The Walk-Up Music and Work

Due to the current situation concerning COVID-19 and my journey of job searching, I’ve had many random thoughts floating through my head regarding things connected to my work experiences. I was listening to a song that reminded me of a past work experience, it created a sense of excitement and made me think of the job and the environment. Then came the release of The Last Dance, an ESPN 10 part documentary about the final championship run of the Chicago Bulls during the 1997-98 season. It reminded me of the Chicago Bulls introduction, the anticipation and rush of adrenaline as the sound came on. The iconic Allan Parson Project instrumental “Sirius” became synonymous with Michael Jordan and the Bulls (they still play the theme song but it doesn’t hit the same, but it’s also coming from a basketball fan that isn’t a Chicago Bulls fan). That random thought led me to think more about the walk-up music and the impact it has on our work.

The walk-up music has been a staple in sports and sports entertainment. It provides the opportunity for the fans to feel the adrenaline and pump the music has on the athlete. When played enough, the athlete becomes connected to that song as a way to showcase their personality. The classic baseball film called Major League had Charlie Sheen’s character Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn. His character was a convicted felon that was on a work release program, a young man with a cannon of an arm. But he had no control over where the ball will end up and it earned him the moniker “Wild Thing”. His walk-up music became “Wild Thing” by the Troggs and it was endearing to the fans because they felt a personal connection to him based on his personality and his style of play. The WWE is known for its superstars and their walk-up music and theatrics, the roar of the crowd when they hear the opening of their song. Now let’s zoom in a bit from the big picture of walk-up music and sports, to my own personal walk-up music when I went to work. Keep zooming in…keep going…almost there…and voila, here I am.

Music is deeply woven in society, it has an impact on our daily lives, directly and indirectly. It helps us understand and share cultural experiences, it is a common existence in all cultures. On my way to school or work, there would be one song during that day or week or month and even a year that would be the song that makes me feel ready to put in work. The song would come on randomly on my list of music that I have added to my smartphone or Ipod shuffle. They are often songs that I have enjoyed in the past or songs that I haven’t actually listened to in depth and the “why not” because it would be from an artist that I recognize. Some of the walk-up songs helped connect me and developed strong relationships with friends because of that song.

There is however one song that made me laugh because my brain decided that this was the song when I stepped off the bus. The song is called “Don’t be mean” by The Raincoats. The Raincoats are an all-female British post-punk band, I enjoy how they experiment with different sounds to see if it works. I am on my way to start my work with an organization that focuses on mental health and this song comes up. The strum of the guitar begins and then my body starts to bop to sound, followed by the voice of one of the vocalists, Ana da Silva comes on “I saw you walking down Westbourne Grove…” My brain said yup, this is the song. I found this funny because the song is about a breakup, the refrain of the song and the quick repetition “don’t be mean, don’t be mean, don’t be mean” made me imagine someone walking towards me and pointing while saying “don’t be mean, don’t be mean.” It was that part of the song that would always come on just as I was about to enter the building. The song has different instruments that have a unique sharp twinge in different sections of the song that comes together to make the song enjoyable.

The song created the mentality for me to be in a new work environment, with a new work culture filled with new coworkers and organizational structure. I was about to be surrounded by people with unique personalities and experiences with the goal of ensuring mental health services are accessible to all. All the different instruments and the possibility of strong personalities working together to provide high level services connected me to the song. It became my walk-up anthem when I was working for them.