Chapter 13: A Kind Of Magic

A Kind of Magic was the band's twelfth studio album and their first to be recorded digitally, and is based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander, the first in a series directed by Russell Mulcahy. Though the album stalled at #46 in the United States, it rocketed to #1 in the United Kingdom, remaining in the charts for sixty-three weeks and spawning 3 hit singles. The single "A Kind of Magic" only reached #42 in the US despite being featured in Highlander. The album eventually went Gold in the US in 2002. It is Queen's first album with a title track, and every album released thereafter also contained one. Although Queen would release another three albums with Freddie Mercury (including one posthumous one), A Kind of Magic would turn out to be the band's last ever album promoted with a concert tour, due to Freddie Mercury's affliction with AIDS. For the first time in their career, the band allowed cameras to film them while they were in the studio. The video for "One Vision" shows them in various stages of writing and recording the song.

The album enjoys the status of an unofficial soundtrack for the 1986 film Highlander (for which no official standalone soundtrack album was ever released), as six out of nine songs on the album appeared in the film, although in different versions. The three songs that did not appear in Highlander are "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure", "Friends Will Be Friends" and "One Vision" (which was featured a year earlier in the film Iron Eagle). Conversely, a recording of "Theme from New York, New York" made specifically for a scene in Highlander does not appear on A Kind of Magic, and in fact has never been released in album form to date. According to a statement by Brian May on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD (2003), at least at that point, he had the intention to work on a proper Highlander soundtrack in the future.

1. One Vision

"One Vision" was first released as a single in 1985 and then included on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic. It was originally written by Roger Taylor about Martin Luther King, Jr., and includes lyrical references to King’s "I Have a Dream" speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1963. The song featured briefly in the film Highlander playing on the radio in the car of the gun nut, it was also featured in the movie Iron Eagle. Queen were inspired to write and record this song because of the euphoric feeling that came from their performance at Live Aid. The song was included in all Queen's live concert performances of the 1986 Magic Tour, as the very first song of each concert. They claimed they chose "One Vision" as the introduction song because its intro made a perfect concert introduction.

Distorted vocals

The song contains mysterious and distorted beginning vocals (which on the album and extended versions, also appear throughout Roger Taylor's drum section and in the end), most prominently the vocals retained in the single version.

Forward message

The reversed vocals at the start of the song relay new lyrics when played forwards—they say, "God works in mysterious ways... mysterious ways...". Though it has been claimed by an official Queen fan club that the second part is sung by Brian May, it is likely sung by Freddie Mercury[1]. It is clearly shown during the portions of the studio recording session of "One Vision" on both the Magic Years documentary and the DVD Greatest Video Hits II that Mercury sings the line.

"Fried chicken"

The final line of the song (in both the studio and live versions) is "fried chicken", although the lyrics say "one vision". This was a result of a prank that Freddie Mercury played in the studio, as the band had fried chicken for dinner that day. Jim Hutton, Freddie Mercury's lover, says in his book, that the singer was not sure whether to include it in the final cut or not. Hutton encouraged him, saying "You are big enough" (to get away with this).

What is notable that the live performances of the song added an additional section in the beginning of the song, right after the guitar riffs without the percussions, and a big finale, which included ad-libbed vocals by Freddie Mercury. The ad-libbed vocals were not present on all performances though, the most notable being the performance at the Maimarktgelände in Mannheim, on 21 June 1986.

Also, the live versions of the song included a different version of the intro, which starts like the single version intro, but later changes into the album version intro, but repeats the section after the vocals "Ii" near the end. It also features the initial distorted vocals as they were in the single version.

However, the version used on the Wembley shows was yet different from the one mentioned above - basically it had the complete initial distorted vocals, and the first part was also like in the one in the album and extended versions, but the transition to the second part was just like in the version, mentioned above, and it did include the repeated section in the end. The VHS version of the July 12th Wembley show has the first part of the middle instrumental section of the studio version of Brighton Rock instead of the initial distorted vocals. The version of the song from the 11 July Wembley show has not yet been officially released. Interestingly enough, none of the two versions of the intro has been used with a studio version of the song so far.

