The Utah Tech University fight song doesn’t bring what we need to the game. The fight song is just a shortened version of the school song. I like it as a school song, but it does not fit the atmosphere of a football or basketball game.
When the basketball game is close and intense, the students need a song that will carry that energy. The fight song that plays in the next time out needs to encourage our team to intimidate the opposing team and keep the energy up.
The fight song is too slow to build up the hype it so badly wants to have. It wants to be similar to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana or “We Will Rock You” by Queen. However, it’s a school fight song, not a popular rock song.
A fight song is supposed to be upbeat and encourage students to dance and cheer for their team. However, the Utah Tech fight song is too slow compared to other fight songs. Utah Tech’s fight song is around 80 beats per minute, while Southern Utah’s fight song is around 130 bpm, and Weber State’s fight song is around 150 bpm.
Also, Utah Tech’s fight song is almost half the tempo of other schools and it is too long. The song is a minute and 11 seconds long, whereas SUU’s fight song is 35 seconds long, and Weber State’s fight song is 52 seconds long.
The tempo isn’t the only issue the Utah Tech fight song has. The voicing and the instruments aren’t supporting what the Stampede needs to stay energetic in the game. The Stampede supports the team’s morale by giving them encouragement and energy throughout the game.
Most fight songs are usually played by the school’s pep band or marching band. The instrumentation of the Utah Tech fight song should be the same as a marching band. A marching band has around 15 different instruments in it. The Utah Tech fight song only has drums, vocals and a guitar that sometimes plays, which gives the feeling of a middle school rock band that doesn’t have all of its members for the talent show.
Due to the lack of instrumentation, the impact is lacking. It’s like a single choir member compared to the full choir singing. The full choir can build tension, build emotions, get loud and quiet and fill whatever space they are in. A single choir member can only show their skill and can’t build tension.
A fight song has to have power and it needs to have meaning. The meaning comes from the lyrics within the fight song.
Most fight song lyrics have a call to action and something relating to their mascot. Utah Tech’s fight song is boring lyrically with no fun rhythms to sing to. The fight song explains what a Trailblazer is but does not encourage the athletes or the student body to keep fighting for victory. A school fight song is supposed to be encouraging, intimidating, fun to sing and full of school spirit.
The Utah Tech fight song is called the “Trailblazers Fight Song” but doesn’t represent or mention Brooks the Bison, the Trailblazer that we want to be, in any way. Brooks is the mascot and the one to represent Utah Tech. It’s called a fight song because both schools are fighting for victory. So, how would Brooks fight the opposing team? Brooks would be charging horns first into the opposing team and not flinching from any attacks. We should be stomping the other team. We should be blazing the path to victory instead of blazing a trail to who knows where.
SUU’s lyrics are powerful and related to the Thunderbird mascot. The call to action is related to the Thunderbird, with lyrics like “echo through the sky” and “till the Thunder Roars.”
The most powerful lyrics that Utah Tech has in their fight song are “Cause fate reserved this land for the brave” and “Tread this dirt and you’re never the same.” The lyrics are very lackluster compared to SUU’s fight song. The “Oh’s” in the Utah Tech fight song are lazy writing. No other school fight song sings a vowel; instead, they have cheers or chants.
The tempo, lyrics and instruments are all problems within the song, but what are others saying about the Utah Tech fight song?
“I guess blazin’ trails truly is all they know,” said users from the forum called eGriz.com. “This must be part of the rebranding from Dixie State to Utah Tech, but what third-rate marketing firm thought that was a good idea, and who signed off on it? Really atrocious.”
Another user said, “Swear this was the type of public domain music that you’d find on video editing programs in the early 2000s… would have been titled like ‘hype music’ or ‘up-tempo sports instrumental.’”
When the Utah Tech team loses a game, the song feels like rubbing salt in the wounds of the athletes instead of bringing their spirits back up.
How can we call ourselves Trailblazers if we haven’t even started blazing our own trail? If our rivals are chanting about school spirit and victory, why can’t we?
Spread the word. We need an actual fight song, not half of a school song. We need a fight song that would boost morale at games and bring back the school spirit and pride we are missing.
