"Sirius" is an instrumental by British rock band The Alan Parsons Project, recorded for their sixth studio album, Eye in the Sky (1982). Nearly two minutes long, it segues into "Eye in the Sky" on the original recording. From the 1990s onward, "Sirius" has become a staple of many college and professional sporting events throughout North America, most prominently Chicago Bulls games.
| "Sirius" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by the Alan Parsons Project | ||||
| from the album Eye in the Sky | ||||
| A-side |
| |||
| B-side | "Mammagamma" | |||
| Released | August 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1981–1982 | |||
| Studio | Abbey Road, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 1:48 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Alan Parsons | |||
| The Alan Parsons Project singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Audio | ||||
| "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project on YouTube | ||||
Overview
editOn the album, "Sirius" segues into "Eye in the Sky". The former is usually followed by the latter on airplay, though not always in live performances; at the World Liberty Concert, Sirius was played as the introduction to "Breakaway" (from the Alan Parsons solo album Try Anything Once), with Candy Dulfer on saxophone.
Background
editThe genesis of "Sirius" began when Alan Parsons wanted the first song on the album to be "Eye in the Sky", but felt there needed to be an introduction leading up to it. As he was working on ideas at home on his Fairlight CMI, he wrote a riff that he liked, which ultimately became "Sirius".[2] This riff was played using a clavinet sample with added tape delay.[3] Originally, "Sirius" was not written in the same key as "Eye in the Sky", but was re-recorded in the studio once the band realized it would lead into "Eye in the Sky" well.[2]
Usage in media
editSports
editRicky "The Dragon" Steamboat used an abbreviated version of "Sirius" as his entrance music during the 1980s in his tenures with WWE and in Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling (NWA).
"Sirius" is best known in the United States as the instrumental song that was used to introduce the starting lineup of the Chicago Bulls for home games at both Chicago Stadium and the United Center before, during, and after their run of six NBA championships from 1984 to 2004.[4] The song was chosen by public address announcer Tommy Edwards after he heard it playing in a local movie theater two years after the song's release in 1982.[4] Since 2006, a version arranged by Ethan Stoller and Kaotic Drumline's Jamie Poindexter has been used.[5] "Sirius" was the opening number of the 2000 documentary Michael Jordan to the Max.[5] The piece has also been used by the NBA teams the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks to introduce their starting lineup during home games, and was the starting lineup music for the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team during Rick Pitino's tenure as head coach in the 1990s. However, in college sports, the song is most closely associated with Nebraska. Since the National Championship winning 1994 season, "Sirius" has been played before the Nebraska Cornhuskers' home football games as part of the pre-game tunnel walk ever since, as well as for the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's volleyball team in 2023.[6][7]
Film, television, and video games
edit"Sirius" is played during the climactic scene of the 1988 Godfrey Ho film American Commando 3: Savage Temptation. It’s also played in John Hamburg's 1998 debut movie Safe Men, as a stolen Stanley Cup rises out of the dance floor at Bernie (Little Big Fat) Gale's Bar Mitzvah. "Sirius" is used as incidental music in the 1990 Mexican telenovela Cuando llega el amor. "Sirius" is played in the 8th-season episode of Frasier, "Hooping Cranes", during a sequence where Niles Crane shoots and scores from half-court at KeyArena. The music makes a brief appearance in the 2015 Simpsons episode "Friend with Benefit".
On UK television, it was played in the background when a participant was taking part in a record-breaking challenge on BBC's Roy Castle's Record Breakers, and it also played in the main theme of Concorde Special 1989.
In recent years, the song has been used in the trailer for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, in the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and was played in a Nissan Altima TV advertisement. It is featured on the soundtracks to NBA 2K11, which is used in the Michael Jordan intro, and a remixed version of the song is used in NBA 2K18. A soundalike version was used in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius episode "Vanishing Act". It appears in 2017 TV commercials for Best Buy.[8] The 2018 movie, Blockers also plays the song.[9] The track appears in series one of the 2018 YouTube Red production Cobra Kai when Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) tells Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) "I'm gonna be your sensei." It was also played at the end of the first episode of The Last Dance, a ten-part documentary miniseries by ESPN and Netflix centering around the Chicago Bulls 1997–98 season, when they won their sixth NBA championship. The opening guitar arpeggio is similar to that of the track, "Corridors of Time" in the progressive rock influenced score for the game, Chrono Trigger. The song is heard briefly in Space Jam: A New Legacy, which is a sequel to the original film, during the scene where Sylvester the Cat tries to summon Michael Jordan to help the Tune Squad win the game against Al-G Rhythm and the Goon Squad, only to find out that it is the actor, Michael B. Jordan instead.
In June 2024, it was used in a promotional clip for Deadpool & Wolverine.
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sirius" (instrumental) | 1:48 |
| 2. | "Eye in the Sky" | 4:33 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mammagamma" (instrumental) | 3:34 |
Personnel
edit- Ian Bairnson – electric guitars
- Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
- Alan Parsons – clavinet, Fairlight CMI, delay
- David Paton – bass guitar
- Andrew Powell – orchestral arrangement, orchestral conductor
- Eric Woolfson – keyboards
Covers
edit- "Sirius" is sampled in "The Saga Continues (Intro)", the opening track of P. Diddy and The Bad Boy Family's 2001 album The Saga Continues... The song is also sampled in "B.O.M.B.S." by Fabolous and "Miami Shit" by Pitbull.[10]
- Armin van Buuren and AVIRA released a trance cover of the track.[11]
- "Sirius" was covered along with "Eye in the Sky" by Zombi on their 2022 album "Zombi & Friends, Volume 1".[12]
References
edit- ^ "The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s". Pitchfork. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
Never mind that the song's spacey instrumental intro ("Sirius")...
- ^ a b Cohen, Jonathan (24 April 2020). "Alan Parsons, Writer of Chicago Bulls' Theme Song and Former Beatles Engineer, Talks 'Sirius' and 'Let It Be'". Variety. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- ^ Mikula, Jeremy (29 April 2020). "'Aaaaaaaand now ...' Everything you need to know about the Chicago Bulls' intro song, Ray Clay vs. Tommy Edwards and why Alan Parsons isn't collecting many royalties". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- ^ a b "How Alan Parsons Project Became the Soundtrack to Jordan's Bull". Ultimate Classic Rock. 9 May 2020.
- ^ a b Cohen, Ben (12 April 2016). "The One Record the Warriors Can't Take From the Bulls: Even as Golden State closes on a historic 73rd win, Chicago's pre-game music still sets the standard". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "Tunnel Walk Tradition". Huskers.com. NU Media Relations. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- ^ "Nebraska Tunnel Walk". YouTube. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- ^ "Best Buy TV Commercial, 'Sprint Savings' Song By The Alan Parsons Project". ispot.tv. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
- ^ "Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project - Song Info - List of Movies and TV Shows".
- ^ Pitbull (31 December 2014). "Miami S***". YouTube. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ Armin van Buuren & AVIRA - Sirius, retrieved 13 August 2021
- ^ Zombi. "ZOMBI & Friends, Volume 1". Bandcamp. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
Further reading
edit- Malooley, Jake (13 November 2018). "How the Chicago Bulls Soundtracked Michael Jordan's Dynasty". The Ringer. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
External links
edit- "Songfacts – Sirius" by The Alan Parsons Project
- Sirius at Discogs (list of releases)