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Seven Nation Army
"Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes, released by V2 Records and XL Recordings on February 17, 2003. The opening track and lead single from their fourth studio album, Elephant (2003), "Seven Nation Army" was written and produced by Jack White, and was composed by the band. The song consists of distorted vocals, a simple drumbeat, and a bass line created by playing a guitar through a pitch shift effect.
"Seven Nation Army" peaked at 76 on the US Billboard Hot 100, which is the band's first entry on the chart; it also charted in multiple countries and received several platinum certifications. The song received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its distinctive riff and drumbeat. It won Best Rock Song at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, and a music video for the song directed by Alex and Martin won Best Editing in a Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The success of "Seven Nation Army" contributed to the garage rock revival, and the song has ranked on several professional listicles of the best songs of all time, including Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at No. 36.
"Seven Nation Army" has experienced increased commercial success, largely credited to its "ubiquitous" sound and usage in sports. It commonly appears in audience chants in which a series of "oh" sounds or the name of an athlete is sung to the tune of the song's riff. It has also served as a theme song for sports teams, personalities, and events, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The song has further appeared in various media and has been used in political events in the United Kingdom, particularly as a chant sung by audiences. Various artists have also covered "Seven Nation Army", including Ben l'Oncle Soul and Marcus Collins, both of whose covers reached charts in multiple countries. Third Man Records twice reissued the single in 2014 and 2015.
"Seven Nation Army" began with a guitar riff devised by singer and guitarist Jack White at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, while the White Stripes were on the Australian leg of their tour on January 29, 2002. He showed the riff to Ben Swank, an executive with the White Stripes' record label Third Man, who felt Jack could "do better". Jack later recalled that Swank "didn't even think that rhythm was that great, either".
Originally saving the riff for a potential James Bond theme, he decided to incorporate it into a White Stripes song after admitting how slim his chances were of ever being asked to create a Bond theme. Five years later, he would write and perform "Another Way to Die" with Alicia Keys as the theme for the 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace.
"Seven Nation Army" was produced by Jack and recorded at Toe Rag Studios in London's Hackney area. He wrote the song as a "little experiment", hoping to create a compelling song that did not include a chorus. The lyrics were written the night before the song was recorded. The title "Seven Nation Army" was initially used as a placeholder for the track before its lyrics were written, but the name ultimately stuck.
"Seven Nation Army" is characterized as an alternative rock, garage rock, blues rock and punk blues song with a length of three minutes and 52 seconds. According to sheet music published by Universal Music Publishing Group, it is composed in the key of E minor in common time with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. The title of the song comes from when Jack, as a young child in Detroit, misheard "The Salvation Army" as "The Seven Nation Army".
The song is driven by a riff that resembles the sound of a bass guitar. To create this sound, Jack connected a semi-acoustic guitar to a DigiTech Whammy pedal (a pitch shift effect), lowering the pitch by an octave. The riff uses five pitches and consists of seven notes; it begins with a held note followed by four syncopated notes, ending with two notes that appear frequently in laments. The 7-note riff of "Seven Nation Army" has been noted to be similar to the main theme (movements 1 and 4) of Bruckner's 5th symphony. The song also features distorted vocals and a "heartbeat drum", played by White Stripes drummer Meg White. AllMusic's Tom Maginnis noted that the song "manipulat[es] the power of tension and release": it creates a sense of "anticipatory energy", then transitions into what Maginnis described as a "[wordless] crush of what stands for the chorus", consisting of an electric guitar and a "bashing crash cymbal".
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Seven Nation Army
"Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes, released by V2 Records and XL Recordings on February 17, 2003. The opening track and lead single from their fourth studio album, Elephant (2003), "Seven Nation Army" was written and produced by Jack White, and was composed by the band. The song consists of distorted vocals, a simple drumbeat, and a bass line created by playing a guitar through a pitch shift effect.
"Seven Nation Army" peaked at 76 on the US Billboard Hot 100, which is the band's first entry on the chart; it also charted in multiple countries and received several platinum certifications. The song received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its distinctive riff and drumbeat. It won Best Rock Song at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, and a music video for the song directed by Alex and Martin won Best Editing in a Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The success of "Seven Nation Army" contributed to the garage rock revival, and the song has ranked on several professional listicles of the best songs of all time, including Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at No. 36.
"Seven Nation Army" has experienced increased commercial success, largely credited to its "ubiquitous" sound and usage in sports. It commonly appears in audience chants in which a series of "oh" sounds or the name of an athlete is sung to the tune of the song's riff. It has also served as a theme song for sports teams, personalities, and events, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The song has further appeared in various media and has been used in political events in the United Kingdom, particularly as a chant sung by audiences. Various artists have also covered "Seven Nation Army", including Ben l'Oncle Soul and Marcus Collins, both of whose covers reached charts in multiple countries. Third Man Records twice reissued the single in 2014 and 2015.
"Seven Nation Army" began with a guitar riff devised by singer and guitarist Jack White at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, while the White Stripes were on the Australian leg of their tour on January 29, 2002. He showed the riff to Ben Swank, an executive with the White Stripes' record label Third Man, who felt Jack could "do better". Jack later recalled that Swank "didn't even think that rhythm was that great, either".
Originally saving the riff for a potential James Bond theme, he decided to incorporate it into a White Stripes song after admitting how slim his chances were of ever being asked to create a Bond theme. Five years later, he would write and perform "Another Way to Die" with Alicia Keys as the theme for the 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace.
"Seven Nation Army" was produced by Jack and recorded at Toe Rag Studios in London's Hackney area. He wrote the song as a "little experiment", hoping to create a compelling song that did not include a chorus. The lyrics were written the night before the song was recorded. The title "Seven Nation Army" was initially used as a placeholder for the track before its lyrics were written, but the name ultimately stuck.
"Seven Nation Army" is characterized as an alternative rock, garage rock, blues rock and punk blues song with a length of three minutes and 52 seconds. According to sheet music published by Universal Music Publishing Group, it is composed in the key of E minor in common time with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. The title of the song comes from when Jack, as a young child in Detroit, misheard "The Salvation Army" as "The Seven Nation Army".
The song is driven by a riff that resembles the sound of a bass guitar. To create this sound, Jack connected a semi-acoustic guitar to a DigiTech Whammy pedal (a pitch shift effect), lowering the pitch by an octave. The riff uses five pitches and consists of seven notes; it begins with a held note followed by four syncopated notes, ending with two notes that appear frequently in laments. The 7-note riff of "Seven Nation Army" has been noted to be similar to the main theme (movements 1 and 4) of Bruckner's 5th symphony. The song also features distorted vocals and a "heartbeat drum", played by White Stripes drummer Meg White. AllMusic's Tom Maginnis noted that the song "manipulat[es] the power of tension and release": it creates a sense of "anticipatory energy", then transitions into what Maginnis described as a "[wordless] crush of what stands for the chorus", consisting of an electric guitar and a "bashing crash cymbal".