Ahh, the heart-warming (and perhaps incredible) story of how the St. Louis Blues were inspired by a tune as they turned their season around at midseason.
Laura Branigan's "Gloria" rode Billboard's Hot 100 charts for 36 weeks. It peaked at No. 2, held out of the top spot only by two other smash hits, Lionel Richie's "Truly" and Mickey Basil's "Mickey."
But "Gloria" was a big hit in the 1970s. It had been around for decades when the Blues resurrected it to make it their anthem as they surged to win the Stanley Cup in 2019. The Blues were mired in a losing season. They had the worst record in the league. Then, in the middle of the season, "Gloria" helped turn things around.
The Blues had fired head coach Mike Yeo, and brought in rookie goaltender Jordon Binnington to replace the failing Jake Allen. The Blues had gotten together to watch an NFL game, and the bartender played "Gloria." The fans enjoyed the song so much that they yelled for it to be played again, and the bartender obliged, playing it on every commercial break. "Everyone would get up and start dancing," said Blues defenseman Joel Edmondson. "We just sat back and watched it happen. Right there, we decided we should play the song after our wins. We won the next game -- we got a shutout -- so we just kept on playing it."
After the Blues defeated the Dallas Stars 2-1 in double overtime in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup, a local radio station played the song for 24 hours straight.
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