Pep Bands: For Bands, Songs Remain the Same

NYT
March 19, 2008
For Bands, Songs Remain the Same
By JOHN BRANCH

Step inside an arena where N.C.A.A. tournament games are being played. Close the eyes during timeouts. Listen to the pep bands play their jaunty tunes. And remember what year it is.

Pep bands may provide the N.C.A.A. tournament’s greatest culture clash — giving a time-warped soundtrack to games that decide this year’s champion.

At last weekend’s Pacific-10 Conference tournament in Los Angeles, Staples Center was periodically filled with horn-tooting variations of songs by Bon Jovi (“Livin’ on a Prayer”), Boston (“More Than a Feeling”), Ozzy Osbourne (“Crazy Train”), the Police (“Message in a Bottle”) and KC and the Sunshine Band (“Get Down Tonight”).

Across the country, during the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, the well-worn strains of Michael Jackson (“Thriller”), Kansas (“Carry On Wayward Son”), Guns N’ Roses (“Paradise City”) and the Doobie Brothers (“Long Train Runnin’ ”) helped fill the downtime when the court was empty.

It can seem that the pep bands are forever behind the times, playing from song lists borrowed from classic-rock radio stations and wedding-reception D.J.s.

But there is a method to their madness — and to their Madness (“Our House”).

“We try to play songs that not only appeal to the blue-hairs in the crowd, but also to our students,” said Jim Hudson, director of athletic bands at Arizona State.

The brass-heavy 30-piece ensembles (the tournament allows no amplification — meaning no electric guitars — and only 30 band members for each team) are typically subsets of the university’s much larger marching band. And there are plenty of reasons why the song lists (most bands arrive ready to play 40 to 60 songs) can seem dated.

Mostly, it is because fans want it that way. Bands are looking to get toes tapping and chins wagging no matter the listener’s age.

There are other reasons. Rock anthems, with their catchy melodies and complex chord progressions, often lend themselves to arrangements better than other genres. Older songs have become part of each band’s familiar repertory and never leave. Copyright issues and costs can limit the possibilities for fresh tunes.

And, perhaps — admit it, occasional pep-band listener — the bands are sometimes too hip, playing songs so fresh that they are not recognized. Most fans pay little attention to a game’s background noise, only when a familiar tune catches the ear: Wait. No way. Is that Journey they’re playing?

“Well, we do have a lot of Journey,” the Cal student director Stephen Gamboa said.

Most college bands last weekend played plenty of songs from this decade, too, by the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Green Day and the Offspring.

“The kids want to play what they listen to, not what I want to listen to,” said Art Bartner, Southern California’s longtime director of bands. “I’m basically Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, Tower of Power. They want to do a lot of the newer ones.”

U.S.C.’s standards include its well-known fight song and “Tusk,” the 1979 Fleetwood Mac song that featured the university’s marching band. It also plays cutting-edge variations from Foo Fighters and System of a Down.

Updating the songbook is an annual tug-of-war. Most bands hold year-end votes for band members. At U.C.L.A., the bottom five songs are dropped. Five new ones are added.

“ ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ is the most controversial song we have,” said Reesa Jones, the undergraduate teaching assistant leading U.C.L.A.’s band at the Pac-10 tournament. “Some love it, some hate it. Tubas love it, because it’s their one chance for a solo. But a lot of others just hate it.”

U.C.L.A. recently added songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (“Can’t Stop”) and Matchbox Twenty (“How Far We’ve Come”). The band also regularly plays the theme song from the 1970s television show “The Jeffersons” (“Movin’ on Up”).

At U.S.C., band members take samples of new songs to Bartner and his assistants. They ascertain how well guitar riffs and piano solos can be transformed for trumpets, trombones and mellophones.

Most pep-band arrangements, designed for timeouts, range from 100 seconds to 2 minutes. Raps, with their repetitive hooks, are increasingly used for 30-second timeouts.

Choosing the right mix has legal complexities, too. Music is copyrighted, so bands typically cannot simply choose a song and start playing it — although many do.

In theory, bands need to get approval and pay for the rights to use songs. They often start with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (Ascap) or Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), which license music and distribute royalties to songwriters and composers. They deal with sheet-music publishers, such as Hal Leonard or Alfred Publishing, which combine to control the majority of the popular-music catalog.

Rights to a song can cost $50 to $350, according to Jeni Paulson, president of CopyCat Music Licensing. Her company, a type of middleman, works with many Pac-10 and Big Ten band directors. They call, usually in the summer after making a wish list for the coming school year, and say which songs they want to use. CopyCat does the research on licensing and returns with a price.

“Not all directors know that they’re supposed to ask permission,” Paulson said.

Some artists and songs are simply off limits. Van Halen’s “Jump” is a popular request, but always denied. So are the works of the composer John Williams, meaning that the familiar chords of “Jaws,” “Star Wars” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark” should not be heard blaring through arenas.

But there is still plenty to hear in the coming days. From the Kingsmen (“Louie, Louie”) to Parliament (“Give Up the Funk”), from Twisted Sister (“We’re Not Gonna Take It”) to 50 Cent (“Candy Shop”), the bands will play on, or at least until the game starts again.

And when the game ends, after a quick rendition of a fight song or alma mater — and, almost invariably, one side’s version of Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” — the bands are shooed away and replaced by two new ones for the next game.

Listen carefully. They want to please you. And, yes, that probably was Journey.