We Will Rock You

"We Will Rock You"
Single by Queen
from the album News of the World
A-side	We Are the Champions
Released	October 7, 1977
Format	12"
Genre	Hard rock
Length	2:02
Label	Elektra Records (US)
Writer(s)	Brian May
Producer	Queen, assisted by Mike Stone
Queen singles chronology
"Long Away" (1977) "We Are the Champions"/"We Will Rock You" (1977) "It's Late" (1978)

"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004^[1] , and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century.

Other than the last 30 seconds containing a guitar solo, the song is generally set in acapella form, using only clapping as a rhythmic beat.

History

This song, and its well known partner "We Are the Champions" were written in response to an event occurring in the 1977 British Tour. The band had played a gig at Stafford's Bingley Hall, and, says Brian May ^[2]

'we did an encore and then went off, and instead of just keeping clapping, they sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' to us, and we were just completely knocked out and taken aback - it was quite an emotional experience really, and I think these chant things are in someway connected with that'

.

One version was used as the opening track on their 1977 album News of the World. This version consists of a stamp-stamp-clap-pause beat, and a power chorus, being somewhat of an anthem. The stamping effects were created by the band overdubbing the sounds of themselves stomping and clapping many times and adding delay effects to create a sound like many people were participating. When performed live, this version is usually followed by "We Are the Champions", another of the album's hits, as they were designed to run together. The double A-side reached number 4 on the U.S. Billboard singles chart, becoming their second hit in the U.S. On the 45 of the song's original vinyl record release, the song was actually the flip side of "We Are the Champions" in Britain, 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 at sporting events, where they are frequently played. The songs are also paired back to back on the album, and they are still played together to this day on American classic rock radio stations.

Queen 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 and early 1980s with this version, as captured on their 1979 Live Killers double album, on Queen Rock Montreal (2007), and on the Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl album released in 2004.

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. 4 and online at Wolfgang's Vault.

The "stomp, stomp, clap" sounds were later reused in the Queen + Paul Rodgers song "Still Burnin'".

The famous "stomp, stomp, clap" backing was reputedly inspired by the sounds of farmyard machinery in a field near to the home of Queen's drummer Roger Meddows-Taylor.^{[citation needed]}

Five + Queen version

"We Will Rock You"
Single by Five + Queen
from the album Invincible
B-side	"Keep on Movin'"
Released	July 17, 2000
Format	CD
Recorded	2000
Genre	Rock
Length	2:56
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Brian May
Producer	Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher
Certification	Silver (UK) Gold (Australia)
Five singles chronology
"Don't Wanna Let You Go" (2000) "We Will Rock You" (2000) "Let's Dance" (2001)

"We Will Rock You (Five + Queen)" is a cover of "We Will Rock You" featured on the 5ive album Invincible, it features Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart during Summer 2000.

Charts

Track lists

CD 1

1. "We Will Rock You" (Radio Edit)
2. "Keep on Movin'" (Five-A-Side Mix)
3. "We Will Rock You" (Video - Enhanced Track)

CD 2

1. "We Will Rock You" (Radio Edit)
2. Megamix (Don't Wanna Let You Go/If Ya Gettin' Down/Keep on Movin'/We Will Rock You)
3. Megamix Video (Enhanced Track)

Cover versions

• 1991: Italian band Kirlian Camera covered the song on their album Todesengel. The Fall of Life.
• 1992: Warrant covered the song for the film Gladiator.
• 1992: Brazilian band Viper covered the fast version of the song in their third album Evolution, and later in a 1993 live album Maniacs in Japan.
• 1996: Linda Ronstadt performed a soft lullaby version for her album Dedicated to the One I Love.
• 1997: El General remade the song in Spanish as "Nosotros Te Conmoveremos" for the compilation Tributo a Queen: Los Grandes del Rock en Espanol.
• 2000: DJ Hurricane and Scott Weiland collaborated on a cover of the song for the album Don't Sleep.
• 2000: Queen members May and Taylor recorded a rap-style version of the song with boy band 5ive.
• 2000: Actress Kimberly Williams performs an alternate version of the song for the television miniseries The 10th Kingdom.
• 2003: John Farnham performed a rendition for his Greatest Hits CD, featuring samples from the original recording. According to the liner notes for One Voice: The Greatest Hits, Brian May contributed an extended guitar solo.
• 2003: a remix by KCPK, sung by a chorus of children, was released in a series of animated Evian adverts which aired in France, Germany and Belgium. The remix was later released as a single and entered the local charts^[3].
• 2004: Houseboyz performed a cover version for the video game Dance Dance Revolution Extreme^[4].
• 2004: Britney Spears, Beyoncé Knowles and P!nk used this song in an international commercial Pepsi campaign and the song was released on Pepsi Music 2004 CD.
• 2005: German band Pink Cream 69 covered the song in their album Food for Thought.^[5]
• 2005: Nickelback covered the song as a bonus track, through a promotion with Wal-Mart, for their album All the Right Reasons.
• 2006: Jonathan Coulton covered the song, along with Queen power ballad We Are the Champions, as the last entry to his Thing A Week song series.^[6]
• 2008: Japanese singer Kosaka Riyu recorded a trance music version of the song.
• 2009: In the Mtv's VMA 2009 Joe Perry and Katy Perry covered the song in memorial of Freddie Mercury.
• 2009: In 2009, Pakistani Call band's vocalist Junaid Khan covered the song for their new album Dhoom.

