy. Good stuff. Manatees ftw.
January 21st 2012 @ 9:21am
AGO74 said | January 21st 2012 @ 9:21am | Report comment
redb – apart from Melbourne Storm fans or rugby league “fans” such as yourself, I’m pretty sure that no-one in Melbourne would have given two hoots about it.
January 20th 2012 @ 8:40am
Crosscoder said | January 20th 2012 @ 8:40am | Report comment
I have one in mind for the 2013 season,catchy, was extremely popular mid to late 80s tune , earthy feel ,great beat,still hum it on the odd occasion.
Have reworded the lyrics to fully represent rugby league, which may well be thrown into the waste of space basket,when I send it to NRL marketing next month.Nothing ventured as the saying goes.
Anything has to be an improvement on “This is our house” “,Blow the whistle ref” and some of the others that were so easily forgotten.
There is nothing wrong with a catchy tune,despite the age.It’s what grabs you and sets you humming or singing.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:20am
danwighton said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:20am | Report comment
Can you give us any hints, CC?
January 20th 2012 @ 9:53am
Melanie Dinjaski said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:53am | Report comment
Yeah, you’ve whet my appetite!
January 20th 2012 @ 2:14pm
Crosscoder said | January 20th 2012 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
If I did danwighton and melanie,that would indeed spoil the party.
Should it make it, I will be the first to tell,if the suggestion and my hard work bombs out,I can remain mea non culpa.
Let me just say this IMO ,it(the song) is as appropriate today as it was in the mid 80s.
The hints are in my intitial post.I say nuthink!!!
January 20th 2012 @ 7:11pm
Jonny G said | January 20th 2012 @ 7:11pm | Report comment
Is it a reworded version of Pat Benatar’s “Love is a battlefield”?
January 21st 2012 @ 8:55am
Crosscoder said | January 21st 2012 @ 8:55am | Report comment
Nope there ain’t no love on a battlefield ,and rugby league can be a battlefield.
And that Benatar song does not have the zing or message of the one in mind
January 20th 2012 @ 8:50am
Ken said | January 20th 2012 @ 8:50am | Report comment
I agree the lyrics are a bit try-hard (which is really just Bon Jovi staying true to themselves…), but the theme did grow on me a bit last year. Friday rolled around and the music would start up and I’d feel pumped for a weekend of footy.
While I it’s not up there with the Tina Turner themes (‘What you get is what you see’ and ‘Simply the Best’) or even the Hoodoos ‘That’s my team’ – to characterise it as the worst is drawing a long bow. You mentioned Tom Jones ‘Whatta Game’ which, IMO, was far worse, there was also Tom Kenneally’s ‘Blow that whistle ref’ (what were they smoking when they came up with that one?). SL had Frankie goes to Hollywood (nuff said) and didn’t we have some Australian Idol wannabe singing a theme a few years ago (so memorable I can’t remember the song or the ‘artist’)?
So not the best but far from the worst.
January 20th 2012 @ 8:52am
Ken said | January 20th 2012 @ 8:52am | Report comment
Oh we also had Tubthumping….
January 20th 2012 @ 8:56am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 8:56am | Report comment
Actually I liked that song,” I get knocked down but I get up again” (dont know the title) – it suits sport.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:09am
The_Wookie said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:09am | Report comment
we should never have moved on from Thats the thing about football.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:17am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:17am | Report comment
Absolutely, Greg Champion was on fire in those days but headed off to find his fame and fortune away from footy. He’s back on the ABC’s Coodabeens but has lost his wider profile.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:26am
danwighton said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
Tubthumping was pretty good, I would say.
When you think about bad choice of commercials, what about Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting State of Origin?
“Shane Webcke: Man Mountain”
I cant find them online anywhere, but I was around 12 when I saw them and still remember shuddering at the corniness.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:20am
Ken said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:20am | Report comment
Yeah that’s Tubthumping by Chumbawamba (sp?). Must admit quite like the song when it came out and I was a teenager – for a pro sporting league though it was a little embarrassing to have a binge drinking anthem. Didn’t really have that pump up factor either.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:28am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:28am | Report comment
from the article link above:
“Tubthumping (I get knocked down! But I get up again) Chumbawamba” bit of a mouthful for the radio jocks lol
January 20th 2012 @ 10:06am
Melanie Dinjaski said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:06am | Report comment
I did love that song too!
