Seven Nation Army
"Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes, released by V2 Records and XL Recordings on February 17, 2003. The opening track and lead single from their fourth studio album, Elephant, "Seven Nation Army" was written and produced by Jack White, and was composed by the band. The song consists of distorted vocals, a simple drumbeat, and a bass line created by playing a guitar through a pitch shift effect.
"Seven Nation Army" peaked at 76 on the US Billboard Hot 100, which is the band's first entry on the chart; it also charted in multiple countries and received several platinum certifications. The song received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its distinctive riff and drumbeat. It won Best Rock Song at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, and a music video for the song directed by Alex and Martin won Best Editing in a Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The success of "Seven Nation Army" contributed to the garage rock revival, and the song has ranked on several professional listicles of the best songs of all time, including Rolling Stone
"Seven Nation Army" has experienced increased commercial success, largely credited to its "ubiquitous" sound and usage in sports. It commonly appears in audience chants in which a series of "oh" sounds or the name of an athlete is sung to the tune of the song's riff. It has also served as a theme song for sports teams, personalities, and events, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The song has further appeared in various media and has been used in political events in the United Kingdom, particularly as a chant sung by audiences. Various artists have also covered "Seven Nation Army", including Ben l'Oncle Soul and Marcus Collins, both of whose covers reached charts in multiple countries. Third Man Records twice reissued the single in 2014 and 2015.
Recording
"Seven Nation Army" began with a guitar riff devised by singer and guitarist Jack White at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, while the White Stripes were on the Australian leg of their tour on January 29, 2002. He showed the riff to Ben Swank, an executive with the White Stripes' record label Third Man, who felt Jack could "do better". Jack later recalled that Swank "didn't even think that rhythm was that great, either".Originally saving the riff for a potential James Bond theme, he decided to incorporate it into a White Stripes song after admitting how slim his chances were of ever being asked to create a Bond theme. Five years later, he would write and perform "Another Way to Die" with Alicia Keys as the theme for the 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace.
"Seven Nation Army" was produced by Jack and recorded at Toe Rag Studios in London's Hackney area. He wrote the song as a "little experiment", hoping to create a compelling song that did not include a chorus. The lyrics were written the night before the song was recorded. The title "Seven Nation Army" was initially used as a placeholder for the track before its lyrics were written, but the name ultimately stuck.
Composition
"Seven Nation Army" is characterized as an alternative rock, garage rock, blues rock and punk blues song with a length of three minutes and 52 seconds. According to sheet music published by Universal Music Publishing Group, it is composed in the key of E minor in common time with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. The title of the song comes from when Jack, as a young child in Detroit, misheard "The Salvation Army" as "The Seven Nation Army".The song is driven by a riff that resembles the sound of a bass guitar. To create this sound, Jack connected a semi-acoustic guitar to a DigiTech Whammy pedal, lowering the pitch by an octave. The riff uses five pitches and consists of seven notes; it begins with a held note followed by four syncopated notes, ending with two notes that appear frequently in laments. The 7-note riff of "Seven Nation Army" has been noted to be similar to the main theme of Bruckner's 5th symphony. The song also features distorted vocals and a "heartbeat drum", played by White Stripes drummer Meg White. AllMusic's Tom Maginnis noted that the song "manipulat the power of tension and release": it creates a sense of "anticipatory energy", then transitions into what Maginnis described as a crush of what stands for the chorus", consisting of an electric guitar and a "bashing crash cymbal".
John Mulvey of NME described "Seven Nation Army" as a "diatribe against fame". The song's lyrics were inspired by the growing attention received by the White Stripes. According to Jack, the song tells the story of a person who, upon entering a town, hears its residents gossiping about him and proceeds to leave the town in response. Driven by a sense of loneliness, he ultimately returns. Regarding the song's meaning, Jack stated, "The song's about gossip. It's about me, Meg and the people we're dating." Maginnis described the lyrics as presenting an "obstinate attitude", citing the first verse: "I'm gonna fight 'em off / A seven nation army couldn't hold me back / They're gonna rip it off / Taking their time right behind my back". In regards to the line "I'm going to Wichita / Far from this opera forevermore", Jack said he has never visited the city, but was using it as metaphor and getting himself into character for the song with the lyric.
Release
Jack's idea of releasing "Seven Nation Army" as a single faced opposition from the White Stripes' record label, XL Recordings, which wanted to release the song "There's No Home for You Here" instead. Jack persuaded the label to release "Seven Nation Army", and in 2003 it was released as a promotional single alongside Elephant track "In the Cold, Cold Night". It was subsequently released in 2013 as a 7-inch vinyl single and a CD single; the former included a cover of "Good to Me"—written by Brendan Benson and Jason Falkner—as its B-side, while the latter included both "Good to Me" and folk song "Black Jack Davey". The photograph used as the single's artwork was taken by Patrick Pantano; it includes an elephant painting made by Greg Siemasz.On January 3, 2014, Third Man Records announced a limited edition clear 7-inch vinyl reissue of "Seven Nation Army" as part of a package for subscribers to its Vault service. A black 7-inch vinyl reissue with updated artwork was released on February 27, 2015.
