NBCUniversal is vying to win the rights to air some NBA games again and fans of a certain age with War on Drugs posters on their walls are very excited that this could mean the return of John Tesh’s Roundball Rock. Credit CNBC’s Alex Sherman for reaching out to Tesh himself yesterday to talk about the possibility of the soundtrack of the ’90s returning to the network of the ’90s because that’s the type of story that gets a person ahead in this industry.
And get this, Tesh says NBC could once again use the song if it scores the deal and pays the licensing fee.
If NBC Sports wins the rights, it’s free to once again license “Roundball Rock” from Tesh, who owns the song, the composer said in an e-mail.
Look, I know this is going to be unpopular but I am so sick of hearing about Roundball Rock. It’s a certifiable jam and hearing it makes me think of Michael Jordan and the 1996 SuperSonics and those iconic Knicks-Heat playoff series. The point is that we all like it and ‘member it. Even without dozens of reminders it exists anytime there’s going to be some basketball on via social media. We got it. We really do.
And again, nothing against the song but it hasn’t gone anywhere. This Saturday Night Live sketch now 11 years old.
Fox Sports used it for hundreds, if not thousands of college basketball games over the past several seasons. People are treating the ditty like something Indiana Jones would need to go to the most remote corner of the world to discover when it’s pretty much readily available anywhere sports and pop culture mix. Roundball Rock doesn’t need to “come back.” It never left. Anyone who wants to use it can apparently do so for a reasonable fee. Anyone who wants to hear it can again can listen to it right now on the internet, where they have everything.
Some seem not to know this so for their sakes I am half-rooting for NBC to get everything it wants and to use it before games. Until then, though, enough.