“There are two essential ingredients for an anthem. First is timelessness. An anthem is a song that transcends genres, generations, and eras, to continually reach new fans over the decades.
The second, and more important is universality.” (p. xvii)
I won’t argue with Steve Baltin’s definition of rock “anthems” but I will argue with some of Baltin’s 29 song choices. I have no problem with The Temptations’ “My Girl” or The Beach Boys iconic “God Only Knows.” I enjoyed Grace Slick providing her views on “White Rabbit”:
“[White Rabbit] has a buildup, the same way that sex has a buildup. You start kissing, then you start feeling around. Then you get into bed and take off your clothes and then you poke like crazy and then, oh boy! A climax. That the way “White Rabbit” is. It stars off softly and comes to a climax in the end. So people are geared to like that progression.” (p. 28)
Grace Slick wrote “White Rabbit” and admits she “borrowed” from Ravel’s “Bolero” and Alice in Wonderland to create the song. She’s surprised that “White Rabbit” appears in the movie Platoon, the animated TV series Futurama, The Sopranos, American Dad, Skull Island, The Handmaid’s Tale, and a dozen other series and films.
I also enjoyed Carly Simon sharing the origins of “Anticipation” which she wrote in 20 minutes while waiting for her date to show up. As much as I love Linda Ronstadt, “Skylark” is not the song that I associate with her long career of hits. The same goes with the selection of U2’s “One” which wouldn’t be at the top of my Favorite U2 songs.
Do you remember these anthems? Any favorites? GRADE: B
Table of Contents
Foreword Cameron Crowe ix
Prologue Spencer Proffer xiii
Introduction xvii
1 The Temptations, “My Girl” 1
2 The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows” 11
3 The Doors, “Light My Fire” 19
4 Jefferson Airplane, “White Rabbit” 27
5 Neil Diamond, “Sweet Caroline” 37
6 The 5th Dimension, “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” 47
7 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Our House” 55
8 The Jackson 5, “ABC” 61
9 Carly Simon, “Anticipation” 69
10 Don McLean, “American Pie” 79
11 The Spinners, “I’ll Be Around” 87
12 Barry Manilow, “Could It Be Magic” 95
13 KISS, “Rock and Roll All Nite” 103
14 Janis Ian, “At Seventeen” 111
15 Hall & Oates, “Sara Smile” 121
16 Aerosmith, “Walk This Way” 129
17 Bob Marley, “One Love/People Get Ready” 137
18 Earth, Wind & Fire, “September” 143
19 CHIC, “Le Freak” 151
20 TOTO, “Africa” 159
21 Linda Ronstadt, “Skylark” 167
22 Tears for Fears, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” 173
23 Fleetwood Mac, “Big Love” 181
24 U2, “One” 189
25 Shania Twain, “You’re Still the One” 199
26 Tom Waits, “Take It With Me” 209
27 TLC, “No Scrubs” 217
28 Linkin Park, “In the End” 225
29 My Chemical Romance, “Welcome to the Black Parade” 235
Notes 247
Acknowledgments 249
About the Author 252
This book could be subtitled, “29 Songs in Search of A Unifying Thesis”! Too many of the songs are either obscure, ballad-y, or both. When I think “rock anthem”, I’m thinking of songs like “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions”, “Born in the USA”, “Eye of the Tiger”, even “Y.M.C.A.”—songs that everyone knows and will sing & dance along to at a sporting event or party. I’ll be passing on reading this one.
Deb, I feel the same way you do. Too many of Baltin’s selections are “reaches” to me. Your anthem playlist would be a whole lat better! But, I did enjoy the background information on these songs.
I’m drawing a blank on many of these. Others (Sweet Caroline, Walk This Way, Rock and Roll All Night) I’ve heard way too many times.
Fred, I’m with you on song “burnout.” I was never a fan of “Sweet Caroline.” Yet, it gets played at every home Boston Red Sox game.
I like a lot of these songs, but like Fred, I’m drawing a blank on some of them. Of those I like, I guess some can be called anthems but the term is pretty vague. Nonetheless, I suggest people avoid playing some of these songs around me because I’ll start singing them, and nobody wants that.
Jerry, if you have access to Paramount+, check out the “Subspace Rhapsody” episode of STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS where a “subspace fold” causes the crew to sing like they were in a musical! Fun episode!
