The view expressed in the following lines is my personal opinion. I make no claims regarding its factual accuracy. Feel free to disagree.
Music has evolved dramatically in the last few decades. While there are obvious stylistic differences in what we hear now and what our parents used to hear in their youth, there is a quality in particular that gave the music of their time a distinct sound. I shall call it the 'anthemic' quality. An 'anthem' is a song that is sonically grand. It is a song that sounds majestic, a song that wouldn't feel out of place in an orchestra, for example. Most of the pre-nineties bands incorporated this quality in their music, intentionally or otherwise. Queen were a band who couldn't help sounding anthemic. It was second nature to them. Anthems were not always products of elaborate arrangements. The song "Bridge over troubled waters" by Simon and Garfunkel is an anthem that was often performed on a single guitar played by Paul Simon. Some of the notable anthems of the 60s, 70s and 80s are
Let It Be/Beatles
Baba O' Riley/The Who
Like A Rolling Stone/Bob Dylan
More Than A Feeling/Boston
Born In The USA/Bruce Springsteen
Heal The World/Michael Jackson
Always/Bon Jovi
November Rain/Guns N' Roses
American Pie/Don Mclean
Learn To Be Still/Eagles
Super Trouper/ABBA
Imagine/John Lennon
Dreamer/Ozzy Osbourne
Coming Back To Life/Pink Floyd
Maggie May/Rod Stewart
Rhinestone Cowboy/Glen Campbell
Touch Me/The Doors
You Can't Always Get What You Want/Rolling Stones
Free Falling/Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/U2
Jump/Van Halen
Don't Stop Believing/Journey
I Wanna Be Sedated/Ramones
Anthems fizzled out in the nineties with the advent of grunge/alternative music that promoted a 'rawer' sound. The anthemic tone was now considered to be nothing more than a shallow attempt at making a song a hit. Chord patterns changed, vocal delivery was controlled to sound less 'superhuman' and 4-piece bands started to sound like 4-piece bands again. The age of the anthem was over.
Music has evolved dramatically in the last few decades. While there are obvious stylistic differences in what we hear now and what our parents used to hear in their youth, there is a quality in particular that gave the music of their time a distinct sound. I shall call it the 'anthemic' quality. An 'anthem' is a song that is sonically grand. It is a song that sounds majestic, a song that wouldn't feel out of place in an orchestra, for example. Most of the pre-nineties bands incorporated this quality in their music, intentionally or otherwise. Queen were a band who couldn't help sounding anthemic. It was second nature to them. Anthems were not always products of elaborate arrangements. The song "Bridge over troubled waters" by Simon and Garfunkel is an anthem that was often performed on a single guitar played by Paul Simon. Some of the notable anthems of the 60s, 70s and 80s are
Let It Be/Beatles
Baba O' Riley/The Who
Like A Rolling Stone/Bob Dylan
More Than A Feeling/Boston
Born In The USA/Bruce Springsteen
Heal The World/Michael Jackson
Always/Bon Jovi
November Rain/Guns N' Roses
American Pie/Don Mclean
Learn To Be Still/Eagles
Super Trouper/ABBA
Imagine/John Lennon
Dreamer/Ozzy Osbourne
Coming Back To Life/Pink Floyd
Maggie May/Rod Stewart
Rhinestone Cowboy/Glen Campbell
Touch Me/The Doors
You Can't Always Get What You Want/Rolling Stones
Free Falling/Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/U2
Jump/Van Halen
Don't Stop Believing/Journey
I Wanna Be Sedated/Ramones
Anthems fizzled out in the nineties with the advent of grunge/alternative music that promoted a 'rawer' sound. The anthemic tone was now considered to be nothing more than a shallow attempt at making a song a hit. Chord patterns changed, vocal delivery was controlled to sound less 'superhuman' and 4-piece bands started to sound like 4-piece bands again. The age of the anthem was over.
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