Jock Jamzzz

I recently went to a Dodgers game and was amazed by the music that was played there. We live in a world where indie rock has become both mainstream and marketable, but there is no sign of this at the stadium. It’s not uncommon to hear Spoon, Modest Mouse, or MGMT on modern rock radio, Gossip Girl soundtracks actually make for sweet mixes, and ad execs know the best way to reach their target demographic is to play some rocking tunes. I’m not ashamed to admit that the first time I heard The Walkmen or New Young Pony Club was while watching television commercials. Even The Pixies have their own line of Van’s! Indie music has reached a point of market saturation except for one spot: The Sporting Event, where Led Zeppelin represents an exciting new step in rock n’ roll.

It’s like a time warp once you pass through the turnstiles. While Now That’s What I Call Music is on its 31stedition, the fifth and final Jock Jams compilation was released ten years ago, and arenas haven’t added new songs to their playlist since then. They have massive sing-alongs more suited to Karaoke Night at Captain Bill’s Backyard Grill then any baseball game. At Yankee Stadium there’s “Cotton Eye Joe,” Fenway has “Sweet Caroline” and Angel Stadium has the strangely inappropriate “Calling All Angels.”  In Los Angeles, there is a giant billboard for the Dodgers with Nickelback on it proclaiming “This Is My Town.” Forgive the fact that Nickelback is from Canada, not LA, and realize that this is a selling point to go to the game, not some horrid warning to pack up your things and move away.

Perhaps not all hope is lost though. In the baseball flick Sugar produced by the team that made Half Nelson, there is a utopian scene of male bonding when one player offers the other his headphones and asks “Have you ever heard TV On the Radio?” before launching into a TVOTR montage. While it’s wonderful fiction, it’s far more likely that he would lean over and offer his headphones asking, “Have you heard the new Three Doors Down record? It’s killer.”

But when you go to the game, don’t despair because there will be plenty, and I mean plenty, of Gary F-ing Glitter.

—DJ Bears!