I have never been to Smashville, but I am intrigued by it. During broadcasts of the Caps at Nashville, I see bands playing in the stands between periods, a brilliant idea for Music City and something I hope to see in person sometime.
Until then, I listen to what the DJs and organists offer during games around the NHL. Was someone unhappy with a penalty? Cue up “Misunderstanding.” Is the other team getting a little too confident in their play? “Take On Me” wafts through the speakers. Did a generational player just blow our minds? On Tuesday night, when hats flew toward the ice to honor Ovechkin’s hat trick, “It’s Tricky” played, and then played again.
Always keen to understand the method behind any madness, I decided to track every song played when the Caps hosted the Sharks in their last home game before the NHL All Star break. It seemed a simple thing to do—until I started to do it.
Thankfully, I had help from my go-to-hockey-gamer, hereinafter referred to as “The Raconteur” on this blog, for his ability to tell an amazing story as well as be a willing foil to my madcap hockey enthusiasm. Even with his astute assistance and our access to Shazam, we were scrambling and distracted from the game.
If I do this again, I won’t sit so close. Tracking the music kept pulling my eyes from the skating technique I closely watch when lucky enough to sit just five rows behind the glass.
Suffice it to say, play stops more than I thought, and I don’t know as many songs as I thought. Even limiting my analysis to those songs played between puck drop and buzzer overwhelmed me—several times I got lost in the game and barely realized in time that I needed to track the song.
At least three times, we or Shazam failed (and I know we missed/disputed several organ pieces). If you happen to be the Caps DJ or organist, please take pity and fill in those gaps.
At the end of this experiment, I was impressed by the thought that clearly went into everything that came over the loud speakers. As a casual listener at other games, I would occasionally note commentary coming from the DJ or organist and smile. As an active listener on Tuesday, it seemed to me the commentary never stopped.
Here’s to hearing Bustin’ Loose at the end of the next home game.
Caps Versus Sharks Set List
January 22, 2019
(Not complete by any means, so feel free to fill in the blanks. Omissions/confusions were unintentional and brought on by a very crazy game that I had to watch!)
- Elevate, DJ Khalil, Denzel Curry, SwaVay, YBN Cordae, and Trevor Rich
- What’s Golden, Jurassic 5
- Organ: “Here We Go, Capitals”
- Organ: “Here We Go, Capitals”
- WL*
- WL*
- Cha Cha Slide, DJ Casper
- Kiss This, The Struts
- Line in the Sand (Evolution), Motörhead
- Organ: Sad Song (Does this have a name?)
- Organ: “Here We Go, Capitals”
- Organ: “Johnny B. Goode”
- Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love, Van Halen
- Raise a Little Hell, Trooper
- Can’t Stand Losing You, The Police
- Battle Sirens, Tom Morello, feat. Knife Party
- Organ: Sad Song
- Organ: “Let’s Go Caps”
- Killing in the Name, Rage Against the Machine
- Get Up Offa That Thing, James Brown
- Combative, CFO
- Organ: Incidental Music
- The Stroke, Billy Squier
- Organ: “Chim Chim Cher-ee” or “The Mexican Hat Dance” (We couldn’t settle this argument—can you, Bruce Anderson?)
- Sweet Memories, CID and Kaskade
- Red Alert, Quiet Riot
- Soul Man, The Blues Brothers
- Organ: Incidental Music
- Any Way You Want It, Journey
- Organ: “Here We Go, Capitals”
- Gonna Make You Sweat, C&C Music Factory
- Love Runs Out, OneRepublic
- Broken Arrows, Avicii
- Life to Fix, The Record Company
- YMCA, Village People
- Melody, Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike and Steve Aoki Vs. Ummet Ozcan
- Misunderstanding, Genesis
- Around the Bend, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
- Organ: “Chariots of Fire”
- It’s Tricky, Run-DMC
- Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes
- Organ: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
- Start Me Up, The Rolling Stones
- Organ: “Mexican Hat Dance”
- Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash
- Organ: “Let’s Go Caps”
- The Hum, DJ Silv’r
- Organ: Upbeat Song
- Organ: Sad Organ
- Iron Man, Black Sabbath
- For Whom the Bell Tolls, Metallica
- Been Caught Stealing, Jane’s Addiction
- Honest Goodbye, Bad Religion
*(I borrowed WL from Phil Rizzuto, although for me it stands for “wasn’t listening” because the game was so distracting.)