They Got the Beat: The Birth of a Fake WTA Marketing Campaign
A few years ago, Backspin adopted its own fake marketing slogan for the tour: "The Most Interesting Tour in the World." It fit pretty well, as what Li Na once dubbed "the crazy women's tennis tour" was never anything less than "interesting," and usually something far more juicy and fun.
So, since the WTA replaced its last promotional campaign/marketing tool -- hmmm, what was it again? Oh, yeah... no one could ever possibly remember it since it was just *that good* -- the unofficial search was on for something new around here, as well. By the end of the summer, a replacement had been found!
What follows is the round-about, for-the-record chronicling of the footsteps that led to Backspin's latest hey-it's-better-than-whatever-stupidity-the-WTA-ever-comes-up-with-isn't-it? slogan: "They Got the Beat."
First came the whining, then the notion of a WTA "theme song" invaded the daily recaps of the U.S. Open, eventually leading to a "eureka!" moment...
Immediate reaction to the tour's first new marketing campaign (#ItTakesWTA) in four years: meh.
The @WTA announced today its new global marketing campaign “It Takes”. #ItTakesWTA #ItTakesPassion #ItTakesPERSISTANCE #ItTakesBelief pic.twitter.com/gqe2DXLioP
— Porsche Tennis (@PorscheTennis) May 13, 2019
It takes so much heart and passion @WTA #ItTakesWTA pic.twitter.com/g8nAwD48uE
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) May 13, 2019
???? @WTA #ItTakesWTA pic.twitter.com/qNWZ8242sD
— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) May 13, 2019
#ItTakes originality to make a stand and play your best! @wta I’ll be back to show my best soon ????????? pic.twitter.com/R62clf0Jhi
— CoCo Vandeweghe (@CoCoVandey) May 14, 2019
Style ?? #ItTakesWta @WTA pic.twitter.com/D2vCvhRSYb
— Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (@NastiaPav) May 13, 2019
It takes bravery. #ItTakesWTA @WTA pic.twitter.com/TuMOGQ4sLh
— Johanna Konta (@JohannaKonta) May 13, 2019
The @WTA announced its new global marketing campaign “It Takes" showcasing the authenticity and diversity of some of the world's greatest tennis players.
— Front Office Sports (@frntofficesport) May 13, 2019
The WTA consulted over 140 players about their driving force and what it takes for them to succeed on and off the court. pic.twitter.com/RaK5F6mNQP
Essentially, it seeks to "showcase the spirit, authenticity and diversity" of the WTA, and attempts to tie "It Takes..." to inspirational words like courage, heart, humility, bravery, etc. paired with many of the tour's athletes. On its face, it's not horrible or condescending, and the message is a good one, albeit a bit bland and thematically far too similar to any number of campaigns put forth by *other* organizations and/or movements. And, really, the WTA itself.
What's new and successfully makes the WTA stand out? That's easy. Nothing. Rarely has something with so much to offer so routinely failed to shine a spotlight on it. It's become a WTA tradition. Would anyone *not* believe that successful international athletes have more than a modicum amount of courage, heart, dedication, spirit, etc? I mean, does anyone think "It Takes..." the likes of cowardice, indifference, apathy, lethargy and arrogance to succeed in these parts?
This campaign, like all the others, will play to the attention span of a gnat. People will take a look at it once, and never think about it again... until comparing it against the *next* half-hearted marketing campaign.
While the glossy glamour shots in tennis gear days are gone, I'm not really confident that a series of ID badge-like B&W images or inspiring videos set to music (and look like a Nike/Gatorade empowerment ad or something) with Mary Carillo (?) doing the voiceover really cuts the mustard, if you will.
In the end, this campaign isn't really all that different from all the other underwhelming and interchangeable ones from the past. The concept is a dead end from the jump. Where is the real insight into the styles and personalities of the players? Where's the fun? Where's the humor? Is this supposed to be a *marketing* campaign designed to get attention, promote the top players and the sport in general, and cast it all as a product worth sampling and getting invested in, or is just a time-worn list of motivational words (go ahead, look at that list and you'll see a few of those used in this campaign, or could be) with images of tennis players attached? Need I even answer that one?
It really should say: „It takes nerves and good physios“ but nobody asked me when they made the campaign?? #ittakeswta @WTA pic.twitter.com/G7dhRR0mGE
— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) May 13, 2019
They should have asked Andrea Petkovic for pointers. Her little aside was far funnier and something that could be played off in a way that allowed people to get to know the individuals that drive the sport, not simply hone in on the qualities that one looks to improve via a self-help program.
