Empire (Kasabian Song)
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"Empire" is a song by English
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and second vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff ...
, included as the title track for their second
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' (2006). It was released 24 July 2006 as the lead single from that album on CD. The single became popular immediately, entering the UK Singles Chart at number nine, its peak position, making it the band's third UK top-ten single. On 21 August 2006, 10-inch and
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
versions of the single were released. The song was available as a pre-order on the band's website which also included a free download of their cover of
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
's " Heroes", which was used for ITV's coverage of the
2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
. It was also used during series 9 of Top Gear.


Background

Guitarist Sergio Pizzorno said,


Composition

"Empire" is one of Kasabian's first songs to include a live string section, which would be a prominent element of their albums from this point forward. It also features backing vocals from Joana Glaza, lead singer of
Joana and the Wolf Joana and the Wolf was a London-based alternative new wave rock band, formed in 2005. Musical influences included Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, The Stooges, and Björk. Formation and members The band was made up of lead singer and songwriter Joana Gl ...
. The beginning of the album title track for Empire has a recording that was left on one of the band members mobile phone answering service. Currently the person is unknown but Jo Whiley discussed having been provided with this information by the band in an answers section she did on Radio 1 around 11 or 12 July 2007. It appears the person mis-dialed accidentally calling the band member and leaving a very strange message; so strange and incoherent that the band felt it should be included in the track. The message goes something like "This is the coach on at... at... Clayton Avenue. I just wanna log on when you talk to me, OK?"


Music video

The music video for "Empire" was directed by W.I.Z. with casting by Sorin Tarau, and featured on the
DVD single A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...
. It portrays the members of Kasabian as troopers of the
11th Hussars The 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 10th Royal Hussars (Pri ...
Regiment (of the famed
Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Br ...
) during the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
. The video was shot on location outside
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
. The video features the general sitting at the table with a bottle of John Courage beer. Matching the strong
anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
message of the song, the "Empire" video presents a look of fiery death and destruction caused by the war. The video opens with a boy messenger delivering a message to the band, stationed on the frontlines (a reference to the band's second single "Shoot the Runner"). The boy is shot by an unseen attacker and killed. The band decides to remove itself from the front line and head back to the generals' station while passing their regiment which is disembarking for an attack. After the firing squad refuses to shoot the last survivor of the band (Tom), the commanding officer steps in and shoots him for refusing to enter the battlefield. The video closes with a
sardonic Sardonicism is form of wit or humour, where being sardonic often involves expressing an uncomfortable truth in a clever and not necessarily malicious way, often with a degree of distrust or skepticism; or behavior disdainfully, cynically humoro ...
use of the
Latin phrase This is a list of Wikipedia articles of Latin phrases and their translation into English. To view all phrases on a single, lengthy document, see: List of Latin phrases (full). Lists of pages * List of Latin phrases (A) * List of Latin phrases ( ...
, '' Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'' (roughly translated into English as, "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country."), well known as part of the famous anti-war poem written by
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
soldier
Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen Military Cross, MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of Trench warfare, trenches and Chemi ...
. It also bears some similarity to the famous novels and TV series; Sharpe. Guitarist Sergio Pizzorno said the video concept was based on the movies '' Shaft'' and ''
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western (genre), Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, k ...
''


Track listings

UK CD single # "Empire" (single edit) # "Black Whistler" UK limited-edition 10-inch single # "Empire" (single edit) # "Empire" (
Jagz Kooner Jagz Kooner (born Jagjit Singh Kooner, 1967) is an English record producer from Indian descent, who has worked with Radio 4, Manic Street Preachers, Garbage, Infadels and Primal Scream for whom he co-produced their cover version of the song " ...
remix) UK DVD single # "Empire" # "Ketang" # "Empire" ( EPK video)


Personnel

Kasabian * Tom Meighan – lead vocals * Sergio Pizzorno – guitar, synths, backing vocals, songwriting * Chris Edwards – bass * Ian Matthews – drums * Christopher Karloff – songwriting Additional musicians * Joana Glaza – backing vocals * Farhat Bouallagui – violin, viola * Bouzid Ezzedine – violin * Jazzer Haj Youssef – violin


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire (Kasabian Song) Kasabian songs 2006 singles 2006 songs Anti-war songs Columbia Records singles Music videos directed by W.I.Z. RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Jim Abbiss Songs written by Sergio Pizzorno