We Will Rock You

This article is about the Queen song. For other uses, see We Will Rock You (disambiguation).

"We Will Rock You"
One of the French single picture sleeves
Single by Queen
from the album News of the World
A-side"We Are the Champions"
Released7 October 1977[1]
StudioWessex Sound, London
GenreArena rock[2]
Length2:02
Label
Songwriter(s)Brian May
Producer(s)
Queen singles chronology
"Long Away"
(1977) 		"We Are the Champions" / "We Will Rock You"
(1977) 		"Spread Your Wings"
(1978)
Music video
"We Will Rock You" on YouTube

"We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album News of the World, written by guitarist Brian May.[3] Rolling Stone ranked it number 330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004,[4] and it placed at number 146 on the Songs of the Century list in 2001. In 2009, "We Will Rock You" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[5][6]

Other than the last 30 seconds, which contains a guitar solo by May, the song is generally set in a cappella form, using only stomping and clapping as a rhythmic body percussion beat. In 1977, "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" were issued together as a worldwide top 10 single.[7] Soon after the album was released, many radio stations played the songs consecutively, without interruption.[8]

Since its release, "We Will Rock You" has been covered, remixed, sampled, parodied, referred to, and used by multiple recording artists, TV shows, films and other media worldwide.[9][10] It has also become a popular stadium anthem at sports events around the world, mostly due to its simple rhythm.[11][12] On 7 October 2017, Queen released a Raw Sessions version of the track to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of News of the World. It features a radically different approach to the guitar solo and includes May's count-in immediately prior to the recording.[13]

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 58.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Arena was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Queen – News of the World". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  4. ^ "We Will Rock You". Rolling Stone. 9 December 2004. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007.
  5. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame – w". Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Queen enter Grammy Hall of Fame". BBC News. 1 December 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference liv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "12-Inch Single Joins 2 Queen Hits". Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 50. 17 December 1977. p. 72. ISSN 0006-2510.
  9. ^ ""We Will Rock You" Still Most Popular Sporting Event Anthem". FMQB. 24 February 2011. Archived from the original on 8 December 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  10. ^ "Greatest Rock Songs". Mystic Madness. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  11. ^ "Was there ever a time when We Will Rock You did not exist?". The Guardian. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  12. ^ "'We Will Rock You' Is Most-Played Song at Pro Sports Games for '08/'09 Season". Broadcast Music, Inc. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  13. ^ "We Are the Champions & We Will Rock You – The Unheard 'Raw Sessions'". Queen Online. Retrieved 27 October 2017.