Experience the Rapture of “Renegade”

Brett Keisel was seven years removed from one of the Steelers’ seminal moments when his car radio transported him right back to January 18, 2009. Keisel was listening to WDVE-FM, a classic-rock station in Pittsburgh, and Styx’s “Renegade” came on the air. Memories flooded Keisel—and one in particular from the Steelers’ 23–14 win over the Ravens.

“It was the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh and TP [Troy Polamalu] intercepts that ball and the stadium was literally shaking,” Keisel said of hearing “Renegade” on January 21, 2016. “It was an iconic moment for that team and when ‘Renegade’ comes on those types of memories go through my mind. I love that about music.”

Heinz Field and the Steelers’ connection with Styx is a testament to the power of music. “Renegade” is played at least once every home game and it is always when the defense is on the field. A slow lead-in and the foreboding lyrics of an imminent hanging give way to a fast-paced song that is matched by the highlights on the video scoreboard.

A montage of hard hits delivered by Steelers players drives Black and Gold fans into a frenzy, and “Renegade,” which rose to No. 16 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1979, is now as associated with the organization as any song.

“Everybody in [Styx] knows how popular the song his here,” WDVE-FM disc jockey Sean McDowell told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 2011. “They laugh about it because it has so many twists and turns.”

Mike Marchinsky, the Steelers’ marketing manager for youth football, is credited with turning “Renegade” into the unofficial Yinzer Anthem. Marchinsky, as an intern in the marketing department, had the Steelers play the song twice during an AFC wild-card playoff game against the Browns on January 5, 2003. That day the Steelers rallied from a 24–7 second-half deficit, and a 36–33 win cemented “Renegade” as a staple of Steelers game day at Heinz Field.

The song is always played during a break in the action when opposing teams have the ball for a simple season: the crowd noise it generates might hinder the Steelers’ offense.

“Unfortunately you can’t get it on offense so we would always be jealous, just because it was more of a defensive thing and the crowd kept them into it,” former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch said.