Music has been a constant companion in my life. When I was younger, it was the fabric of our social life. It started with records and turntables. I remember having the albums like the Eagles’ “Hotel California”, Queen’s “The Game”, and Foreigner’s “Four”. MTV then hit, and we were glued to the TV watching music videos. We then moved on to cassette tapes, where we all spent time making mix tapes for our girlfriends and pregame motivational music. We listened to the tapes on our Sony Walkmans or boomboxes. Next, we moved on to CD music where we carried our CDs in cases to go to parties and on road trips. Now my daughter has it easy. I pay for Spotify, where she has access to just about any music that has ever been made in the history of the world. She listened to it on cordless Beats that are noise-cancelling. The changes over the years are truly mind-boggling.
As a basketball player in High School and College, my teammates and I all had the pregame music that we would listen to on the long bus rides and just before the game to psych ourselves up. I thought it would be fun to have my youngest daughter create a top ten list of songs that she listens to and then compare it to my list, and my brother’s list. While the technology has evolved over the years, the culture has remained largely unchanged. Music remains as significant to youth culture as it has always been.
Grace’s List
- Talkin’ Tennessee — Morgan Wallin
- 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
Dad’s List
- The Warrior — Scandal
- All Fired Up — Pat Benetar
- Desire — U2
- Wanted Dead or Alive — Bon Jovi
- Running Down a Dream — Tom Petty
- I Won’t Back Down — Tom Petty
- Buffalo Stance — Neenah Cherry
- Slide It In — Whitesnake
- Smoke on the Water — Deep Purple
- Dream On — Aerosmith
Uncle Greg’s List (He insisted on 13)
- Jump — Van Halen
- Panama — Valen Halen
- Turn Up the Radio — Autograph
- Slide It In — White Snake
- Slow and Easy — White Snake
- More Than a Feeling — Boston
- Perfect Strangers — Deep Purple
- Smoke on the Water — Deep Purple
- Rock You Up — Romantics
- Bullets to Spare — Dokken
- Into the Fire — Dokken
- Africa — Toto
- Nobody’s Fool — Cinderella
Conclusion
What did you or do you listen to before games? Please email me your favorite psych up song to youthbasketballparent@gmail.com.