One thing that feels different about this Bon Jovi one compared to the Chumbawamba, That’s my Team, and Tina Turner’s stuff, is that the compilation has far less impact with the music than in past ones. The old ones, they were in realtime and it looked HARD and they were put with the beat of the song so well. Big hits mixed with the post-try celebrations, tries and bursts down the sideline. The hits are just as good now, the tries and ability on show is MORE spectacular, but it misses the mark, for me. The Bon Jovi one, with all the crappy special effects and that awful excuse for a song, it just doesn’t have the same effect. That’s just how I see it. But obviously everyone is different…
January 20th 2012 @ 10:04am
Australian Rules said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
I always thought that too Ken…the song just repeatedly says how many shots of liquor he consumed on a massive bender. Catchy, but not the image the NRL would want to embrace! haha
January 20th 2012 @ 12:30pm
dont't do it said | January 20th 2012 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
Tubthumping was perfect for the time because it was the first season after reunification. Probably needed rewording to “I (knock myself) down, but I get up again, I’m never gonna keep me down”
January 20th 2012 @ 9:13am
Rodney McDonell said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:13am | Report comment
My Favourite besides Tina Turna was The one from 2009/2010? That was great. Sent Shivers up my spine and it had a great message.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:24am
The Cattery said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Generally speaking, the NRL has a good record of theme songs, and has probably the best track record of any sport in Australia at coming up with memorable songs and videos.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:32am
apaway said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:32am | Report comment
Couldn’t agree more Melanie, the Bon Jovi song should have been sin-binned after 3 weeks. I’d rather have Tom Kenneally.
Nothing has come close to the Tina Turner “The Best” promo for Rugby League. As an aisde, the AFL’s “Unbelievable” theme from the early 2000s was awesome too.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:53am
Todd Slater said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:53am | Report comment
Paul Kind should have been publicly shamed for the Bon Jovi debacle. It was cringeworthy & having it rammed down your ears at every possible moment whilst at the game last season was pure hell. I hated it & so did most other fans i know & spoke to at games last season. He should also have been kicked up the arse for the ridiculous ‘face of the game’ policy that the NRL continues to persist with. It is beyond belief that if you are going to actually go down this path why you would not have had the Australian captain Darren Lockyer a perfect role model for children, mothers & non rugby league people to identify with & attract new fans & players to the game. If they are going to use it agin this year i would still use him or put the next test captain in, that way everyone identifies with him in the same way most Australians know who Michael Clarke is.
As for the song it was complete rubbish & embarrassing. Nothing has come close to the impact that Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’ campaign had on the game. One only has to go back & look at the crowd figures from that era, they have never been matched since. It was John Quayle’s masterstroke in my opinion & it was also the catalyst for the late Paul Morgan’s idea that led to ‘Super League’.
Why can’t we have an Australian performer singing about the game instead of an American ? A local promoting our game ?
I don’t want to bring back Tina Turner as great as that song was & by the way her performance at the 1992 grand final is still the best pre grand final entertainment ever despite the rousing performance by the Hoodoo Gurus in 2006.
My preference would be for the Rose Tattoo classic ‘We Can’t Be Beaten’, or a reworking of the ACDC classic ‘It’s A Long Way To the Top’. The fans would love it.
January 20th 2012 @ 10:11am
Redb said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:11am | Report comment
“It’s a long way to the top” would go well. I remember the ground MC at the MCG accidentially playing the opening bars of the song instead of the National Anthem a year or so ago, sounded pretty good the crowd loved it.
January 20th 2012 @ 10:35am
The_Wookie said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:35am | Report comment
I prefer the one where the MC at Subiaco played the Carlton club song instead of the national anthem…..
January 20th 2012 @ 11:18am
Nathan of Perth said | January 20th 2012 @ 11:18am | Report comment
Couldn’t bloody believe that…
January 20th 2012 @ 2:48pm
Tigranes said | January 20th 2012 @ 2:48pm | Report comment
the crowds from Tina Turner’s era were less than they are now…and being a Bears supporter, Id normally be more inclined to yearn for the day.
Id tend to agree that Simply the Best was probably the best leave anthem, when she is smashing the medicne ball on one of the players abs.
January 20th 2012 @ 9:54am
Soul Ranch said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:54am | Report comment
My suggestion would be the Mess Hall’s Keep Walking. Big drums, catchy hook line in the chorus, lyrcis that could be translated associated with league and most importantly, cowbell. I’d link to yout tube but it’s blocked at work.
January 20th 2012 @ 7:17pm
Jonny G said | January 20th 2012 @ 7:17pm | Report comment
that would work heaps well, though they probably aren’t mainstream enough, which is a shame
January 20th 2012 @ 9:59am
Mark Young said | January 20th 2012 @ 9:59am | Report comment
I loved the Hoodoo Gurus “That’s my team!”
I thought it was a cracker.
Melanie did you notice in the Bon Jovi clip at the 50 second mark some cheeky nit in the Marketing team snuck in a frama of Nate Myles (The Terrigal Crown Plaza Corridor Pooer) with fire coming out of his backside.
Subtle guys!
January 20th 2012 @ 10:36am
The_Wookie said | January 20th 2012 @ 10:36am | Report comment
Thats my team was a brilliant campaign i thought, right up there with the AFl “Id like to see that” run for me.
January 20th 2012 @ 3:13pm
Melanie Dinjaski said | January 20th 2012 @ 3:13pm | Report comment
Roosters fans dare not speak of the stain Nate Myles left at the club. And in Crown Plaza hallways.