If you attend or watch sporting events there’s a good chance you’ve heard songs both familiar and unfamiliar to you. Have you ever thought “why is this song so popular at sporting events?” There are a number of factors that come into play for how a song becomes popular at sporting events. We’ve seen local artists create anthems that are then adopted as the theme song for a team in a particular city or state (see Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa). There’s also the popular songs that have simple instructions such as Jump Around by House of Pain. Then there are songs like We Ready by Archie Eversole and All I Do Is Win by DJ Khaled. We Ready has been a hype song for teams to signify that they are focused and ready to play. While All I Do Is Win is used to celebrate victory in a sporting event.
There are two songs for me that stick out for different reasons. The two songs are from different genres and are 20 years apart for when each was released. They also serve two different purposes when it comes to sporting events. Guns N’ Roses has one of the best albums ever created in Appetite for Destruction. The debut album for the rock group was released in 1987. The first track on the album – Welcome to the Jungle – is a staple at sporting events in America. It’s often used as a hype song to rile up the crowd in key situations for the home team. Those situations usually center around the home team needing a key defensive stop. The song has also been used as the walk up music for players in baseball. Those who are unfamiliar with the song have likely only heard the opening 30 to 45 seconds. The song is full of everything that you’d expect from heavy metal rock.
The second song that has become popular at sporting events is Swag Surfin’ by Fast Life Youngstaz. This song was released in Spring 2009 and has done the rounds since. Swag Surfin’ is a beloved song that is accompanied by a “popular dance.” You can throw this song on at most parties and folks will start lining up as they anticipate the beat to drop at the 30 second mark. This song is a bit tricky when it comes to sporting events because not everyone can catch the beat and instead of swaggin and surfin’ they’re drownin and hurtin’. That being said, Swag Surfin’ is often used as a celebratory song to keep the crowd loose and engaged during the breaks in action at a sporting event. NBA teams often throw the song on when it’s time for the “Dance Cam.” The song’s beat was also used by rapper Lil Wayne for his No Ceilings Mixtape. Surf Swag is the first song on the Mixtape and is equally popular to the original thanks to Wayne’s wordplay on the song.
Most of the songs that cross over to the sports world don’t even have anything to do with sports. The beats, melodies, lyrics, and instruments do find a way to energize fans and galvanize the moment. The other great thing is we hear songs that we may not have heard otherwise. We get to curate soundtracks for our favorite sports moments. Think of what it’s like chanting the chorus of the Ruff Ryder’s Anthem when the defense for your favorite football team gets that critical 4th Down stop to end a drive. Or what it’s like singing Sweet Caroline after your favorite team wins a game in the last seconds…Good times never seemed so good.
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