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My Gen X Playlist: We Will Rock You – Queen

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There was less than ten seconds left on the clock. It was the last game of the season of our senior year. If we won, we went on to the state playoffs. If we lost, our high school basketball careers were over.

We were down by a point and the other team had two free throws. The first shot was a miss. Whoa. If he missed the second we might have enough time for a last ditch shot to win.

The second shot goes up and. . . miss! Shawn grabbed the rebound, threw an outlet pass to Mike. Mike dribbled down the sideline and heaved a desperate half court shot. But the shot fell short. Somehow I ran down the court in time to jump two feet in front of the rim and tip the ball midair just before the buzzer sounded. The ball hung on the rim in slow motion and then . . .

. . . it fell out of the basket. We lost and our season is over. Ouch. What a painful way to lose.

Before we walked at graduation, the three of us vowed to return at a class reunion and replay that last play.

Rebound. Pass. Shoot. Tip. Miss.

It felt pretty bad back then. It’s kind of funny now. I hope one day we meet and re-enact that moment. That would be a lot of fun.

I found this list of The 25 Biggest NBA Arena Anthems of All Time. Sure, my high school pals and I never made it past high school basketball. But you gotta love these songs. If I had to choose one, I think I’d go with We Will Rock You by Queen. This is a timeless classic and never get old. How can you not love the stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap.

Guitarist Brian May took musical inspiration from the old Boston Garden, where Queen had performed. He recalled the sound of the wooden floors and beams and the crowd noise, which sounded like thunder.

American Songwriter

And if you are Gen X, you might even remember this scene from Cheers.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin'

We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you

Buddy, you're a young man, hard man
Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday
You got blood on your face, you big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place

We will, we will rock you, sing it
We will, we will rock you

Buddy, you're an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes, gonna make you some peace someday
You got mud on your face, big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place

We will, we will rock you, sing it
We will, we will rock you, everybody
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
Alright

21 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: We Will Rock You – Queen”

      1. It was old and small, relatively speaking, but there was definitely an atmosphere about it. It had a charm these corporate named arenas just don’t have. Call me old school LOL

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  3. I didn’t remember this scene, but it’s great! Strongest memory of this song is being in a van on the way to somewhere with a few friends, maybe a church thing as a teen. 🙂

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  4. Yes to Queen! I looked at the list and recognized maybe 4 of the songs – I looked up ‘Apache’ by the Sugar Hill Gang since I know a song by that name by Jorgen Ingmann and another version by The Shadows – Woo – was that video offensive.

    (Also – do I need to duck and cover if I say I never really cared for ‘Cheers’ and for some irrational reason I just don’t like Ted Danson?)

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      1. Well you know how people are…dare to have a different like (or dislike) and they get their shorts in a knot…”Cheers’ and Ted Danson are well liked, just not by me. People take things personally – just like me finding that video offensive…

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  6. Oh man! You needed to slam dunk that ball! Good memories from high school.
    I have a few songs by Queen that I like, and We Will Rock You is one of them.

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  8. That’s quite a vivid memory! Would be fun to recreate the moment.

    In my books, the best use of this song is in the opening jousting scene of “A Knight’s Tale” with the late Heath Ledger.

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