Rogers Arena may have killed “Killing in the Name.”
The classic Rage Against the Machine song about police brutality and racism has gotten played to death during Canucks’ home games, as it is regularly piped through the arena before every penalty kill.
It’s like using a favourite song as your alarm. Eventually, you will come to resent even the greatest song when it wakes you up in the wee hours of the morning. Don’t do it. Pick a dumb, annoying song that you already hate, because it will encourage you to wake up and turn it off.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the Canucks’ penalty kill was dominant, regularly shutting down their opponents with practiced ease. Then the opening riff of “Killing in the Name” would be a signal to the crowd to get amped up and cheer on their penalty killers.
Unfortunately, the Canucks penalty kill is struggling. It’s 26th in the NHL at 76.8%. It was particularly terrible at Rogers Arena on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche, giving up five goals on six Colorado penalties. On Wednesday night, “Killing in the Name” wasn’t a clarion call to action, but a warning alarm, signifying something terrible was about to occur.
Certainly there is some work to be done. The Canucks could start with getting Ben Hutton back on the ice and on the penalty kill. In 4-on-5 situations, Hutton has the lowest rate of shot attempts (corsi) and shots against on the Canucks and is second in unblocked shot attempts (fenwick) and goals against.
But there is another step that they could take: change the pump-up song for the penalty kill. Maybe it won’t make a difference, but you never know until you try. Here
1. Megadeth - “Killing is My Business and Business is Good”
Where “Killing in the Name” is actually anti-killing in its message, this classic track from thrash metal masters Megadeth, seems pretty pro-killing, which is what the penalty kill needs. It also has a pretty solid guitar riff to get people pumped up.
2. Talking Heads - “Psycho Killer”
This is a message that you want to send the opposing power play: not only are we penalty killers; we’re psycho penalty killers. Better run away.
3. Judas Priest - “Killing Machine”
Points taken off this Judas Priest track for not saying “killing machine” in the chorus, only briefly mentioning it as an aside in the final verse, but “They pay me the money and I do the job” is a pretty blue-collar, lunch-bucket-toting kind of line. Sure, it’s about a contract killer, but it could be about a gritty, third-line checker called upon to kill a penalty.
4. Slayer - “Killing Fields”
Please, try to tell me that drum intro wouldn’t get fans pumped up to cheer on the penalty kill. You can’t. You try to say it, but the words won’t come out. The drums have removed your voice like Ursula in The Little Mermaid. You will never speak again.
5. The Damned - “Born to Kill”
Oh dang. Not just paid to kill penalties, but actually born to do it? That’s intimidating. Sure, punk greats The Damned might not be particularly family friendly, but neither is Rage Against the Machine.
6. Raging Against the Machine - “How I Could Just Kill a Man”
Speaking of RATM, maybe you still want some Rage to lead into the penalty kill. How about their cover of Cyprus Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill a Man” instead?
7. Jimmy Eat World - “Kill”
Let’s just say that when Jimmy Eat World says, “I’ve always been the easy kill” and “You kill me,” they’re singing in the voice of the opposing power play. Yeah, that works. Sure.
8. Queen - “Killer Queen”
“She’s a killerrrrr...queeeeeeeeen!” Like some of the other songs, this is a very different feel from RATM, but I would find this song absolutely delightful as a penalty kill lead-in. Are the Canucks dynamite with a laser beam? I submit that they should be.
9. The Fugees - “Killing Me Softly With His Song”
Okay, maybe Travis Green doesn’t want his team killing penalties softly. He wants them to be harder to play against, after all. But this is a song with “killing” in the title.
10. Amanda Palmer - “The Killing Type”
Okay, so this song’s hook saying, “I’m not the killing type” is kind of the opposite of what we’re going for here, but I love this song so very, very much and wanted to share it.
