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Tonight is a special Sunday night game featuring teams with players from the MCHL Ironclad league taking on the Lil’ Bananas of the NC Autism Hockey League to bring awareness to adaptive hockey for neurodivergent players and foster a spirit of inclusion and togetherness.

But before we got to that playlist, I asked the ice guard/safety steward that was minding the public skating session on the Forest rink before our game to let me start playing some music as the patrons were skating and he was kind enough to let me do so.

Well, any time I can spin some tunes to make sure that the speakers are in order is a good thing but I also wanted to make sure that the sound levels were decidedly more friendly to our neurodivergent friends than the usual “just below the red line” on the monitor we tend to rock during the Ironclad games. 🙂

Bonus Tracks

Game 1 Warm-Ups

This six hour playlist was certainly a very special one to put together and was very illuminating if not shockingly surprising as to some of the artists on this list that are known to experience some sort of neurodivergence (essentially, anything was fair game except for ADHD/ADD which would have ballooned the playlist by an order of magnitude).

The playlist encompasses artists (or bands with a member who is neurodivergent) as well as songs composed by someone who is neurodivergent or the subject of the song is neurodivergent.

Here is a selection of who made the cut…

• Bob Dylan (as a composer)
• All of the Fab Four (Paul, George, John, and Ringo of the Beatles)
• Billie Eilish
• Cardi B
• David Bowie
• Joe Walsh (The Eagles)
• Eminem
• Fiona Apple
• AURORA
• James Taylor
• Marty Balin (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship)
• Kendrick Lamar
• Kesha
• Owl City
• Freddie Mercury (Queen)
• RAVE
• Sia
• Brendon Urie (member of Panic! in a duet (“ME!”) with Taylor Swift from “Lover”)
• Van Halen (Eddie van Halen)

I wanted as broad a selection of artists as possible as the plan was to use these tracks exclusively during the Zamboni, warm-ups, and stoppages in play for the entire game.

That list proves beyond a doubt that neurodivergence does not preclude someone from being a brilliant artist but often may well be an advantage in creating art that explores life from a perspective and direction few of us could ever possibly imagine.

The list below were some of my favourite tracks from the 94 that made the list that led off the proceedings… 🙂

Post-Game