Even better, LorenaPopa has it on lockdown -- her string of improved "It Takes..." tweets on her Twitter feed are sometimes a scream, and immediately turn the actual campaign into the nonentity that it is. A personal favorite: with Strycova, #ItTakes... to teach people how to do a handshake. :D
#ItTakesWTA pic.twitter.com/kXn7cuZY5W
— LorenaPopa?????? ?????? (@popalorena) May 14, 2019
Always here for you pic.twitter.com/bRNELWW01S
— LorenaPopa ???????? (@popalorena) May 13, 2019
Really, any campaign that is undertaken in this day and age should be able to generate attention on social media, and this one is D.O.A.. There are so many great personalities that should be highlighted, but the notion is too often discarded in place of photos and words.
Think of those great videos put together in recent years (was it for New Haven? The last one had Kvitova "teaching" about the eclipse), and how good those were. Anything that would allow the players to be seen as individuals to like and root for would be a good place to start.
Of course, I say that knowing it will NEVER happen. Ever. The WTA has had a hard enough trouble in recent years even finding ways for people to just WATCH matches without the whole apparatus looking incompetent.
Oh, well.
Cont'd...
Quick add-on thought about WTA marketing campaigns just from seeing this photo posted by Tatiana Golovin:
Magnifique central ??@FFTennis @rolandgarros pic.twitter.com/xLMXpPnPSe
— Tatiana Golovin (@Matryochka) May 20, 2019
How about just using something like that as a starting point?
Example: a current player "as a kid," looking out over a court and dreaming big. Whoosh-whoosh. All the real moments of her career -- good and bad -- flash in and out. Whoosh-woosh. We're back to the same court, only the player is now an adult and rather than dreaming of what's to come she's reflecting on what's happened as she looks out over the same court. Hashtag... Take the Journey, or The Journey Starts Here, or something like that.
Rather than a pretty photo, or a word that identifies a quality, it hits on the thing that helps to build and sustain a fan base. The journey of watching a player seek out and accomplish their dreams, or maybe not, but still appreciating the experience of taking the shot. It's sort of the reason why fans are drawn to a certain player over time and stick with them throughout their careers. It gives meaning to what each player accomplishes and/or goes through, and can be viewed via the POV of either the player or those who cheer them on. The tour rarely ever tries to hone in on that aspect, which can make new fans long-term ones.
Just a spare thought off one photo.
...in recent years during the U.S. Open, this space has often taken on a musical bent, including a listing of songs about New York City to, last year, a string of videos from a grab bag of artists featured in an old unearthed box of cassette singles (remember those? Or not.). Over the course of the tournament, it all ended up evolving into a collection of facts and memories centered around songs from the likes of U2, Prince, k.d. lang and Lyle Lovett, and ultimately concluded with my personal Top 10 Madonna songs.
So, here we go again.
One of the ongoing topics of discussion around here (at least from my end) has been the WTA’s singular inability to put together an effective, satisfying and entertaining promotional campaign that takes advantage of the personalities and overall interesting nature of the Most Interesting Tour in the World. As I've noted, black-and-white and/or artistic photos only go so far, and are essentially just an act of "repainting the walls" every couple of years with another immediately forgettable campaign just a shade different from the last. What was this year’s, umm, *greeeeeaaat* attempt again? You know, the one that had absolutely zero chance of breaking through beyond the audience already paying attention to the WTA, and generally even boring *them* in record time.
Oh, yeah. The "#ItTakes (a nice but close-to-stock image with an accompanying word grabbed from a dictionary or thesaurus that can be applied to any number of players and didn't really do much to promote anything other than the tour marketing arm's thudding lack of creativity)" campaign. You know, *that* one. As predicted, it was pretty much out of sight, out of mind by sunrise (while Twitter users instantly put a better, more pointed twist on the idea than the tour ever could or would).
Now, I'm not going to dive into marketing ideas here once again, but it *is* true that promotional campaigns often come with music attached that acts as a Pavlovian trigger causing one to think about whatever pitch it was used with. So -- yes, as something of an excuse to search for old music videos and live performances again -- I thought I’d take this moment each day to step into a fantasy world where the WTA has the use of a series of famous “theme songs” with which to promote the tour.
Granted, the songs that’ll be spotlighted here are part of an unholy incomplete list of possibilities that fit this year's "And finally..." theme, but hopefully it’ll be fun, at least (and, of course, offer another chance to complain about WTA's promotional abilities).
As in the past, while I’ll try to make some sort of connection to the tour and/or its personalities to explain the choices, I’ll likely end up discussing a bit of the history of the song or artist, too, since that sort of thing generally pops up in the process of rooting out which songs and videos to use. In fact, by about Day 8 (or maybe 2) I’ll probably lose track of why I was doing this in the first place and just go off on some tangent about a particular performance or memory associated with a song (such as, upon rewatching one video I remembered that at its mesmerizing center was maybe the greatest single performance in a music video ever).
