Rocky Top (Our Identity)

[MAD]

I’m noticing more and more that “The University of Tennessee, Knoxville” is simply referred to around the country as “Rocky Top”
Not sure when that started to be a thing but it’s become huge for marketing and identity.

Here are some examples just from the last couple of days.


It’s so cool hearing an out of state commit use the term.








Rocky Top is not just the most identifiable song in College Sports. It’s also the most identifiable way to describe a University, a stadium etc.



What other schools have a similar all encompassing term or phrase that is nationally recognized to describe their University?
I don’t think anything even comes close to “Rocky Top”

 

[GAVol]

I agree, but there are a lot of recognizable ones. Some just arent as branded as Rocky Top seems to be.

Hail to the Victors
Tiger Rag
Glory
Victory March
Boomer Sooner

 

[GAVol]

…and don’t get me started about the woo.

 

[SayNoToJorts]

I agree, but there are a lot of recognizable ones. Some just arent as branded as Rocky Top seems to be.

Hail to the Victors
Tiger Rag
Glory
Victory March
Boomer Sooner

"Welcome to Hail to the Victors!" - Nobody

 

[tobybeast]

You lost me at Woo....

 

[MAD]

I agree, but there are a lot of recognizable ones. Some just arent as branded as Rocky Top seems to be.

Hail to the Victors
Tiger Rag
Glory
Victory March
Boomer Sooner

I agree, those are all recognizable songs, but Rocky Top takes it to another level as far as an identity.


The 10 best fight songs in college football


“Rocky Top” transcends the fight song genre. In fact, it isn’t even Tennessee’s official fight song. (That would be “Down the Field.”) But the beloved anthem, which was written by country music legends Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, is now closely associated with the Volunteers.
The Bryants, who also penned ” “Bye Bye, Love” and “Love Hurts,” wrote “Rocky Top” in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, both the Osborne Brothers and Lynn Anderson had recorded versions of the song. Each cracked the top 40 on Billboard’s country chart.
In 1972, Tennessee band director W.J. Julian had his Pride of the Southland Band play “Rocky Top” at halftime of a game against Alabama and the Neyland Stadium crowd loved it. After that, Tennessee’s band began playing it regularly. After big victories, the Vols quarterback leads the band in the playing of “Rocky Top.” It’s a tradition that began with Peyton Manning in 1997.

 

[MAD]

"Welcome to Hail to the Victors!" - Nobody

Exactly.

Even the term, “The Hill”, “Big Orange” and “Vol Nation” are more recognizable.

 

[MAD]

You lost me at Woo....

…and don’t get me started about the woo.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

I don't tweet, but any orange-blood has to love this. Rockytop is so catchy that even people who hate it, love it Their mouths may claim to hate it, their tapping feet and bobbing heads calls them out every time.

 

[utvolpj]

I would prefer this read "...to us on The Hill" but I'm old and RT is recognizable

 

[GAVol]

It’s. Just. So. Bad. Lol

 

[joevol33]

…and don’t get me started about the woo.

 

[OrangeTsar]

You lost me at Woo....

What’s wrong with Wu?

 

[ACvol3]

Woo will always be in the stadium. It’s great for carrying energy of the fans. It’s really strange that some people don’t like it. Makes me wonder if they go to games and actually cheer with the fans in the stands

 

[OrangeTsar]

I agree, but there are a lot of recognizable ones. Some just arent as branded as Rocky Top seems to be.

Hail to the Victors
Tiger Rag
Glory
Victory March
Boomer Sooner

I always enjoy the unofficial Bama fight song

 

[sunnyvol79]

I guess I’m a odd duck because I actually prefer down the field and Tennessee Waltz to Rocky Top

 

[MAD]

Maybe I shouldn’t have put Woo in the title, was trying to be funny.

This is more about UT being known as Rocky Top, not the song.

Besides The Swamp(Florida), maybe The Big House(Michigan) what other examples are there? But I believe both of those examples only apply to their stadiums.

 

[utvolpj]

I guess I’m a odd duck because I actually prefer down the field and Tennessee Waltz to Rocky Top

The Tennessee waltz would be a terrible fight song

 

[feathersax]

…and don’t get me started about the woo.

Love the WOO!

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

…and don’t get me started about the woo.

If the players do it, we do it.

And the players absolutely do it.

 

[TnVol!]

You'll woo the day you hated the woo.

 

[HalfullVol]

This has nothing to do with Rocky Top nor Pantone 151 but
Russian dental care is sometimes less than optimum.
View attachment 481002[/QUOTE]

 

[JCHateSteve]

View attachment 480998

I just came to make sure Ric had weighed in on the Woo. Carry on.

 

[IndianaVol]

I guess I’m a odd duck because I actually prefer down the field and Tennessee Waltz to Rocky Top

The Tennessee waltz would be a terrible fight song

I actually always thought Tennessee Waltz would be great to be played later in the 4th quarter when we have a game in hand.
Kind of like the 'last dance' type song...similar to how "goodbye" is used (or dare I say it, Dixieland Delight by Bama).

 

[turbovol]

I agree, but there are a lot of recognizable ones. Some just arent as branded as Rocky Top seems to be.

Hail to the Victors
Tiger Rag
Glory
Victory March
Boomer Sooner

Rocky Top--unlike most other fight/victory songs--invokes //images of a place//, and that's what makes it distinctive. Whereas Knoxville is a real city, Rocky Top can be whatever the listener wants it to be, or feels that it is--home for the fans, home of the Vols...home. That sort of thing. And, yea, IMO the university and AD could probably use it as a marketing tool even more than they do now. The swimming/diving program produced a really strong 5-minute promotional video last year that, at the start, conjured images of Rocky Top--though I don't think the video explicitly used the term.