One thing I absolutely detest about national anthems is, when the idea of national anthems became popular amongst countries that wanted them, we were in a very niche age of music where, of course, something as grand as a national anthem should be played by a huge orchestra with large brass and/or woodwind sections. This then stuck as countries that adopted national anthems after the grand age of classical orchestral music still used such music for their national anthems.

The problem this has caused is that national anthems that sounded grand and inspiring 300 years ago now sound like horrible, boring dirges. A few national anthems have stood the test of time, but others do not evoke national spirit, especially those countries that merely adopted classical music for their national anthem despite the fact that their culture's music is wildly different to European classical music.

Imagine if countries adopted national anthems in this day and age, using pre-programmed sounds, guitars, electronic instruments, auto-tuned vocals or other musical innovations that make our generation of music stand out from those of decades and centuries past. Now imagine how horrible that music would probably sound to people 300-400 years into the future.

National anthems should not be whatever a bunch of morons a few centuries ago decided was a good idea. If we kept what our ancestors thought was a good idea nowadays, we'd have slavery, women wouldn't be able to vote and taxes would be collected randomly and arbitrarily.

Anyway, rant over, lets listen to the unofficial anthem of Scotland:



:cryingmelgibson: