About

"The Imperial March," also known as Darth Vader's theme, is a musical theme used in Star Wars films, video games and other related media. It's use is tightly associated with the series' main antagonist Darth Vader and is used when the character is mentioned or alluded to.

Origin

Star Wars Composer John Williams premiered "The Imperial March" on April 29th, 1980 during his frist concert as conductor-in-residence of the Boston Pops Orchestra.^[1] The song was to be included in the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back.

Spread

A fixture of the Star Wars franchise, "The Imperial March" is one of the most recognizable pieces of movie music of all time. The song, added to the movies in 1980, has since been used in each of the subsequent film, totaling more than $8.5 billion in box office grosses.^[2]

On November 26th, 2006, YouTuber ^[3] GrandJediMaster7860 posted the song on the site. As of January 2018, the video (shown below, left) has received more than 1.3 million views.

Several years later on Jun 21st, 2010, YouTuber^[4] solerc posted an "extreme drumming" version of the song. The post (shown below, right) received more than 59,000 views in eight years.

Over the years, the song has become an inspiration for original covers and renditions. On June 16th, 2013, YouTuber^[5] Iainspector posted a video of a cockatiel singing the song. As of January 2018, the post (shown below) received more than 1.4 million views.

Three years later, on May 4th, 2016 the band Galactic Empire uploaded a heavy metal cover of the song to the riserecords YouTube^[6] page. The video (shown below, left) received more than 5.9 million views in two years.

On January 10th, YouTuber^[7] Dani Ochoa posted a video entitled "Imperial March played on pencil." The post (shown below, right) received more than one million views in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References