"We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album News of the World, written by guitarist Brian May. Rolling Stone ranked it number 330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it placed at number 146 on the Songs of the Century list in 2001. In 2009, "We Will Rock You" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Other than the last 30 seconds, which contains 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 played the songs consecutively, without interruption.
Since its release, "We Will Rock You" has been covered, remixed, sampled, parodied, referred to, and used by multiple recording artists, TV shows, films and other media worldwide. It has also become a popular stadium anthem at sports events around the world, mostly due to its simple rhythm. On 7 October 2017, Queen released a Raw Sessions version of the track to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of News of the World. It features a radically different approach to the guitar solo and includes May's count-in immediately prior to the recording.
Contents
Music
"We Will Rock You" was written in response to an event that occurred during the A Day at the Races Tour. The band played at Stafford'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.
One version was used as the opening track on 1977's News of the World. This consists of a stomp-stomp-clap-pause beat, and a power chorus, being somewhat of an anthem. The stamping effects were created by the band overdubbing the sounds of themselves stomping on the Wessex Studios drum riser and clapping many times, then adding delay effects to make it sound like many people were participating. The delay durations were in the ratios of prime numbers, a technique now known as non-harmonic reverberation. The guitar solo on the recording ends with a phrase repeated three times; this is a tape loop, rather than Brian May playing the phrase multiple times.
The "stomp, stomp, clap" sounds were later used in the Queen + Paul Rodgers song "Still Burnin'".
When performed live, the song is usually followed by "We Are the Champions", as they were designed to run together. The songs are often paired on the radio and at sporting events, where they are frequently played. They were the last two songs Queen performed at Live Aid in 1985.
Fast version
Studio version
Queen also arranged an alternative version of "We Will Rock You" known as the "fast version", featuring a faster-feeling tempo and a full band arrangement. The studio version was made for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show at the Maida Vale Studios on 28 October 1977 and first broadcast soon after on 14 November. It includes a separate section that begins with an abridged session version of the original comprising the first verse, chorus and guitar outro - this part has become known as "We Will Rock You (slow)". Between the two parts there is a brief reading of Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha, taken from a BBC Radio documentary. This audio was found on the BBC tapes being reused to record the session and was retained by the band.
This full BBC session version of "We Will Rock You" was broadcast on Alan Freeman's Final Saturday Rock Show on Radio 1 on 26 August 1978, has also been played on Radio 1's Friday Rock Show and more recently on Johnie Walker's Sounds Of The Seventies and Vernon Kay's weekday morning show, both on BBC Radio 2.
The fast version is also used as the curtain call music for the musical of the same title, after the finale, which is a pairing of the original "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions". In 2002, the fast version was officially released on a promo single distributed by the tabloid The Sun, and can also be found on The Best of King Biscuit Live Volume 4, and In The Mirror - The Lost BBC Sessions.
Live version
Queen performed this alternate version of "We Will Rock You" frequently at concerts spanning from the News of the World Tour in 1977 until the Hot Space Tour in 1982. They would use it to open their live sets, as heard on the albums Live Killers (1979), Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl (2004), Queen Rock Montreal (2007), and the expanded edition of News of the World (2011). The Live Killers version was released as a single in the US and Japan in August 1979.
Music video
The music video for "We Will Rock You" was filmed in 1978 at the back garden of Roger Taylor's mansion. It sees the band lip synching the song, hand clapping with gloves and foot stomping on a frozen ground. In an interview with Billboard, Taylor spoke on filming the video:
We shot it on the grounds of a country house I'd just bought in Surrey and we hadn't completed the sale, so we weren't allowed in the house. We figured, 'we might as well shoot it here.' It was absolutely freezing cold and we did three takes.
Personnel
Information is based on the album's liner notes
Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals, hand claps, foot stamping
Brian May – guitars, backing vocals, hand claps, foot stamping
Roger Taylor – backing vocals, hand claps, foot stamping
John Deacon – hand claps, foot stamping
Elizabeth Edwards – backing vocals, hand claps, foot stamping
Andrew Turner – backing vocals, hand claps, foot stamping
Notable cover versions
Five + Queen version
British boy band Five released a cover of "We Will Rock You" on 17 July 2000. It was the fourth single released from their second studio album, Invincible (1999). The song contains rap verses from Five's members Jason "J" Brown and Richard "Abs" Breen, and features two members of Queen: Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums (only on the single version); however, they do not sing any vocals on the track. Freddie Mercury had died in November 1991, nearly a decade before this version's release, and John Deacon had retired from public life three years before the release of the Five cover.
The song charted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it Five's second number-one single, and their ninth consecutive top-ten hit.
"Megamix" consists of four songs by Five: "Don't Wanna Let You Go", "If Ya Gettin' Down", "Keep On Movin'", and "We Will Rock You".
UK CD1
"We Will Rock You" (radio edit) – 3:08
"Keep On Movin'" (The Five-A-Side Mix) – 3:32
"We Will Rock You" (UK version) – 2:57
"We Will Rock You" (video—enhanced track)
UK CD2
"We Will Rock You" (radio edit) – 3:08
"We Will Rock You" (UK version) – 2:57
"Megamix" – 4:19
"Megamix" video (enhanced track)
UK cassette single
"We Will Rock You" (radio edit) – 3:08
"We Will Rock You" (UK version) – 2:57
KCPK version
A remix by KCPK, sung by a chorus of children under the name Forever Young, was released in a series of animated Evian adverts which aired in France, Germany and Belgium. The remix was later released as a single and entered the local charts.
Megan Thee Stallion version
American rapper Megan Thee Stallion covered "We Will Rock You" in a September 2024 Pepsi television advertisement. On 5 September 2024, the song, sampling the original chorus, was released as a single; Queen are credited as co-lead artists.
