How in the World Was The Band Perry’s “Live Forever” Named Team USA’s Olympic Song?
If The Band Perry’s song “Live Forever” was an Olympic athlete, it would have eaten it on the very first hurdle of a relay, or broken its ankle while trying to dismount from the pommel horse. It would have tried to pull off a Tsukahara on the springboard, and ended up grotesquely splitting its back open on live television for the judges, commentators, and audience around the World to witness in horror. But the sad reality (and ironic outcome given the name) is that “Live Forever” just won’t freaking die.
By all accounts, it was the song’s dismal performance on the country music charts and The Band Perry’s hard-headed insistence on sticking with their new pop direction that had the family trio and preeminent country music label Big Machine parting ways earlier this year. To put it bluntly, “Live Forever” killed The Band Perry’s country music career for all intents and purposes. At least for the moment.
READ: The Band Perry and Big Machine Records Have Parted Ways
At one point the song completely disappeared from online sellers, and the video was pulled before being re-launched under The Band Perry’s own ownership. A promised new single with a still unnamed “superstar” that was supposed to materialize at some point last winter to erase the horrible memory of “Live Forever” from fans’ minds has still yet to see the light of day, and nobody seems to know what the future holds for the once high-flying country band.
But somehow, inexplicably, unbelievably, “Live Forever” is still alive. Announced Wednesday (4-27), despite the reams of data proclaiming “Live Forever” as an absolute dud, it will now be the official song of Team USA for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
We already knew that most athletes make for bad music connoisseurs, and the mid-level command bureaucrats that make decisions like what the official song of an Olympic team will be are even worse. But this is madness. The tragedy that has been The Band Perry’s story since the release of “Live Forever” is something you could write an entire book around, and this newest chapter presents a twist nobody could have ever predicted. You would think the official song for a sports endeavor would be something to evoke a winning spirit of success that inspires athletes to reach for the apex of their abilities, not something with a dark cloud hanging over it from having failed miserably.
Give The Band Perry credit for one thing: they’ve kept themselves in the spotlight, despite receiving no radio play, not being placed on a major tour, and at the moment, not even having a label home. They played the Miss Universe Pageant, they’ve been all over other live events, and even this Olympic announcement was accompanied by a performance of the song on NBC’s The Today Show. Aside from “Live Forever” being a complete washout on the charts, you would think The Band Perry was flying high.
Picks for these types of distinctions seem to always be controversial, and Olympic boosters always seem to err on the pop side. So in some respects the decision makes sense. “Live Forever” does strive to inspire listeners. But sheesh, at least pick a song that has proven to be somewhat successful at actually doing so; not one that by all accounts was dead on arrival.
April 27, 2016 @ 6:45 pm
Well… that’s ridiculous… Not that I care about the Olympics much, I’d probably burst into flames if I even walked into a gym (I do enjoy both Curling and the skating segments)
But honestly… This is just dumb, with such a neverending array of great competition songs like “This is the Moment” “That Old Wheel” why would anyone choose anything by TBP… especially since they ripped of the Teletubbies for their new appearance.
April 27, 2016 @ 6:47 pm
Let’s hope someone imports thousands of vuvuzelas to Rio de Janeiro to drown out the sounds of this single…
April 28, 2016 @ 10:09 am
Excellent idea!
April 27, 2016 @ 6:49 pm
Who the hell is keeping this band’s pop intentions alive?? Surely it can’t be Borchetta anymore. Everytime I think they’re about to fall off the face of the Earth, they come back with a new gig. Why? They have no impact in country or even pop culture, who is it that keeps forcing them on the audience? I’m seriously tired of them. The music still sucks and therefore I can’t look forward to it.
April 27, 2016 @ 6:53 pm
This band is like a plague, when I turn on the TV they’re always on. Radio won’t support them but TV loves them! With all the flopping how come they still book all these shows?
April 27, 2016 @ 6:57 pm
The Nicki Minaj collaboration is real. She was registered as a co-writer on a track called “Won’t Grow Up” (the title alone makes me throw up in my mouth a little). I bet they will release it at the height of the Olympics and take advantage of the exposure. And BAM pop crossover happens… just what they’ve been hungry for! Just hope they have the decency of not sending it to country radio, but knowing them they will send it anyway.
April 28, 2016 @ 6:35 am
They can’t cross over. She’s not refined enough, vocally. While I do find her to have a very pleasant voice, mind you, an artist needs to have top notch vocal chops to make it in the pop realm.
April 28, 2016 @ 7:58 am
Taylor Swift disagrees…just put tight little outfits on Kimberly and bycycle shorts on the brothers.