Live cover performances

• 1992: Queen with guest singer Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) performed the song at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
• 1996: Alanis Morissette and her band ended the first encore of her "Can't Not" Tour (following the song, "You Learn") with a cover of the song. Drummer Taylor Hawkins took the microphone, while Morissette took to the drums.
• 2003: Robbie Williams covered the song at his Knebworth Park gig. The performance subsequently appears on his Live Summer 2003 album which was released in the same year.
• 2003: Anastacia performed a version with Queen members May and Taylor at the 46664 Mandela concert.
• 2007: Prince's performance at the Super Bowl XLI started with a rendition of the song.
• 2007: Japanese singer Kumi Koda covered the song in her a-nation '07 performance.
• 2007: Girl band Hope sang the song on series 4 of X Factor.
• 2008: Finnish band Sonata Arctica plays "We Will Rock You" in concerts of their 2008 tour, using the crowd as a human drum kit.
• 2008: KoRn plays "We Will Rock You" as medley with their Coming Undone at their live concerts. The drum beat for Coming Undone was inspired by the beat from We Will Rock You.
• 2008: Celine Dion performed a cover of this song as The Show Must Go On for her world tour concerts.
• 2008: Stone Temple Pilots who recently reunited have played the song at many of their shows.
• 2008: New Kids On The Block interpolated this song with "Hangin' Tough in Live performances on their tour in support of their comeback album.
• 2009: Katy Perry covered this opening the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
• 2009: John and Edward performed the Queen + Five version of the song during The X Factor live shows.

Remixes

• 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.
• 2003: Japanese techno artist Killingscum remixed 5ive's cover of the song in the track Morning Knifreak.
• Norman Cook performed a Fatboy Slim remix on "We Will Rock You".
• DJ Speedo has performed a gabber style remix for various compilation CDs.
• Daft Punk mixed this song along with their own song "Robot Rock" for the game DJ Hero to create "We Will (Robot) Rock You".

Sampling

• 1999: The "stomp-clap" is sampled as Juvenile is introduced on the track 'You Dig' from The Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare.
• 2002: Eminem sampled the "stomp-clap" on his album The Eminem Show for the song Till I Collapse.
• 2003: Kid Rock samples the song on "Hillbilly Stomp" from his self titled album. The song uses banjos, dobros and slide guitar to make it sound unique.
• 2007: Bon Jovi use the song as intro of their song "Summertime" in all the Lost Highway Tour.
• 2008: Detroit rapper Pick Up used this song as a sample for the track, "Like Me Or Not," off his debute album 8 Milez North.

Parodies & References to song

• 1987: Henry Rollins did a parody of "We Will Rock You" titled "I Have Come to Kill You".
• 2003: Blondie's song Good Boys uses the line "You got me on your face/A big disgrace."
• 2004: Scum of the Earth did a cover version on their debut album Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium. However, the song title was changed to "Pornstar Champion" with modified lyrics.

Appearances in other media

• The song featured in a pre-opening credit sketch at the beginning of a Cheers episode from 1990 called 'Severe Crane Damage'.^[7]
• The song is prominently (and anachronistically) featured in the film A Knight's Tale as a crowd chant.
• The song is featured in the music video games Donkey Konga and Lego Rock Band. It is also featured in the video game DJ Hero as part of a mashup with Daft Punk's "Robot Rock."
• Sol Badguy from the video game series Guilty Gear wears a headband that reads "Rock You", one of several Queen references in the series.
• The WNY Americorp service corp use the "stomp stomp clap" pause beat to create their "Americorp Theme." The lyrics were re-written by David Barry and Khahari Daniels.
• Diego Sanchez used this as his entrance song at UFC 95 and The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale.
• In an episode of Drake & Josh, "The Storm," all of the people in the house start singng "We Will Rock You," after the crank-able television breaks.

References