Song:Another One Bites The Dust
Album:Greatest Hits
Though Another One Bites The Dust topped the charts in 1980 and it was Queen's biggest hit, it also signaled a more mainstream direction from their progressive rock roots and led to their mid-80s decline. In 1968, guitarist Brian May was a student at Imperial College in London. He wanted to form a band with former schoolmate Tim Staffell who was a student at Ealing College. They auditioned drummers and hired Roger Taylor and Smile was formed. Smile recorded a few singles for Mercury Records that went nowhere. After Staffell left Smile to join the band Humpy Bong, he introduced fellow Ealing student Farrokh Bulsara to May. Bulsara became Freddie Mercury. He came up with the name Queen. After trying out a few bassists, they settled on John Deacon in early 1971. This was the band until Mercury's 1991 death. In 1972, Queen signed with Trident Studios who had started a record label distributed by EMI in England. They signed with Elektra Records in the US. Queen's sound was influenced by progressive rock but Mercury's stage presence was influenced by glam rock. Their first two albums did OK especially in England. But the 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack and the single Killer Queen broke Queen internationally. This was followed by the 1975 album A Night At The Opera and Bohemian Rhapsody which was their first top ten hit in the US. It would have topped the charts if it was shorter as some radio stations refused to play it because of the six minute length. Their next top ten hit was We Are the Champions and We Will Rock You in 1977 which was a double sided hit. Just as Queen seemed to be fading as the 1978 album Jazz was not well received, they roared back with the 1980 album The Game. This was their first album with producer Reinhold Mack who had worked with ELO. He influenced a more mainstream sound. Crazy Little Thing Called Love was their first US number one hit. Another One Bites The Dust was even bigger as it crossed over to the dance charts. No less than Michael Jackson told Mercury that it would be their biggest hit. And though most of Queen's songs were written by either Mercury or May, Another One Bites the Dust was written by Deacon. Though they were successful at the time, abandoning their progressive rock sound for mainstream pop probably hurt Queen in the long run as they started to fade in the nid-80s. Also, Mercury was sick from AIDS and he got worse until his 1991 death. You can get all of Queen's hits on this budget comp. After Mercury's death, Queen continued with guest vocalists until former Bad Company lead singer Paul Rodgers was hired in 2004. Their current lead singer is former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert but I don't think Queen is touring right now. May and Taylor are working on a Queen biopic which is currently being written by Oscar nominee Peter Morgan. Here's the video for Another One Bites The Dust by Queen.
I bought that album and loved it. I liked many of their songs to this day. I was deeply sadden By Freddie Mercury's death. He had a lot talent, but also had a wild side that was very much like the times he lived in and then paid a steep price.
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