April 28, 2016 @ 10:02 am
No… pop doesn’t care about great vocals, most pop stars sound like crap live. But Kimberly will have to lose the southern accent, she stills sounds country even if the song is totally pop. This song might even crossover due to the Olympic Games, but I doubt they’ll find a spot to be pop stars. They just don’t have star quality, and Kimberly does have charisma and she tries hard to fit in with cool pop crowd, but I don’t think she has “it” for pop music. They don’t take risks, they don’t touch controversial topics, they won’t tell the truth about what happened with the label, they’re not honest when asked about their new sound and image. True pop stars are honest, they’re not afraid to tell it like it is. TBP is way too pc and don’t seem to leave their comfort zone. I’m very interested in hearing their Nicki song, I’d bet they made her write a safe verse because they’re so scared of offending their fans. Basically… they’re pretty boring despite all attempts to seem fun and edgy.
Of course Taylor Swift is also very pc and never crosses the line when it comes to risky lyrics, but she has a huge following that will never leave her. TBP does not have that kind of following and part of Taylor’s success is due to her constant being in tabloids, she is a celebrity not just a singer. TBP are musicians but not celebrities, there is no interest because they’re too boring. They’re too vanilla and obviously terrified of not pleasing everyone. Where’s the personality? I don’t see it, not even in Kimberly who despite having charisma just seems to follow trends and not setting her own.
If you want to be a pop star stop being boring and afraid of not being adored by everyone.
April 27, 2016 @ 7:10 pm
What amazes me is that despite all the events and tv appearances they get they’re still so irrelevant. Bigger country acts don’t get that much promo yet they have a strong presence in country music and mainstream music too. Meanwhile I don’t know anyone who talks about The Band Perry, anyone who is a die hard Band Perry fan, when I creep on their social media they have the followers but not the comments, which to me means even their “fans” don’t really care about them. Magazines don’t seem to pick them up either, not even the ones that cater the country niche. The lack of interest from fans shows when it comes to sale numbers… they have millions of followers but struggle to sell 100 k copies of their next lead single. Maybe that’s why they try to get all these performances and be on television, they realize that they aren’t quite the superstars they want to be yet. Maybe if they didn’t make it so obvious how desperate they are for superstardom they would have it. They’re willing to do anything for it, change who they are, their looks, their sound, their lyrics, get any gig they can… and I think it’s sad because they’re in the business for the wrong reasons. It should be about the music not the fame and the money.
April 27, 2016 @ 7:47 pm
Team USA and TBP, stop trying to make “Live Forever” happen. It’s not going to happen. :p
April 28, 2016 @ 10:01 am
It’s certainly not so fetch.
April 27, 2016 @ 7:58 pm
Usually don’t even notice sports music, just background noise to me. Only one I could name is St. Louis Cardinals Matt Carpenter had turnpike’s long hot summer day as his hitting song. I only know that because I thought, “is that fucking turnpike playing on an mlb game??”
April 27, 2016 @ 8:06 pm
And I think Trigger also mentioned that he used that song at some point. Maybe? Either way, that’s all I know.
April 27, 2016 @ 8:28 pm
https://savingcountrymusic.com/turnpike-troubadours-get-song-into-world-series-with-matt-carpenter/
April 28, 2016 @ 11:22 pm
Saw this today on ESPN.com, written by John Buccigross (a SportsCenter anchor):
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/15419345/nhl-2016-stanley-cup-playoffs-john-buccigross-examines-all-16-playoff-teams-country-music-singer-sturgill-simpson-lyrics
The athletes themselves might have questionable taste, but the same can’t be said about the people who cover them.
April 29, 2016 @ 12:05 am
Cool article.
There is a big cross-pollination between sports and artists like Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell etc because a lot of these sports writers and commentators hate what has happened to country as well, and regularly remark on it. This is the first time I’ve seen it on ESPN though. Perhaps they’re trying to get some of the street cred from Grantland.
April 27, 2016 @ 8:21 pm
Maybe they offered to forgo royalties in exchange for publicity in hopes of reviving their career… Either that or they sold their souls to the furry yellow devil.
April 27, 2016 @ 8:50 pm
I was going to write to you about this topic. I saw them on T.V. and they have to play this garbage of a flop single but insult with injury they going have this song at Rio 2016 Olympics. This is obscured I feel like I want to puke about this crap. There should be a better meaningful songs than Live Forever.
April 27, 2016 @ 11:05 pm
“ours is not to reason why”…”there’s no accounting for taste “…”I don’t know art but I know what I like”
Take your pick of one of the above to rationalize the un-rationalizeable and yes I know that is not a word .
