Anthems (not a list thread)

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Do you like the idea of anthems? How do different genres/ideas deal with the concept of the anthem? Are they as important now as they ever were? And in what ways/for whom?

Do you actively seek/desire personal anthems (songs you can claim as yours or meaningful to you in some way) and if so why? Maybe you prefer to not think about it and let them find you. Has this process changed as you've grown older and if so how? People generally like to be represented by the songs they love sometimes, whether that be last.fm page or making a mix tape/DJ mix or whatever. Interested in how this squares with our love of shared anthems (songs loved and experienced by many, often) and personal anthems (this is me - MEEEE!)?

Presumably there are songs we find and love but we do not feel fit the definition of an anthem (irrespective of their subject matter, style, speed etc.). But they are or can be as meaningful in some other way no? For breaking mould perhaps, or just being a fun way to spend a few minutes. These non-anthems would be just as important as the anthems in your life wouldn't they? Or are they all anthems because of their importance to you or to the world as you prefer to see it?

The term tends to be reserved for songs made for the big stage in some way. Seismic statements. But there may be other ways in which anthemic qualities may manifest.

One song (it doesn't really matter which at this point) springs to mind for me as a track that can exist as both throwaway interlude (surface reading) and remarkable encapsulation or explanation of an artist's (most frequently recurring) character on record. Short but evoking or conveying scale in a very convincing, moving way. Like someone being asked to describe or define themselves in a single sensible sentence and pulling it off brilliantly. I think of it as an anthem as a result. Not a track you would dance to or experience often amid a congregation but just as powerful in it's own way.

I wonder if, nostalgia aside (I rediscovered some great lyrical waxing on 'Come On Eieen' on freakytrigger yesterday), the appeal of 'shared anthems' has waned and people are keener on increased individuality (futile as it may be) lately.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

How exactly are we defining the term "anthem" here?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

is there a difference between a "personal anthem" and "hey, that's my jam"?

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

i'm thinking no, or that there needn't be.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

I'm still unclear about what you mean by "anthem."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

Is "Anthem" by The Wildhearts an anthem?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

Party Hard has anthemic qualities.

― MRZBW (MRZBW), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

I have the feeling that the term "personal anthem" might be an oxymoron...the description above of the "non-anthem" seems to be more in line with what I would consider a "manifesto" to be...

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

Where does "Our Tune" come into all of this?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

Yes manifesto probably makes more sense. But I'm convinced the track in question can still be an anthem too. This is different from thinking of something as a 'big tune' because of it's success commercially or on a dancefloor, which tend to be the two most common indicators of an anthem, don't they?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

to me, the big indicator of an anthem is its likelihood of being sung/chanted by the masses in a sports arena...

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

Horst Wessel Song to thread.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

the big indicator of an anthem is its likelihood of being sung/chanted by the masses in a sports arena...

fair but that does rule out anything not overly simplistic.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

surely an 'anthem' is any given song where the experience of listening to it is at some point communal rather than individual? whether on the dancefloor, blaring out of open windows, chanted in sports arenas, on karaoke &c &c. anthems are beautiful things, esp when you love the song in question! every music scene has its own anthems, but they function within those scenes in exactly the same way as anthems which cut across music scenes do. obviously one's relationship with these anthems can be personal and individual as well - and usually is - but the communality is what makes it.

personal anthems can be communal anthems, but they don't have to be, and if they're not they're a completely different beast.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

Where's Me Jumper? at penultimate Club Poptimism to thread.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

from the sandbox:

Usually, songs described as 'anthems' possess traditional characteristics. They tend to have a unifying message, a big, guitar, piano or string-laden sound, a huge chorus, and a crowd-pleasing tunefulness. The sort of thing you can imagine an army of drunken fans singing along to with their arms waving above their heads.

This thread is for the atypical anthems, the songs which given a description of you wouldn't even begin to describe as anthemic. I shall start with one of my favourite recent discoveries: Super Furry Animals' 'Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)'. A loopy effects-laden techno number with a fast, funky bassline and nonsense lyrics such as 'I've got mobile phone...I've got mobile phone...SFA-OK...SFA-OK'; you wouldn't for a moment think this a song with any emotional power or the ability to speak for all its listeners.

However, this song is probably the most wonderfully anthemic I've heard recently. Its message is to point out how wonderfully absurd the power of telecommunications has become, and it invites its audience, ironically or otherwise, to celebrate the ridiculous ease with which their mobile phone can contextualise their place within the world. It mentions the possible dangers ('Tumour on the brain...'), continues to assert its joy ('SFA-OK') by invoking the name of the band (thus strengthening the contextualism and sense of heightened identity), and yet all of these things are common ground amongst all phone-owners. Moreover, its beat is so addictive, so danceable, and its melodies are so outrageously catchy, that the audience's attention is easily sustained. It's a bloody enjoyable song, but its message is as important and anthemic as any power-ballad or torch-song.

Right, let's have your own...

-- Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (papiermachealamphibia...), December 30th, 2006 6:52 PM.

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

I don't recall any guitar or piano on God Save The Queen.

Also the SFA song doesn't qualify as "crowd-pleasing" since no one bought it and even fewer have heard it.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Alex Reece 'Pulp Fiction'

Just listened to the 12" for first time in a long while. I think even at the time I was a bit surprised at just how popular and everywhere (within the scene) it was. DnB doesn't come much more minimal than this and it lacks the intricacy to balance that sparseness out too. I guess it all comes down to the bassline - cool (rather than cold - the broadness of the tone actually gives it a strange warmth - like a pulsating slab of metal), austere, resilient, relentless, driven etc. and I suppose with a sinister quality that can and usually will compel and intrigue.

I still wonder though whether it's really as good as it's always been made out to be. I suppose as with 'Energy Flash' there was an element of surprise and admiration for how it confronted or pushed forward ideas about what would work on the dancefloor but this time in the context of Jungle. It seemed to click well enough with all the different types of people into that music at the time whether because of the connections to dub, reggae, jazz, acid house or all of the above. I saw scores of people in huge rooms going mad to this tune, big smiles on their faces - it didn't make sense but I guess that was the idea and appeal.

In truth I got pretty bored of it after 6 months and it's not had much of a look in ever since really, just accepted it's place in the canon and never thought twice. The intensity of minimal techno/rave stuff before it was still more in-yer-face and maybe that's helped it retain appeal and power today whereas 'Pulp Fiction' may just have been too stark, sleek and shady for it's own good in the end.

― blueski, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

otoh if you play the AA side 'Chill Pill' at 33 1/3 you get quite a nice broken beat precursor!

― blueski, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

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