Music
Sign a petition to change the U.S. national anthem to Darude's 'Sandstorm'
by Jeremy Mersereau
February 24, 2016
Make America great again with a Finnish DJ's 16-year-old trance hit.
Another day, another performative Change.org petition to power the blogosphere for another 10 minutes or so. This time, it’s a petition to change the venerated U.S. national anthem (currently “The Star-Spangled Banner” for those who don’t know, and good job somehow avoiding the influence of the world’s mightiest cultural infiltrator) to 2000’s hottest trance stomper, “Sandstorm.”
Just in case you forgot what the fairly-dire mainstream electronic scene thought a hit should sound like in the year 2000:
Ah, rolled-up cargo pants and Run Lola Run homages… we are richer, for having lost thee. Those synth melodies are still kinda righteous though, you gotta admit.
The song, from Finland’s most popular EDM producer, Ville Virtanen a.k.a. Darude, has experienced a revival lately thanks to its status as a go-to meme response to the question “what song is this?” in online comments. Just try asking what the music playing in the background of your favourite cat video is and see how far that gets you.
Anyway, someone named Kyle Tucker has industriously started a petition, addressed to Barack Obama, to try to elevate this long-lasting piece of ’00s ephemera to its proper level of veneration.
“Our national anthem is outdated and stale. Changing it to Darude – Sandstorm will ensure our country is elevated in the modern age. Let’s make America great again” the petition states. As of this writing, 4,200 signees agree: a one-off trance hit and meme revenant written by a Finnish DJ should be the United States anthem.
Will Obama comply with the wishes of a few thousand meme-addled internet jokers? Well, he’s only got a few months left in office, so: yes, definitely.
