Songs to get revved up by ...

Go to Gillette Stadium on any given Sunday and it's a cacophony of Ozzie Osbourne, AC/DC, Rush, Aerosmith, and God knows how many more.

The Patriots loved to play music -- at ear-splitting decibels -- designed to get you, the fans, into the game. I suppose getting cranked up by good, old-fashioned, kick-ass rock 'n' roll is better, for everyone's safety, than Tom Brady's preferred method ... which is to say "get all lubed up and be loud." But if you've been to as many rock concerts as I have, and have a good case of tinnitus going on, it can all be a little harsh.

Still, there's a strong correlation between loud, raucous music and loud, raucous crowds. That only stands to reason.

It makes sense. Music creates ambiance. Music may be one of the biggest contributors to ambiance. Well that and, perhaps, some good wine.

You wouldn't, for example, play the second side of Led Zeppelin IV at some high-brow, wine and brie, PBS-style fund raiser. A string quartet might be more appropriate. You might, however, put on the second side to Led Zeppelin IV if you wanted to make out with some girl. At least, that's what Mike Damone thought when he was giving his friend, Rat, some idiotic advice in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

I never got that, by the way. I could think of many, many songs or entire albums that created a better mood for seduction than the second side to Led Zeppelin IV.

Anyway, when it comes to ballparks, football games, the gym, working around the house, we all have our favorites. By now, thanks to iTunes and iPods, we can pretty much categorize every genre, and make our little lists of what we want to hear when we're in different moods. For example, gym songs are much different than clean-the-house songs. And cruising songs are different than both. Football music is in a class by itself.

I'll be in Indianapolis Sunday, and I'm sure I'll hear 'em all. "Crazy Train," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Rock & Roll Part 2," "For Those Who Are About to Rock," "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions ..." They're all pretty much universal by now.

But here are a few more.

In no particular order they are: "Nighttime is the Right Time," J. Geils. This was the Geils band at its best. Driving rhythm, great Peter Wolf vocals ... This is what made J. Geils one of the best U.S. bands of the '70s and '80s. It kind of gets your blood boiling. If there's a runner up, it would be "House Party" another pot-boiler.

"Baba O'Reilly," the Who. Actually, you hear this a lot. They play it at the Patriots once in a while, but you hear it more at high school football games. Even though the song came out in 1971, when some of today's crop of high school kids' grandparents might have just been getting out of high school, it's still a staple.

"Sirius," by the Alan Parsons Projects. This is the one that is the instrumental prelude to "Eye in the Sky." I've heard this one pounding out of speakers in so many high school gyms that it's indelibly etched in my brain. I actually wish they'd keep going and finish up with "Eye in the Sky," because that's one damn good song!

The "Black Eyed Peas" may have stuck out the joint last year when the did the halftime show at the Super Bowl, but "I gotta Feeling" is pretty good song just same. And since Sunday's game starts at 6:30 p.m., I "Gotta Feeling" Sunday night's going to be a good night.

A few years ago, when the Red Sox were in the throes of the "Curse of the Bambino" they used to play the opening section of Michael Oldfeld's "Tubular Bells" during the player introductions. Lest anyone not remember the significance of that, "Tubular Bells" was the theme to "The Exorcist." So I'm sure it's easy enough to do the math there.

The Sox also used to play the part of album where the late Viv Stanshall, of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (yes, there was such a band) named off all the instruments Mike Oldfield used in his opus as the music crescendo-ed to a climax with loud tubular bells. Only every time another instrument was named, PA announcer Carl Beane would substitute the name of a player.

I'd say that's unique. It's certainly the most creative use of pre-game stadium music I've ever heard.

Anyway, back to the mundane ... somebody, somewhere, always plays "Eye of the Tiger," from Rocky III. It's an all-right song. Most interesting than the song, is the knowledge that the lead singer, a guy by the name of Jim Peterik, was the also the lead singer from a group out of the early '70s, "Ides of March," which did a Blood, Sweat & Tears sound-alike song called "I'm Your Vehicle."

