10-04-2008, 08:54 AM
This is a pretty good read from the Sun in T.O. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/tv/2008/10/04/6974591-sun.html">http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment ... 1-sun.html</a><!-- m -->
Maybe The Hip will be the surprise performers tonight?
Bob Rock had a very Canadian response when he was approached about producing the new Hockey Night in Canada anthem.
"I said, 'I don't care what anybody says, this is just cool,' " Rock said.
"I grew up on Hockey Night in Canada. Every Saturday night, sitting there with my grandfather and my dad. So this it's huge for me. It's Canadian heritage at its finest. I'm really stoked about it."
Rock, of course, is a legendary music producer who has worked with the likes of Metallica, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, the Tragically Hip, and countless others. Rock also was a member of the hit-making Canadian band the Payolas.
For the past week, however, Rock has been in a Toronto studio producing potential new Hockey Night in Canada themes for five semi-finalists in a national CBC contest.
Tonight in a one-hour primetime special on CBC, George Stroumboulopoulos and Ron MacLean will introduce the semi-finalists and present a full recording of each potential anthem. The show also will include surprise guest appearances from some of Canada's greatest musicians.
Rock was asked if it's difficult to produce songs that most commonly will be heard in 30- or 45-second snippets.
"I wanted to make five hit singles, basically," Rock reasoned.
"When I first started at Little Mountain (Sound Studios in Vancouver), I did a lot of jingles. So it's going back to the 10 years of training I had when I first started out."
In a perfect world, the Hockey Night in Canada theme should appeal to viewers aged 8 to 80. Does that impact Rock's production philosophy?
"I think it does," Rock admitted. "One of the reasons these five were picked is they had the best melodies that stuck with you, simple, straight-forward melodies. But each one spoke in a certain way as to how it should be approached.
"I don't know how to describe it, but you just get a feeling. To be fair, we used the same instrumentation with everybody, but some things are a little more rock, some are a little more traditional.
"I just looked at it like, would I want to hear this? And how would I want to hear it if I were just sitting there listening to it?"
CBC lost the old Hockey Night in Canada theme earlier this year when it couldn't come to a financial agreement for continued use of the song, and CTV quickly snapped up the rights. CTV surely will make great use of the old anthem during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"There's so much tradition involved with hockey, and with the old anthem, in all due respect and everything, but this sounded like a lot of fun, and it has been," Rock said.
"I would just say, why not give some new people a shot, you know what I mean?"
Maybe The Hip will be the surprise performers tonight?
Bob Rock had a very Canadian response when he was approached about producing the new Hockey Night in Canada anthem.
"I said, 'I don't care what anybody says, this is just cool,' " Rock said.
"I grew up on Hockey Night in Canada. Every Saturday night, sitting there with my grandfather and my dad. So this it's huge for me. It's Canadian heritage at its finest. I'm really stoked about it."
Rock, of course, is a legendary music producer who has worked with the likes of Metallica, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, the Tragically Hip, and countless others. Rock also was a member of the hit-making Canadian band the Payolas.
For the past week, however, Rock has been in a Toronto studio producing potential new Hockey Night in Canada themes for five semi-finalists in a national CBC contest.
Tonight in a one-hour primetime special on CBC, George Stroumboulopoulos and Ron MacLean will introduce the semi-finalists and present a full recording of each potential anthem. The show also will include surprise guest appearances from some of Canada's greatest musicians.
Rock was asked if it's difficult to produce songs that most commonly will be heard in 30- or 45-second snippets.
"I wanted to make five hit singles, basically," Rock reasoned.
"When I first started at Little Mountain (Sound Studios in Vancouver), I did a lot of jingles. So it's going back to the 10 years of training I had when I first started out."
In a perfect world, the Hockey Night in Canada theme should appeal to viewers aged 8 to 80. Does that impact Rock's production philosophy?
"I think it does," Rock admitted. "One of the reasons these five were picked is they had the best melodies that stuck with you, simple, straight-forward melodies. But each one spoke in a certain way as to how it should be approached.
"I don't know how to describe it, but you just get a feeling. To be fair, we used the same instrumentation with everybody, but some things are a little more rock, some are a little more traditional.
"I just looked at it like, would I want to hear this? And how would I want to hear it if I were just sitting there listening to it?"
CBC lost the old Hockey Night in Canada theme earlier this year when it couldn't come to a financial agreement for continued use of the song, and CTV quickly snapped up the rights. CTV surely will make great use of the old anthem during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"There's so much tradition involved with hockey, and with the old anthem, in all due respect and everything, but this sounded like a lot of fun, and it has been," Rock said.
"I would just say, why not give some new people a shot, you know what I mean?"
