Sam Spence

Sam Spence
Birth name Samuel Lloyd Spence
Born March 29, 1927
San Francisco, California, United States
Occupation(s) Musician

Samuel Lloyd Spence (born March 29, 1927) is an American soundtrack composer best known for his work with NFL Films. His work has also been on the EA Sports Madden NFL football videogames and countless football-related commercials.

Biography

A former USC music instructor living and working in Munich, Spence was hired in 1966 to score the mini-documentaries that conveyed NFL highlights and personalities to fans in the network-television era. Spence's music cues combined with the baritone voice of John Facenda to remarkable artistic effect, created the now trademark style of sports highlights videos of the NFL. Spence, together with Steve Sabol and the NFL Films crew can arguably be credited with a significant role in making American football the top professional sport in the U.S.

Initially Mahlon Merrick was asked to provide scores for NFL Films. A friend of Spence, Merrick asked Spence to help in the session. "Mahlon had written marches," said Spence. "Toward the end of that recording session, I stuck in a couple of different pieces—my own orchestral compositions with strings and woodwinds, more like a Hollywood film score. It turned out they were Ed Sabol's favorites and he offered me a three-year contract to write, conduct, and produce NFL Films' music."[1]

In Germany Sam Spence wrote several TV soundtracks with Hani Chamseddine, e.g., for the Francis Durbridge thriller "Wie ein Blitz". After his retirement in 1990 he returned to Munich. He achieved unexpected fame in 1998 with the success of a CD compilation entitled The Power And The Glory: The Original Music & Voices Of NFL Films.

CD

1998: The Power And The Glory: The Original Music & Voices Of NFL Films

2007: Sam Spence - Our Man in Munich (2) (Allscore - Indigo)

2009: Autumn Thunder: 40 Years Of NFL Films Music

Remake

In 2005, Spence's music was remade by the hip hop music group Da Riffs, which can be heard on several NFL Network shows and found in the soundtrack of the game Madden NFL 06. Along with the urban remakes, the original songs still play in the game's soundtrack. His music was also included in Madden NFL 07, Madden NFL 08 and Madden NFL 09, being remixed again by Da Riffs.

References and uses in popular culture

His work "Roundup" was used in the King of Queens episode "Mean Streak" in the 4th season, in the "Funny Moments" segment in the WWE Raw 15th anniversary special, and in a NFL themed Burger King commercial. Also the tracks "Forearm Shiver", "Police Car", "West Side Rumble", "Ramblin' Man From Gramblin', and "The Lineman" were used in the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode series on the Nick TV show, SpongeBob SquarePants. "Big Ed's March" (also known as "March To The Trenches") also appears in several SpongeBob SquarePants episodes, including "MuscleBob BuffPants", "The Fry Cook Games", and "Mrs Puff, You're Fired".

Also, his song "Forearm Shiver" was used in The Simpsons Episode 164, "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time -trailer.

Another of his songs, "Whistling Tune" was used in Mexican's Chespirito Show, as the famous theme of the Los Chifladitos sketch in early 80s.

In spite of the commercial release of a compilation album in 1998, Sam Spence is among one of the few composers of Associated Production Music to have tracks available for download on music downloading services.

Recent appearances

Spence's music has been performed live several times in recent years, with the composer conducting guest residencies with regional orchestras. On June 14, 2008, he guest conducted a medley of his NFL Films hits with the Golden State Pops Orchestra in San Pedro, Calif., as part of the orchestra's "Pops for Pops" concert.[2] In November 2010, a concert devoted almost entirely to his football scores was staged in Green Bay, Wis. An audience of nearly 1,000 turned out at the historic Meyer Theater downtown for a program that featured three local ensembles—The Civic Symphony of Green Bay, the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay's Wind Ensemble, and a big band jazz ensemble—performing a wide range of Spence football scores, from symphonic to jazz to pop.[3]

Criticism

One of the hallmarks of Spence's music is its intangible familiarity. Two film score enthusiasts have pointed out the similarity of his more popular themes to several contemporary film scores; one has criticized them of "get[ting] too close to their obvious film inspiration."[4] They have lauded some of his compositions as "cool homage[s],"[4][5] while describing others as "barely disguised"[4] "knock-offs."[5] Three examples stand out - one is a mid-1960s track titled "Take Six." It is a jazz track that deliberately resembles the Dave Brubeck instrumental "Take Five". Another is his 1970s track "Santa Ana Wind," a takeoff of Carlos Santana's instrumental "Soul Sacrifice." Then there is Spence's 1980s track "The Ultimate Victor," which resembles Bonnie Tyler's song "Holding Out For A Hero."

