Football season is in full swing in the US. I, like many people on this planet, love sports almost as much as I love music. Like most sports fans, I enjoy a good anthemic rock song, so in this article, we’ll break down two famous rock songs that are classic anthems. Both songs feel right at home being blasted out of stadium speakers between plays at a sporting event, but compositionally, they are very different. So it begs the question, what makes an anthem anthemic?
From Pop Perfection to Stadium Power: How Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” Became an Anthem
First, let’s take a look at the song “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. It is arguably their most well-known song, and it is undeniably anthemic. The sound of the song is rich and layered, evoking a sense of grandeur that’s hard to shake when listening to it. What makes this song anthemic is its soaring melody, repetitive and memorable chord progression, and richly orchestrated arrangement.
That song has a four-chord cyclic pop progression that we’ve seen a million times before (IV-V-I-vi). But while many pop songs start on (I) in that progression, “Viva La Vida” starts on IV, which I would equate to a running start in the progression where the tension doesn’t have to build, it’s simply there from the start. That song adds to the energy by using pizzicato strings and bells, which adds an element of grandeur to the song. While the chord progression itself isn’t overly complex, the layering and instrumentation are what make this song complex.
Coldplay’s composition is melodic and harmonic, with the orchestration doing a lot of the heavy lifting. It is almost classical in its approach. But it effectively creates a communal sense of victory and grandeur.
The Rhythmic Simplicity Behind Queen’s “We Will Rock You”
By contrast, Queen‘s stadium-shaking anthem “We Will Rock You” derives its anthemic feel from a remarkably minimalistic approach, with just two chords comprising the main hook of the song. “We Will Rock You” relies almost entirely on rhythm as the driving force behind the verses of the song. The chorus adds some other chords, and it features a phenomenal guitar solo by Sir Brian May, but otherwise, the song’s energy thrives on simplicity.
The simplicity of the song partly drives its appeal, as it encourages audience participation. If you’ve ever been to a sporting event where the song has been played, you probably know exactly what I mean – the iconic “stomp stomp clap”. That rhythm drives the song, inviting the audience to become part of it.
The band themselves recorded those stomps and hand claps, but a delay was added to make it sound like a stadium full of people stomping and clapping – which is recreated in real time every time the song comes through the speakers. The simplicity of the song doesn’t imply that Queen was incapable of writing complex music; instead, it suggests they recognized that a simple act, such as a stadium full of people stomping and clapping, is a truly powerful and primal force that any combination of notes can’t replicate.
What Makes a Song Truly Anthemic? Lessons from Two Rock Classics
The lyrical content of both songs is geared toward being uplifting and victorious. Queen’s song was specifically written to be a stadium anthem at a time when stadium rock (or arena rock) was just starting to become its own genre. Coldplay’s song was not necessarily written with that specific intent in mind, at least according to interviews from the band. According to them, it’s about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured chronic pain due to polio and a broken spine. But it was written to be a bold song, and what is a good anthem but a bold song?
For those who don’t know, “Viva La Vida” translates to “Long Live Life” in English. This powerful and enduring statement is perhaps a bit deeper in its emotional depth than simply beating another team in a sporting event. Still, the arch is the same, and it certainly works.
As someone relatively new to music theory, I find it fascinating to analyze songs and explore why they evoke certain emotions. The answer is, of course, composition, which has many facets and subtleties. We have 12 notes in Western music, and it’s incredible what we can use them to build – that’s what makes music so interesting. Those same 12 notes can be sculpted to compose the saddest, most somber songs and the most beer-chugging, fist-pumping, flag-waving anthems.
Today, you can hear both songs when you attend sporting events at stadiums, but the contrast of these two hit songs does go to show that there’s more than one way to write an anthem. In some ways, complexity can be seen as the enemy of the anthemic song. So if you want to write the next great anthem, keep it simple, but approach that simplicity with conviction in a way that will resonate with people.
