Who IS Behind the Door?

Just like every other sports arena in North America, the game-night staff at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul plays bumper music during breaks in the action of NHL games. Not on the same plane as the selections played at GM Place in Vancouver or Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, the selections in St. Paul sadly mirror the geriatric hits repeated ad infinitum on dinosaur rock stations. They sneak in some more modern stuff here and there, but the mullet anthems really dominate the selections.

I'm especially sensitive to this, as the dinosaur rock station in my ADI is really unchanged since my high school days over 20 years ago. I mean you could listen for 3 hours and not know if it's 2007 or 1983. Let's face it, KQ; we've all heard it all before.

Anyway, this past Saturday night the Wild hosted the Avalanche, and the although the music didn't really evade the rut of 1980's AC/DC, Aerosmith and Tom Petty, the man on the decks did find some different tunes that put me back in that era, rather than just remind me of it:

"Heat of the Moment" - Asia
"Take it on the Run" - REO Speedwagon
"Who's Behind the Door" - Zebra

Maybe you don't draw a distinction between the above tracks and the rest of the genre that I'm otherwise demonizing and loathing, but I draw a distinction, and that's what makes the subjectivity of music so wonderful.

Not to be discounted is the fact that, back in the day, my pal Mike pushed all three of these songs in front of me with enthusiasm. So, in a dorky, sentimental way, when I heard these tunes booming across the arena, it was like being in 10th grade again, passing the headphones back and forth.