Fight Songs Remain a Big Part of College Football Tradition
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The sounds of college football have changed over the years, with pop culture songs becoming part of the show at stadiums across the country.
Fight songs, though, have withstood the test of time and still ring true.
From “Rocky Top” at Tennessee to “Fight On” at USC, school bands cranking up the familiar notes and rhythm and thousands of alumni joining the student body in belting out the long-familiar lyrics are a touchstone of the nostalgia surrounding the game itself. It’s a chance to cheer in common or at least try to shake off a disappointment.
Like the teams themselves, fight songs tend to spark much discussion on the topic of which one is the best of the bunch or at least the most familiar.
To Georgia Southern sport management Prof. Chris Hanna, “The Victors” at Michigan and “Notre Dame Victory March” are in the conversation for the mythical national championship of music.
“Those two have separated themselves,” said Hanna, who has studied and written about college fight songs. “Those are the two most popular, and well known.”
Michigan’s familiar fight song dates to 1898 when a music student at the school, Louis Elbel, wrote it following the Wolverines’ 12-11 win over the University of Chicago for their first Western Conference football title.
“Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the champions of the West!” Elbel wrote back when the Midwest was still more of a notion than the commonly known region it is now.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Chad Smith, who grew up in suburban Detroit rooting for Michigan, used the fight song as part of his act when the Red Hot Chili Peppers made a tour stop near Ohio State’s campus just for laughs.