Anyway, that countdown officially begins today...
In something of a follow-up to the U.S. Open's Pride Day panel last Friday, I'll start by featuring songs from a pair of female musical icons, both with a distinctive stage presence, as well as a history of activism (often for issues such as LGBTQ rights and HIV/AIDS awareness) that has led them to be embraced not only by the gay community for their words and actions, but by music fans as a whole because, well, quite simply, they are awesome performers.
Since I got lost down a bit of a YouTube wormhole while looking for just one video (and instead found a few I wanted to use), I'll feature one of those "WTA Theme Song" artists today, and the other on Day 2. First up...
...I figure this one could be the unofficial " WTA Social Media Theme" (listen closely to the lyrics and you'll understand):
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" comes courtesy of the (mostly) 1980s British duo of Annie Lennox and David Stewart. Formed in 1980 from the remnants of the band The Tourists, Eurythmics were reliable hit makers until their initial (though unofficial) breakup in 1990, followed by brief reunions at the end of the nineties and in 2005.
At the heart of their success was the intoxicating image of the Scottish-born Lennox on stage and before the camera, with her close-cropped hair, androgynous looks and memorable performance style, she was almost immediately elevated to iconic status in the minds of anyone who saw or heard her perform just once. That "Sweet Dreams" was their first single released in the U.S., and promptly went to #1 and is still likely the song that instantly pops into one's head when any image of Lennox appears in the mind's eye, I think, pretty much backs up that notion.
Their success as a duo spun both off into successful post-Eurythmics enterprises, with Lennox as a solo singer and Stewart as a producer. Somehow they've not yet been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, though they've been nominated more than once.
["Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" - Eurythmics 1999 Peacetour Live]
["Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" - Annie Lennox, An Evening With Nostalgia (2015)]
David Bowie and Lennox rehearsing (and then performing) "Under Pressure" before the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert in 1992. The rehearsal is really cool, with George Michael singing along in the background, Brian May playing guitar... and Bowie flawlessly working around smoking a cigarette while also handling a microphone), while the on stage performance gets really good in the closing moments at around 3:30.
Born Stefani Germanotta in New York City, Lady Gaga became widely known in the early 2000's as much for her series of stage costumes (which brought to mind Elton John in his 1970's heyday), dance-infused performing style (ala Madonna), glam rock vibe (David Bowie) and award show publicity stunts (meat dress... 'nuff said) as she was for her music. Over the past decade, though, that's changed.
After modeling so much of her career on the aforementioned artists who influenced her musical and performing direction, she's gone on to become a trailblazer in her own right. With that in mind, the next "WTA Theme Song" selection for this space is her 2011 release "Born This Way."
In an interview with Billboard magazine, Gaga described "Born This Way" as her "freedom song."
"I want to write my this-is-who-the-fuck-I-am anthem, but I don't want it to be hidden in poetic wizardry and metaphors. I want it to be an attack, an assault on the issue because I think, especially in today's music, everything gets kind of washy sometimes and the message gets hidden in the lyrical play. Harkening back to the early '90s, when Madonna, En Vogue, Whitney Houston and TLC were making very empowering music for women and the gay community and all kind of disenfranchised communities, the lyrics and the melodies were very poignant and very gospel and very spiritual and I said, 'That's the kind of record I need to make. That's the record that's going to shake up the industry.' It's not about the track. It's not about the production. It's about the song. Anyone could sing 'Born This Way'. It could've been anyone."
The song would seem to fit into the WTA tapestry on any number of levels, with the differing lifestyles, outlooks, opinions and the like that populate the tour all falling under the same umbrella of acceptance and infused with a spirit of empowerment. At least on the best days. I mean, it wouldn't be The Most Interesting Tour if there weren't a few dust-ups, disagreements and drama along the way, right?
Personally, it took me a little bit of time to "get" Gaga, as initially she at least appeared to be more "show" than "substance" musically, as is so often the case with many of today's performance-based singers. I think her Grammy appearances earlier this decade, and then a concert documentary that aired on HBO finally showed me the light. As she's branched out, from attacking different musical styles to, now, acting ("A Star is Born"), she's proven to be a true multi-talented artist with a classic voice than all the costumes and stunts obscured in the early days.
Off stage, as something of an offshoot of the impact of "Born this Way," she's become known for philanthropy and social activism, including her work for LGBTQ rights, and for her nonprofit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on empowering youth and preventing bullying.
...what she does in those heels should be an Olympic sport.