The music business is awash with bewildering stories of serendipity ,happenstance , wrong ears -right time , and stupid luck . Countless shit songs that barely make the cut have often become the radio single that puts a band on the musical map . Even the artists involved in these scenarios are at a loss to explain why . Only took one set of decision-making ears to suggest this song should be used for the Olympic team and that by no stretch gives those ears ANY credibility musically . They just knew what they liked .
There are only a couple of thousand songwriters out there with far better and far more suitable , lyrically appropriate and amazingly well-crafted options but the wrong ears heard what they wanted at the right time and looked no further . And THAT , in a nutshell , sums up the current state of the music biz , as I see it ….for what that’s worth .
April 28, 2016 @ 2:23 am
Sorry~ this is for real?
I was looking for the “Fake News” tag…
April 28, 2016 @ 4:32 am
It is a plea for the safety of the athletes we are sending into the swarm of Zika-infected Aedes mosquitoes that awaits them.
April 28, 2016 @ 8:36 am
I think this all makes sense and is bringing the release of this song full-circle. When they performed it live for the first time on Good Morning America, it was sponsored by Dr. Scholls. At the time, many thought that the banana yellow motif was in homage to the odor-eaters but they have carried it through down to the present. Now the song is going to be the theme for a bunch of people who will no doubt be needing a great deal of odor-eating and foot care! For all we know, this could have been baked up last year when the song was first released.
April 28, 2016 @ 10:15 am
They must have a hell of a manager
April 28, 2016 @ 11:01 am
We might not have Rio 2016 Olympics this year because the water is polluted with garbage and a lot misquitos are out in the area.
April 28, 2016 @ 2:16 pm
Did the whole family put up a third mortgage on their house and begged the Olympic Committee to accept a bribe in a last-ditch effort to resurrect their name recognition? =P
April 28, 2016 @ 2:30 pm
On the topic of songs that have had more measurable success and also fit the spirited theme, I’d argue “Humble And Kind” makes sense (even if, musically, it isn’t exactly rousing).
It’s just that kind of anthem that helps keep athletes in a competitive feat grounded. I probably would have gone with something like that if considered recent hits on Country radio.
Between other radio formats; it’s odd because during the club boom, there was an overload of pseudo-inspirational motivational ditties on the radio like Katy Perry’s “Firework”, The Script’s “Hall of Fame” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”. But over this past year, there has been a notable absence of those type of songs. There are a few that are vaguely in that vein but are more about getting out of a bad relationship or breakup like James Bay’s “Let It Go” instead of something that inspires motivation in a general sense.
Wolfmother’s “Victorious” is the only song that comes to mind that has been released in the past year that captures that general positive theme, but that only got minor airplay on Active Rock radio. That’s a shame because while I have mixed feelings on Wolfmother’s current album, “Victorious” is a joy listening to.
April 29, 2016 @ 4:03 pm
Bizarre.
April 29, 2016 @ 8:06 pm
“We already knew that most athletes make for bad music connoisseurs”
I’ve read a lot of interviews with hockey players and you wouldn’t (would?) believe how many say “Nickelback” when asked who their favorite band is.
So yeah.
April 30, 2016 @ 7:40 am
SILENCE, UNDERLINGS!!! The Illuminati will NOT TOLERATE your INSOLENCE!!!!
The Band Perry has sold their souls to us. And for that generosity, we have, and will continue to, stop at nothing to make this song the greatest hit the world has ever seen!! We have decreed as such! Therefore it will be done! And nothing you do will stop us!!!!
May 1, 2016 @ 12:17 pm
Someone must have paid a lot of money, bribed or blackmailed for this to happen.
May 4, 2016 @ 4:13 pm
I’m still amazed that they are still in the spotlight. Like, someone said they must have a hell of a manager to still get publicity. I am not impressed by Live Forever being the Olympic song. I did not like that song as a single much less for something like that. Whatever they’re doing it is working for them, despite the fact they are off of a label and etc. I also read on The Band Perry Daily on Tumblr that they will be on Celebrity Family Feud to raise money for Teen Cancer America. Despite everything, I still like TBP to a certain degree. I just wished they would be true to themselves and their fans.
May 8, 2016 @ 7:11 am
Did The Band Perry hire a team of sicarios (hitmen) and walk in to the US Olympic Committee offices and give the “Plata o Plomo” speech that Pablo gave in the first episode of Narcos? This is the only reason I can come up with why this homesick abortion of a song will just….not….freaking…die…off!!!