A remixed version of the song, basically an extended and completely different (but not in structure) version of Roger Taylor's drum section from the song, but retaining the ending (however with a longer version of the music from the end of the song's intro plus an additional non-distorted sond over the final vocals "Vision vision vision vision...", which are like in the single version of the song), and repeating the existing famous distorted vocals (also in a new form, which is the first repetition), plus adding new distorted vocals (although they are nowhere as prominent as the famous ones), has been released as the song's B-side on both the 7" and 12" singles, and titled "Blurred Vision".

"One Vision" has been covered by many artists, the most notable is the German-language cover by the industrial music band Laibach, titled "Geburt einer Nation" ('Birth of a Nation'), which changed the song's feel and mood from the somehow light-hearted and optimistic original to the feel and mood of a Nazi propaganda song. This version also starkly revealed the ambiguity of lines like "One race one hope/One real decision". It was released in 1987, on the album Opus Dei. A video was also shot for this version, directed by Daniel Landin.

The music video to "One Vision" mainly showed the band recording the song at Musicland Studios in Munich and was the first to be directed and produced for Queen by Austrian directors Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, also collectively known as DoRo. DoRo and Queen developed a fruitful working relationship which would result in numerous acclaimed and award-winning videos (for "Innuendo" and "The Show Must Go On", among others).

The video also featured a "morphing" effect of the band's famous pose in 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody" video to a 1985 version of the same pose.

The video even shows John Deacon on the drums. It isn't known if he actually played some drum parts in the song or if it is just a joke.

"One Vision" became another hit single for Queen in many countries, usually reaching the Top 40, where it did in the Netherlands (#21), Switzerland (#24), and Germany (#26). It also had very minor chart success on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #61. It became a big hit in the band's native UK, peaking at #7 in the singles chart, a strong showing for a rock band at a time when pop music was by far the more dominant genre in Britain at this time.It also made #10 on Australia's ARIA Chart.

The song is featured in the movie Iron Eagle and is on the soundtrack. The version on the Iron Eagle soundtrack is the original single version, which preceeded the album version by nearly a year. The song was recorded in September 1985 (according to the "One Vision" documentary found on The Magic Years Vol. 1 VHS and the Greatest Video Hits Vol. 2 DVD, chronicling the recording of the song). The single was released November 4, 1985, the soundtrack album was released in January 1986, and the song was remixed for the album, which came out June 2, 1986.

The song also appears on the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack, and in-game on the radio station 'Liberty Rock Radio 97.8'.

During the 2008-09 season it was used as the official song of Rotherham United F.C.

It is also used in Ricky Gervais Fame DVD as he enters the stage.

A remixed and edited version of the song was used in Sony's E3 2009 Opening and Closing videos. A small part of the footage from the music video was also included in the opening.

The song is available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series and is the hardest song on drums of the Queen pack.

Actor Ricky Groves and his dance partner Erin Boag performed a paso doble to the song in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing.

2. A Kind Of Magic

"A Kind of Magic" is written by Roger Taylor for the film Highlander. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart, but only reached number forty-two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Name

The phrase "a kind of magic" is actually used in the film by Christopher Lambert and impressed Taylor so much that he made it into a full song. There are references to the film in the lyrics – "one prize, one goal"; "no mortal man": "there can be only one".

Composition

Taylor wrote the melody and chords for the version that appeared in the film. Freddie Mercury composed a new bass line, added instrumental breaks, and changed the song's order. Mercury and David Richards produced this new version. The song was still credited only to Taylor. Whilst Taylor's version is at the end of the film, Mercury's version appears on the album.

The song was a live favourite on Magic Tour of the same year, which proved to be Queen's last with the original foursome.

On the Rock the Cosmos Tour of Europe, Roger Taylor took lead vocals for the song at some concerts.

