3 stories that brought sports and the music industry together

3 stories that brought sports and the music industry together

For example, about how the song “Argentina – Jamaica – 5:0” came about.

Today the information field is full of news about cooperation between brands from completely different spheres, so the projects created at the intersection of music and sports are no longer surprising to anyone, but in this article we want to tell you about three really interesting cases.

A music album designed for running

In 2006, the American band The Crystal Method in partnership with Nike released an album called Drive. This project was created for running enthusiasts. Drive: Nike + Original Run was the first ever compilation written specifically for a single sport. The album consists of 10 tracks with a total duration of 45 minutes and is designed to accompany a runner during a full training session or marathon.

The musicians approached the project with literal scientific finesse: the tracks are structured to help the runner through each stage of the workout with a change of pace.

“We weren’t quite sure how our builds and transitions would affect runners, but we tested the tracks on a few of our runner friends, and they particularly liked the moments.”

Ken Jordan, The Crystal Method

The track that started the era of snickerheads

In the ’80s, hip-hop was at the height of its popularity – rap music had moved beyond the streets and was gaining mass appeal. Even then, brands were making their first attempts to gain an audience through this subculture, but the track My Adidas was the first track in music history dedicated to a sneaker brand.

In 1986, the hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. released their third studio album Raising Hell, which was the culmination of their work and is still considered one of the most successful in the history of hip-hop. One of the album’s tracks was My Adidas.

After the release of the song there was a huge jump in sales of adidas Superstar sneakers. Moreover, the track was so popular that it even influenced the manner of pronunciation of the brand name in society – Americans began to put the accent on the letter i.

This story seems particularly interesting because only after the album was released did adidas sign the first ever official contract between the musicians and the sports brand. That is, first the band simply released a track about their favorite sneakers, which became ultra-popular, and then they also got a deal worth $ 1 million.

The most famous Russian song about sports (after “Do You Know”, naturally)

In 1998, the Jamaican national soccer team made it to the World Cup for the first time in its history. The team played their first match against Croatia, losing it 3-1, and in the second match they suffered a crushing defeat against Argentina. It was at this time in Paris was the lead singer of the band “Chaif” Vladimir Shakhrin. Having seen the despair of Jamaican fans and the endless joy of Argentine fans, he composed the lyrics of the future hit.

This song is not about what I saw. Not about poor Jamaicans and not about joyful Argentines, but about the experience that sport gives us.

Vladimir Shakhrin

In 1999 the song became a megahit and won the Russian “Golden Gramophone” award, but this is not the main award – the song is still relevant today. Soccer fans often remake the famous hit of the group “Chaif” for the results of soccer matches.

It is worth saying that the 1998 Mundial gave us not only the hit by Chaif, but also Ricky Martin’s famous La Copa de la Vida and the legendary Top of the world by Chumbawamba.