During Monday’s edition of SEC Now, the flagship news program on the SEC Network, analyst Matt Stinchcomb ranked his top five ‘audience participation’ songs in the SEC.
The number one song on the list was none other than ‘Rocky Top,’ the beloved bluegrass track that has become the makeshift fight song at the University of Tennessee.
Is Rocky Top the best song in the SEC? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/XnUMNmryZn
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) August 7, 2023
Stinchcomb’s full list is below:
- ‘Rocky Top’ – Tennessee
- ‘Sandstorm’ – South Carolina
- ‘I Won’t Back Down’ – Florida
- ‘Dixieland Delight’ – Alabama
- ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge’ – LSU
It’s no secret ‘Rocky Top’ holds a special place in Vol fans’ hearts, but the song is also widely known, whether it’s liked or not, across all of college football.
“Is it too obvious?” Stinchcomb laughingly said before revealing his top song.
“Is there a song that is more ingrained, intertwined, with a team’s identity than Rocky Top?” Stinchcomb said. “I would say that probably the breadth of college football has an idea of how Rocky Top goes. We probably can’t get past the chorus, most of us, but the fans certainly can. It’s even descriptive of the stadium. ‘Where do you play? Up on Rocky Top.’ Or, ‘It was a great day on Rocky Top.’ When you think about these songs… Rocky Top to me has got to be number one.”
More From RTI: Javontez Spraggins ‘Nonstop’ Energy Crucial For Tennessee Football’s Offensive Line
‘Rocky Top’ was a common song in the college football world in 2022. The Vols were finally considered ‘back’ last season as Tennessee had their best year in over two decades.
Tennessee was the number one team in the first 2022 College Football Playoff rankings, beat Alabama, hosted College GameDay twice, played in CBS’ SEC Game of the Week four times and was on ESPN Saturday night primetime twice.
Like them or not, everything about Tennessee football was difficult to ignore last season, especially the 1968 tune that played after every touchdown (extra point).
As Stinchcomb stated, ‘Rocky Top’ fully embodies Tennessee. When you think Tennessee, you think ‘Rocky Top’ and vice versa. There are other great audience participation songs in the SEC, but it’s hard to pick another that has a more unique connection to the school than ‘Rocky Top’ does to Tennessee.
