Tribute to the Seattle SuperSonics 🟢🟡🏀 (BRING THEM BACK)

Although I am a longtime Houston Rockets fan, I have created and will dedicate this video to every single Seattle SuperSonics alumni, fans from the Emerald City of Seattle, Washington, and Sonics fans all over the world.

The material covers multiple spectacular moments in the team’s original history, from their 1979 NBA Championship to the 1996 Western Conference Championship team (who played the 72-10 Chicago Bulls in the 1996 NBA Finals) to their Hall of Fame and All-Star players and coaches, which include:

• Shawn Kemp; Gary Payton; Nate McMillan; Detlef Schrempf; Kevin Durant; Ray Allen; Sam Perkins; Gus Williams (RIP); Dennis Johnson (RIP); “Downtown” Freddie Brown; Jack Sikma; Brent Barry; Desmond Mason; Dale Ellis; Ricky Pierce; Tom Chambers; “The X-Man” Xavier McDaniel; Shammond Williams; Rashard Lewis; Vin Baker; Luke Ridnour; Jeff Green; Dana Barros; Eddie Johnson; Derrick McKey; Michael Cage; Benoit Benjamin; Chris Wilcox; Squatch the Sonics Mascot; and Head Coaches George Karl, Lenny Wilkens (RIP), and Bernie Bickerstaff.

I hope that this will either bring back great memories or introduce you to the team. I can’t wait for the Sonics to return in a few years – it will be a glorious day.

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HISTORY:

During the second half of the 1992-1993 season, the Sonics organization handpicked, mixed, and introduced new music for the Sonics’s player starting lineups, which featured Deep Purple’s “Knocking at Your Back Door” and Pink Floyd’s “Run Like Hell.”

• It was played at the Seattle Center Coliseum (which later became the world-renowned KeyArena and now, the Climate Pledge Arena) and the Tacoma Dome (when the Seattle Center Coliseum’s renovation into KeyArena from 1994 to 1995).

Then, when the Sonics returned to the Seattle Center Coliseum (then the new KeyArena) for the start of the 1995-96 season, the team wanted a longer starting lineups introduction with an opening intro video that starts with a storm brewing over Downtown Seattle, followed a lightning strike hits the city’s icon, the Space Needle, which deflects the lightning to the roof of KeyArena, which revealed the Seattle SuperSonics logo from 1995 to 2001.

• This intro video – also used as the opening intro of the Sonics’ home TV broadcast during the 1995-96 season – was displayed on the Jumbotron of KeyArena. Once this video ends with the Sonics’ logo, Squatch the Sonics Mascot (wearing a safety harness) will make his entrance from the ceiling to the court floor, which will led to the introduction of the starting lineups, announced by Mr. Jim Graci, who was the Public Address Announcer for the Sonics.

Although this introduction music lasted for a few seasons, it still echoes among many generations of Supersonics fans.

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HOW I MADE IT:

Back in 2019, I recreated the Sonics’ starting lineups song (which I mentioned previously in the History section), then I uploaded it in a video which has widely been received by countless viewers. LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbfK0lzQ6-o

Between 2022 and 2023, I wanted to recreate the 1995-96 intro, so I sampled audio from Game 7 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals, specifically the moment when the Sonics’ downtown Seattle skyline video appears before of the Sonics starting lineups.

• I learned that there was a sound effect, which sounded like the THX Ltd’s Deep Note trailer sound, that was used as a transition from the downtown Seattle skyline video to the starting lineup song. This was also the moment that Squatch the Mascot made his entrance from the ceiling to the court.
• After I combined everything together with the audio that created in 2019, I had initial thoughts of creating a video to honor the 1995-96 team (who were famously introduced with this music) either by using pictures or highlights from that season, but due to the length of the song being too short, I decided not to make the video.

Then, in March 2026, after seeing the news of the NBA expanding to cities (such as Seattle and Las Vegas) and someone’s negative comment on my original 2019 video, I decided to not only create a new version of the 1995-96 intro (that is much cleaner and of high quality), but also a longer version for a compilation video.

• I removed some vocals, rearranged and extended a few sections of the song. In addition, I found the Jumbotron video of the Seattle skyline in a game from the 1995-96 season on YouTube. I did my best to match some of the highlights with the beat of the song.

I did my best to match some of the highlights with the beat of the song.

Work on this project took place on different dates: The music edits were completed on March 27, 2026, while the video editing was completed on August 16, 2026.

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CREDIT:

• All rights to the photo and video sources belong to the National Basketball Association (NBA), Seattle Supersonics, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), NBC Sports, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and the TV stations KIRO-TV (Channel 7), KING-TV (Channel 5), and KSTW (Channel 11).
• The musical rights to the “Knocking at Your Back Door” belong Deep Purple (Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, & Ritchie Blackmore), while “Run Like Hell” belongs to Pink Floyd (Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Syd Barrett & David Gilmour).