Pumping up the Oilers Jam. Vote for this season’s Goal Song

Last season the music during Oilers games at Rexall place was awful. Not only did fans have to sit through the team getting shellacked from start to end on most nights, but on the rare occasion the Oilers scored a goal, everyone in the building was assaulted by this:

I can understand the initial appeal of this selection: it was a hit song, it’s about partying and it has a dancing beat. However, the lyrics are nonsense, it really says nothing about sports, and it was so overplayed elsewhere that now it just makes me dizzy every time I listen to it. Now it wasn’t only the goal song, but the atmosphere in general was uninspiring and the whole music slate during the game left something to be desired.

For me music is an important factor when playing a game and getting the crowd into it, especially in a closed building. I’m not saying crappy music is what made the Oilers lose so much, but it is not the same to gear up for winning to the tune of say War Pigs by Black Sabbath, than doing it with Imagine by John Lennon.

The good news is management seems to have taken noticed and so they have a new and on deck,  Rich Meyers as the new director of game presentation. I did not go to the preseason game last Saturday, but people I spoke to said they could tell the music was already different from last year, and for the better.  This man comes with some experience putting this kind of show together, so here’s hoping that part of the Oilers game is improved.

As for that horrible goal music, well it wasn’t always like that. During the 2012 season the song was Lonely Boy by The Black Keys. On previous years they had Dup Dup by german DJ Mickie Krause.  This year, the team is asking us the fans to have a say on what we want to hear every time Yak City slides to the middle of the ice or Perron puts one in from an impossible angle or the TNE line leaves opposition defenders with their pants down.

Now I thought about this long and hard (the whole morning!); I even went to my personal music collection and realized I’m not much for cheerful music and most of the songs I like are not really what you would want to hear during a tied game to stir the salsa. I figured a song like this needs at least 4 key elements:

1) It has to have family friendly lyrics. I like to listen to old school rap and hip hop and 90’s nu metal to get myself going so this first rule right here eliminated most of what I like.

2) It has to appeal to as much of the audience as possible. The song Team by Lorde actually has very adequate lyrics for a goal song for Edmonton: it talks about sticking together, about being bullish and finding one’s own way, about cities not exactly famous but full of heart. There are two issues with this kind of song though. One, I doubt many people over 18 years old or creepy old me will recognize it and second, the rhythm is too mellow to be something used to electrify a crowd and a team. I would play this one in the locker room after losing to Calgary.

3) People need to be able to survive it being played over and over. Unless it is a classic, chances are if you throw on summer hit like those by Pitbull, your ears will begin to bleed every time you hear it after September. Most sports classics like Jump Around or Pump Up The Jam are already in use during the game, so those are out of contention too.

4)It has to have the power to bring the building to life. My runner-up selection for goal song was U2’s Elevation. It is a song with energy and by a band most people have heard of. The lyrics are for the most part PG and it is kind of electrifying. Honestly this would have been my choice, but I acknowledge it may still lack a bit of punch to really get everyone going compared to my lovely wife’s suggestion.

When I told her what I was writing about and then proceeded to explain to her my criteria, her second suggestion was this:

I must admit, the instant I began to listen to it, I got a smile on my face. I wanted to get up and dance. I just felt good. The lyrics are all about being positive and coming together and having good clean fun. It  is an extremely sports friendly song. And it is so silly. It is also a very well-known piece of music that most people, even if they don’t really know it’s Marky Mark on the mic (Mark Wahlberg if you’re too lazy to google it), they know they have heard it somewhere before. Now because it is somewhat of a classic pop song, it is part of your subconscious, so it would be hard for people to get sick of it during a game.

For me this would be the perfect goal song for a season where there needs to be a lot of positive vibe. One more thing about this song, it came in the summer of 1991, one year after the last Stanley Cup won by the Oilers. Maybe bringing this old anthem to the house will be a good omen to end the years of drought. Of course if the team wants to be cheeky and rub it into the opposition’s faces every time they get one past their goalie, they can always use this one.

Well that’s my selection, we complain so much about such and such moves and feel so powerless to do anything about it. Well here’s our chance to raise our voice and make a change we agree with. Have your say at the Oilers website here.