...my favorite Gaga song, and (though not the greatest video of it) the version similar to the one from the HBO concert doc
Was there any more indelible -- even in its technical simplicity -- music video image from the 1990's than that of Sinead O'Connor's face taking up the full screen for nearly the entire duration of her performance of the Prince-penned "Nothing Compares 2 U," with every emotion being expressed within that small frame as she powerfully (and hauntingly) delivers lyrics tinged with anger, longing, frustration and an overwhelming sense of deep sadness? Apparently, she drew upon the recent death of her mother to dig into the feelings associated with the words, leading to the sincere sadness and tears that roll down her cheeks during her performance.
Seeing it again for the first time in a while for this, I was reminded what I'm sure I thought when it was released -- that hers may be the greatest single performance in any music video ever. And she didn't have to dance, or jump around, or have a troupe of twenty people moving in lines in unison around her to pull it off, either.
It's (mostly) just her face, her eyes, her voice, and some of the best lines ("All the flowers that you planted mama... In the back yard... All died when you went away" -- the lines after which O'Connor's true-to-life emotions immediately break through) the ridiculously multi-talented Prince ever wrote.
I won't go into any of O'Connor's background, as it's exhaustingly controversy-filled (she's even, I think, maybe the only person I've every heard tell a bad story about Prince). More than anything else, her performance of this song (even better than Prince's own version, I think -- which is a rarity... though Chris Cornell's version below is tremendous, though for a different reason) stands as her musical legacy.
Maybe this is something of a "WTA Retirement Theme?" (See, I said I'd soon be reaching in order to use the videos I wanted.)
...fine, though I can't help but wish it was just him at the piano on this one
...put together and released by Prince's estate in 2018 after his death in '16, this combines the original 1984 recording with previously unseen Paisley Park studio rehearsal footage of his various performances of the song
...this is an exceptional and powerful version of the song (nearly on par w/ that of O'Connor), performed by Soundgarden lead singer Cornell *before* Prince passed away, unlike many of the other covers you see. Cornell himself ended up dying young, committing suicide in '17, thirteen months after Prince's death. That fact can't help but add another layer of sadness to the pain-filled lyrics.
Today, the "WTA Theme Song" idea next heads down the musical path of new arrivals on the scene whose appearance helped to immediately change the environment that had existed before they showed up. You know, sort of like how Generation PDQ has quickly arrived, evolving from Alona Ostapenko stunningly taking Roland Garros in '17 to Naomi Osaka winning in New York a season later en route to #1, followed in '19 by the on-court maturation of Ash Barty, a slam final appearance by Marketa Vondrousova, regular-tour dominance from Bianca Andreescu and a whole slew of teenagers and young twentysomethings popping out from the shadows (w/ names like Coco, Amanda, Caty, Iga, Sonya, Dayana and others) with fearless energy and an impatient desire to win *now*, injecting a newly youthful energy into the tour and knocking down many of those fears and hand wringing about "the future."
Has a new generation of players rushed the tour with such vast numbers, audacity and across the board good results as this one?
So, what's the musical equivalent for today? Well, let's go to the video...
Shortly after being part of Disney's 1990's "Micky Mouse Club" (1992-96) during her pre-teen and early teenage years (along with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell), 16-year old Britney Spears' debut helped change the face of teen pop music in the late 1990's and early 2000's, helping to resurrect the notion of (and providing a new prototype for) the teen female pop star, last seen in the late 1980's (Debbie Gibson and Tiffany) but since replaced in the industry by a proliferation of boy bands.
Released in October 1998, "...Baby One More Time" was the debut single off Spears' not-yet-released debut album (January '99). It climbed to #1, leading the album to debut atop the charts soon after en route to becoming the best selling first album by any artist in music history. In 2010, the music video for "...Baby One More Time" was voted the third most influential video in the history of pop music, in a poll held by Jam!.
Spears quickly earned superstar status, then just as quickly began to predictably ride the off-stage rollercoaster of fame that continues today, from a wild marriage to questions about her mental condition, various legitimate controversies (and some just stupid), her finances being placed in a conservatorship (controlled by her father and lawyer), several returns to the stage (including a Las Vegas concert residency) and, in recent months, her father's near-fatal health scare and questions about whether she was being held in a psychiatric facility (#FreeBritney) against her will (yeah, I didn't know anything about all that until doing research for this).
NEXT: the song that truly WOULD be *great* as the centerpiece of a WTA ad campaign. Really... I can see the spots going viral already. Players mouthing the song's hook, while they turn rackets into "guitars" and form impromptu "girl bands" -- with one taking the spot of the lead singer -- while the images flash back and forth between that fun and the on-court whacking of tennis balls and all the other memorable things (some not even Alona-related) that take place between the lines. Trust me, this REALLY would be good, and people would be hearing the song -- and seeing the players -- in their head for days.