Music video
The video, directed by Alex and Martin, consists of one seemingly continuous shot through a kaleidoscopic tunnel of mirrored black, white and red triangles. The triangle slides alternate between images of Jack or Meg playing, interspersed with marching skeletons and an elephant, referring to the name of the album "Seven Nation Army" appeared on. The triangles move forward through the tunnel faster and slower in tandem with the dynamics of the song. When the song begins to intensify, the lights surrounding the triangles flash and other effects build up as well.The music video won Best Editing in a Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, and was nominated for Best Group Video, Best Rock Video, and Best Special Effects.
Critical reception
"Seven Nation Army" received widespread critical acclaim. Heather Phares of AllMusic described it as a "breathtaking opener" to the album Elephant, and Bram Teltelman of Billboard suggested that "adventurous rock programmers might want to join the 'Army. In particular, "Seven Nation Armys central riff has been the subject of praise since the song's release. A writer for Rolling Stone described it as the best riff of the 2000s decade, and Rebecca Schiller of NME wrote that the riff is "the most maddeningly compulsive bassline of the decade, and not even actually played on a bass guitar". Critics also praised Meg's drumming—a "hypnotic thud" according to Tom Maginnis of AllMusic. Teltelman described the drumming as "simple but effective", and Phares said it was "explosively minimal". Critics also distinguished the song from the White Stripes' other work. According to Teltelman, "Seven Nation Army" represented an effort to "defy categorization", especially the garage rock label that had been attributed to the band. He further wrote that it was "much more of a straightforward rock song" than the band's 2002 single "Fell in Love with a Girl". Phares found "Seven Nation Army" to "deliver some of the fiercest blues-punk" of any song by the White Stripes."Seven Nation Army" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in addition to being nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. In 2003, it was ranked number three on Pazz & Jop based on music critics' votes, and listed as the number-one song of the year on the 2003 KROQ Top 106.7. Consequence of Sound, Paste and Stereogum all named "Seven Nation Army" as the White Stripes' best song. Critics ranked "Seven Nation Army" among the best tracks of the 2000s decade; it appeared on NMEs, Rolling Stones, WFNX's, and Pitchforks retrospective lists, and it was placed at number one on Consequence of Sounds "Top 50 Songs of the Decade".
Commercial performance
On March 8, 2003, "Seven Nation Army" debuted at number 27 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart; on July 26, it peaked at number one, a position it maintained for three weeks. In late 2023, for the chart's 35th anniversary, Billboard ranked the song as the 80th most successful in the chart's history. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 24, peaking at 76 that week. It debuted at number 38 on Billboard's Mainstream rock chart on July 12, and it reached its peak position of 12 on November 8. In Canada it peaked at number 61 on the Canadian Singles Chart in July 2007. The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart on May 3, 2003, at number seven, its peak position. It also reached the UK Indie Chart and Scottish Singles Chart the same week. The song debuted on the former at number one and remained at that position for another week, and it debuted and peaked at number six on the latter. On May 1, it debuted on the Irish Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 22. On June 22, the song debuted on the Australian Singles Chart at its peak position of number 17. It debuted on the Official German Charts at number 69 on June 27; it peaked at number four two weeks later."Seven Nation Army" has continued to chart intermittently years after its release. The song debuted at number four on the Federation of the Italian Music Industry chart on July 27, 2006, and it peaked at number three a week later. On June 29, 2008, it debuted at number 18 on the Swiss Hitparade chart, where it ultimately peaked at number four; it reentered this chart several times afterward, most recently in 2013. The song debuted at number 23 on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 chart on July 4, 2008, and it peaked at number 18 the next week; it later entered the Ö3 Austria Top 75 chart for one week on February 3, 2012. The song also entered the French Singles Chart on multiple occasions from 2013 to 2018, peaking at number 48 on February 23, 2013. It debuted on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart on January 18, 2014, peaking at number 12 during its first week.
The song was awarded several certifications in the 2010s. It was certified gold by Germany's Federal Music Industry Association in 2010, indicating over 150,000 sales of the single. In 2013, the British Phonographic Industry awarded "Seven Nation Army" a silver certification; after receiving a gold certification two years later, the song was certified double platinum in 2019 for sales and streams of over 1,200,000. The song was certified gold by the FIMI in 2014; three years later, it received a platinum certification, having sold over 50,000 copies.