Worldwide Anthems
Oh, Glee~ You loser show.
I was setting this list up when the episode Original Song was about to air, since they were singing their new Loser Like Me song, and the Wablers did a rendition of P!nk’s Raise your Glass. Even LinzerDinzerTV (now on hiatus) did a show on The American Music Market and Misfits Anthems.
It’s been a while since that episode, and I thought I had lost that window, but the last episode is giving me another chance. Yup, Glee is the show for the misfits and it’s featured many anthems – from Madonna’s Express Yourself, Beck’s Loser, all the way to Katy Perry’s Fireworks, Pink’s Raise your Glass… and Lady Gaga’s Born this Way.
This made me wonder about pop rock anthems around the world, and I asked a lot of people about the songs that mean something in their countries, and that people just sing out loud. Believe me, I asked a lot of people, and had to Google translate a lot of websites… and I finally realized, we Latin Americans have the best anthems.
We sing about feeling proud about being looked down as Latin Americans, we sing about being proud about our Latin roots, we sing about wanting to go back to our country. We actually probably sing out loud any song, but that’s besides the point. Sometimes we might look like we hate our culture, but when there’s a good Latin American pop rock anthem — man, do we sing it.
So here’s a list of songs that mean something to a group of people.
First, the bonus~
* Gianmarco – Volveré
I disqualified this because the song wasn’t released as a single, so it was never played in radios (at least it wasn’t supposed to). Peruvian singer composer Gianmarco composed this for his 2002 album, A Tiempo. Volvere, which translates to I’ll Be Back — cue Terminator jokes here — talks about someone who’s away from their home country — the song specifically refers to Lima descriptions — and are promising to go back.
As I was leaving, I already missed you
with my heart in hand
your fog refreshed
that illusion of seeing you soon between Alamedas and balconiesI caressed you when you were suffering
when the blood started flowing
but love and our people
made us indifferent
against all the pain
Songs 6,7 & 9 are annoying for me to listen to. But great choice on using Molotov and Prisioneros for the Top 2 spots.
@Rodrigo, it’s common with people with pop bias. xD I always wonder how you liked the Spice Girls. Totally didn’t picture that. LOL
How about the other songs?
@amy, It was during a time when pop music didn’t totally sucked and I was young. People make mistakes! :'(
Songs 6, 7 and 9 were extremely overplayed to death during their prime. Color Esperanza isn’t bad if played once in a while. PSV’s song reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend years ago. I mentioned that song annoying me due to it being very overplayed (songs can actually get on my shitlist for this factor and last there for a period of time), he replied back with saying the song didn’t apply to me at the moment, which was a valid point. The mere sound of the Aristia song makes me want to curbstomp a cat, though. I can’t stand that song!
The rest of the songs are fine by me.
@Rodrigo, lol – actually… if you look away from pop in English, you’ll find that pop doesn’t really suck. xD
I agree though, songs get overplayed… but I guess that’s part of them becoming a lot of people’s anthems. Otherwise it’d be songs that one just knows…
I like my translations though hahahaha.
I’ve just come to say I love… the top 3 XD