Music has been a constant companion throughout my life.
When I was younger, music wasn’t simply something playing quietly in the background. It was woven into the fabric of our social lives.
It started with records and turntables.
I remember owning albums such as the Eagles’ Hotel California, Queen’s The Game, and Foreigner’s 4.
Then MTV arrived.
Suddenly, we weren’t simply listening to our favorite musicians. We were sitting in front of the television watching them perform in music videos.
Next came cassette tapes.
And if you grew up during that era, you probably remember spending an unreasonable amount of time creating the perfect mixtape.
Sometimes the tape was for a girlfriend.
Sometimes it was for a road trip.
And sometimes it was designed for one very specific purpose:
Getting yourself ready to compete.
We listened to those tapes on Sony Walkmans and boomboxes.
Then came CDs.
We carried giant cases filled with discs everywhere—to parties, on road trips, and, of course, to basketball games.
Today?
My daughter has it easy.
I pay for Spotify, and she essentially has access to almost every song ever recorded.
She puts on a pair of wireless, noise-canceling Beats headphones, selects exactly what she wants to hear, and she’s ready to go.
The technology has changed dramatically.
The ritual really hasn’t.
Music Before the Game
When I played basketball in high school and college, my teammates and I always had music playing before games.
Sometimes it was on the long bus ride.
Sometimes it was in the locker room.
Sometimes it was just a few songs immediately before warmups.
The purpose was always the same.
We were trying to get ourselves mentally ready to compete.
Some players wanted loud music that got their adrenaline going.
Others preferred something calmer that helped them focus.
And some players had a particular song that simply became part of their routine.
Athletes are creatures of habit.
We wear the same shoes.
We follow the same warmup routine.
We eat the same pregame meal.
And many of us listen to the same music.
So I thought it would be fun to compare the pregame music of three different generations.
I asked my youngest daughter, Grace, to create a list of ten songs she would listen to before a game.
Then I created my own list.
Finally, I asked my brother Greg to contribute his.
I expected the music to be very different.
I was correct.
Very different.
But what fascinated me was that the reason behind the playlists had not changed at all.
Grace’s Pregame Playlist
Here are Grace’s ten selections:
- Talkin’ Tennessee — Morgan Wallen
- Right Where You Left Me — Taylor Swift
- Wet Dreamz — J. Cole
- Nine Ball — Zach Bryan
- Nokia — Drake
- Broken Clocks — SZA
- Conceited — SZA
- 25 — Rod Wave
- Never Get Over Me — Rod Wave
- Alone — Rod Wave
I will admit something.
There are songs on this list that I probably would never have discovered without having daughters.
That may be one of the underrated benefits of raising children.
They occasionally prevent you from becoming completely musically irrelevant.
Grace’s list also surprised me because it isn’t simply ten loud, high-energy songs.
There is country.
Hip-hop.
R&B.
Taylor Swift.
The playlist feels more like something designed to create a particular mood than simply to get someone screaming and ready to run through a wall.
Maybe that says something about how athletes use music today.
The headphones go on.
The outside world disappears.
And for a little while, the athlete enters her own space.
Then the headphones come off.
Game time.
Dad’s Pregame Playlist
Now we travel backward several decades.
My list looks a little different.
Okay.
A lot different.
- The Warrior — Scandal
- All Fired Up — Pat Benatar
- Desire — U2
- Wanted Dead or Alive — Bon Jovi
- Runnin’ Down a Dream — Tom Petty
- I Won’t Back Down — Tom Petty
- Buffalo Stance — Neneh Cherry
- Slide It In — Whitesnake
- Smoke on the Water — Deep Purple
- Dream On — Aerosmith
I can already hear Grace questioning several of these selections.
That’s okay.
She is wrong.
This is a tremendous playlist.
There is also a pattern here that probably says something about me.
The Warrior.
All Fired Up.
Wanted Dead or Alive.
I Won’t Back Down.
Apparently, teenage Gary required his music to reassure him that he was preparing for some type of epic battle rather than a high school basketball game.
But that was part of the fun.
Music could transform an ordinary bus ride into something that felt important.
By the time we arrived at the gym, the competitive switch had already begun turning on.
Uncle Greg’s Pregame Playlist
Then we have my brother Greg.
His list provides even more evidence that the Grocholski family spent a lot of time listening to rock music.
- Jump — Van Halen
- Panama — Van Halen
- Turn Up the Radio — Autograph
- Slow an’ Easy — Whitesnake
- More Than a Feeling — Boston
- Perfect Strangers — Deep Purple
- Rock You Up — The Romantics
- Bullets to Spare — Dokken
- Africa — Toto
- Nobody’s Fool — Cinderella
There are enough guitar solos on this list to power a small Midwestern city.
Greg also receives bonus points for including both Van Halen and Cinderella.
Grace may not understand.
I do.
And that is all that matters.
Different Music, Same Ritual
When I look at the three lists, the differences are obvious.
Grace has Drake, SZA, Rod Wave, Taylor Swift, Zach Bryan and Morgan Wallen.
My brother and I have Van Halen, Tom Petty, U2, Whitesnake, Deep Purple and Aerosmith.
Musically, we aren’t exactly operating in the same neighborhood.
But culturally, the ritual hasn’t changed nearly as much as I expected.
Athletes still use music to prepare.
They still create playlists.
They still associate particular songs with teams, teammates, seasons, victories and road trips.
The technology just makes it easier.
I had to record songs onto a cassette tape.
Grace can create a 50-song playlist in a few minutes.
I carried a Walkman.
She carries a phone.
I worried about my cassette tape getting eaten by the player.
She worries about whether her AirPods or Beats are charged.
Progress.
The Soundtrack of Sports
One of the wonderful things about music is how strongly it connects to memory.
There are songs I can hear today that immediately take me back more than 30 years.
Suddenly, I can remember the locker room.
The bus.
My teammates.
The smell of the gym.
The nervous energy before tipoff.
The feeling that whatever was about to happen that evening was the most important thing in the world.
I’m sure the same thing will eventually happen to Grace.
Years from now, she may hear one of the songs on her playlist and immediately remember a particular season, teammate, road trip or game.
Maybe she’ll remember sitting on a bus with headphones on before walking into an arena.
Maybe she’ll remember a big win.
Maybe she’ll remember a heartbreaking loss.
Or maybe she’ll simply remember being young and playing the game she loved.
That is one of the reasons sports become such an important part of our lives.
The memories aren’t created only during the games.
They are created everywhere around them.
On the bus.
In the locker room.
During warmups.
At restaurants afterward.
And sometimes inside a pair of headphones while everyone else is sitting only a few feet away.
What’s on Your Pregame Playlist?
So now I want to hear from you.
What songs would make your pregame top ten?
Are you Team Grace?
Team Dad?
Team Uncle Greg?
Or would your playlist look completely different from all three?
Maybe you’re listening to AC/DC.
Maybe it’s Beyoncé.
Maybe it’s country.
Maybe it’s hip-hop.
Maybe it’s classic rock.
The songs don’t really matter.
The ritual does.
Because whether you were preparing to play basketball in 1989 or getting ready to take the court today, sometimes you need that one song that tells your brain:
It’s time to compete.
Technology changes.
Music changes.
Athletes change.
But somewhere, right now, a player is putting on a pair of headphones before a game and turning up the volume.
Some traditions never disappear.
They just get a new soundtrack.