The music video for this song was directed by Russell Mulcahy, director of Highlander. Notable is that guitarist Brian May didn't use his famous Red Special guitar in the music video, instead he used a 1984 copy. Mercury is dressed as a magician type of figure. He enters an apparently condemned house where Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon (all dressed as stereotypical hobos) are asleep until awakened by Mercury's entrance. Mercury, dressed as a magician, transforms the hobos into the Queen members dressed regularly with their instruments, and back to hobos again as he leaves. Throughout the video, cartoon images dance to the beat of the song.

Usage in other media:

* A shortened version of the song is used in the opening credts of the Children's animated series A Kind of Magic.
* The song was heard on a launch promo of Disney Channel in the UK in 1995. But also in 2009 for the launch in the Netherlands and Flanders.
* A sample of Freddie yelling Ha ha ha ha ha it's magic also appears in the Queen version of the song "I Was Born to Love You" from the album Made in Heaven.
* M-Net have used the song in promo's several times, as their motto is "we call it magic".

3. One Year of Love

"One Year of Love" is a song by John Deacon. The album version features Deacon playing Yamaha DX-7 synth, a string orchestra conducted by Lynton Naif and a saxophone played by Steve Gregory. Deacon decided to substitute the guitar components with a saxophone solo after a discussion with May, who doesn't appear in the song. It was released as a single in France and Spain only, and appeared during the bar scene in Highlander. The song was covered by Elaine Paige in 1988, and by Dutch singer Stevie Ann in 2006.

4. Pain Is So Close to Pleasure

"Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" began as a riff idea by May. Then Deacon and Mercury turned that into a song, with Deacon playing rhythm guitar. The song has a Motown style (a first for Queen) and was released as a single in 1986, reaching #26 on the Dutch charts. The title also appears as a line in "One Year of Love". This would be one of the last times Freddie Mercury would sing a Queen song in falsetto.

5. Friends Will Be Friends

"Friends Will Be Friends" was written by Mercury and Deacon, with lyrics written by Mercury (which was confirmed by Brian May on his website)[1]. It's one of the last of Mercury's piano ballads, and it holds many musical similitudes with older Queen material, such as "Play the Game" and "We Are the Champions". It is another song not featured in Highlander. It was noted as being a modern update of the 70's Queen rock anthems "We Are The Champions" and "We Will Rock You" and reached #14 in the UK.

6. Who Wants To Live Forever

"Who Wants to Live Forever" is a power ballad by the English rock band Queen. The song is the sixth track on the album A Kind of Magic, released in June 1986, and was written by guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to the film Highlander, directed by Russell Mulcahy. The song peaked at No 24 in the British charts.

The song is used to frame the heart-wrenching scene in the film where Connor MacLeod must endure his beloved wife Heather growing old and dying while he, as an Immortal, is forever young. (It was later used in the episodes "The Gathering", "Revenge is Sweet", "The Hunters", "Line of Fire", and "Leader of the Pack" of the Highlander television series.) The song's title is taken from a line in another movie scored by Brian May and Queen, Flash Gordon.

May sings lead vocals on the first verse, before Freddie Mercury takes over for most of the remainder of the song. The version which can be heard in the film is unique, in that it features Mercury singing lead vocals on the first verse. Mercury also sang the lead in live performances. When live, however, the song was lowered by a whole tone, and Mercury would frequently alter the song's highly demanding vocal line due to the strain placed on his voice by vocal nodules: this often involved Roger Taylor handling lead vocals on the choruses, while Mercury harmonised with a counter-melody. An instrumental version of the song, titled "Forever", was included as a bonus track on the CD version of the album. This instrumental featured only a piano, with keyboard accompaniment during the chorus sections. The piano track was recorded solely by Brian May.

