Sirius (instrumental)

"Sirius" is an instrumental by British rock band The Alan Parsons Project, recorded for their sixth studio album, Eye in the Sky (1982). Nearly two minutes long, it segues into "Eye in the Sky" on the album.

"Sirius"
Single by the Alan Parsons Project
from the album Eye in the Sky
A-side	"Sirius" "Eye in the Sky"
B-side	"Mammagamma"
Released	August 1982
Recorded	1981–1982
Studio	Abbey Road, London
Genre	Progressive rock[1] space rock[2] instrumental rock
Length	1:48
Label	Arista
Songwriter(s)	Alan Parsons Eric Woolfson
Producer(s)	Alan Parsons
The Alan Parsons Project singles chronology
"Snake Eyes" (1981) "Sirius" / "Eye in the Sky" / "Mammagamma" (1982) "Psychobabble" (1982)
Audio
"Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project on YouTube

Since 1984, it has been played at Chicago Bulls home games, and subsequently became a staple at many other college and professional sporting events throughout North America.^[3]

Background

Alan Parsons wanted the first song on the album to be "Eye in the Sky", but felt there needed to be an introduction leading up to it. As he was working on ideas at home on his Fairlight CMI, he wrote a riff that he liked, which ultimately became "Sirius".^[3] This riff was played using a clavinet sample with added tape delay.^[4] Originally, "Sirius" was not written in the same key as "Eye in the Sky", but was re-recorded in the studio once the band realized it could lead into "Eye in the Sky".^[3]

Usage in media

Sports

"Sirius" has been used as the starting lineup introduction song for the Chicago Bulls since 1984. The song was chosen by public address announcer Tommy Edwards after he heard it playing in a local movie theater two years after the song's release in 1982.^[5] Since 2006, a version arranged by Ethan Stoller and Kaotic Drumline's Jamie Poindexter has been used.^[6] "Sirius" was the opening number of the 2000 documentary Michael Jordan to the Max.^[6] Since 1994, "Sirius" has also been used for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team's introductory "Tunnel Walk" before home games.^[7][8]

Film, television, and video games

In recent years, the song has been used in the trailer for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, in the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and was played in a Nissan Altima TV advertisement. It is featured on the soundtracks to NBA 2K11, which is used in the Michael Jordan intro, and a remixed version of the song is used in NBA 2K18. A soundalike version was used in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius episode "Vanishing Act". It appears in 2017 TV commercials for Best Buy.^[9] The 2018 movie, Blockers also plays the song.^[10] The track appears in series one of the 2018 YouTube Red production Cobra Kai when Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) tells Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) "I'm gonna be your sensei." It was also played at the end of the first episode of The Last Dance, a ten-part documentary miniseries by ESPN and Netflix centering around the Chicago Bulls 1997–98 season, when they won their sixth NBA championship. The opening arpeggio is similar to that of the track, "Corridors of Time" in the progressive rock influenced score for the game, Chrono Trigger. The song is heard briefly in Space Jam: A New Legacy, which is a sequel to the original film, during the scene where Sylvester the Cat tries to summon Michael Jordan to help the Tune Squad win the game against Al-G Rhythm and the Goon Squad, only to find out that it is the actor, Michael B. Jordan instead. It was also used in the final episode of Knuckles. In 2023, the song was also used in the sports drama film, Air, which centers around Michael Jordan. In June 2024, it was used in a promotional clip for Deadpool & Wolverine. The song also appeared in the season 2 finale of Severance.

On UK television, it was played in the background when a participant was taking part in a record-breaking challenge on BBC's Roy Castle's Record Breakers, and it also played in the main theme of Concorde Special 1989.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sirius" (instrumental)	1:48
2.	"Eye in the Sky"	4:33

Side B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mammagamma" (instrumental)	3:34

Personnel

• Ian Bairnson – electric guitars
• Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
• Alan Parsons – clavinet, Fairlight CMI, delay
• David Paton – bass guitar
• Andrew Powell – orchestral arrangement, orchestral conductor
• Eric Woolfson – keyboards

Covers

• "Sirius" is sampled in "The Saga Continues (Intro)", the opening track of P. Diddy and The Bad Boy Family's 2001 album The Saga Continues... The song is also sampled in "B.O.M.B.S." by Fabolous and "Miami Shit" by Pitbull.^[11]
• Armin van Buuren and AVIRA released a trance cover of the track in 2021.^[12][13]
• "Sirius" was covered along with "Eye in the Sky" by Zombi on their 2022 album "Zombi & Friends, Volume 1".^[14]
• Borna Matosic wrote a cover for "Sirius" on June 11, 2020. Then later, this version was used for the Paramount+ and Sonic the Hedgehog show: Knuckles.^[15]