We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions - Queen (1977) 9/9/21

One of the Greatest sports anthems of all time was created in 1977, after Queen played a concert in Stafford, England.

As they left the stage, the crowd started chanting the classic soccer anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone." (from the 1945 Broadway musical, "Carousel.") Below, I've provided a link to the 1963 version by Gerry & The Pacemakers.

The band was floored, and it led both Freddie Mercury and Brian May to independently come up with the idea of writing a song that would become an anthem for their fans.

Brian, being an astrophysicist as well as an expert musician, took a scientific approach to the idea, believing that giving the fans a reason to make noise was the key.

He came up with "We Will Rock You," and when it was recorded, he invented its unique acoustic sound by gathering everyone he could find: bandmates, roadies, office workers, etc...setting them up at different distances from the microphones, and having them stomp and clap as loud as they could.

The end effect sounded like a huge crowd was making the noise, with a slight delay similar to what you might hear at a stadium due of the relatively slow speed of sound--especially after it was overdubbed several times.

Freddie's approach was to create a power ballad that was also a sing-a-long, and he came up with a (literal) winner: "We Are the Champions!"

BOTH are "Great Songs of 1977," especially when they're are played in tandem--and THAT began as a happy accident.

When Queen released their 1977 album, "News of the World," they decided to lead off the album with "We Will Rock You," followed immediately by "We Are the Champions." Only a second or two separated the two songs, so many disc jockeys--especially on progressive rock stations--let them both play through. And to this day, they're almost always played that way on the radio.

In sports stadiums, "We Will Rock You" is #1! You'll hear it especially at baseball, football, and soccer games. "We are the Champions" is reserved for victories and special occasions--and rightfully so!

On the radio, things were/are quite the opposite. "We Are the Champions" was a HUGE worldwide hit in 1977, reaching the Top 15 in 12 countries--including #2 in Canada and #4 in the US.

Over the years, "We Will Rock You" has charted in 15 countries at one time or another--going all the way to #1 just once--in France (in 2003)!

But overall, "We Will Rock You" comes out on top: Rolling Stone Magazine has it at #330 on their list of the "Top 500 Songs of All Time, and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.

Thanks to Brian May and Freddie Mercury, "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" are a legendary "Two-Fer:" TWO "Great Songs of the '70s" for the price of one--and they certainly get my "stomp" of approval. See what I did there?

"We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions:"

"You'll Never Walk Alone" (Gerry & the Pacemakers/1963):