Last month, Angels fans were given the unsurprising-yet-still-utterly-disappointing news that the team was bringing back The Foundations' tune "Build Me Up Buttercup" as the song played during the 7th inning stretch during home games. Yeah, yeah, yeah...we all know how contradictory and self-defeating the song is; how it's probably the last thing that should be played at Anaheim Stadium to get the fans pepped up and ready for a couple more sides; how the lyrics represent a perennial loser, and who in their right mind would want to correlate that to our beloved Halos, etc. Or who knows? Perhaps you like hearing that song in the 7th inning, but count me as being with those that don't dig it. Now, I've seen people throw out a myriad of possible replacements for the song, but the sad truth is that it doesn't matter. We're stuck with it. I wondered, though....could it get any worse?
The answer is "YES!" and over the next 10 days we'll countdown 10 songs that would have even the staunchest, anti-Buttercup crusader wishing they'd bring The Foundations song back if any of these were to replace it in the 7th inning. After the jump, we start off with Number 10.
10. Mike and the Mechanics-"All I Need Is A Miracle"
Okay, so here we have a fairly innocuous 80's song from Mike and the Mechanics. It's nothing I'd ever listen to on purpose...ever...but it's not so terrible that I want to hit myself in the head with a hammer when it's the hold music for an insurance company, or something. But put it in the 7th Inning at Anaheim Stadium, volume cranked and surrounded by 42,000 fans, and you have a recipe for failure.
The first problem is right there in the band name: Mike and the Mechanics. My first thought is "Mike Butcher walking out to the mound to chew out Scott Kazmir", most likely due to Kaz's, you guessed it, mechanics. Or it could be Mike Scioscia walking out to the mound to take the game ball from Ervin Santana while pointing towards the bullpen. Either way, I don't want either of the Mikes OR mechanics on my mind. And playing this song is just going to rub the salt in the Angels pitching staff's wounds.
The larger problem with "All I Need Is A Miracle" is the fact that we'd have a stadium full of people wishing for a miracle. That's never a good sign, and we'd have it on a regular basis. And that's just the chorus. The first line of the song says "go if you wanna go, stay if you wanna stay". See, SoCal sports fans already have a bad enough reputation for showing up late and leaving early. The last thing we need is a song that's so indifferent about wanting the fans there to begin with, that it makes it that easier to head out before the game's over. I'm afraid too many fans would think "Go if I wanna go? Actually, I kind of do. Honey, let's bail early. Did you dvr California's Gold?" Basically, the opposite reaction you'd want from a 7th inning stretch song.
The song is just bad news all around, no matter how peppy it is or the fact that the video has Veruca Salt's dad.
So, this is just one way it could be a lot worse than what we're currently stuck with, and there are 9 more to go! Feeling better about "Buttercup"?
Honorable Mention: Anything from Holly and the Italians. Mike Scioscia takes his Italian seriously, so I think it'd constantly irk him.