We Built This City
Encyclopedia
"We Built This City" is the title of a song written by Bernie Taupin
, Martin Page
, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf
, and originally recorded by the American pop rock
group Starship and released as its debut single on August 1, 1985.
The single version reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
on November 16, 1985, and also number one on the U.S. Top Rock Tracks chart and number twelve in the United Kingdom
.
and call the city "The City by the Bay", a reference to San Francisco. Further, Starship is from San Francisco.
and arranged by Bottrell and Jasun Martz
.
The song features Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick
on lead vocals. MTV
executive and former D.J. Les Garland
provided the D.J. voice-over during the song's bridge.
in South Bend, Indiana
would overdub the radio station sample of the song with their own radio station DJs talking about their station and city during the song's regular broadcast. This was actually encouraged by the band as versions of the song without the original radio broadcast were released to radio stations.
In a viral video
made by Melissa Lanzourakis-Joens, the town of Sioux City used the song while replacing the words "this city" with "Sioux City" in the chorus. The video has been featured on MTV
and Comedy Central
's Tosh.0
.
The song is featured, along with many other 80's and early 90's hits, in the Broadway musical Rock of Ages
.
Rap group The Diplomats
released a rap
adaption of the song entitled "Built Dis City" on their 2003 album Diplomatic Immunity
.
This song is featured in a prominent scene in the 2011 film The Muppets
. As Gary (Jason Segel
), Mary (Amy Adams
), and the entire Muppet crew clean up the Muppet Theatre, Dr. Teeth activates this song on his boombox to set perfect clean-up music.
's ranking of the song as the worst song ever was in conjunction with a VH1
Special of The 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever. In order to qualify for the distinction, the songs on the list had to be a popular hit at some point, thus disqualifying many songs that would by consensus be considered much worse. Blender editor Craig Marks said of the song, "It purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism. It's a real reflection of what practically killed rock music in the '80s."
However, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald pointed out that "Blenders list - compiled via an arbitrary and anecdotal data collection process and ranked by Marks - included several whimsical criteria. One was to go easy on novelty songs." In a discussion with the band's manager, Bill Thompson, he was surprised at the ranking, but also "thrilled" because of the other high-profile groups on the list, saying, "I wish Blender had called us for a group shot. I'd love to have my picture taken with Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney." Mickey Thomas, one of the singers of Starship, stated in regards to the review from the, by then folded, Blender magazine, "From what I heard, they got so much flack about it that they sort of retracted their statements in a way about the song. And not only that, but Blender's folded, and we're still here."
When asked about why the song was listed as #1 on the review, the editor of Blender magazine, Craig Marks, referenced the line of the song "Marconi plays the mamba" by asking, "Who is Marconi
? And what is the mamba
? The mamba is the deadliest snake in the world, so he must have meant the mambo, but it sounds so much like 'mamba' that every lyric web site writes it that way. It makes sense neither way." The Richmond Times listed other songs by Starship that would have made more sense for being on the top of the list than "We Built This City", concluding that "No, no. They chose the song that references Marconi, the father of the radio. The song that inserted a cool snippet of DJ chatter from the band's beloved San Francisco. The song that found Grace Slick enunciating the phrase "corporation games" with nutty abandon."
magazine online poll named "We Built The City" as the worst song of the 1980s. The song's winning margin was so large that the magazine reported it "could be the biggest blow-out victory in the history of the Rolling Stone Readers Poll".
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
, Martin Page
Martin Page
Martin Page is a musician, singer, bass player, session musician, and noted pop songwriter.Martin George Page was born at Southampton, Hampshire, England, September 23, 1959 to Alan Richard Page and Ruth Pamela Page...
, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf
Peter Wolf (producer)
Peter F. Wolf is a composer, producer, songwriter and arranger. He was awarded the highest honor for artists from his birth country of Austria, the Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst .- Early years :Wolf studied classical piano at Vienna’s Conservatory of Music...
, and originally recorded by the American pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
group Starship and released as its debut single on August 1, 1985.
The single version reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on November 16, 1985, and also number one on the U.S. Top Rock Tracks chart and number twelve in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Content
The lyrics explicitly mention the Golden Gate BridgeGolden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
and call the city "The City by the Bay", a reference to San Francisco. Further, Starship is from San Francisco.
Production
The song was engineered by Grammy-winning producer Bill BottrellBill Bottrell
Bill Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and musician, probably best known for his Grammy Award-winning collaborations with Michael Jackson, E.L.O. and Sheryl Crow.- Biography :...
and arranged by Bottrell and Jasun Martz
Jasun Martz
Jasun Martz is an American record producer, composer, musician, fine artist, creative director and sculptor who has worked on several international hit records. He has recorded with Michael Jackson, toured with Frank Zappa and helped arrange the hit "We Built This City" by Starship.Martz has lived...
.
