About the song
“We Built This City” stands as a definitive anthem of 1980s rock, encapsulating both the era’s exuberance and its tensions. Released as the debut single from Starship’s 1985 album ‘Knee Deep in the Hoopla’, the song was penned by Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, both transplanted English musicians residing in Los Angeles during a pivotal period in the city’s musical landscape.
Originally conceived as a lament against the closure of live music venues in Los Angeles, “We Built This City” soared to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and claimed chart-topping positions in Australia and Canada. Despite its commercial success, the song has been a subject of significant criticism, particularly for its ambiguous lyrics—such as the infamous line “Marconi plays the mamba”—and the perceived dissonance between its anti-corporate message and its polished, mainstream sound.
At its core, the song’s lyrics serve as a plea to corporate entities that were shuttering rock clubs in pursuit of profit and respectability, forgetting the vibrant culture of rock and roll that had initially defined Los Angeles. The chorus defiantly asserts, “We built this city on rock and roll,” reminding listeners of the genre’s foundational role in shaping the city’s identity.
The production of “We Built This City” was helmed by producer Bill Bottrell, with Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick delivering powerful vocals that propelled the track’s anthemic quality. A notable spoken-word interlude by radio DJ Les Garland, referencing San Francisco, added to the song’s charm and universality, despite its origins rooted in Los Angeles.
Critically, the song’s reception has been polarizing. It topped Rolling Stone’s poll of worst songs of the 1980s, yet it endures as a cultural artifact of its time. Its legacy is intertwined with the broader narrative of 1980s rock music, marked by its infectious hooks and the paradoxical blend of rebellious spirit and commercial appeal.
As part of ‘Knee Deep in the Hoopla’, the album’s title itself drawn from a lyric in “We Built This City”, the song remains a testament to the era’s contradictions—a rallying cry for the rock scene’s resilience amidst corporate pressures and a reflection of the evolving landscape of American popular music.
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Lyrics
We built this city
We built this city on rock and roll
Built this city
We built this city on rock and roll
Say you don’t know me or recognize my face
Say you don’t care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don’t you remember?
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Someone’s always playing corporation games
Who cares, they’re always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible, write us off the page
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don’t you remember?
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
It’s just another Sunday in a tired old street
Police have got the choke hold, oh, then we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the bar?
Who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars?
Don’t tell us you need us ’cause we’re the ship of fools
Looking for America, coming through your schools
Don’t you remember? (Remember)
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don’t you remember?
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built, we built this city, yeah (Built this city)
We built, we built this city
We built, we built this city yeah (Built this city)
We built, we built this city
We built, we built this city yeah (Built this city)
We built, we built this city (Built this city)