I’ve always thought of an anthem as a rock song that is simplistic and rousingly bombastic with a blunt, declarative message. By its very nature its devoid of nuance or subtlety. The kind of thing someone would shout along to at a stadium or in their pickup. Anyone who listened to the radio in the seventies or early eighties could name more than a few and few posts here provide good examples but nothing here would remotely fit my loosest definition. Tom Waits couldn’t write an anthem if you put a gun to his head). God, now I’m going to be hearing “In a Big Country” in my head all day.
The connection between “White Rabbit” and “Bolero” (two pieces of music I never need to hear again) is interesting though.
Byron, despite the dubious selections of “anthems” Baltin does provide new information (at least to me) on all of these songs. I learned a lot. How could Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” not make the list? It’s played at almost every stadium in the U.S.!
I’m generally not in the mood for “anthems” but a few of these 1960/1970 songs I really love:
Light my fire and of course
American pie
Most of the others I dont even remember – though I know the names of the performers.
Wolf, “Light My Fire” is a 7-minute song which because of the AM Radio requirements (play a lot of songs and a lot of commercials) in the 1960s, forced The Doors to edit “Light My Fire” down to a 3-minute song. But, later, FM Radio stations started to play the unedited long version and it became a hit again!
Ludicrous, stupid, ridiculous. That’s my “anthem” to him. Deb (as usual) said it all. As much as I like some of the songs, let’s just say that one man’s “anthem” is the rest of us’s …ordinary song. “Skylark”? Seriously? Yes, “White Rabbit” is an anthemic song. (And I have always seen the connection to “Bolero,” which I love.) But few others are. I love “My Girl” but I don’t classify it as an anthem. Ditto “God Only Knows” or “Our House” or “Anticipation.” “ABC”? No. Deb hit it with “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions.” Now THAT is a rock anthem (or two). “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers might make my list too.
Jeff, a more accurate title for ANTHEMS WE LOVE would be BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON POPULAR SONGS.
Also, I feel like quoting Inigo Montoya to him – “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Jeff, Baltin “defines” what he thinks an “anthem” is in his Introduction. But, obviously, none of us agree with him…or his song choices!
I know most of these but wouldn’t call few of them an anthem. God Only Knows is one of the most perfect songs ever written, but anthem? No.
Steve, I agree with you on “God Only Knows.” Classic and iconic. But, I don’t think of it as a rock anthem, either.
Some pretty good stuff here, but anthems? Very few–maybe WHITE RABBIT and AMERICAN PIE. Fortunately we have Deb to nail it down for us. And how could anyone examine the work of CSN&Y (much as I love them) and come up with OUR HOUSE as the anthem? But look at Young’s solo work and you’ll find a trove of them–POWDERFINGER., CORTEZ THE KILLER, and DOWN BY THE RIVER just for a start.
Michael, I’m with you Neil Young. Plenty of his songs could be classified as anthems. Nash wrote OUR HOUSE for Joni Mitchell…but that doesn’t make it an anthem. It makes it a Love Song.
Once again I don’t have to read this book because you did! And once again I never planned to read it anyway!
Bob, glad to be of service!
I am just relieved I know a lot of these. But few would make me think of an anthem. I would have liked to hear his elevator pitch for this book.
Patti, I’m wondering if Baltin will do a sequel if ANTHEMS WE LOVE sells enough copies…
Instead of a sequel, he might do better with something like ANTHILLS WE LOVE. I understand there’s one in back of Bob Dylan’s home and another about half a mile from Cyndi Lauper’s place.
The Kinks early career is more full of anthemic music than most of these citations collectively.
Hell, the B52s average more.
Or even anti-anthemic anthems come to mind, such as Jawbox’s “Twister”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4nCLNBgauo&t=37s
I am familiar with nearly all of them, and like some, find too many pretty damned dull, and always have.
Todd, I didn’t know you were a Kinks fan!
Can’t imagine not being one to some degree and liking (much less loving) rock music. Of course, if all one’s heard are the early ’70s operas they released, non-fandom can be more comprehensible.
And, briefly in the mid-’60s, they were the loudest band in the world.
Todd, there’s that old saying: If you can’t play good, play loud!
Well, the Kinks were able to do play well and loud…whereas, say, Mountain were more relevant to the suggestion you quote…
Todd, the Kinks might show up under your Christmas tree in a few months…