What to put on for game day

Football's back, which around here means somebody is hosting, and somebody has to figure out what's playing before kickoff and during the long stretches when nobody's really watching.

I'd like to volunteer.

Here's a thing about my own catalog that took somebody else pointing out before I saw it. A lot of these songs were built for exactly that room — not for headphones, not for a drive, but for a house with too many people in it and a television going in the corner. "Make It Shake" and "Stomp" do the most work; they're the two with a thump you feel through the floor. "All Y'All" is a welcome mat in song form. "Whoa-Oh Weekend" and "Turn It All the Way Up" are there for the stretch after halftime when the thing gets its second wind.

None of them need your attention. That's the whole design. A song for a party has to survive being talked over — it should hold a room up without asking anybody to stop and listen to it. If you notice it, I've slightly failed.

Put them on shuffle, mute the game if it's a blowout, and let the afternoon go where it wants.

If your team wins, that's on them. If the party's any good, that's on you. I'm just the thing playing underneath it.