Other versions
1992: American glam metal band Warrant covered the song for the film Gladiator. The song charted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100.
2004: American pop singers Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Pink used this song in an international commercial Pepsi campaign along with Spanish singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias, and the song was released on the Pepsi Music 2004: (Dare for More) CD.
2007 on Nickelodeon's hit kid's TV show Drake & Josh in the episode "The Storm" where Drake and his band were supposed to perform at the arena downtown San Diego but a big storm ruined the show.
2021: British rock band The Struts, whose lead singer Luke Spiller is strongly influenced by Mercury, recorded their version of the song as non-album single.
2025: American rapper Pitbull and producer RedOne made a remake for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
Sampling
1992: American rapper Ice Cube sampled the beat in his song "When Will They Shoot?", from his album The Predator.
2002: American rapper Eminem interpolated the "stomp-stomp-clap" beat in his song "'Till I Collapse" from his album The Eminem Show and also used a similar pattern in the songs "Puke" from his album Encore and "Cinderella Man" from his album Recovery.
2003: The J-Kwon song "Tipsy" directly samples the "We Will Rock You" beat, but reworked into a different beat.
2005: The Young Jeezy song "And Then What" released in mid-2005 as the first single from his debut album Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 samples the beat, changing the "stomp-stomp-clap" beat in the hook to "boom-boom-clap."
2011: American pop singer Katy Perry interpolated the "stomp-stomp-clap" beat in her song "E.T".
2011: Beyoncé interpolated the "stomp-stomp-clap" beat in her song "Dreaming", featured on the Japanese edition of her 4th album 4.
2011: Lady Gaga sampled the "stomp-stomp-clap" in her song "You and I", which also features the band's guitarist Brian May, from Gaga's album Born This Way.
2012: One Direction interpolated the "stomp-stomp-clap" and references "Rock" in their song "Rock Me" featured on their second album Take Me Home.
2012: Kesha interpolated the "stomp-stomp-clap" in her song "Gold Trans Am", featured on the deluxe edition of her second album, Warrior.
Live cover performances
1990s
1992: Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose performed the song with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
1992: U2 used the song as a set list opener before they performed on stage during the Zoo TV Tour.
1993: Nirvana performed it in São Paulo, Brazil, changing the lyrics to "we will fuck you".
1996: Alanis Morissette and her band ended the first encore of her "Can't Not" Tour (following the song, "You Learn") with a cover of the song, with Alanis playing the "stomp-stomp-clap" rhythm on drums.
2000s
2003: English singer and songwriter Robbie Williams performed the song live at Knebworth.
2007, 2010: Japanese pop singer Kumi Koda covered this in her a-nation '07 performance, and three years later in a medley at her 10th anniversary concert at the Tokyo Dome.
2008: Canadian singer Celine Dion performed a Queen medley with "We Will Rock You" and "The Show Must Go On" in her Taking Chances World Tour.
2009: American guitarist Joe Perry from Aerosmith and singer Katy Perry covered the song at the MTV's Video Music Awards 2009.
2010s
2011: American rock band My Chemical Romance performed the song with Queen guitarist Brian May at the Reading Festival.
2011: Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton covered the song on The Voice (U.S.).
Remixes
1991: Rick Rubin produced remixes of "We Will Rock You", for an EP released by Hollywood Records. The "Ruined Remix" also contains contributions by Flea and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
1991: Emergency Broadcast Network achieved an underground hit with their remix of the song with a speech by U.S. president George H. W. Bush.
2004: Scum Of The Earth made a remix of "We Will Rock You" titled as "Pornstar Champion" for their debut album, Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium
2011: Geddy (a.k.a. Armageddon), former member from hip hop group Terror Squad, mashed up "I Want It All" and "We Will Rock You" for the soundtrack to the 2011 film Sucker Punch.
2012 : Helmut VonLichten (formerly of E.S. Posthumus) mixed this song with an orchestral version of "Posthumus Zone" for CBS's Super Bowl 50 coverage. This mashup was later used for the 2015 film Pixels.
2014 : Canadian dubstep producer Excision and downlink remixed this song in the track Rock You.
Parodies and references to the song
1987: Henry Rollins did a parody of "We Will Rock You" titled "I Have Come to Kill You".
1998: Friends episode "The One Where Ross Moves In" - [S05E07]: Ross moves into Joey and Chandler's apartment. As time goes by, Ross reveals he's quite annoying by imposing a lot of changes to the norm of the apartment. One being the changing of the answering machine message to the tune of "We Will Rock You" by Queen, to which Ross alters the lyrics to "We Will, We Will Call You Back!".
2000: In The 10th Kingdom the parody are WE WILL SHEAR YOU.
2010: The cast of the Off-Broadway musical Avenue Q performed covers of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" in a video spoof of the Muppets' "Bohemian Rhapsody".
2012: In the 12 March edition of WWE Raw, The Rock performed his version during the Rock Concert segment by adding references to Team Bring It and fans chanting "Cena Sucks" in the chorus while taking aim at John Cena before they square off at WrestleMania XXVIII.
2014: Indonesian singer Ahmad Dhani made a controversial political campaign video with a parody of the song to support presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto for the 2014 Indonesian presidential election. Dhani wore Heinrich Himmler's SS Uniform in the video.
2015: In The Big Bang Theory episode "The Bachelor Party Corrosion" Raj, Howard and Leonard sing a modified version of the song called, "We Will Percussive Shock You" and Sheldon burst out singing the first verse of the original song, which he then credited to his eidetic memory, mentioned that in this instance it was a 'curse.'
2023: The intro from "We Will Rock You" was the first music transmitted from lucid dreams into reality in real-time. The study was published in Dreaming, an American Psychological Association peer-reviewed journal.