The definition of what a rock anthem is should be clear - but in fact it's not always. Sometimes rock anthem and rock ballad overlap. But the unmistakable thing about the rock anthem - the name says it all - is its hymnal, often solemn character. The bands are very bombastic here, be it in the chorus, which is often doubled vocally or sung in the choir; be it in the instrumentation, which is often characterized by the use of synthesizers or mellotrons or by powerful guitar lines - the musicians switch to full fat, so to speak, to achieve the desired effect: sometimes sensitive, sometimes pathetic, always highly emotional.
Certain genres live from the hymnic gesture: Glamrock, for example, as well as hardrock and metal, but also prog and grunge love it sweepingly. We have deliberately broadened the term "rock" in our list of the best, which is why representatives of many varieties of popular music can be found on the following pages. But what unites almost all pieces across styles and decades is the culmination of the chorus, which at times comes across as blatant (e.g. in Joan Jett's "I Love Rock'nRoll"), sometimes agitational (Ton Steine Scherben's "Rauch-Haus-Song"), sometimes sacral (Interpol's "NYC"), sometimes ritual (Peter Gabriel's "Biko"), sometimes raging (Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit") or another time spiritual (George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord") - the emotional palette that musicians use to formulate their exuberant message has always been broad and colourful. In order to be able to compile the list of 150 songs, the entire editorial staff, all authors have searched their record collections for hymnals. Some surprises were uncovered, but also numbers that were first put aside and then got their fixed place in the second run ("Sure, how could we slip through that!") were among them.
It remains for us to wish you a lot of fun browsing through our list of the best and checking your own music collection. Surely you will come across hymns we have grown fond of, which we have not taken into account. As always, we are looking forward to your feedback on rankings.
