Four weeks into the NFL season, and Thursday Night Football remains plagued by two things: sub par play on the field, and a disastrous opening theme song. As we noted recently, Priyanka Chopra’s “In My City” is a cringe-worthy lead-in to a football game; a disposable pop tune that’s annoyingly detached from any sporting meaning. And the NFL Network’s attempt to use it as a geographical starting point has fallen flat — no one cared that we got welcomed to St. Louis last night.
Since the league spent about five minutes selecting its Thursday Night Football opening theme, we just spent five minutes offering choices for a potential replacement. Check out our suggestions below, vote in the poll, and submit your own idea in the comments section. Even you, Polash. [Note: Other Chopra songs are hereby disqualified.]
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The Killers “Shot At The Night”
The Steve Winwood-esque hit is perfect soft-serve pop-rock with a positive message, and admit it, you can see a wide receiver like A.J. Green or Julio Jones catching a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone right as B-Flow says “night.” Just don’t bring up Las Vegas to commish Roger Goodell.
Linkin Park + Steve Aoki “A Light That Never Comes”
Los Angeles electro kingpin Aoki teams with Los Angeles alt-rock veterans Linkin Park with surprisingly decent results and a nice anthem for the masses. Maybe their combined forces will bring an NFL franchise back to the area. Or they can sit in front of their TVs and watch the Rams play the Raiders. Now that’s waiting for a light that never comes.
Miley Cyrus “We Can’t Stop”
Sweaty bodies everywhere! Hands in the air like we done care! We’re gonna go all night! Aaron Rodgers can’t stop… Brandon Marshall can’t stop… Peyton Manning can’t stop. This is more of a sports theme than you’d think. “It’s our house we can do what we want to!” — cut right to Raider Nation or the Dog Pound (aww, the Browns in a prime-time game!). We’d have to edit out those drugs and strip clubs references, though. And don’t even suggest the Super Bowl halftime show with Miley in the room.
Bastille “Pompeii”
Nice, chant-along pub hit, getting all the blokes at Tavern in the Square to raise their bottles of Bud right before kickoff. Good song to play while showcasing the home city’s skyscrapers (or in Boston’s case, Faneuil Hall), and they can easily switch to Bastille’s “Flaws” when the Jets are involved.
Redlight King “Born To Rise”
Sure they’re Canadian, but even Canada has more to do with NFL football than Bollywood. And older white-guy football fans like mildly generic, balls-out rock and roll that goes nice with Tapout threads. By the playoffs, they’ll be known Red Zone King.
The Script ft. will.i.am “Hall Of Fame”
MLB Network damn-near ruined this Irish-flavored cheese-bucket song a while back, but the lyrics are just perfect for the gratuitous promotion of sports: “Standing in the hall of fame / And the world’s gonna know your name.” We’re loathe to get will.i.am back involved with TNF after the Chopra debacle, but like Tim Tebow, everybody deserves a second chance.