# The Imperial March "The Imperial March" is composer John Williams' thundering theme for Darth Vader, first heard in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. Decades later it jumped off the screen into online shorthand for any villainous entrance, spawning a long-running wave of YouTube covers played on everything from drum kits to pencils to a chirping cockatiel. ## Origin John Williams premiered "The Imperial March" on April 29th, 1980, during his first concert as conductor-in-residence of the Boston Pops Orchestra[1]. The piece was written for the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, released the following month, where it was welded to Darth Vader's every appearance[3]. The theme then rode along with the franchise through every subsequent film, a run that pulled in more than $8.5 billion at the global box office[2]. That constant repetition is what turned a specific villain cue into a stand-alone piece of pop-cultural shorthand well before YouTube existed. - **Platform:** The Empire Strikes Back (film) / YouTube (viral spread) - **Creator:** John Williams (composer) - **Date:** 1980 ## Overview "The Imperial March," also known as Darth Vader's theme, is the brass-heavy leitmotif that plays whenever the Sith Lord strides into a scene across the Star Wars films, games and spinoff media[3]. Online, it works less as a joke format and more as a universal audio sting: drop the opening three notes under any clip and the subject instantly reads as a villain making an entrance. The track is also one of the most-covered pieces of film music on YouTube, where it anchors a whole subgenre of novelty performances. Users have reinterpreted it as heavy metal shredding[5], tapped it out on a single pencil[7] and even trained a pet bird to whistle the melody[6]. Each new rendition tends to pile up millions of views on the strength of the recognition alone. ## How to Use The common convention is to use the first four notes as a reaction cue: play them over a clip, GIF or photo of a person entering a room, a boss arriving at work or a pet walking toward the camera to frame them as the bad guy. On YouTube, the other typical move is the novelty cover, where the joke is the mismatch between the heavy orchestral original and the chosen instrument, be it a drum kit, a pencil tapped on a desk or a bird. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is The Imperial March? It is John Williams' orchestral theme for Darth Vader, used across the Star Wars films and widely covered on YouTube as a shorthand for any menacing entrance[3]. ### Where did The Imperial March come from? Williams premiered the piece on April 29th, 1980, with the Boston Pops Orchestra before it debuted on film in The Empire Strikes Back a few weeks later[1]. ### What does The Imperial March mean? Within Star Wars it signals the arrival of Darth Vader or the Galactic Empire, and online it reads as audio shorthand for a villain making an entrance[3]. ### How do you use The Imperial March? People typically drop the opening notes under clips of someone arriving to cast them as the bad guy, or record novelty covers on unexpected instruments like pencils or drum kits[7]. ### Is The Imperial March still popular? Covers piled up tens of millions of views through the 2010s, including a Galactic Empire metal arrangement that passed 5.9 million views within two years of its 2016 upload[5]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNv5sPu0C1E]() 2. [https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Star-Wars#tab=summary]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-imperial-march]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8ZTTsiJupo]() 5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nohQReM7BpI]() 6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LCP38LGwgk]() 7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EWEkJA5GM0]() 8. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZBUyxy_Bzw]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/the-imperial-march Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library