Aside from Thursday night’s loss, the Milwaukee Brewers have given fans very few things to complain about of late. The first place club is fresh off an uncharacteristically successful road trip in which it swept one division rival and took two of three from the hated second place Cardinals. Even Yuniesky Betancourt has apparently decided to become a professional baseball player during the Crew’s great 13-2 run.
Glove repair methods not withstanding, I’d be hard-pressed to find something I’d want to change about the Brewers as they return to Miller Park tonight to continue their postseason push. However, the same cannot be said for Miller Park itself.
Don’t be confused. Miller Park is a palace, an affordable wonder, the only place in the Midwest to catch a game no matter the weather conditions, a refuge from trough urinals, pure paradise. The problem I’m referencing rests in the uninspired soundtrack pumped through the P.A. system of this otherwise superb structure.
I’ll abstain from piling on players for their poor at-bat song selections (since I already did that in the current issue of Milwaukee Magazine – on newsstands now!). Instead, I’d like to call attention to the park’s staggering shortage of local music played during games. You’d think a venue that plays host to races between locally produced sausages, swears by a single area ambulance provider (lest we be “taken for a ride”) and offers Lakefront beer—not to mention IS NAMED after a Milwaukee-born brew!—would slide a few tunes from some of the city’s many great bands into game action from time to time.
But, alas, “Everybody Clap Your Hands,” instead, makes everybody hate his or her life. The intro to “Carwash,” as it has for decades, serves less a function to pump you up as it does to remind you that a stranger probably peed on your car when you went to dump out your charcoal before the game. Worst of all, Disturbed is sometimes played. Disturbed. And apart from a brief snippet of an old song from now-defunct Promise Ring and an occasionally plied chorus of a Fall Out Boy (only one-quarter Milwaukee… it’s a stretch) song, nary a note of local music can be heard within the Miller Park turnstiles.
With the aim of improving Miller Park’s audio accouterments and echoing the local focus applied to almost every other facet of the stadium experience, I’ve come up with a few suggestions for Milwaukee band songs to use and situations in which to use them.
Song: “Wanna Get Up” by Surgeons In Heat
Situation: Brewers home run
Rationale: Beloved broadcaster Bob Uecker’s famous “Get Up! Get Outta Here! Gone!” home run call is comfortably nestled somewhere between “bubbler” and “Er no?” in the lexicon of Wisconsin phrases. I figure hardworking Milwaukee band Surgeons in Heat’s fuzzy and stomping anthem, which is thick in mentions of getting up, getting out of here and getting out of town, would be a great musical pairing for such a celebratory situation. Plus, it’s a damn catchy song.
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| Photo by Michael Goelzer, courtesy of Sub Pop Records. |
Song: That’s How We Burn by Jaill
Situation: Stolen base
Rationale: Despite being near the bottom of the National League steals list, Ron Roenicke’s Brewers are much more aggressive on the base paths than were the Ned Yost, Ken Macha and—forgetting the microscopic sample size for a moment—Dale Sveum era teams ever were. I’d say the same for the Davey Lopes and Jerry Royster Brewers teams… but a runner never reached base. HEY-O! Anyway, the sweet and still-somewhat-rare occasion of a Milwaukee steal is enough to make fans accustomed to station-to-station baseball want to get up and sing. That’s where, Jaill’s titular track from its Sub Pop debut comes in. It, with its distinctly easygoing summertime feel, is one of the best songs on a solid effort, and it’s a fitting way to inform opposing players and fans of the team’s base running mentality.
Song: Pizza Party by Call Me Lightning
Situation: Palermo’s Sausage Toss
Rationale: Recent years have seen Call Me Lightning go through three bassists and undergo a transformation into a more focused, polished and (judging by CML populating numerous “Best Of…” lists and regularly opening for great touring bands) respected outfit. That’s great to see; but there’s still a huge part of me that misses when they just played songs about overflowing toilets, horseflies and throwing pizza parties in a haunted clubhouse. I know the band doesn’t like to play “Pizza Party” anymore, and I’m pretty sure Bernie Brewer no longer tosses cloth sausages from his chalet, cruelly out of reach of bewildered youngsters, as part of the Palermo’s promotion. But both of those things should change.
Song: Paraphernalia by Maritime
Situation: Cubs catcher Geovany Soto comes to bat, or former Brewers first-round pick Jeremy Jeffress pitches during the next Brewers vs. Royals interleague game at Miller Park
Rationale: While much of this selection for two obscure situations is rooted in a cheap marijuana joke at the expense of MLB drug policy offenders, part of my reasoning is because Maritime’s Human Hearts is on my short list for Milwaukee album of the year, and “Paraphernalia” is one of the record’s best songs.
Song: Almost anything by Get Rad
Situation: John Axford entrance music
Rationale: Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE Axford’s current song (“New Noise” by Refused). In fact, I avidly campaigned for him to use it. But if he ever ditches that beautiful hardcore hymn, I pray it’s for an equally harsh and intimidating number by our own Get Rad instead of some stupid Audioslave song. Another acceptable and fitting choice would be “Alright, Who Wants a Mustache Ride?” by The Response.
Those are just a few of the many audio options for a Miller Park playlist. Any other local song suggestions and situations to use them?
