The White Stripes released “Seven Nation Army”

Seven Nation Army The White Stripes

Writer(s): Jack White (see lyrics here) Released: March 7, 2003 First Charted: March 8, 2003 Peak: 76 US, 12 AR, 13 MR, 7 UK, 61 CN, 17 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 2.4 UK, 7.08 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.3 radio, 788.27 video, 1969.19 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Built on what Rolling Stone called “the greatest riff of the decade,” RS’09 “Seven Nation Army” is “the place where Led Zeppelin meets the future” PD as “Jack White weighs in with some Jimmy Page-inspired guitar riffage” PD that announced him as “this generation’s surest thing to a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall-of-Famer.” CS That “Army” sported “one of the catchiest, most-recognized bass-sounding lines” SA is all the more astonishing considering it wasn’t played on a bass at all. The sound was actually created with an octave pedal and a semi-acoustic AB’00 “low-registered, seven-string guitar.” SA White said he planned to use the riff if ever asked to do a James Bond film theme. Considering that unlikely, he used it for this song. In 2008, he and Alicia Keys performed the theme song (“Another Way to Die”) for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. SF The song title came about from what Jack thought the Salvation Army was called when he was a child. The subject of the song regards the White Stripes rise in popularity and the subsequent gossip that arises. SF He said the song “is about this character who is involved in the realm of gossip with his friends and family and is so enraged by it that he wants to leave town.” TC Jack “howls about a rage so intense, he could take on an army all by himself.” RS’09 Of course, he isn’t alone – the song “wouldn’t have half of its menace were it not for the simplicity of [drummer Meg White’s] thumping, insistent floor tom.” PF “Army” restores “an element of hard rocking blues to what otherwise borders on throbbing dance music.” AMG It also was “the coolest song ever to become a soccer hooligan chant” MX as Italian soccer fans latched on to the song while facing different nations in the 2006 World Cup. SF Since then, it has become an inescapable anthem in sports stadiums and arenas and has been covered by Audioslave, the Flaming Lips, and Rihanna. It also sported an iconic video which has earned a reputation “as one of the most effective motion-sickness-inducing devices since the invention of spinning carnival rides.” SF Resources: AB’00 About.com (2009). “Top 100 Pop Songs of the 2000s” MX Atlanta Metromix (11/24/09) “Best songs of the decade” CS Consequence of Sound (2010) “COS Top 50 Songs of the Decade” TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 713-4. PD PopDose.com (11/24/09) The Best Songs of the Decade RS’09 Rolling Stone (12/9/09). “Songs of the Decade” SF Songfacts Related Links: Last updated 7/6/2025.

Live “Lighting Crashes" charted

Lightning Crashes Live

Writer(s): Live (see lyrics here) Released: February 24, 1995 First Charted: January 28, 1995 Peak: 12a US, 7 RR, 110 AR, 19 MR, 33 UK, 3 CN, 13 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 82.26 video, 151.55 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The rock band Live formed in York, Pennyslvania in 1984. They didn’t release their first album, Mental Jewelry, in 1991. The album produced three singles; “Operation Spirit” was a top-10 hit on the modern rock charts. Still, the album stalled at #73. However, the follow-up, 1994’s Throwing Copper, proved a massive success selling 8 million copies and topping the Billboard album chart. Four songs from the album reached the top 10 on the modern rock chart, including the #1 hits “Selling the Drama” and “Lightning Crashes.” New York magazine described the the latter song as “the story of a connection between an old lady dying and a new mother at the moment of giving birth.” WK Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk said the video created some misinterpretations. He said, “I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room. Nobody’s dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you’re seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life.” WK The song was dedicated to Barbara Lewis, a high school friend of the band’s who was killed by a drunk driver. Her brother-in-law Cory explained that “Ed is speaking to the circle of life, but specifically to how Barb’s life gave new life to many.” SF He cites how her heart is literally still beating because she was a donor. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Live SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/1/2022.

 

Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun” charted

Black Hole Sun Soundgarden

Writer(s): Chris Cornell (see lyrics here) Released: May 4, 1994 First Charted: April 23, 1994 Peak: 24a US, 25 CB, 16 GR, 13 RR, 17 AR, 2 MR, 12 UK, 5 CN, 6 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 250.0 video, 514.57 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Soundgarden formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984. The rock band became a cornerstone of the grunge movement in the early 1990s. Their first album, 1988’s Ultramega OK, failed to chart. However, Louder Than Love reached #108 in 1989 and Badmotorfinger got to #39 in 1991 and went double platinum. They exploded with their fourth album, 1994’s Superunknown. The album reached #1 and went six-times platinum. Five songs from the album reached the top 20 on Billboard’s album rock chart. The highest was third single, “Black Hole Sun,” which got to #1. Billboard named the song #1 of the year for their modern rock tracks chart, even though it only peaked at #2. The song also went to #1 in Iceland and reached the top 10 in Australia, Canada, France, and Ireland. WK It won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. VH1 ranked it one of the 100 greatest hard rock songs. The band’s lead singer, Chris Cornell, wrote the song while driving home to Seattle. He misunderstood a TV news anchor, thinking he heard “black hole sun.” He thought it would make an amazing song title and liked the juxtaposition of a black hole, “a void, a giant circle of nothing, and then you have the sun, the giver of all life.” SF He said, “It all came together, pretty much the whole arrangement…I spent a lot of time spinning those melodies in my head so I wouldn’t forget them. I got home and whistled it into a Dictaphone.” WK Cornell said the lyrics were “a stream of consciousness based on the feeling I got from the chorus and title.” WK He also said “lyrically it’s probably the closest to me just playing with words for words’ sake…I have no idea how you’d begin to take that one literally…I was just sucked in by the music and I was painting a picture with the lyrics. There was no real idea to get across.” WK Resources: AMG All Music Guide SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/2/2022; last updated 2/3/2023.