The familiarity of some of Spence's cues comes from his covers of several tracks by Ralph Dollimore, notably Dollimore's "Man, Go Man"[6] which Spence retitled "The Lineman," and a direct cover of Dollimore's "Hit And Run." The Spence track "Life On The Wild Side" betrays influence from Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn theme. It is important to note that this phenomenon was usually the result of requests Spence got from the Sabols to write music in the style of a lot of film music that was in vogue during his tenure in NFL Films.

NFL Music

Over his three decade career, Spence composed hundreds of short sound-track scores for NFL Films. Some of the songs in this list consists of:

1: Magnificent Eleven

2: Round Up

3: Forearm Shiver

4: Macho Theme

5: A Chilling Championship

6: Sunday Afternoon Fever

7: Ramblin' Man from Gramblin'

8: The Equalizer

9: Raider Might

10: The Over the Hill Gang

11: Classic Battle

12: West Side Rumble

13: Lombardi Trophy Theme

14: Golden Boy

15: Final Quest

16: Game Plan For Sudden Death

17: Industrial Giant

18: Torpedo

19: Police Car

Performance Rights Controversy with NFL Films

Spence has long been involved in a controversial situation with the NFL regarding the rights to perform or use his music in any media outlets. The case was first reported by composer/historian Alexander Klein in the 2013 April issue[7] of the renowned film music magazine Film Score Monthly. Through personal conversations with the composer, Klein reported that Spence was convinced to sign a contract that relinquished all of the rights to his music to NFL Films under the promise that the enterprise would return the document to the composer. Spence said: "I received a phone call, in which NFL Films claimed my music had been 'stolen' and used in a porn film called Deep Throat (released on June 12, 1972 in the U.S.). They would send me a paper to sign to the effect that NFL Films was empowered to protect the music in a court of law. In all sincerity, I did not see a possible 'plot' here at all. However, I unwittingly 'punctured their balloon' by explaining that they didn't have to bother with this at all because GEMA (a German state-authorized performance rights organization) would protect my music and legally proceed after anyone who used it without permission." As Klein reported, "soon afterwards, GEMA sent Spence a video copy of the film and asked him to make a list of "where and how long" his music appeared in it. Thus, the composer dutifully watched the film in order to find possible fragments of his music in it. Yet, the outcome was unexpected. Spence continues: "I was surprised to find not one note of my music in the film. Naïve, trusting person that I was, it never dawned on me it could possibly be a hoax to get me to sign a forthcoming document". "The next 'trick' came several months later," Spence recalls. "I received a phone call in which I was told that NFL Films had a court case in two days against someone who had illegally used some of my music. Their lawyer had sent me a paper via Federal Express, which they said would be arriving shortly (in that same afternoon) for my signature. After signed, the FedEx courier would immediately send it back to them so they would have it in time for the court case." The composer received the paper in the afternoon and read it. "After reading the paper, I called them and said that I could not sign a document with that wording," he continues. "But they assured me that as soon as the case was over, they would send it back to me." Still unsuspecting, and trusting in the company's words, Spence signed the document and sent it to NFL Films. He never got the paper back and, to this day, he is not receiving royalties for the many uses of his music in American television shows and commercials.[7]

References

  1. ↑ AUTUMN THUNDER: 40 YEARS OF NFL FILMS MUSIC liner notes
  2. ↑ "Golden State Pops Orchestra Performs Indy and Jurassic". Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Video: Legendary NFL Films composer Sam Spence visits Green Bay". Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lukas Kendall, "CD Review: NFL Films: The Power and the Glory," Film Score Monthly, Nov 1998.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jeff Bond, "CD Review: Autumn Thunder: 40 Years of NFL Films Music," Film Score Monthly, Jul 2005.
  6. ↑ "YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-07-26.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Alexander Klein, "The Sam Spence Case: The shocking truth about production companies and royalties," Film Score Monthly, April 2013.

External links