Opinion Revisiting An Old Subject - "Substandard Club Songs"

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The definitive rankings:

A: Melbourne, Richmond, GWS, Sydney
B: North Melbourne, St Kilda
C: Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Adelaide, Essendon, Carlton
D: West Coast, Fremantle, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Brisbane

Brisbane is a B, but otherwise this is a good list.
 
GWS Giants, "There's a Big Big Sound.....the Biggest and the best"

Melbourne, Richmond, Saints (the older version, "...I want to be in that number...")

North Melb for the "...God bless our native land" part
 

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North Melbourne's song is underrated.

As Dermie once noted, it's the "Band on the Run" of club theme songs
I like the way it goes through 3 memorable progressions:
  1. "Hearts to hearts and hands to hands... Beneath the blue and white we stand... etc
  2. "Out we come, out we come, out we come to play... etc
  3. "Join in the chorus and sing it one and all... etc





(Slow intro) "Stuck inside these four walls... Sent inside forever... etc"

(Quicker tempo) "If I ever get out of here... Thought of giving it all away.. etc"

(Big Finish) da na na na na na NA NA NA
"Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash.. As we fell into the sun
And the first one said to the second one there, I hope you're having fun.
Band on the run... Band on the run..."
 
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Carlton's song has a decent opening couple of bars of intro and then is the dullest song ever written.
Nah... It's a good, slow, rousing singalong... An infectious happy tune for the Blues faithful.

No other club song sounds as good when belted out loud by 300 yobbos in the pub before a game.
 

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Nah... It's a good, slow, rousing singalong... An infectious happy tune for the Blues faithful.

No other club song sounds as good when belted out loud by 300 yobbos in the pub before a game.
Agree the Carlton song is a great song, it's tempo makes it unique and unmistakable. It also has a feel of arrogance to it that other club supporters might hate but I suspect that Carlton supporters love. Plus as you rightly implied no other club song sounds as good sung drunk!
 
It is a fairly quaint tradition in Australian sport to go out to combat, give your all, battle hard and finish up by gathering in a circle and singing a jolly little song.

Easy to mock - but it goes in hand with the extraordinary level of loyalty players have to clubs compared to athletes in sports in other countries. A communal cry of celebration of victory strengthening bonds forged on the playing field. If it works n the circle, it doesn't really matter too much what the fans think.
 
A: Richmond, GWS, Melbourne
B: Geelong, Essendon, Collingwood, Adelaide
C: Carlton, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Sydney, Western Bulldogs
D: St Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle, Gold Coast
F: West Coast, Port Adelaide
Saints are a c at worst surely
 

If an NRL team can do it then why can't an AFL club ??

Yes, it's an old subject but let's be realistic, at least half of the clubs in the AFL are in desperate need of a new or completely revamped club song.

The Giants came into the competition and unveiled a a terrific song so why do so many of the older clubs persist with their current uninspiring, limp & thoroughly boring club songs ??


Richmond & GWS are both big rousing singalongs that get the crowd into it.

Gold Coast tries hard but just doesn't get there.

Collingwood, Sydney, Hawthorn, Carlton, Footscray, Essendon, Geelong, Melbourne are borderline acceptable but could do with an increase in tempo & a reworking, they really lack the "punch" the first two have.

West Coast, Brisbane, Fremantle, Adelaide, St. Kilda, Port Adelaide & North Melbourne are simply horrible.



Assuming some of the clubs wanted to make a change, then what process do they go through to do it ??

Should they take an old song and rework/reword it (eg. "Madison Blues" for Carlton), take a recent song & reword it (eg. "Highway To Hell" for Melbourne) or throw caution to the wind and get some songwriters to come up with a brand new tune ??
If anything Highway to Hell would suit Geelong as all clubs have to navigate the highway to Kardinia Park, but the club song? No, maybe a secondary song like Power’s Never Tear Us Apart
 

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Opinion Revisiting An Old Subject - "Substandard Club Songs"

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