1:20 We Will Rock You

The Haiku
I have determined
that when it’s rock origins
no one has a clue

I was driving home today and thinking, “What kind of band starts out an album with a minute worth of stomping and clapping in a gym?” Well, the same that declared they were princes of the universe and how obsessed they were with bicycles.

But why did Queen write “We Will Rock You”? When it was first released in 1977 it was the opening track for the album News of the World. In the UK it was the flipside from “We are the Champions”. They recorded it by dubbing themselves over and over again, staggering the claps to make it sound like many people were involved. When it hit the U.S., many radio stations played them back to back and a tradition was started. (Here they are in 1985 at Live Aid.) (And here it is in 1986, but performed in a giant cape. (’86 was a big cape year))

But what does it mean?

Maybe I should ask Dr. Brian May on his site.

Here’s one take from a fan:

I was at the very first public performance of this song in 1976. Yews, I said 1976.

This song was commissioned for the defunct NASL San Jose Earthquakes as a theme song for the struggling professional soccer team. In a short pre-game concert (I was there for the game, I had won tickets from my youth soccer league) Queen played the song. The Earthquakes owned the rights to the song for one year, after that Queen was free to present it to the world as their work.

San Jose Earthquakes also went as the Golden Bay Earthquakes. But searching for them led to the Oakland Stompers using “We Will Rock You”. (San Jose used, appropriately, “Do you know the way to San Jose?” Makes you want to play soccer, right?)(I’m just surprised that there’s a soccer forum [insert Ugly American joke].)

But what do we all want to see? You got it.

Here’s some trivia that jumped out in my research from the album Jazz:

As publicity for the forthcoming single – Bicycle Race – the band hired Wimbledon Stadium and fifty naked girls had their own Bicycle Race. The original cover of the single featured the naked rear of one of the girls, but due to public outcry in some countries, panties had to be drawn on! More touring in the USA and Canada began in October. November 10th saw the release of JAZZ. The sleeve was packaged to contain a fold out poster of the naked bike race, but the Americans banned it from the actual sleeve and instead inserted an application form so fans could send away for it! The launch party for Jazz was hold in New Orleans, and has since gone down in history.

from lunchbox

Here’s what the Wikipedia monkeys have found about where the song has been used in pop culture:

A version of the song was performed by Britney Spears, Pink, Beyoncé Knowles in a Pepsi-Cola TV advertisement is shown in the some countries like United Kingdom, Finland, Brazil, Malaysia, Romania, Philippines, India, Mexico, and Latin America. 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. Brian May and Roger Taylor both make guest appearances in the ad.
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 (actually Czech extras) are seen stomping and clapping in the bleachers of a jousting match. This film’s soundtrack 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, also known as Pro Evolution Soccer 2 in Europe.
Rapper Eminem has sampled the track twice on The Eminem Show’s “‘Till I Collapse” and Encore’s “Puke.”
Rappers Chamillionaire and Lil Wayne sampled the song’s well known ‘boom, boom, clap’ for their own song, “Rock Star”, found on Chamillionaire’s album, Ultimate Victory
In an episode of Cheers, bar patrons spontaneously stomped floorboards and broke out with the song. This clip has been played at sporting events to get the crowd doing it and is usually followed by the actual song. This has been done at Texas Rangers games, as well as others.
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 singing “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 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 episode “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…”.
In the Tour Generacion RBD the Mexican group uses the beat of it to introduce their band singing “Yo si soy Rebelde” instead and adding their popular “Yo digo R tu dices BD” to it.
The song was also used in the senatorial political TV ad of Team Unity in the Philippines.
We Will Rock You is also the title of the musical performed in the Dominion Theatre in London. It was written by Ben Elton and Queen.
“We Will Rock You” is the first track on the compilation album VH1 Rocks.
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. [1]
In the manga and anime Cromartie High School there is a chapter/episode named “Rock You”. In the chapter/episode, the main character meets a man who looks like Freddie Mercury. So he names him Freddie.
A variation was used by Domino’s Pizza during the mid-1990s as “Gotta be, gotta be…Domino’s”. When the chain introduced buffalo wings in 1994, the words “buffalo wings” were added after Domino’s.
During the MST3K episode “Final Sacrifice”, Crow and Tom Servo sing along with drums on the film soundtrack, adding their own lyrics about the main character in the film- “We will, we will Rowsdower!”

Semi-related posts:

1. Movies Rock
2. Haikus, Rock
3. Slash in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
4. What would Ms. Lewis think?
5. More fun than not role-playing