TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs have finally outgrown their blue-eyed-soul era.
Believe your ears: After five full seasons of blasting Hall & Oates' happy-go-lucky '80s pop jam "You Make My Dreams (Come True)," the Leafs unveiled a brand-new goal song during Wednesday's home opener at Scotiabank Arena.
Noah Gregor triggered the needle drop on Steve Aoki's 2012 dance remix of Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness," filling the barn with a fresh celebration anthem.
"It's a hell of a song," Mitch Marner said postgame. "So, I like it."
Added Ilya Samsonov: “Little bit new one. It’s fun”
Give 'er a listen:
The team will mix in various genres for its goal song throughout the 2023-24 season, digging in crates to freshen up celebrations against Original Six visitors, throwing it back with some old-school selections for Throwback Thursday home dates and picking more contemporary tunes for its Next Generation games.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment conducted internal research, canvassed outside opinions from fans, and listened through hundreds of songs before making its choice for Hall & Oates' successor.
“We went through a long process. And as you can imagine, we have a lot of stakeholders, including our fans and the players and we asked our partners at Live Nation about what we should be looking at through their experts in the industry,” Shannon Hosford, MLSE’s chief marketing officer, told Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun. “Everyone has an idea of the best goal song.
“It’s subjective, and it’s difficult. But at the end of the day, it’s our home. We can energize fans, and we want the home-ice advantage.”
The players themselves had a say, too, though captain John Tavares chose to stick to hockey.
"I don't think that's my specialty. I do think there was some discussion around it amongst the group a little bit, but I know when to stay in my lane," Tavares smiled.
"We want to hear it a lot. So, it sounded good to me."
Originally a "Dreams" fan, superstar Auston Matthews told Tim & Friends in September 2022 that he was open to changing it up:
Marner agreed: “If they want to get something more upbeat and more vibey, we’d definitely be open to that.”
Yet "Dreams" received one more encore run in 2022-23 before Cudi's "Pursuit" kicked it off the charts Wednesday.
For what it's worth? Yes, the tune is LukeFoxJukeBox approved.
"But we’ll be listening to the fans, because we know they’ll be saying something about it, too," Hosford said. "There was strong reaction with the song we’ve picked for tonight, very different than Hall & Oates."
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