Cover versions

* Elaine Paige, who recorded an album of Queen songs in 1988, included a strong 'power-ballad' version of the song.
* In 1989, Brian May's daughter Louisa, who was at the time eight years old, sang a version of the song. It was included on a 12 inch single, along with another version of the song that Brian May performed with two kids named Ian and Belinda.
* Seal performed a live version of this song at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, noting that the song made him cry when he first heard it.
* In 1995, Brian May recorded a version with Jennifer Rush on her Out of My Hands album. It featured May on lead-vocals for a verse plus backing vocals and guitar work.
* Luciano Pavarotti called Giorgia for his charity concert Pavarotti & Friends where she performed the song. The recorded Live-CD was released in 1995.
* Shirley Bassey covered this song on her 1995 album Sings the Movies, and performed it on "A Royal Gala" at the Royal Albert Hall in 1996.
* Dune recorded an orchestrated version on the 1997 album Forever. It was also released as the first single from the album.
* The symphonic metal band After Forever recorded a cover of this song and released it with their single "Emphasis" in 2002.
* Polish singer Edyta Górniak recorded a cover called "Nieśmiertelni" in 2003, released on Moja i Twoja muzyka, RMF FM compilation album.
* In 2005, the song was covered by Breaking Benjamin on the album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
* The Ten Tenors recorded a version on their album "Here's to the Heroes", released in 2006.
* Rock Star: INXS Finalist, MiG Ayesa covered the song on his debut Album "MiG" in 2007.
* Katharine McPhee covered this song on the "Queen" themed week on American Idol's fifth season.
* Eva Avila covered this song on the "1980's" themed week on Canadian Idol's fourth season.
* In 2007, the song was covered by the band Gregorian on their album Masters of Chant Chapter VI.
* Kady Malloy covered this song during "80's" week on American Idol's seventh season.
* Dutch diva Karin Bloemen did a cover in her 2007/2009 show "Overgang", in a translation by Jan Rot, "Wie wil die leeft voor eeuwig" .
* Jonathan Ansell covered this song for his 2nd album Forever, released in 2008
* Rhydian Roberts covered this song on his debut album, Rhydian, released on the 24th of November 2008.
* Stacey Solomon performed the song on the sixth series of The X Factor.

7. Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)

"Gimme the Prize" was written by May. This song is featured in Highlander, and also samples the lines "I have something to say: It's better to burn out than to fade away" and "There can be only one", spoken by actors Clancy Brown (The Kurgan) and Christopher Lambert (Connor MacLeod) respectively. Director Russell Mulcahy states in the DVD commentary that this was his least favourite of the band's songs used in the film because he does not like heavy metal. Brian May also commented (to a Japanese magazine in 1986) that both Mercury and Deacon hated the song. It is one of Queen's heaviest works.

8. Don't Lose Your Head

"Don't Lose Your Head" was composed by Taylor and features Joan Armatrading in a vocal cameo. The song takes its name from a line spoken in Highlander, and is played for a short time when Kurgan kidnaps Brenda. The song then segues into a cover of "Theme from New York, New York", though it is only a small clip. An instrumental version of the track entitled "A Dozen Red Roses for My Darling" is featured as the 'B' side to "A Kind of Magic". This disco experimental track was a joke to not lose your head in battle, in co ordinance with the Highlander movie.

9. Princes Of The Universe

"Princes of the Universe" is a song written by Freddie Mercury and performed by Queen. The song was written for the soundtrack of the movie Highlander and released on the A Kind of Magic album in 1986. This song is the only song which Mercury receives sole credit for on the entire album. Later it was also used for the Highlander: The Series as its theme song. The song was never released as a single in the UK, and while not a charting hit, it is considered a cult favorite because of its relation to the film.

The music video was directed by Russel Mulcahy and was shot on the Silvercup rooftop stage used for the film, featuring a sword fight between Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) and Freddie Mercury (Freddie wielding his trademark bottomless mic stand instead of a sword) intercut with scenes from the movie. During the video, guitarist Brian May appears without his Red Special, but instead with a white guitar, similar to a Jackson Randy Rhoads but NOT an actual RR model (The inner surfaces of the 'V' shape are slightly curved on a Jackson Randy Rhoads instead of being completely straight like the white guitar in the video). The video was actually played quite a bit on music video stations (in the US) when this single came out, despite not charting. Up until its eventual release on Greatest Flix III (VHS, 1999) and Greatest Video Hits 2 (DVD, 2003), it was rarely seen by fans outside North America, elevating its possession to that of a collector's item.

