We Will Rock You

Queen about the record

May:

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:"That was a response to a particular phase in our career when the audience was becoming a bigger part of the show than we were. They would sing all the songs. In a place like Birmingham, they'd be so vociferous that we'd have to stop the show and let them sing to us. So both Freddie and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to write songs with audience participation specifically in mind. My feeling was that everyone can stamp and clap and sing a simple motif. We did that record at Wessex, which is an old converted church that has a naturally good sound to it. There are no drums on there. It's just us, stamping on boards many times with many primitive delay machines and clapping. A bit of singing, a bit of guitar playing and that's it."

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:"At concerts, I discovered, people tend to do three claps rather than two stamps and a clap. The amazing thing is to go to football matches, or sports events in general, and hear people do it. It's very gratifying to find that it has become part of folklore, sort of. I'll die happy because of that."

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Ubiquitous in a post-rock-and-roll era world, and particularly prevalent at sporting events, one of the more inventive, if whimsical, applications of "We Will Rock You" comes in the film A Knight's Tale. Featured as the soundtrack of the opening sequence of this 21st century Chaucerian tale, medieval English peasants are seen stomping and clapping in the bleachers of a jousting match. This film relies heavily upon 1970s rock classics, especially to indulge in its favorite delight of anachronistic play between modern and medieval times.

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