The Pursuit of a New Goal Song
At the beginning of this year’s NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs changed their goal song. If you're not familiar with the hockey world or sports in general, you’re probably wondering what a goal song is and why you should care. I’ll start by answering the first question: a goal song is the song an NHL team handpicks to play after each of their goals in their home arena. Typically, the song stays consistent throughout the whole season, making it recognizable to fans and a consistent topic of conversation from season to season. The Leaf's goal song had previously been Hall and Oates’ "You Make My Dreams (Come True)" for five seasons in a row, making it a fan favourite and the change all the more newsworthy. During the Leaf's first home game of the year, fans anxiously awaited a goal to see if the song would remain the same or not. Would there be a change? If so, what would the new track be? To the outrage of many their first goal revealed a drastic change. Steve Aoki's dance remix of "Pursuit of Happiness" by Kid Cudi blared throughout the arena, the electronic dance beat replacing the first strums of guitar on the Hall and Oates track. Of course, I immediately turned to social media to survey the opinions of fans and was met with a flurry of tweets and posts about the decision. It was clear that the change split the fanbase down the middle in opinion. Half of the fanbase liked the new song – this half tended to be younger fans who were familiar with the remix, having heard it countless times at parties and bars. The other half, the majority being older, lifelong Leaf fans, were not too keen on the change. But why is this switch newsworthy? Why are there such strong opinions evoked by the change of a song that, in reality, has no impact on the team's performance? Music's impact on the sports industry typically goes unacknowledged, making the connection between the two industries seem unconventional. However, music and sports may overlap more than you think.
The music industry's influence seeps into various other entertainment-based industries. Film is typically one of the first forms of entertainment we consider overlapping with music. Music is a crucial aspect of a film's ability to evoke emotions and portray a story in a compelling way to viewers. Video games also use music to accompany their storylines and increase players' enjoyment. The fashion industry incorporates music into shows and campaigns to curate a vibe that matches the styles presented. Contrary to these connections, the overlap between the sports and music industry isn’t discussed as often. When attending a sporting event, you will notice that music is constantly playing through the arena, stadium, field, or park. Music plays a considerable role in sports as an entertainment modality. Goal songs within the NHL and their impact on the fan experience reveals the music’s reach into the sports industry.
The controversy surrounding the Leafs' chance in goal song left me thinking about the relationship between fans and their team's chosen goal song. What qualifies a song to be a top-tier goal song, and how do you make an entire fanbase happy with the choice? After looking into other goal songs across the National Hockey League, I've developed a list of essential attributes that qualify songs as quality goal songs. The assembled criteria reveal the complexity of deciding on one song to satisfy an entire fanbase.
The most obvious characteristic of a great goal song is its ability to excite a crowd. Imagine the Leafs are down three to two in the last five minutes of the third period. A shot from the point gets deflected into the net, they score to tie the game, and “Fade into You” by Mazy Star starts playing. The crowd goes very mild. Despite being an amazing song, it would make a dreadful goal song, proving that likeability is not the sole item on the great goal checklist.
The next aspect I’ve determined is recognizability. A goal song needs to be catchy and recognizable across generations to feed into its excitability. This is where my critique of the Leaf's new goal song comes into play. "Pursuit of Happiness" is undoubtedly able to hype up a crowd of teenage boys and people in their early 20s, but I could never picture my dad singing along to the track. As an original six NHL team, the Leafs have a fanbase that spans all ages. By picking a song that half the fanbase doesn't recognize, you’re neglecting their taste. This discarded input limits the excitability of the song and makes it less effective when it comes to engaging a crowd.
Consistency is also a beneficial aspect of a goal song, which in turn enhances recognizability. Having the same goal song consistently over many seasons furthers the connection between the fans and the song. A team switching their goal song every season would not only be hard to keep up with but would also inhibit people’s ability to associate the song with the team. This leaves the song with no ability to reach iconic status within the fanbase. On the Buffalo Sabres, each player picks the song they want to play after they score a goal. In my opinion, rotating through goals songs like this is a recipe for disaster. This method lacks consistency and is confusing. Imagine your drink runs dry in the middle of a period and you’re forced to grab another while the game is still on. You’re in line, the goal horn goes off, and a song starts playing. You don’t want to be guessing which team scored and whose goal song is playing while waiting for a drink. You want to hear the song and immediately know what happened, disappointingly returning to your seat after missing your team’s goal.
A more team-specific aspect of a goal song is its link to the team's name or logo. A great example of this is the Arizona Coyotes goal song, "Howlin' For You" by the Black Keys – it's upbeat, recognizable, and relates to their mascot, a coyote. The Calgary Flames goal song, "TNT" by ACDC, is another prime example of a team capitalizing on their logo. Despite this being a noteworthy element of goal song, not all teams have this luxury. Songs about leaves, canucks, oilers, or penguins are rare to say the least, leaving these teams at a deficit when it comes to witticism.
From outside of the sports world, it might sound ludicrous to analyze such a small aspect of a fan's experience at a game, but goal songs and the discussion around them display the music industry's wide reach into sports. Hundreds of millions of people tune into the Super Bowl each year to watch the halftime show, which may I remind you, is usually a musical performance. During every baseball game in the MLB, players get to choose the songs they walk up to the plate to before their at-bat. Classic songs like "Sweet Caroline," “Seven Nation Army," and "Crazy Train" are played and sung along to at almost every sporting event. There are countless examples of music enhancing the watching experience across a wide range of sports.
Fundamentally, sports are a form of entertainment, and music enhances their entertainment value. Goal songs specifically enhance entertainment by forming connections between those within the fanbase and the team they love. At first glance when walking into a sports bar two people could seem completely different, but if they’re both singing the same song after their team scores they immediately have something in common. This year when I’ve been at a bar or party and “Pursuit of Happiness” has been playing immediately think of the Leafs, these thoughts trickling into the conversations I’m having with the people around me. Goal songs benefit from music’s ability to stick to a moment in time. By attaching a song to a team’s success, fans share a common feeling when the song plays. Musical aspects of the fan experience, like goal songs, display music’s reach into industries we wouldn’t superficially consider it holding influence. Done right, a goal song can shift the atmosphere within an arena, having more of an impact on the sports universe than one might expect.