The Go-Go's were a new wave group band formed in Los Angeles in 1978 that rose to prominence in the early 1980's as the first fully-formed breakout all-female rock band. They wrote and performed their own songs as well as played their own instruments. Their biggest hit, and signature song, was 1981's "We Got the Beat."
Though the group "sort of" broke up in the mid-eighties (lead singer Belinda Carlisle had a successful solo career), they've had many reunions ever since, and still perform together at times today (as recently as last year).
As I said yesterday, I really *do* think this song would work great as the centerpiece/anthem of a catchy WTA promotional campaign that would get stuck on a memory loop in your brain as you go through the day. One that might actually break through the tennis bubble and actually be acknowledged by the sort of casual (or less) viewers that the tour *should* be trying to reach to grow the sport.
Think of it... the song interspliced with quick-cut video of big shots and sprints to a ball, various players singing along with the lyrics (one throwing in an "I got the beat!" then several as a "band" yelling "We Got the beat!" in unison), Serena whacking a big serve (seen several times at fast speed as the song lyric is stuttered -- "Yeah, we Go-go-go-go-go-got it!"), Ostapenko gesticulating wildly (at anything), players wielding rackets as "guitars," clenched fists after winners, celebratory leaps, a "Pojd!" for impact... all while the song rings out and the sense of having a good time is emphasized rather than trying too hard to be dramatic and serious (i.e. #ItTakes).
It's not that difficult to visualize in your mind's eye... even right down to Carlisle's ending "See ya later!" at the close of the original performance video. Considering the band's place in music history, even *that* feels like a good fit with the WTA tour and its own origins.
Fall in line just watchin' all their feet
They don't know where they're want to go
But they're walking in time
They got the beat
They got the beat
They got the beat
Yeah, they got the beat
See the kids just gettin' out of school
They can't wait to hang out and be cool
Hang around 'til quarter after twelve
That's when they fall in line
They got the beat
They got the beat
Kids got the beat
Yeah, kids got the beat
Go-Go music really makes us dance
Do the pony, puts us in a trance
Do what you see just give us a chance
That's when we fall in line
'Cause we got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat
Yeah, we got it
We got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat
Everybody get on your feet
(We got the beat)
We know you can dance to the beat
(We got the beat)
Jumpin' and get down
(We got the beat)
Round and round and round
We got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat
I admit, I sort of went part-way down the YouTube rabbit hole on this one. Speaking of that, here's an interesting recent Washington Post story by Chris Richards about how YouTube has become users' "radio (widely accessible), their record store (awesomely vast), their MTV (partly retinal), their Walkman (completely portable), their iTunes (on demand), their online message board (comments abound) — all in one place."
Frankly, I found way too many things that I wanted to use here, but I'm going to do it anyway. Essentially, it's just a series of more recent "We Got the Beat" performances from the Go-Go's, as well as a bit of the solo work from lead singer Belinda Carlisle, who I always really liked.
I said there would be tangents in this space, and this certainly counts as such. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't have a "WTA Theme Song' selection. I do. I give you Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" from 1984:
Granted, the pronouns would need to be fixed up a bit (but that'd be easy).
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
(She's) gotta be strong
And (she's) gotta be fast
And (she's) gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
(She's) gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And (she's) gotta be larger than life!
Larger than life"
The song was originally recorded to be included (which I did *not* know) for the movie "Footloose." And, truthfully, judging from this, ummm... "tractor fight?"... that connection might be best left forgotten.
But, clearly, the lyrics are virtually made to be sung over "heroic" clips (you know, something like Serena showing up in a cape or cloak and then pulling off a "superhero-like" shot, or Bianca helicoptering in from some far-off land to rescue a trophy from someone else's clutches). See (just substitute Simona & Co. for Iron Man or Captain America, etc.)...
The song is quite versatile, having also been used in "Days of Our Lives," "Shrek 2," a Super Bowl commercial featuring Melissa McCarthy and even an ad for Walmart. Usually, the song isn't the original, and is covered by someone other than Tyler. But I'm here for *another* thing it was used for: a relatively unknown and forgotten show called "Cover Up," an action-adventure series on CBS that ran for just one season on CBS in 1984-85. It starred Jennifer O'Neill and Jon-Erik Hexum (and if you know the story then you already know what's coming up) as a fashion photographer (O'Neill) whose undercover CIA agent husband is murdered, leading her to recruit a former Special Forces Operator (Hexum) to help her find his killers. He poses as a male model, and together they travel the world in search of the truth.
In this instance, the song is sung by E.G. Daily, an actress, voice artist, comedienne and singer who was dating Hexum. Daily is noted for having voiced the title-character from the live-action film "Babe: Pig in the City," replacing Christine Cavanaugh, as well as voicing lead character Tommy Pickles in Nick Toons' "Rugrats" show.
