Rock and roll anthem

A Rock and roll anthem is a celebratory rock song. The subject that the anthem celebrates can vary, although one common anthemic theme is the celebration of rock and roll for itself.

Chuck Berry probably wrote more of these than any other songwriter:

• "School Days" (1956) "Hail, Hail Rock and Roll, deliver me from the days of old"
• "Roll Over, Beethoven" (1956) -- "and tell Tchaikovsky the news"
• "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) -- "got a back beat you can't lose it"
• "Johnny B. Goode" (1958) -- "never ever learned to read or write so well, but he could play a guitar just like ringing a bell"
• "Let it Rock" (1959)

The essence of the rock and roll anthem may be best captured in the Lieber and Stoller song "That is Rock and Roll", sung first by the Coasters in 1959:

You say our music's for the birds and you can't understand the words,

Well honey if you did, you'd really blow your lid, 'cause baby that is rock and roll

There are many others:

• 1954 "Rock Around the Clock" -- Bill Haley and his Comets
• 1957 "Jailhouse Rock" -- Elvis Presley, "Warden threw a party at the county jail, prison band was there and they began to wail."
• 1958 "Rock and Roll is here to stay" -- Danny and the Juniors
• 1961 "It will stand" -- The Showmen
• 1962 "PFC Rhythm and Blues Jones" -- Ray Stevens, "I'm a lover not a fighter, I'm a BMI songwriter"
• 1965 "Do You Believe in Magic" -- Lovin' Spoonful, who sang "It's like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll"
• 1967 "Heavy Music" -- Bob Seger
• 1967 "I Dig Rock & Roll Music" -- Peter, Paul, & Mary, ambivalent anthem by folk singers, "The message may not move me, Or mean a great deal to me", this from the singers of "Puff the Magic Dragon"
• 1967 "Rock and Roll Woman" -- Buffalo Springfield
• 1971 "American Pie" -- Don McLean
• 1972 "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" -- Argent (later covered by Kiss)
• 1972 "Rock and Roll Lullaby" -- BJ Thomas
• 1972 "Rock and Roll Part 2", Gary Glitter, instrumental anthem
• 1972 "Rock and Roll" -- Lou Reed, Mitch Ryder and his band Detroit, (successor to the Detroit Wheels)
• 1974 "Life is a Rock (and the Radio Rolled Me)" -- Reunion
• 1974 "Rock On" -- David Essex
• 1974 "Rock and Roll Heaven" -- The Righteous Brothers
• 1974 "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo" -- Rick Derringer
• 1974 "It's Only Rock and Roll (but I like it)" -- The Rolling Stones
• 1975 "Rock Show" -- Paul McCartney and Wings
• 1975 "Rock and Roll All Nite" -- first hit for Kiss, recorded live
• 1976 "Rock and Roll Band" -- Boston
• 1977 "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" -- Ian Dury & the Blockheads, updating the grand old slogan, "Wine, women & song!"
• 1979 "Old Time Rock and Roll" -- Bob Seger
• 1979 "Rust Never Sleeps" -- Neil Young
• 1979 "Long Live Rock" -- The Who
• 1980 "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" -- Billy Joel
• 1981 "I Love Rock and Roll" -- Joan Jett
• 1983 "Rock of Ages" -- Def Leppard (featuring the classic opening words, "Gunter glieben glauchen globen")
• 1984 "I Wanna Rock" -- Twisted Sister
• 1995 "Teenage Politics" -- MxPx

It'll be here for ever and ever, ain't gonna leave, never no never

Sinkin' deep in the heart of man, Rock and Roll forever will stand

"It will stand" -- The Showmen

In addition to those which celebrate rock and roll, other rock anthems that have celebrated other subjects have included:

• 1965 "My Generation" -- a youth anthem by The Who, who sang "hope I die before I get old" for more than 35 years
• 1968 "Born to be Wild" -- a celebration of freedom by Steppenwolf.
• 1975 "I Write the Songs", the ironic anti-anthem, written by Beach Boy Bruce Johnston for David Cassidy and Barry Manilow.
• 1983 "Down Under" -- Men at Work, an Australian anthem