Anthem (N-Joi song)

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Anthem is a song by British electronic group N-Joi. It was released in 1990 as a single from their debut EP Music from a State of Mind, issued by Deconstruction, Logic and RCA Records. The piano-driven track was written by Mark Ryder, Mark Franklin and Nigel Champion in 1989 and later became one of the group’s signature tunes. It features lyric samples from three songs: Gwen Guthrie’s Peanut Butter, Darlene Davis’s I Found Love, and Soul II Soul’s Back to Life, which also earned songwriting credits.

The original version was recorded in 1989 and appeared on an early 1990 promo and then on the EP. It runs about 4 minutes and 20 seconds (album version is 4:05). The music video, filmed at Shelley's Laserdome in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, features singer Saffron, who performed live with N-Joi at the time.

Chart and release history saw Anthem chart in the UK and the US. It reached #45 on the UK Top 75 in November 1990, then was reissued in April 1991 and climbed to #8 in the UK. In the United States, it performed well on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, peaking at #4 in 1991 with the original mixes. In 1996 it was reissued with new remixes as The New Anthem (credited to N-Joi featuring Mark Franklin and Nigel Champion), becoming the duo’s second US number one after Mindflux.

Anthem has been praised as a club favorite and a defining track of the era. It was later included in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack and appeared in the 2019 clubbing film Beats.