Of course, the story here isn't the show (or Daily), but how Hexum died in a horrible accident on the set after having filmed just seven episodes. Here's how it's described on Wikipedia: "During a break between scenes on the set on Friday, October 12, 1984, Jon-Erik Hexum became bored with the filming delays. He began playing Russian roulette with what he believed was a harmless .44 Magnum prop gun and jokingly placed it to his temple and pulled the trigger. The shot sent the wadding from the blank cartridge at Hexum's skull, driving a bone fragment the size of a quarter into his brain and causing massive hemorrhaging. Hexum was rushed to the hospital, where he eventually was declared brain dead. On October 18, he was taken off life support.
(It's an obviously eerie fact that during the opening credits, when Hexum's name appears, a gun-wielding hand turns and fires a shot directly at the camera.)
Here's a short Entertainment Weekly piece about the incident.
"Cover Up" finished its season with actor Anthony Hamilton replacing Hexum in the cast as a different character (somewhat shockingly, they kept the opening sequence intact, with Hamilton filming duplicate shots of those originally filmed by Hexum that were then inserted into the credits). The show was cancelled after one season, but its legacy/infamy remains (on some level) because of the death of one of its stars, who might have had a significant career had he lived.
Prior to "Cover Up" he starred as Phineas Bogg in NBC's child-friendly, time-travel series "Voyagers!" in 1982-83. Hexum and his child co-star traveled through time to set things right. That show was ahead of the curve, and many shows that bring it to mind have come about on TV (including "Quantum Leap" and the recent "Timeless" on NBC) in the years since. Its fan base is still strong, as there are many tributes to be found on YouTube.
Hexum was then snatched up by Joan Collins (in her "Dynasty" heyday) to star in 1983’s "The Making of a Male Model" (you can probably guess how that one went). In 1984, having been a wide receiver at Michigan State, Hexum made his film debut as quarterback Pat Trammell in the Bear Bryant biopic "The Bear" (played by Gary Busey). Then he won the "Cover Up" role. And the rest, sadly, was history.
All right... tangent over.
Of course, this "WTA Theme Song" thing *has* to include some Cyndi Lauper selections, right? This was a pretty easy set of songs to grab, with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" addressing one subset of the WTA tour, and "Time After Time" potentially playing to those on the other end of the experience spectrum.
In reverse order...
...the Australian version of "60 Minutes" has some really good segments that can be found on YouTube. Here's one from last year on Lauper...
Today's "WTA Theme Song" is centered more on a notion than the aspects of a particular song. For the record, though, it's Janelle Monae's "Tightrope" that gets injected into the mix today.
Monae's talent was obvious from the moment she first crashed the music scene about a decade ago (I wasn't sure how old she was then, but since she's 33 now she was just 23-24 when she did "Tightrope"... not a stunner, but still impressive in retrospect). Since then, she's become a far bigger star, started a notable acting career ("Moonlight" and "Hidden Figures"), put on some truly remarkable live performances on HUGE occasions, and as we've just recently learned, is capable of lighting a firestorm with a simple tweet.
Yet, somehow, she doesn't seem to have the overall presence that someone of her talent *should* at this point. There's a "mainstream success," which she has become, but there's also a "superstar" status (say on the level of Lady Gaga) that she *hasn't* reached. She's not even yet been given a Grammy award, having gone 0-for-8 in her nominations.
In some ways, she's like some of the WTA fan favorites that have never have quite registered as the "stars" they should be, or it took quite a long time for it to happen. On some level, the many artistic delights of an Aga Radwanska, while appreciated by those in the know, never really broke out beyond the "tennis circle of trust" like they *should* have during her career. I think a series of Aga's magical drop shots and tricky angles would play quite nice with "Tightrope" playing behind them. But, again, this is more of a notion than a rock-solid belief.
I'm tempted to wonder if the game of someone like Bianca Andreescu -- with all its gifts to the eyes and soul -- might end up in something of the same place. Just to give an example: she won two of the biggest non-slam titles played in North America (Indian Wells and Toronto) this season, but was virtually (or, you know, totally) ignored during ESPN's talking head shows the following Monday. Anecdotal, yes... but Coco Gauff gets big flashing headlines and long discussions for winning just a few matches.
I suppose we could be about to see that question about Andreescu tested again this week, for if she were to reach the final of this Open, but play Serena, will her name even make it into a headline, win or lose? It's barely happened -- or NOT happened -- for the likes of Kerber and Osaka after recent slam final triumphs over Williams, and Andreescu was given similar treatment when Serena retired (and became the *only* story in the middle of their Toronto final) in their only head-to-head meeting to date.
