Song 2 vs. Seven Nation Army: The Stadium Song Battle to the Death

In one corner, we have a gritty, riff-heavy, grunge-influenced rocker from art rockers from London.  In another corner we have the favorite of scarf-donning soccer crowds throughout Europe, courtesy of Detroit garage rockers.  We, of course, have Blur's "Song 2" versus The White Stripes's "Seven Nation Army."

Now some of you may not be familiar with these songs, and if you aren't, then congratulations on waking up from a coma after fifteen years.  The world has changed a lot.  We have a black president now, too.

Anyway, let's get to who leads in the aspects that make a song a great stadium song:

The Hook: It doesn't matter that Song 2 has a tremendously solid drum intro or that Seven Nation Army has a strong guitar solo--everyone knows the hooks.  Song 2 has the part where Damon Albarn yells "Whoo hoo!" and Seven Nation Army has Jack White's best-of-the-decade guitar riff.  It's hard to pick because both hooks are great, but I have to side with Blur on this one.  There are tons of great guitar riffs, but it's pretty rare to have a scat vocal that's as big of a deal as this one.

The Crowd Impact: Would you rather hear a packed house at a hockey game yell "Whoo hoo!" or a soccer crowd sing along to "Da, dum dum dum, da, dum, dum!"  It's of course a matter of opinion, but give me the latter any day.  It's harder to emulate a guitar riff than a yell, so the gloriously off-key sound of Seven Nation Army's attempts amuse me to no end.  Advantage to the Stripes.

The Versatility: I've heard both songs in basically every type of sporting event, so versatility would *seemingly* be a push.  But Song 2 holds an edge here for me.  Seven Nation Army is more or less just a good song that gets played and sung along with because it's a good song.  Song 2 is a naturally exciting song. It can be played in any situation--when the team needs to rally, when the win is in the bag, and just tow ake the crowd up.  Thus, Song 2 is the perfect stadium song.  Thanks for playing, Seven Nation Army--you put up a valiant fight.  But apparently a Song 2 could hold you back.