The lyrics are from the perspective of the immortals, about the state of being immortal, the superiority it gives them to normal humans, and the test that they must face because of this. The lyrics can also be interpreted as regarding Queen themselves: "People talk about you, people say you've had your day / I'm a man that will go far, find the moon and reach for the stars." The song Who Wants to Live Forever is the foil of this song.

Singles

* Queen recorded One Vision, released in the UK on November 4, 1985, the first after their much-lauded appearance at the Live Aid concert. It did well on the charts, reaching seventh in the UK and making top ten throughout Europe. The song appeared in the film Iron Eagle.
* A Kind of Magic, released in the UK on March 17, 1986, reached #3 on its home chart and was a top ten hit in many other countries. While charting well everywhere else, it peaked at #42 in the USA and has been played on radios mostly in New England (Similar to their first single Keep Yourself Alive). Russell Mulcahy, director of Highlander, directed the song's accompanying video.
* Friends Will Be Friends, released on June 9, 1986, reached 14th in the UK and made the top forty throughout Europe.
* Who Wants to Live Forever, released on September 15, 1986, reached 24th in the UK. The National Philharmonic Orchestra featured in the song's video, along with forty choirboys and two thousand candles.
* Pain Is So Close to Pleasure, released in the US and parts of Europe only.
* One Year of Love, released in France and Spain only.
* Princes of the Universe, was never released as a single in the UK. While not a hit, it is a cult favorite due to the 1986 film Highlander in the USA. It was also used as the theme music for the Highlander television show which followed the movie in 1992-1998. The music video featured Christopher Lambert and the band on part of the film set, and is cleverly cut with scenes from the film. The song also appears on Greatest Hits III. It was released as a single in The Netherlands on February 28 2000.

Additional musicians

* Spike Edney – extra keyboards
* Joan Armatrading – incidental vocals on "Don't Lose Your Head"
* Steve Gregory – alto sax on "One Year of Love"
* String Section on "One Year of Love" arranged and conducted by Lynton Naiff
* National Philharmonic Orchestra on "Who Wants to Live Forever" arranged by Michael Kamen and Brian May and conducted by Michael Kamen

Chapter 12: The Works

The Works is the band's eleventh studio album, it marked a partial return to their rock roots, although with a much lighter approach. It has also the heaviest electronics amongst all group albums. In comparison, rock was mostly absent on their previous effort Hot Space giving room to dance and funk with the use of analogue synths and brass, while electronics were not that much present.

Recorded at the Record Plant Studios and Musicland Studios from August 1983 to January 1984, the album's title comes from a comment drummer Roger Taylor made as recording began – "Let's give them the works!"

This was the first Queen album to be released on Compact Disc.

Following the release of and subsequent touring for their 1982 album Hot Space, the four members of Queen opted to take a break from the band the following year, indulging in solo projects and taking the chance to stretch in individual directions. While a spring tour of South America had been an early possibility, especially following the band's success there two years prior, equipment and promotional problems brought an end to these plans.[1] Brian May worked with Eddie Van Halen and others on the Star Fleet Project, while Freddie Mercury began work on his solo album. By August 1983, however, the band had reunited and began work on their eleventh studio album. It would be Queen's first album for EMI (and its United States affiliate Capitol Records) worldwide after the band nullified its recording deal with Elektra for the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Recording commenced at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles – Queen's first time recording in America – and Musicland Studios in Munich. Also during this time, their manager Jim Beach offered them the opportunity to compose the soundtrack for the film The Hotel New Hampshire. The band agreed, but soon discovered much of their time was being spent on the soundtrack instead of the upcoming album, and the project fell through. Only one song written for the soundtrack, "Keep Passing the Open Windows", made it onto The Works. By November 1983, Roger Taylor's "Radio Ga Ga" was chosen as the first single from the album. The Works was released on February 27, 1984.

1. Radio Ga Ga

"Radio Ga Ga" is a song performed and recorded by Queen, written by their drummer Roger Taylor. It was released as a single with "I Go Crazy" by Brian May on the original B-side (3:42) and was included on the album The Works without "I Go Crazy" (that song would only be included on the 1991 CD remaster). The single was an enormous worldwide success for the band. It reached number two in the UK (kept from the number one spot only by Frankie Goes To Hollywood's smash hit "Relax"). In the USA it reached the number 16 spot. This was to be their last Top 20 hit single in the US until 1992.