[NOTE: this isn't the original video I posted, but that one's gone now and this is as close as I could find.]
And, no, Monae wasn't today's selection because of her unexpected appearance in the news over the past week when she made a (since-deleted-and-apologized for, though many didn't think it was necessary no matter how much outrage people can generate since, you know, that's seems to be what we're best at these days) comment about people lining up for blocks for a taste of the new Popeyes chicken sandwich and how she wished such a frenzy occurred around Election Day.
This segment was planned long before all that.
Today's "WTA Theme Song" selection has a long history of being featured with or alongside sporting events or highlights, right down to being played at Wrigley Field when a Chicago Cubs player hits a home run. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was Pat Benatar's first Top 10 hit when it was released back in 1980, and would seem to be a good fit as an in-your-face song to commemorate the toughness of various players (you know the ones) on tour.
Here's the same performance with the live audio...
Joan Jett very well may be THE female roll-and-roller in music history. As a teenager, she was one of the founders of the all-female rock band The Runaways (1975-79), best known for the song "Cherry Bomb." Soon after, she became the frontwoman of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. The Blackhearts' version of the song "I Love Rock 'n Roll" was a #1 hit in 1982, and songs such as "Bad Reputation," "Crimson and Clover," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)," "Light of Day," "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Dirty Deeds" helped the group belatedly earn induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Jett has been described as "The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" and the "Godmother of Punk."
She was parodied in the comic strip Bloom County in the form of Tess Turbo, lead singer of the Blackheads.
The song added to the "WTA Theme Song" week list here is "Bad Reputation," though there are any number of Jett songs (some included here) that could be included in this mix. In 2009, it was named the 29th best hard rock song of all time by VH1, making it the highest-ranked song by a woman on the list. It's interesting how many good/suitable songs for this little project have 1980's roots. I guess it's because there were so many rock-driven female acts in that era, and that music more easily plays into this idea.
It's easy to see action sequences featuring tour players blended in with that song, from some old school Vika to some Latvian Thunder, with a little edgy Andreescu and others filling in the blanks.
Of course, so many of Jett's songs have that sort of versatility. Her music has an extensive list of sports links (including a new one starting this week).
From Wikipedia:
" Jett is a sports fan and has remained actively involved in the sports world. "Bad Reputation" was used by Ultimate Fighting Championship's Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey as her walkout song at the pay-per-view event UFC 157 and is her current theme music in WWE. In April 2019, Jett performed "Bad Reputation" at WWE's WrestleMania 35 as Rousey was introduced. Her cover of "Love Is All Around" (the theme song of The Mary Tyler Moore Show) was used by the NCAA to promote the Women's Final Four. ... Jett supplied theme songs for the ESPN X Games premiere and has contributed music to all their games since. At Cal Ripken Jr.'s request she sang the U.S. national anthem at the Baltimore Orioles game in which he tied Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played. She also sang the national anthem at the final game played at Memorial Stadium. From 2006 to 2015, the melody for her song "I Hate Myself for Loving You" was used as the theme music for NBC Sunday Night Football with re-worked lyrics and retitled "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night". Beginning with the 2019 season, Jett will perform the song with Carrie Underwood as the opener of Sunday Night Football games. "
As far as some longer-former selections...
Well, it's just about time to wrap up this little segment, so how about a few quick-hit "grab bag" selections? After all, "WTA Theme Song" promotions needn't be constructed with nothing but full-on, one-song-only, ads. Short, more pointed spots are worthwhile, too.
I can feel the heat but it's soothing, heading down
I search for the beat in this dirty town (downtown)
The young ones are going
(Downtown) the young ones are growing
We're the kids in America (whoa)
We're the kids in America (whoa)
Everybody live for the music-go-round
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace
It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, your hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up
Get ready 'cause I had enough
I see it all, I see it now
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
Dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
I actually prefer this one...
That you're never gonna ever take away from me, no!
This is the part of me
That you're never gonna ever take away from me, no!
Throw your sticks and your stones, throw your bombs and your blows
But you're not gonna break my soul
This is the part of me
That you're never gonna ever take away from me, no!
You're heart's still wild
Shooting at the walls of heartache bang, bang
I am the warrior
Well, I am the warrior
And heart to heart you'll win
If you survive, the warrior, the warrior
Say "Please, please, please don't go away"
You say I'm givin' you the blues
Maybe you mean every word you say
Can't help but think of yesterday
And another who tied me down to loverboy rules
Before this river becomes an ocean
Before you throw my heart back on the floor
Oh, baby, I reconsider my foolish notion
Well, I need someone to hold me but I'll wait for somethin' more
Yes, I gotta have faith
Ooh, I gotta have faith
Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
I gotta have faith, faith, faith
Your purple prose just gives you away
The things, you say...
