Music and sports have long been interconnected. The All Togethers explain how athletes and coaches harness the power of music to heighten performance. Yet sport and music have a much deeper connection. A connection that helps empower, and bring communities together.
This is where fans and music collide, songs blare out of the speakers, and supporters chant their favorite anthems. With that in mind, here we are going to look at the five best sports anthems of all time.
5. ”We Will Rock You”
Heralded as the best jock jam in history by Billboard, Queen’s “We Will Rock You” lands a bit lower in this list. The song is at home when played in stadiums, mostly due to its catchy boom-boom-clap riff and undeniable energy. Plus, as Memphis Grizzlies Click Effects Operator Justin Baker explains, “We Will Rock You” is a Queen song! In other words, the iconic band’s legacy adds an almost regal vibe to the song. It helps, too, that Queen remain active to this day, performing with the inimitable Adam Lambert in Freddie Mercury’s place.
4. ”Jump Around”
House of Pain’s “Jump Around” is a feel-good, high-energy hip-hop classic. It can pump up a crowd, with its catchy beats and unmistakable appeal to, well, jump around! It’s no wonder that it remains a popular track among sports teams. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers football team, in particular, play “Jump Around” at their home games — and they do so, perhaps symbolically, at the start of the fourth and final quarter. The Los Angeles Angels and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team also routinely play the song at their home games.
3. ”Seven Nation Army”
As Sports Illustrated notes in their list of the best stadium anthems, The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” “is one of the few songs in this genre with global appeal.” It is rather imposing, especially when sung in unison by thousands of passionate soccer fans. It is famously sung by German soccer team Bayern Munich’s fans during their home games at the Allainz Arena. It is a cultural phenomenon, one that merits a place in this venerable list.
2. ”You’ll Never Walk Alone”
This particular song was originally released in 1945 as a show tune for the musical Carousel. But it finds itself second in this list because of its rich cultural ties with Liverpool, one of oldest and most famous soccer clubs in England. FourFourTwo’s Paul Brown explains how Liverpool fans sang the song for the first time in an FA Cup home match on April 27, 1963. The song caught on, and has since become Liverpool’s anthem — despite the club losing the aforementioned April home match. The FA Cup is particular special to Liverpool as they have enjoyed a lot of success in it. A feature article by Ladbrokes on five epic music tracks associated with the FA Cup, highlights that Liverpool have won the trophy seven times. And you can be sure that “You Will Never Walk Alone” was sung during and after every cup win.
1. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
Nothing is beating this OG sports anthem — at least not yet. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer and was released in 1908. It is filled with references to baseball, even though both Norworth and Von Tilzer maintained not having seen a game in person. Turns out, it didn’t matter. Their song has, for over a century now, been playing in U.S. ballparks as a stand-by for the seventh-inning stretch. With the song and the game so intertwined already, it might actually be fair to say that as long as there is baseball, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” will live on.
