Hello everyone, Andy here.
I rarely get to speak to you all in the first person. Anything I write that isn’t an opinion piece such as this, you won’t see the word “I” in the story unless I'm quoting someone else saying it. It normally isn’t about me. But this time, Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork and Eleven Warriors’ wonderful deputy editor Dan Hope made it about me.
“The band Caamp, does everyone know,” Bjork asked the media at his press conference on Tuesday. “Who's our music buff here in the media?”
Hope – along with a few other members of the Ohio State media contingent – pointed to me.
“Who knows Caamp,” Bjork said, seeing them point, then looked at me and gestured, expecting me to know who they were.
I’d only heard of Caamp that morning when I got word of Ohio State’s new Tradition Evolved gameday atmosphere initiative, which Bjork was announcing. But I nodded ‘yes’ to avoid an awkward moment.
“They have a song called, ‘Ohio,’” Bjork said. “And so we will take that song, we will put it to a cool video that really speaks to the state of Ohio pride and we’ll play that in the first half. It will really rally, I think, our fans around our great state of Ohio. So the song 'Ohio,' hopefully, will be synonymous now with Ohio Stadium.”
Now, Hope and others pointed to me as a “music buff” for two reasons: First, I’m known to rap or sing boisterously along with almost any song I can that plays in a public setting, and second, I’ve made a handful of rap songs that some of my fellow Buckeye beat members (including Hope) have heard.
This is not a plug. I’m not here to tell you to check out my mixtape boiiiiiii. It’s to say I’m more of a rap/hip hop buff (and still there are plenty of more knowledgeable people out there than me in that area) than I am an overall music buff. Maybe some classic rock too, but certainly not bluegrass, the genre that Caamp falls under as a band.
But still, I can’t let Bjork or Hope down, so I’m here to give my honest thoughts on this song as the choice for a new Ohio State gameday tradition. Music is as subjective an art form as there is, so feel no shame in sharing your own opinions in the comments.
Overall Thoughts
I like this track on the whole. But from the perspective of an atmosphere-setting anthem to play in a stadium of 100,000 fans, I have reservations.
The most important part of riling up the crowd at a college football game is getting the students going. Ohio State’s move to put all of them together in the south stands is an excellent one, in my opinion. All the loudest environments in the country do exactly that. But can this folksy tune, whose instrumentation consists of an acoustic guitar and banjo with some horns that kick in at the end, catch on with the students?
Not that there aren’t slower-paced tunes that are huge with crowds across the land. See Alabama’s tradition with Dixieland Delight, West Virginia’s with Take Me Home, Country Roads or Tennessee’s with Rocky Top.
Rocky Top into Nah nah, hey hey goodbye at the Shoe pic.twitter.com/nZ3da0f3Ui
— Andy Anders (@AndyAnders55) December 22, 2024
Apologies on behalf of my past self for incorrectly posting the name of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," the Tennessee postgame was mayhem.
Dixieland Delight, Country Roads and Rocky Top are songs with deep connections to those regions that transcend the sport. Not that Caamp is obscure. They have two certified Gold records for their singles "Vagabond," from the same 2016 self-titled album Ohio is off of, and 2019’s "By and By," the title track of the album of the same name. They’ve performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and were nominated for 2023 group/duo of the year by the Americana Music Association.
But just in talking with friends and seeing the reaction on social media, it’s clear that many people who will attend games at the Shoe this year didn’t know of this song before Tuesday, just as I didn't. It’s not an inherently energetic song. And the key to any great stadium anthem is in a catchy chorus everyone can join in on.
Is “In Ohio... treat me welllllllll” a refrain that’s going to be belted as a rallying cry by the Columbus masses, and most importantly, the students? I have doubts.
As a touching tribute video to the state of Ohio, as Bjork hinted at – sure, maybe.
Looking at the Lyrics
Then again, other than Caamp being from Columbus and singing the word “Ohio” in said chorus, there’s nothing in this song that is inherently about the state of Ohio, and certainly not The Ohio State University.
Rollin' the dice on the weekend
Conversations and the company kept
Smokin' cigarettes behind the school with my best friends
I never will forget, takin' that with me till the end
Football and tall trees, the autumn never ends
Summer lovin'
In Ohio
That doesn’t make it a bad song. I enjoyed it fine, even for one outside my usual preferred genres. It’s a wistful recollection of the band’s youth, cherished memories and the rasp of singer Taylor Meier is soothing. But what makes it about Ohio? People everywhere can remember getting into trouble as a kid, whether it’s rolling dice or smoking cigarettes or other shenanigans. Football is popular here, sure, but it’s the most popular American sport. Verse 2 doesn’t do anything to identify it as an anthem about the Buckeye State, either.
Some things you can’t forget, like your first kiss
Under the bleachers in the Seventh Grade, I damn near missed
All these memories, shootin' shivers down my spine
Make them into melodies, play me yours and I’ll play mine
No mention of Columbus, the Olentangy, Alum Creek, Lake Erie, Cleveland, Cincinnati, any of the state’s iconic landmarks, nothing. Which isn’t a critique of the song; it's not the song's topic. But that’s my point. This is chosen specifically to rile up the state pride of Ohioans, but despite being called Ohio, the track is about childhood memories, not the state itself. It’s just the location where those memories took place.
Conclusions
If the goal here was a rallying cry for the stadium to hype up the crowd and generate a loud atmosphere, there were better options on the table. If it catches on, it catches on. But an energetic tune from huge-name bands Twenty-One Pilots or The Black Keys, who hail from Columbus and Akron, feels like it could have been a better pick for that purpose. I could very much imagine a stadium belting the chorus to “Ride” during a FOX commercial break and raising the energy.
Alternatively, a new song for The Best Damn Band in the Land to play alongside "Hang On Sloopy" as a call to arms could have easily caught on with a Buckeye fanbase known to love its band. (Whether as a student or reporter or a young kid at his first game, ramp entry through Script Ohio will always be my favorite part of gameday in the Shoe.)
If the goal is to have an emotional song to set in the background of an Ohio tribute video that plays on the scoreboard, "Ohio" does have that aesthetic. That might be more of the objective, going off the athletics website.
At the heart of this is a new gameday anthem from Columbus' own Caamp, whose song "Ohio" will play in the first half of each game, set to a powerful visual tribute to the people and places that make this state home. It's a moment meant to stir something deep: a sense of place, connection, and gratitude.
So, in that context, as a moment of connection for the crowd – again, maybe. Even if it’s not inherently about Ohio, it is about memories made in the birthplace of moon men, which is something Ohioans can relate to.