Anyway, if you want to see something funny, click on this.

Another staple, of course, is Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town," although personally, I like the title song to the album, "Jailbreak" a little more.

Here's one that I like, that nobody ever plays, probably because it was almost a throwaway cut on Van Halen's "1984" album. It's called "Panama," and it has all the ingredients of your basic mindless, high-powered, all-hat-no-cattle rock 'n' roll party song. In other words, a perfect song to work out to, party to, or just listen to if you're in a funk and need something totally undemanding of your time and energy.

Similarly, "Get This Party Started," by Pink kind of falls into that category too. To me, it would be one of those songs they played during time out, to get people out of their seats and moving around. And if you know anything about the Super Bowl, especially if you're there watching it live, that's all there are. Every commercial takes an eternity, the halftime show is a half-hour, and the whole thing kind of takes on the effect of filming a television show.

None of that time in the stadium is dead time. All of it is taken up by some ungodly noise or another. Pink's just as good as anything else.

There are about a thousand and one Stevie Ray Vaughn songs that would definitely qualify as "music to get revved up by." The best one, though, is "The House Is Rockin, Don't bother Knockin." Love it.

A lot of those 12-bar blues type songs are good exercise songs. They have a steady beat, they drive, there's very active drumming, and decent guitar work. One of my favorite '80s type 12-bar blue songs was "Keep Your Hands To Yourself," by the Georgia Satellites.

I discovered YMCA aerobics classes in the '80s, and this instructor, who had the body mass index of a pencil, used to get us all going by playing that song. By the time I was done, I was sucking wind like nobody's business. Despite that, it remains one of my favorite songs, and it's on heavy rotation when I go to the gym.

She also used to play John Fogarty's "Rock 'n' Roll Girls" off the "Centerfield" album too. Made me want to go right out and buy a saxophone. Funny. Fogarty's rebirth was the song "Centerfield," but I never really liked it all that much. It's made its way into the Hall of Fame of baseball songs, but it doesn't come close to "Talkin' Baseball" by Terry Cashman. But that's another song for another day.

And speaking of the ol' 12-bar, Aerosmith's "Big Ten Inch (Record of My Favorite Blues)" gets a lot of iPod time at the gym too.

You could probably pick four or five good Sly and the Family Stone songs to add to this list, but I'll confine it to one ... the obvious one ... "Dance to the Music." I'll bet if they ever played that at a football game, the place would really be rocking.

Once in a while, I'll watch those old Ed Sullivan nostalgia shows on PBS, and they'll show the clip of Sly and the Family singing that song ... and Sly and his sister going into the audience to coax a little participation out of the suit and tie crowd.

This was still the sixties, and most of the people in the audience probably had never heard of Sly and the Family Stone, and probably never wanted to. And they didn't know what to make of it all.

List isn't complete without at least one Rolling Stones song on it, and my choice would be "Honky Tonk Woman," even though they've done better songs (though certainly not many!). Again, it has the proper qualifications ... it's loud, a little bit raunchy (ya think!), and it drives.

The Beatles didn't do much in the way of stadium music, unless you take some of the earlier Chuck Berry/Carl Perkins covers ... and I don't count them. The Beach Boys have a few that could qualify, my favorite -- of this ilk, at least -- being "Surfin' USA," because, again, it's a Chuck Berry ripoff. And, of course, you do hear "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen every now and then.

I will conclude with one song I wish would STOP being a stadium classic, and that's "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. Its only raison d'etre in the first place is a fluke. Someone in charge of playing music over the Fenway Park public address system heard it somewhere else and played it in between the top and the bottom of the eighth inning one night. It stuck. And now, I'm afraid, it's here to stay. Pity.

I'm sure many people have many other songs. These are but a few. Any suggestions are welcome.