Through the years songs have helped define our experiences. They’ve acted as musical landmarks that we associate with both the good and the bad experiences we’ve had in our lives. This all adds up to become what can be considered as the soundtrack for the collective human experience. But how much do we know about these famous songs?
This is an important question, as learning a little bit more about them may help enhance the overall experience or at the very least would make for some interesting small talk. If this has got you interested, read on for a quick list of some iconic songs and the stories behind them.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Let’s start this list off with one of the most popular songs of all time. And this is no exaggeration as Bohemian Rhapsody is the most-streamed song of the 20th century with a whopping 1.6 billion streams across multiple platforms.
If you’ve seen the film Bohemian Rhapsody, then you know that this song took quite some time to record. The opera parts, in particular, took over 70 hours to complete. This should put things into perspective whenever someone calls the song long, as it is completely dwarfed by the amount of time it took to complete it.
Bon Iver – Skinny Love
Bon Iver’s Skinny Love is one of the earliest examples of an indie song garnering mainstream success. One reason for its success would be its use in the fifth season of the popular medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.
The song was a part of Bon Iver’s debut album For Emma, Forever Ago. The recording of the album and the song was pretty barebones as Bon Iver recorded the entirety of it in his family’s hunting cabin in the woods of Wisconsin. In fact, the most extensive piece of equipment that he brought would have been his microphone. His choice, a Shure SM57, known for its high recording quality, which is why it’s considered the industry standard when it comes to live and recorded performances. This puts Bon Iver in good company as it’s the same mic that Sufjan Stevens’ used to record Greetings from Michigan.
No Doubt – Don’t Speak
Gwen Stefani is pretty much a household name at this point. What younger people may not know is that she was part of the band No Doubt back in the mid-90s. One of the band’s biggest hits was Don’t Speak which spent 42 weeks atop the Billboard charts.
Another point that most people don’t know is that the song was originally supposed to be upbeat and happy. This changed when Gwen Stefani broke up with the band’s former bassist Tony Kanal. She completely rewrote the song into the version we know today.
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
If you’ve ever been to a sports arena then there’s a good chance that you’ve listened to The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. The song even stole the show back at the 2006 World Cup when it became the de facto anthem of the Italian national team.
While the iconic riff at the start may sound like a bass guitar, The White Stripes has no bass guitar players in the band. To achieve this sound Jack White used his iconic Valco Airline and paired it with an octave effect to make it sound like a bass guitar. This is important, as the original recording of the song was completely analog with no computers involved in the writing, recording, mixing, and mastering of the song.
If you’re looking for more music content, check out our review of Vampire Weekend’s latest album! We highly recommend this one to be listened to from start to finish!
Lead Photo Credit: Pexels
