If there’s anything better than silence, it’s music. Add to it the buzzing energy of sports and sports fans, and you have epic theme songs bringing millions of people together singing the same tune. Sports has the power to bring together people of all castes and creed to cheer for one team or one country or even a player. No age, colour or country comes into play when one is cheering for one’s team and music has even more power when played at sporting events. Not only does it bind the fans together but also keeps them energised to keep cheering their favourite teams and players on.
Music has been used at sporting events since as far back as the Olympics in 1896 where background music was played. The ancient Greeks are known to use music widely during festivals, tournaments and sporting events. Theme songs are often also known as stadium anthems or arena anthems as they are played over the public address systems at sporting events at the start as well as during intervals.
Music has been used in sporting events since thousands of years and with the spur in digital downloads and international collaborations between artists of different countries, the craze regarding music at sporting events has seen a manifold increase. These days each sporting event has its own theme song and a new one is recorded each year. Audiences love the theme songs and it is often released several weeks prior to the actual event to engage the spectators and build up a hype. This is also a clever marketing strategy wherein the anthems also bring in money to the channel vis a vis record sales. Sometimes teams record their songs, other times it’s channels promoting a sporting event, sometimes it’s the sports federation promoting an international event. Music is played at the beginning of the event, during intervals and at the end too. The Indian Premier League matches play music after every big hit or a wicket-it denotes overall entertainment instead of just a sport.
Playing the national anthem at the start of any sporting event is also a tradition religiously followed across the globe and at a lot of sporting events like cricket, football and even baseball. The national anthem is played at all major events and even at smaller college or community driven sporting events adding to the universality of the matter. It is played in honour of the country and to promote audience involvement and to invoke in the players a sense of patriotism, hence encouraging them to play for the country and its people.
Not only theme songs but there are some popular songs which are played during matches are We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions-they are commonly heard at sporting events and have become cult classics in this genre. Some popular anthems include the FIFA Anthem and the UEFA Champions League Anthem. Stadium anthems are usually characterised with catchy rhythms and an upbeat tempo. They are usually inspired by genres like rock and roll, dance music or even rap.
Music is also used to build the energy of the fans and keep them integrated with the event. Music fires up the unenthusiastic crowd and fuels the already excited fan. With music and its profound effect, there is an even higher amount of emotional investment in the game. Be it the epic world cup song by Adnan Sami celebrating cricket or the various league level of sports like Indian Premier League(IPL) or Indian Super League(ISL)-they all have a different theme song for every year. These songs are usually as popular as the tournament itself and have earned a place in every sporting fans life.