You're unbelievable
And I don't want to spend my whole life, just waiting for you
Now I don't want you back for the weekend
Not back for a day, no no no
I said baby I just want you back
And I want you to stay (Oh yeah now!)
I'm walking on sunshine (Wow!)
I'm walking on sunshine (Wow!)
I'm walking on sunshine (Wow!)
posted by Todd.Spiker @ 2:54 PM
4 Comments:
So the WTA should attempt to go viral like a Peloton ad? Living in a city where it snows, the ad doesn't bother me at all.
Golovin's pic is beautiful.
Nike has done "Journey" type commercials, as well as message ads.
Fun fact-Hexum's co-star in Voyagers(Meeno Peluce) is more famous now for being the half brother of Soleil Moon Frye.
Hoping Tauson gets WC to AO, just because.
Stat of the Week- 77- The amount of victories for Monica Puig since her Olympic title.
Barty had over 50 this year. With obvious fanfare expected in her unlikely attempt to repeat, let's look at the numbers.
2016-4(after Olympics)
2017-25
2018-27
2019-21
Surprisingly low. Now with Dehaies, the focus should be on quality play week in and week out, not just defending her title.
Quiz Time!
Caroline Wozniacki has 30 WTA singles titles. Of the 17 women with more, how many are not in the Hall of Fame?
A.0
B.1
C.3
D.4
Answer!
(A)0 is wrong, though that number is the amount of doubles titles won by Virginia Wade. With 55 singles titles, she is the only player with 30 or more singles titles to have no doubles titles. Second lowest total is 2, at tie between Henin and....Wozniacki.
(C)3 is wrong, though that is the mount of active players above her. Serena and Venus are locks, only reason Sharapova isn't is because of the suspension.
(D)is correct, because you have 3 active, plus one retired in Conchita Martinez with 33. This means that Wozniacki should get in by numbers alone, something that doesn't happen on the doubles side as 7 of the top 18 aren't in.
Postscript-On the doubles side, Suarez is 18th with 44, fittingly Ruano Pascual is right behind her at 43, but there doesn't seem to be a push for either.
This was great! With all the inspiration available to the tour's marketing people, you'd think they could do better than vanilla 1, vanilla 2, vanilla 3 (I'm riffing a bit on Li Na here) :(
My favorite WTA campaign, after all these years, is still Get in Touch with Your Feminine Side , but even that was not exploited as it could have been.
And now I ask for the hundredth time: Why did the WTA stop selling gear?!
Ha. Yeah, I think there was at least a *little* overreaction to that ad (people *do* apparently really enjoy Peloton and do it for the fun of it, not just to satisfy their spouse), even if it could have been far better edited in a way that would have avoided the controversy. Although, if the ad was meant to get people talking about Peloton... well, mission accomplished. Almost like they planned it that way. Hmmm.
As the reigning girls champ, I guess it's possible. If Tauson does, and then she draws Wozniacki. Well, some eyebrows will be raised. ;)
Quiz: I think Sharapova is still an easy lock, probably first year eligible, considering the actual details of the suspension that caused the ruling to go in her favor that sliced the original length of the penalty. Maybe she waits a year, but by the time she voting-eligible it'll have been nearly 10 years since the whole thing happened. And, remember, it took bad press, a petition drive, outright condemnation and a jail sentence before Bob Hewitt was *removed* from the HoF even after he'd been legitimately accused of molesting his tennis pupils. Sharapova's offense was teeny-tiny small potatoes.
I got Martinez, because I've noted that a few times in pushing for/questioning why it's taken so long for her to enter the Hall. Hopefully it'll happen in 2020. She's never been so close as she is now.
G.Fernandez/Zvereva were inducted as a doubles *duo*, but they had quite a few more slams than VPR/Suarez. Although, you wonder how the HoF standards will change going forward for doubles duos as potential joint entries, considering teams rarely stay together long enough these days to rack up big major title totals as a pair. VRP/Suarez had eight in the 2000's. That's fourth behind Navratilova/Shriver, GF/NZ and Venus/Serena for the most by a duo in the Open era. Things will probably come around to them eventually. Look how long it took for Sukova to get in, and potentially Martinez.
D-
Yes. As noted in the (mostly) re-post, rarely has something will so much to work with as the WTA done as horrible a job selling itself.
Look at how the personalities of, say, the U.S. women's national soccer team have been pushed. The WTA has, what, about 5x as many choices to choose from and use from its tour population?
Women's tennis players are still *the* best known female athletes in the world. But it's often because of the lingering preeminence of the coverage of the majors (left over from the boom in the 1970s/80s), and the players' individual sponsors, not the work of the tour itself.
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