Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Every Nation Army

You know I'm a fan of sports and independent music. Rarely do those worlds touch. So you can imagine my surprise the first time I heard a crowd singing the guitar riff from The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."



That seemed kind of funny. I think it was a college football game, where the fans are going to be more familiar with the song, and more willing to try some new cheer. But since then it's spread, and has now become a standard part of of the modern sports landscape. You've got to think a lot of people screaming along with it don't know what song they're singing, and perhaps not even know they're impersonating an electric guitar. Oddly, the song hasn't become a major part of sports DJ rotation, with "We Will Rock You" or "No Limit" still on top.

But today, when I heard the Seven Nation Army riff from Chinese curling fans, I knew the phenomena had gone as far as it possibly can. It makes me ask a couple of questions: First, what do you call singing like a guitar. We have the term "beatboxing" to mean imitating drums. So what is this? Riff Boxing?

And secondly, since it's so popular, why haven't other songs been adopted by crowds?  Here are my suggestions:

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