Thank God it’s not “A County Boy.”
We imagine more than a few rows of Air Canada Centre regulars will be feeling that kind of relief Tuesday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs game operations crew dips into a new 2,500-song library for the home team’s game against the New York Rangers.
With all due respect to John Denver, the in-game experience at Air Canada Centre has been in need of a playlist freshening.
“There were a lot of songs that were overused,” Leafs music consultant Alan Cross told the Toronto Star.
“We’ve cleaned all that up. We used some tried-and-true market radio research to determine Toronto’s favourite radio songs. We found there was a much broader consensus about what music works at a hockey game.
“It goes across all genres: rock, pop, hip-hop and country — heavily rock. There are some favourites, and some songs people never want to hear again.”
So, Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” a third-period staple, has been laid to rest. (Hopefully this guy can still find work.) Maybe Aeromith’s “Love in an Elevator” too.
The Leafs’ expanded digital crates come with improved software, crisper sound and (mericifully) some volume control. Tunes will now fade in and out versus blasting in from zero to 100.
Cross told the Star his staff is turning its ear “toward humour and an eye on the moment.” (For example, as it became obvious that the Leafs were going to snap their 11-game losing streak Saturday night, the game crew hit play on Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks.”)
The game operations’ grand plan is to allow fans to make requests, download songs mid-game and blare the team’s arena jams — a “Leafs Top 50” — at home.
“We have enough songs in that library,” said manager of game presentation Steve Edgar (recruited from the Calgary Flames), “that we could go four or five games without playing the same song.”
Sounds glorious.
