The Greatest Basketball Songs of All Time (when the pop music meets sport events)

Music is a very powerful tool. Not only can it affect your mood, help you concentrate, help you express your feelings, and keep you entertained, but music is a very good tool for evoking memories. For some, music can bring back vivid memories of their childhood, whilst for others they’re transported back to a memorable holiday. A particular song can be more powerful than any other way of triggering memories, so much so it has been used to treat dementia patients and those suffering with depression in triggering positive memories from the past.

Sports fans are not exempt from this: the songs played at a particular game can bring back the elation of victory, or the sorrow of loss, helping you to relive it. This is especially true for basketball. Here are some particularly memorable basketball songs.

Winner by Jamie Foxx ft. Justin Timberlake and T.I
Every year the NBA Finals are some of the most watched games of the year, and a few popular songs of the time become iconic reminders of that year's games. This year the Milwaukee Bucks are favourites to be reaching the NBA finals from the Eastern Conference, but in 2010 that privilege went to the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile the song Winner by Jamie Foxx featuring Justin Timberlake and T.I became one of the iconic songs of that year, featuring lyrics that included Feeling like Jordan ... so just pass me the ball.

Roundball Rock
Roundball Rock was a song produced for the NBA by John Tesh, an American pianist and pop music composer. Released in 1995, the song was used as the theme song for the television coverage of NBA games by NBC until 2002. For many, Roundball Rock brings back memories of watching NBA games in the 1990s, watching players like Michael Jordan, David Robinson and Karl Malone.

Space Jam
Space Jam, released by Quad City DJ’s for the 1996 Warner Brothers film Space Jam, is iconic of both the 1990s and basketball. The animated film in which Michael Jordan and some other players joined a basketball game with Looney Tunes characters in order to beat some aliens was an iconic movie of the decade. The theme tune certainly brings back memories of this masterpiece.

Pop music is a very powerful tool for evoking memories from our past. For sports fans, hearing an iconic song can transport them back to some of the most memorable moments of sporting history, whether it be associated with a particular game, TV coverage or a movie featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny.