WITH NO ROWDY FANS, ESPN TURNS TO LITTLE RICHARD FOR ‘MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL’ THEME. A few weeks ago, the members of little-known band Butcher Brown got a life-changing opportunity. ESPN had decided that the previous theme for Monday Night Football — Hank Williams, Jr.’s “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” — felt off since virtually no fans, rowdy or otherwise, would attend football games this season.
The network’s producers tasked its music director with dreaming up a new theme, so he and his team selected Little Richard’s 1956 barnburner “Rip It Up” and sent the a cappella vocal track to Butcher Brown, an eclectic Richmond, Virginia group whose music spans jazz, hip-hop and rock. The mission: give the song a new game face.
Brother With Attitude 