149. Blitzkrieg Bop

149. "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot

On a chilly evening in the fall of 1983, the Marsh Valley football team stood on the Malad football field stretching out and warming up with our usual routine of jumping jacks, pushups, choppers, and leg stretches. Malad's team hadn't taken the field yet, and we had pretty much run out of exercises to do. We had a good team that year, and we were pretty confident we'd win this game, so we weren't really nervous about the game, but we weren't psyched up about it either.

Then the dragons finally stormed onto the field while the hometown crowd cheered them on--usually a moment when the visiting team gets psyched out, not psyched up. But the folks running the loudspeakers made a terrible mistake. Instead of letting the noise of the crowd energize their players, they blasted out a song from the Footloose movie soundtrack.

No, not "Let's Here It For The Boy." Nope, it wasn't "Almost Paradise." Sorry, but there was no "Dancing in the Sheets." And there wasn't anyone cutting "Footloose" either. Why? Because the movie Footloose wouldn't premiere until a good 3+ months later. But there was one titular song from another album that was making its way up the charts that would be featured in the film and would be listed as a bonus song on the Footloose soundtrack. That song was "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot.

At the sound of that song blasting out onto the field, everyone on the Eagles side of the field yelled out in delight. Adrenaline shot through our veins, and we started to get violently psyched up for the game--pounding each other's shoulder pads and slamming our helmets together when the lead singer belted out the line "Bang your head!"



While Malad's team put on quite a show of excitement while the song was playing, I think at least a few people on their sideline noticed that we had become more psyched up by the song than the home team. They probably didn't realize it, but the moment the opening chords of the song hit our earbones was the moment Malad lost the game. We got so psyched up by the song that we ended up crushing them in the first half. I don't remember the final score, but I do remember that we got so far ahead of them that the coach actually let me play linebacker for four plays--two plays at two different times during the game.

I had always wanted to play linebacker, not center. Unfortunately, the team had plenty of guys that could play linebacker, but only two that could focus their attention during a game well enough to keep count when the quarterback started yelling "Hut!" and hike the ball at the right time--me and Shane McQuivey. And the coaches didn't want to risk me getting injured during the game on defense so that I couldn't play offense. But because we were so far ahead in the game by the second half, they started letting the second string center play ball, which put me on the sidelines. (Doug Armstrong was second string center. And no, he didn't count too good.)

Because the coaches began to look at the game as an opportunity to train people in their back-up positions, I got to finally play some defense! Each time I took the field as linebacker, I was sent in on a blitz. And each time I either tackled the ball carrier or made them scramble in the backfield so the play got screwed up and they lost yards. It was my finest defensive moment of my high school football career! And it never would have happened without this song.

Now, each time I hear the thunderous guitar of the opening bars of Metal Health on the radio, I turn the volume all the way up, scream out the lyrics, and get psyched up all over again. Sounds crazy? Exactly! Metal health'll drive you mad!