We Will Rock You
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"We Will Rock You" | ||
---|---|---|
Song by Queen | ||
from the album News of the World | ||
Recorded | 1977 | |
Genre | Arena rock | |
Length | 2:01 | |
Writer(s) | Brian May | |
Producer(s) | Queen | |
News of the World track listing | ||
"We Will Rock You" (1) |
We Are the Champions (2) |
"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May, and recorded and performed by Queen. One version was used as the opening track on their 1977 album News Of The World. This version consists of a stamping-clapping beat, and a power chorus, being somewhat of an anthem. When performed live, this version is usually followed by "We Are the Champions", another of the album's hits, as they were both made to lead into each other. It has since been used extensively at sporting events. The band also performed the song in another arrangement (known as the "fast version"), which featured a faster tempo and a full guitar, bass and drums backing track throughout. The band would often open their live sets in the late 1970s with this version, as captured on their Live Killers double album.
The stamping effects in the recording were created by the band in an old church, using the wooden floorboards to produce the sound.
The "fast version" is available in a studio performance. In 1977, it was recorded for John Peel's show on BBC Radio 1. This version is on the 1992 Italian bootleg CD "Queen - We Will Rock You" (On Stage CD 12018). It is part of a longer cut that starts out with the slow version. In 2002, the fast version was officially released on a promo single distributed by the tabloid The Sun. The "fast" BBC studio version can also be found on King Biscuit Live: Best of, Vol. 1. Between the two versions, there is a brief cut of a female voice discussing Brahmanism, used in a BBC Radio documentary. Obviously an error, the band, however, thought it was "cool", and left it in.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Queen about the record
Brian May:
“ | That was a response to a particular phase in our career when the audience was almost becoming a bigger part of the show than we were. They would sing all the songs. In a place like Birmingham, they'd be so vociferous that we'd have to stop the show and let them sing to us. So both Freddie and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to write songs with audience participation specifically in mind. My feeling was that everyone can stomp and clap and sing a simple motif. We did that record at Wessex, which is an old converted church that has a naturally good sound to it. There are no drums on there. It's just us, stamping on boards many times with many primitive delay machines and clapping. A bit of singing, a bit of guitar playing and that's it... At concerts, I discovered, people tend to do three claps rather than two stamps and a clap. The amazing thing is to go to football matches, or sports events in general, and hear people do it. It's very gratifying to find that it has become part of folklore, sort of. I'll die happy because of that. | †|
[edit] Uses in popular culture
- A version of the song was performed by Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Pink in a Pepsi TV ad only shown in the UK, Brazil and Malaysia. The producer of this version was Brian May. The scenario was the Collosseum in ancient Rome; Pink, Beyoncé and Britney were female gladiators who defeated the emperor - played by Enrique Iglesias - by singing "We Will Rock You" together with the audience.
- The headband worn by Sol Badguy in the Guilty Gear series is a reference to this song.
- This song was used as a promotional song for "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course". It was sung as "He will, He will, Croc you!"
- One of the more inventive, if whimsical, applications of "We Will Rock You" comes in the film A Knight's Tale (2001). Featured as the soundtrack of the opening sequence of this 21st century Chaucerian tale, medieval English peasants are seen stomping and clapping in the bleachers of a jousting match. This film relies heavily upon 1970s rock classics, especially to indulge in its favorite delight of anachronistic play between modern and medieval times.
- The Detroit Pistons used the song as their theme during the Bad Boys era of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The current Pistons also play it at their home games, especially since their city gained popularity through the film Detroit Rock City.
- Chicago White Sox organist Nancy Faust includes it in her playlist, and the fans put a twist on the chant: "We will, we will, SOX YOU!"
- Blondie's song "Good Boys" (2003) contains lyrics that are a modified quote from "We Will Rock You" sung in a rap style reminiscent of the original.
- This song was used as the official song of football (soccer) game Winning Eleven 5.
- In an episode of Cheers, bar patrons spontaneously stomped floorboards and broke out with the song.
- In an episode of Friends, Ross Geller recorded the audio message of the answering machine using this song, but changing the lyrics to "We will, we will, call you back".
