The Super Bowl Shuffle

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"The Super Bowl Shuffle" is a rap song recorded by members of the Chicago Bears football team prior to their appearance in Super Bowl XX.

[edit] History

The idea for "The Super Bowl Shuffle" came from record producer Randy Weigand, who was a friend of Willie Gault's. They had met through Randy's girlfriend, Courtney Larson, who was a cheerleader for the team. Weigand had noticed a dance routine on the Amos & Andy television show called "The Kingfish Shuffle" and thought that a similar performance by the Bears players would make for a great marketing tool.^[1]

The 1985 Bears was not the first pro football team with a group song. The 1984 San Francisco 49ers put out a record during that season, one in which they also went on to become Super Bowl champs. The song, "We Are the 49ers," was in the vein of disco music.^[2]

[edit] Song and video

The song and video were produced the Tuesday after the Bears first (and only) loss of the season.^[3] In their "unlucky" 13th game, the Bears were defeated by the Miami Dolphins, 38-24, on Monday Night Football. This win was significant for the Dolphins franchise, as the 1972 Dolphins were the only previous team to go undefeated since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. They remain the only team to win the Super Bowl without suffering a loss the entire season.

The music video for the song was filmed at the Park West, a venue in Lincoln Park, in Chicago. Payton and McMahon were unable to attend the original filming of the song's music video, so they were spliced in later with help of a chroma key, presumably due to their celebrity status.

A female referee, played by Julia Kallish, Richard E. Meyer's wife, was also on hand for the radio and television edit of the song. On two occasions, she whistled and threw a penalty flag to censor the word "ass" in the lyrics, which was then considered a prohibited word on television and radio.

During backup quarterback Steve Fuller's stanza, he says "So bring on Atlanta, bring on Dallas, this is for Mike and Papa Bear Halas". The "Mike" he referred to was the Bears current head coach Mike Ditka and "Papa Bear Halas" refers to legendary Chicago coach George Halas, who coached the Bears for 40 seasons and had died 2 years earlier. Fuller's verbal challenge to the Atlanta Falcons and the Dallas Cowboys reminisces to the two games he started for the injured Jim McMahon, leading the Bears to 36-0 and 44-0 shutout victories against those opponents, respectively.

[edit] Performers

Known as Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew, the performers included "Sweetness" Walter Payton, "Punky QB" Jim McMahon, and "Samurai" Mike Singletary. The music was composed by Bobby Daniels and Lloyd Barry, and the lyrics were written by Richard E. Meyer and Melvin Owens. Other participants included:

• Willie Gault
• Steve Fuller
• Mike Richardson
• Richard Dent
• Gary Fencik
• Otis Wilson
• William "Refrigerator" Perry

There was also a "Shufflin' Crew" Band and Chorus in the music video. The "Shufflin' Crew" Band consisted of the following members:

• Maury Buford - Cowbell
• Mike Tomczak - Guitar
• Calvin Thomas - Saxophone
• Stefan Humphries - Drums
• Tyrone Keys - Keyboards

The "Shufflin' Crew" Chorus consisted of the following members:

• Thomas Sanders
• Leslie Frazier
• Shaun Gayle
• Dennis Gentry - Bass (not included as part of the "band" in the credits)
• Ken Taylor
• Reggie Phillips
• Jim Morrissey
• Dan Rains
• Keith Ortego

Bears defensive end Dan Hampton declined involvement in the shuffle because he felt it was too cocky.^[4]

[edit] Success

Riding the wave of football mania that gripped Chicago in 1985, the "Super Bowl Shuffle" rose like a bullet to number #41 on the Billboard charts, and stopped dead leading to speculation that it's placement just shy of the Top 40 was deliberate to avoid having Casey Kasem play the song "nationally" on his Top 40 program; #75 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles; & Tracks, and earned a Grammy nomination for best Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance—Duo or Group, the first nomination for a sports team. Although some found the lyrics boastful, profits from the song and its accompanying video were given to charity, backing Payton's claim that the they are "not doing it because we're greedy, the Bears are doing it to feed the needy."

[edit] Imitators and influence

• The idea of the 'team song' goes back generations. The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team (1869-1870), sang a song to the spectators prior to some of their games: "We are a band of baseball players / From Cincinnati city..."
• One of the first modern team song trends began in the 1970s when several English soccer teams marked reaching the FA Cup Final each year by recording a song for the occasion. The 'cup final record' as it was known, became as tradition with many of the songs being top ten hits in the UK pop charts. The songs were occasionally original recordings but more often reworkings of recent chart hits with edited lyrics to suit the occasion. They often included the original artist singing along, especially when they are a fan of the team involved. The cup final song reached an all time high when Liverpool F.C.s Anfield Rap, for the 1988 final, was aired on the Rick Dees US weekly top forty show, which at the time always played the top three hits in the UK during the show. In the days that followed many US radio stations were bemused by requests for the soccer song from England, as it was most commonly known. By the mid 90s the tradition had begun to die out, though it remains common for some qualifying nations for the FIFA World Cup to still release songs to mark the occasion.

The success of the Chicago Bears with "The Super Bowl Shuffle" brought the following imitations and parodies:

• In 1985, the Kansas Wesleyan football team won a conference title in the NAIA. They made the "KCAC shuffle" and showed it on the local access channel for Salina, KS, Channel 6.

• After winning Super Bowl XXI the New York Giants released "Walk Like a Giant", based on "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles.

• On February 27, 1986 The Memphis Tiger Pom Squad performs the Pom-Pom Shuffle in their last home game in 1986 against New Orleans.

• In 1986, two teams tried to repeat the formula. The Los Angeles Raiders released "The Silver and Black Attack", based on "The Yellow and Black Attack" by Stryper. The Los Angeles Rams chimed in with "Let's Ram It". However, the Rams lost in the NFC Wild Card game to the Washington Redskins, while the Raiders finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs.

• In 1988, Cincinnati Bengals rookie Ickey Woods became famous for the "Ickey Shuffle". His team lost in Super Bowl XXIII, though.

• During the 1994 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly were planning to create a similar concept. Reportedly, coach Bill Cowher vetoed the idea. The Steelers lost 17-13 to San Diego in the 1994 AFC Championship game.

• In November 1999, the confident Jacksonville Jaguars recorded their own version, "Uh Oh, The Jaguars Super Bowl Song". However, the Jaguars lost 33-14 to the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship game.

• Cincinnati funk pioneer Bootsy Collins teamed up with the 2005 Cincinnati Bengals for a playoff song called "Fear Da Tiger", but they, too, fell short of the Super Bowl.

• Verne Gagne and his American Wrestling Association promoted a major event with a hilariously awful song known as the "The WrestleRock Rumble" that actually featured the geriatric Gagne rapping. Also in professional wrestling, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling had a Super Bowl Shuffle-like song as part of its weekly program. Each wrestler's recorded bit preceded the match that she was involved in. Even the referees were part of the tune.

• Da Superfans, a Chicago Bears fangroup performed a parody version in 2007 to celebrate the Bears' return to the Super Bowl.[1][2]

[edit] See also

• 1985 Chicago Bears season

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ESPN's Lyrics and Commentary