"We Will Rock You" | ||||||||||||||||
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as side B of "We Are the Champions" UK vinyl single
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Single by Queen | ||||||||||||||||
from the album News of the World | ||||||||||||||||
A-side | "We Are the Champions" | |||||||||||||||
Released | 7 October 1977 | |||||||||||||||
Format | 7" single | |||||||||||||||
Genre | Arena rock | |||||||||||||||
Length | 2:02 | |||||||||||||||
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Writer(s) | Brian May | |||||||||||||||
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Queen singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||
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"We Will Rock You" | |||||||||||||||||||
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Single by Five + Queen | |||||||||||||||||||
from the album Invincible | |||||||||||||||||||
B-side |
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Released | 17 July 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Recorded | 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Length | 3:08 | ||||||||||||||||||
Label | Sony BMG | ||||||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Brian May | ||||||||||||||||||
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Five singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||
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"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World.Rolling Stone ranked it number 330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) placed it at number 146 on its list of Songs of the Century. In 2009, "We Will Rock You" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Other than the last 30 seconds containing 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. Soon after the album was released, many radio stations began playing the songs consecutively and without interruption.
Since its release, "We Will Rock You" has been covered, remixed, sampled, parodied, referenced and used by multiple recording artists, TV shows, films and other media worldwide. Since its release, the song has become a cliche at sports events around the world as a stadium anthem, mostly due to its simple rhythm.
Both "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" were written in response to an event that occurred during their 1977 British Tour. The band had played a gig at Birmingham's Bingley Hall, and, according to Brian May:
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 some way connected with that.