- In an episode of Full House, while Rebecca Donaldson was in labour and doing her breathing exercises, Danny Tanner (who was with her) began sing "We Will, we will, rock you" to the beat of her breathing.
- This song was used as the promotional song for The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas movie.
- In a Taco Bell commercial with a crunchy taco, three men bang their elbows on the table and bite their tacos to the tune of "We Will Rock You", then say, "We will, we will" and a woman says "Stop doing that!" Later, they say, "You've got cheese on your face, you big disgrace!"
- In The 10th Kingdom, Virginia comes up with an alternate version of this song, "We Will Shear You," to win a sheep competition.
- In the 1994 movie D2: The Mighty Ducks during a montage of a hockey game the audience cheers "We Will Quack You" as the Mighty Ducks go onto victory. This is followed several minutes later in the credits with the Ducks singing "We Are the Champions" around a campfire.
- The song was used in the TV show Gladiators.
- In the Drake and Josh episoide "The Storm", the guests in Drake's house sing the song as entertainment when the electricity goes out.
- In the film The Recruit, Colin Farrell, sings the opening verse of the song during a card game.
- It was used by Homer the long running animated series The Simpsons in the episode "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em...".
- This song is popular in Wii YouTube videos, as "Wii will, Wii will rock you."[1]
[edit] Cover versions and remixes
- The song was performed by Queen with guest singer Axl Rose at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
- In 2000, the surviving members of Queen (without John Deacon) recorded a rap-style version of the song with boy band 5ive. It went to #1 in the UK.
- In 1991, Rick Rubin did some remixes of "We Will Rock You", released by Hollywood Records. The "Ruined Remix" also contains contributions by Flea and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- Los Angeles-based hair metal band Warrant covered the song for the 1992 film Gladiator.
- Brazilian heavy metal band Viper covered the song in their 1992 album Evolution, as well as in their 1993 live album Maniacs in Japan.
- A cover version of the song was played in the video game Dance Dance Revolution Extreme and was sung by Houseboyz.
- Nickelback covered the song as a bonus track, through a promotion with Wal-Mart, for their 2005 album All The Right Reasons.
- Italian darkwave band Kirlian Camera covered this song on their 1991 album Todesengel. The Fall Of Life.
- The Japanese techno artist Killingscum remixes 5ives cover of the song in the track Morning Knifreak.
- Robbie Williams covered the song at his Knebworth Park gig in 2003 and it subsequently appears on his "Live Summer 2003" album which was released in the same year.
- Prince's performance at the Super Bowl XLI started with a rendition of the song.
- Henry Rollins did a parody of "We Will Rock You" called "I Have Come To Kill You".
- In her 1996 Can't Not Tour, Alanis Morissette and her band ended the first encore (following the song, You learn) with a cover of the song. Drummer Taylor Hawkins took the microphone, while Morissette took to the drums.
- In 2000 We Will Rock You was remixed and released as a collaboration between the boyband Five + Queen
- Twisted Sister remade the song.
[edit] Trivia
- On the 45 of the song's original vinyl record release, the song was actually the flip side of "We Are The Champions" in England, however the American record company requested to put the two songs together as a "double A side" because American radio stations were playing them back to back. This is a reason why the songs are often paired on the radio and in sports. The songs are also paired back to back on the album, as they were designed to run together and they are still played together to this day on American classic rock radio stations.
- The original lyrics to the song were "We Will Beat You", but were changed when Freddie Mercury said it "sounded stupid".
- In 2004, the song was ranked #330 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
- Ranked #146 on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) list of Songs of the Century.
- "We Will Rock You" is the first track on the compilation album VH1 Rocks.
- The one-verse sample of the song played over the PA system at the start of their live shows on the News Of The World tour is not taken from the album version.
- Axl Rose, of Guns N' Roses sang the song with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992.
- In the video game Final Fantasy XII, there is an earth elemental attack called "Rock You". This was confirmed by director Yasumi Matsuno to be a reference to the song in an interview at E³ 2006. [2]