The song features Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick
Grace Slick
Grace Slick is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, and was a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s...
on lead vocals. MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
executive and former D.J. Les Garland
Les Garland
Les Garland began his career as a radio and television personality and went on to become an influential radio programmers of the 70's, exerting even more influence on the 80's as co-founder/originator of both MTV: Music Television and VH-1...
provided the D.J. voice-over during the song's bridge.
Covers and parodies
During the era that this song was popular on the radio, some radio stations such as U93WNDV-FM
WNDV-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Hot Adult Contemporary format. The station serves the South Bend, Indiana area. The station is currently owned by Artistic Media Partners....
in South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
would overdub the radio station sample of the song with their own radio station DJs talking about their station and city during the song's regular broadcast. This was actually encouraged by the band as versions of the song without the original radio broadcast were released to radio stations.
In a viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
made by Melissa Lanzourakis-Joens, the town of Sioux City used the song while replacing the words "this city" with "Sioux City" in the chorus. The video has been featured on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...
.
The song is featured, along with many other 80's and early 90's hits, in the Broadway musical Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages (musical)
Rock of Ages is a rock/jukebox musical, with a book by Chris D'Arienzo, built around classic rock hits from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of the decade. The musical features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Asia, among...
.
Rap group The Diplomats
The Diplomats
The Diplomats, also popularly known as Dipset, are a Harlem-based hip hop group founded by Cam'ron and Jim Jones in 1997. The original members of the group were Cam'ron, Freekey Zekey, and Jim Jones ; who all grew up together in Harlem...
released a rap
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
adaption of the song entitled "Built Dis City" on their 2003 album Diplomatic Immunity
Diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments that ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws...
.
This song is featured in a prominent scene in the 2011 film The Muppets
The Muppets (film)
The Muppets is a 2011 American musical and comedy film, and the first Muppets theatrical release in 12 years, as well as the first Disney-produced Muppets film since 1996's Muppet Treasure Island...
. As Gary (Jason Segel
Jason Segel
Jason Jordan Segel is an American television and film actor, screenwriter, composer, puppeteer and musician, known for his work with producer Judd Apatow on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, the films Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, I Love You, Man,...
), Mary (Amy Adams
Amy Adams
Amy Lou Adams is an American actress and singer. Adams began her performing career on stage in dinner theaters before making her screen debut in the 1999 black comedy film Drop Dead Gorgeous...
), and the entire Muppet crew clean up the Muppet Theatre, Dr. Teeth activates this song on his boombox to set perfect clean-up music.
Reception
Starship received a Grammy nomination for best rock vocal performance (by duo or group) for the song in 1986.Blender magazine's "50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever"
The defunct magazine BlenderBlender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
's ranking of the song as the worst song ever was in conjunction with a VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
Special of The 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever. In order to qualify for the distinction, the songs on the list had to be a popular hit at some point, thus disqualifying many songs that would by consensus be considered much worse. Blender editor Craig Marks said of the song, "It purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism. It's a real reflection of what practically killed rock music in the '80s."
However, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald pointed out that "Blenders list - compiled via an arbitrary and anecdotal data collection process and ranked by Marks - included several whimsical criteria. One was to go easy on novelty songs." In a discussion with the band's manager, Bill Thompson, he was surprised at the ranking, but also "thrilled" because of the other high-profile groups on the list, saying, "I wish Blender had called us for a group shot. I'd love to have my picture taken with Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney." Mickey Thomas, one of the singers of Starship, stated in regards to the review from the, by then folded, Blender magazine, "From what I heard, they got so much flack about it that they sort of retracted their statements in a way about the song. And not only that, but Blender's folded, and we're still here."
When asked about why the song was listed as #1 on the review, the editor of Blender magazine, Craig Marks, referenced the line of the song "Marconi plays the mamba" by asking, "Who is Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
? And what is the mamba
Mamba
Mambas, of the genus Dendroaspis , are a group of highly venomous, fast-moving land-dwelling snakes of Africa. They belong to the family of Elapidae which includes cobras, coral snakes, taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes, death adders, kraits and, debatably, sea snakes...
? The mamba is the deadliest snake in the world, so he must have meant the mambo, but it sounds so much like 'mamba' that every lyric web site writes it that way. It makes sense neither way." The Richmond Times listed other songs by Starship that would have made more sense for being on the top of the list than "We Built This City", concluding that "No, no. They chose the song that references Marconi, the father of the radio. The song that inserted a cool snippet of DJ chatter from the band's beloved San Francisco. The song that found Grace Slick enunciating the phrase "corporation games" with nutty abandon."
Rolling Stone Top Ten Worst Songs of the 1980s
In 2011 a Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine online poll named "We Built The City" as the worst song of the 1980s. The song's winning margin was so large that the magazine reported it "could be the biggest blow-out victory in the history of the Rolling Stone Readers Poll".
Charts
| Chart (1985-86) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report Top Singles Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... |
1 |
| Canadian RPM Top 100 Singles RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
1 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
12 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
1 |
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs | 37 |