Paradise City was supposed to be Mariano Rivera's entrance song

[The Linguini Occurrence]

Hard to believe future baseball Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera's entrance song was supposed to be Paradise City instead of his now trademark Enter Sandman. Apparently he personally didn't care which song was chosen for him because he liked only Christian rock anyway.

Would PC have worked? It's not exactly an intimidating song, which is usually the goal of theme songs for baseball closers. Can you think of another GNR song that would have worked better as a more intimidating entrance for Mariano, or any closer for that matter? Of course keeping in mind it can't be a song with explicit lyrics.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1780626-a-qa-with-the-man-who-came-up-with-mariano-riveras-enter-sandman-theme

ML: What happened after the ’98 World Series was that ownership saw the cool reaction that [then-Padres closer] Trevor Hoffman was getting with AC/DC's “Hell’s Bells.” So they sort of tasked the director at the time—a man named Mike Bonner—with coming up with something that would have the same kind of effect.

ZDR: And that’s when they turned to you?

ML: No, actually. I was just sort of a technician. It was a second job. I had a day job working at Court TV in production. I would leave at the end of the day and go up to the stadium. As the process of trying to find a song for Mariano progressed, the director started trying different songs. He was pretty much hellbent on having "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses as the song. So he started using that a little bit, and we were all giving him a hard time, telling him, “This is so lame. This is not going to catch on. Nobody’s going to be into this.” But he really liked it.

All the guys in the crew were trying to come up with something else, and that’s when I said, “You know what? On Saturday I’m bringing my CDs up to the stadium. We can flip through all the CDs that I have.”

So I brought out my whole CD collection, and the goal was to look for something that was more ominous. Sort of the same deal as “Hell’s Bells” and stuff you’ve seen in baseball movies. Something that could get the crowd going on its own.

As I was flipping through, I’m like, “I think I’ve got it, guys.” I handed my Metallica CD to the audio guy and told him to play it, and everyone was like, “This is really cool, let’s try this.”

BTW - Metallica performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem last night, will they make a surprise performance in the Bronx this afternoon for Mariano Rivera day?

Edited September 22, 2013 by The Linguini Occurrence

[wfuckinga]

It wouldn't have been as intimidating as they put it. Coma maybe, but not PC

[The Linguini Occurrence]

It wouldn't have been as intimidating as they put it. Coma maybe, but not PC

That's actually a great question to ask, which GNR song would have worked best as an intimidating song for baseball closers? Thanks man, I'm going to edit the question into the OP.

[axlsalinger]

Kind of disappointing to hear that he had no part in the decision. They all say he's a nice guy and I'm sure he is, obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but they should have played him something from Richard Marx, or perhaps some Stryper if that's what he's into.

Lame.

On topic, i have actually thought about this before for myself if I was a hitter in MLB (every batter comes up to the plate to a piece of music they select - or I guess if you are pathetic and lame, that somebody picked for you) , and I think I decided on one of the guitar parts in Estranged.

As for a closer, I'd like to see the look on people's faces if Perfect Crime started playing, swearing and all.

Edited September 22, 2013 by axlsalinger