Random Top Ten List - Musical Introductions

This past Saturday the Campbell's (with Mother-In-Law in tow) took a field trip to the American Airlines Center to watch the Dirk-less Mavs take on Dwight Howard and the Magic. Our evening got off to a rocky start, and it looked like the Campbell's weren't going to quite make it in time for the starting lineups. This announcement brought about great ire from my oldest; thus confirming the fact that he IS a product of my gene pool...as the starting lineups is just about my most favorite part of a basketball game.

Back in 2006, the great Shawna Lavender (women's basketball coach @ Abilene Christian University) helped me mark an item off my bucket list by letting me be the Public Address announcer for the women's basketball games at ACU. It wasn't done in front of 10,000 screaming fans, but it was still a dream come true to get to do that. And you can ask Robin - I was downright giddy about ensuring that the game started off the right way.

Nothing is more depressing than watching a disinterested dad glumly welcome you to a coliseum and tell you who's playing. It needs to be fun, exciting, interesting...

...and music is the best way to make that happen!

So here, for the viewing pleasure of both folks that read my blog, are the top ten all-time songs for introducing a starting lineup:

10. "Enter Sandman" (Metallica) - The selling point with this song is the gradual crescendo. A single acoustic guitar slowly morphs into an orchestra of drums and distortion...while giving the P.A. guy plenty of time to run through the home team's starting five.

9. "She Sells Sanctuary" (The Cult) - I'm an Ian Astbury fanatic, and this is one of my most favorite songs of all time. So I'm a bit biased on this. But the quiet, serene opening eight bars of this song quickly transition to a rocking melody. The one drawback is that you would probably have to loop the song to get through the entire starting five.

8. "Eminence Front" (The Who) - This is the song the Mavericks use, and it has a groovy synthesizer beat. It goes great with a laser show, and the lyricless introduction lasts forever. Good tune!

7. "Poker Face" (Lady Gaga) - I know, I know...I can't believe I put this on here, either. But you gotta admit...the first 20-30 seconds of that song are downright intoxicating. And, again, it would be a nice laser show compliment.

6. "Turbo Lover" (Judas Priest) - This was the song I originally wanted to use for the ACU starters...but for a variety of reasons I thought better of it. This isn't the hard-driving heavy metal piece one expects from Priest - it has an eclectic/galactic sounding guitar intro combined with some synthesizer. The lyrics start pretty quickly after the intro (and they're not very nice lyrics, either), so once again looping is necessary.

5. "Stranglehold" (Ted Nugent) - When I was a kid, the wrestler Kerry Von Erich would run to the ring with this song playing. The guitar intro is great with some complementing drums shortly thereafter. More not-so-nice lyrics means looping or censoring is necessary.

4. "Welcome To The Jungle" (GNR) - This probably gets over-used...but I don't guess it ever gets old. The familiar guitar riff with a screaming Axl Rose can work a crowd into a frenzy in nothing flat.

3. "Jump" (House Of Pain) - Nothing like three nice Irish rappers to encourage a crowd to begin jumping in unison. It works!

2. "Iron Man" (Black Sabbath) - The sheer evil sound of the guitar and Ozzy's crazy, distorted voice make a great lead in for the home team. Great drums, great sound!

1. "Hell's Bells" (AC/DC) - The San Diego Padres hit a home run (sorry - couldn't help that one) when they began using this song when Trevor Hoffman would enter the game. How many rock'n'roll songs use a bell from a clock tower?!?!?! But what an ominous sound. Definitely the best!