Everyone gets songs stuck in their heads that just won’t go away. They sneak into your subconscious. They are epic earworms that you find yourself humming uncontrollably, singing in the shower, or tapping the beat to with your foot or ballpoint pen when you should be working. Sometimes they even keep you awake at night. Whether they are current hits, one-hit wonders, movie soundtrack gems, holiday favorites, or songs from your youth, their catchy vocals, riffs, hooks, and choruses seem to linger for days.
Here, those songs find a home, no matter the genre. Here, those epic earworms are revisited, explained, and celebrated. Here, you may find the song that haunts you tomorrow. Here is today’s unescapable song of the day…and the story behind it.
Today’s Epic Earworm: The White Stripes — “Seven Nation Army”
Detroit rockers the White Stripes got their start in 1997, but the band didn’t have its coming-out party until 2003 and the release of their fourth album. Elephant was a massive success, going Top Ten in countries all over the world and selling over two million copies in the U.S. The album received four Grammy nominations and won for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song. The latter was for the album’s lead single “Seven Nation Army.”
“Seven Nation Army” topped the Alternative chart for three weeks and was certified double-platinum. The song is a diatribe against fame and the hazards that come with it. It tells the tale of a man who leaves town when everyone there is gossiping about him, looking to be left alone. The man ultimately returns when he can’t stand his loneliness elsewhere. Frontman Jack White has long admitted that the song was inspired by all the gossip surrounding who the band members were dating at the time.
White, Jack White
When White originally worked out the trademark guitar riff for “Seven Nation Army,” he played it for a label executive. The exec was not impressed, but White knew he had something. He set it aside and decided he would save the riff for if he was ever asked to do a James Bond theme.
After a year had passed, he decided he was being silly and would never be asked to write a theme song for one of the spy thrillers. White eventually turned the riff into the megahit that is still everywhere in pop culture decades later. Ironically, five years later, White penned “Another Way to Die” for the 22nd Bond film, “Quantum of Solace.” He performed the song with Alicia Keys.
More About “Seven Nation Army”
White had given the “Seven Nation Army” riff that name as a placeholder until he wrote the song’s lyrics. It was how he had pronounced Salvation Army as a child. The singer fleshed out the song as an experiment, to see if a song could succeed without a chorus. He threw together the lyrics the night before recording the song, and the placeholder title ended up sticking. So, next time you are cleaning out your closets to donate to the Salvation Army, pop on this epic earworm in the background.
