Philadelphia Flyers: A brief history of their goal songs

Goal songs have been ubiquitous in the NHL for decades, and the Philadelphia Flyers have had their fair share, both good and bad.

Nothing gets a hockey crowd fired up like a goal song. Well, technically, I guess the goal that preceded the song is what did the trick. But you get the point. And if you’re a Philadelphia Flyers fan, you’ve heard a bunch over the years. Here’s a rundown of what the Flyers have offered.

And let’s be clear, these are just goal songs. Not warmup songs, although that Action News remix the Flyers came out to this year was pretty sweet. We’re also not talking about songs that the players themselves enjoy in the locker room, or the Flyers’ postgame victory song.

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So, what have we got?

I guess we should start with the team’s most recent effort, Feel the Shake by Jetboy. It was a bit of a return to the classic rock roots that the Flyers used to employ in their goal songs, but I personally wasn’t that big of a fan and would be fine if they moved on from it.

For the rest of this rundown of songs, I’m going to use this compilation that I found, although I am not 100% sold on the years being correct. Still, it’s the best reference I came upon, and I have to say I’m disappointed that someone else wasn’t all over this previously. So let’s keep going back through time.

For the couple of seasons immediately preceding Feel the Shake, I can’t tell exactly what the Flyers used, because I guess I’m old. But it was some kind of techno-mashup of Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi, Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes, and Slow Down by Showtek. It was kind of an over-the-top mess.

Prior to that, the Flyers had another, slightly more successful remix (in my opinion), one that combined Fluxland, a 90’s techno-dance hit, with Milky Way by Madison Mars. You can once again thank DJ Reed Streets, the Flyers’ in-house DJ, for this blend. I think it was fairly effective.

If you like electronic dance music (EDM), then you were probably a huge fan of the Flyers a few years ago, as they went through songs like Booyah by Showtek f. We Are Loud and Sonny Wilson and Secrets by Tiesto & KSHMR f. Vassy. Before that, they took a page from seemingly every other team in hockey by using that Fall Out Boy song that we couldn’t escape from. They also snuck the Rocky theme (Gonna Fly Now) somewhere in there.

Those were all fine, but they weren’t as fun as the Flyers’ previous selection, Maria (I Like it Loud) by Scooter, also known as DOOP. Yep, the DOOP song, the one that the Flyers borrowed from the Union. They’re a soccer team, in case you forgot. At any rate, the Union had been using the song for a couple of years, and it seemed kind of cool that the Flyers were bringing it to a new set of fans. I did find out, however, that a whole nine people thought that the Flyers basically stole DOOP and appropriated it for themselves. DOOP took a while to grow on me, but I liked it (loud).

Right before Maria, the Flyers had used Bro Hymn by Pennywise for a number of years. It was a decent punk-throwback ballad, but numerous other teams around the NHL have used it, making it seem less special. In 2006-07, the team used So Happy by Sideshow Bob. Bad song in a terrible season from which everything should be doused with gasoline and burnt beyond recognition. The Flyers even tried to change up their Christmas season pre-game hype video that year by switching from their normal use of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Eve (Sarajevo) and using their Wizards in Winter instead. That turned out to be a one-year thing as well. Everything about 2006-07 was garbage.

Finally, we arrive at what has been my absolute favorite Flyers goal song to date. According to my source from earlier, they actually used it for a lot longer than I remembered, perhaps as many as nine years. The song is Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love by Van Halen. This song just kicks so much butt, and it came along at the perfect formative time for me as a hockey fan.

My recollection is that the Flyers started using it in 1996, the first season at the Core States (now Wells Fargo) Center. When I hear the song even now, it brings about memories of teenage me watching those teams with Eric Lindros and John LeClair put up some big seasons. After that, the song stuck around for a new generation of players, ones that kept the Flyers a perennial playoff team. Van Halen is my pick for the best goal song that the Flyers have ever used.

I do also recall Blur’s Song 2 being used at some point, but the Flyers were hardly the only team to do that. And it also needs to be mentioned that they used Gary Glitter’s Rock ‘n Roll Part 2 for several years in the 1990’s. This song is also awesome, and even recently made a fantastic appearance in Joker. But it’s basically banned from being played at sporting events because of Glitter himself. Not fun to talk about, but I had to in the interest of being thorough. Finally, who didn’t love The Chicken Dance when the Flyers would score their fourth goal of the game? Mmm, free food.

Next. Flyers Flubs: Patrick Sharp. dark

To me, any goal song from here on out will just be chasing Van Halen. But to each their own, and the Flyers can choose whatever song they want, as long as I hear it A LOT because they keep pumping in the goals.

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Philadelphia Flyers: A brief history of goal songs

By Kevin Lagowski | May 3, 2020

Goal songs have been ubiquitous in the NHL for decades, and the Philadelphia Flyers have had their fair share, both good and bad.

More from Philadelphia Flyers