The song was a commentary on the invention of television's overtaking radio's popularity and how one would listen to radio for a favorite comedy, drama, or sci-fi program and so on. It also pertained to the advent of the music video and MTV. (Ironically, the video would become a regular staple on MTV in 1984.) Taylor originally conceived of it as "Radio Ca-Ca" (apparently from something his toddler son once said), a slam against radio for the decrease in variety of programming and the type of music being played. It was eventually changed to "Radio Ga Ga", because that sounded better, clearer, and rolled off the tongue more easily. There are rumors that the publishers objected to the original title because of the close resemblance of "Ca-Ca" to a common word for feces in many languages.[citation needed]

The song makes a reference to the broadcast of Orson Welles's The War of the Worlds, in the verse "through wars of worlds/invaded by Mars".

Taylor began writing the song in Los Angeles when he locked himself in a room with a Roland Jupiter 8 and a drum machine. He thought it would fit his solo album, but when the band heard it, John Deacon wrote a bass-line and Freddie Mercury reconstructed the track, thinking it could be a big hit. Taylor then took a skiing holiday and let Mercury polish the lyrics, harmony, and arrangements of the song. Recording sessions began at Record Plant Studios and included session keyboardist Fred Mandel, who later on would work with Supertramp and Elton John. Mandel programmed the Jupiter's appeggiated synth-bass parts. The recording features prominent use of the Roland VP330+ vocoder. The bassline was produced by a Roland Jupiter 8, using the built-in arpeggiator.

David Mallet's music video for the song features scenes from Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi movie Metropolis—Freddie Mercury's solo song "Love Kills" was used in Giorgio Moroder's restored version of the film, and in exchange Queen were granted the rights to use footage from it in their "Radio Ga Ga" video. However, Queen had to buy performance rights to the film from the communist East German government, which was the copyright holder at the time. Critics said that the video looked like a "Nuremberg Rally" much to Roger Taylor's dislike. In the video there is a part where they list some of their earlier videos (such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Flash", and so forth) in a photo album, illustrating the changes and the influence videos received through the years. In the video Taylor tries to turn right in the vehicle but the vehicle moves to his left, he quickly tries to correct this but the video still shows the error.

In the video, a different version of Bohemian Rhapsody was shown. It can clearly be seen that there are flames around the four members of Queen in the clip.

Queen played a shorter, uptempo version of "Radio Ga Ga" at the Live Aid charity event in 1985 at the Old Wembley Stadium. It became a live favourite thanks largely to the audience participation potential of the clapping sequence prompted by the rhythm of the chorus (copied from the video).

The song was played for the Magic Tour a year later, including twice more at Wembley Stadium; it was recorded for the live album Live at Wembley '86 on 12 July 1986, the second night in the venue.

Paul Young performed the song with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert again at Wembley Stadium on 20 April 1992.

At the "Party at the Palace" concert, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee in 2002, "Radio Ga Ga" opened up Queen's set with Roger Taylor on vocals and Phil Collins on the drums.

This song was played on the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour in 2005/2006 and sung by Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers. It was recorded officially at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield, England, on 5 May 2005. The result, Return of the Champions, was released on CD and DVD on 19 September 2005 and 17 October 2005, respectively.

It was also played on the Rock The Cosmos Tour during the fall of 2008, this time with just Rodgers on lead vocals. The concert Live in Ukraine came as a result of this tour, yet the song is not available on the CD or DVD versions released 15 June 2009. This performance of "Radio Ga Ga" is only available as a digital download from iTunes.

Cover versions:

* Roger Taylor performed the song with Spike Edney's SAS Band.
* A heavily modified version of the song serves as the introductory number for We Will Rock You, a musical composed of Queen songs.
* The song was covered in 2004 by Electric Six. The band recorded the song against their wishes under pressure from their label at the time. The video depicts Electric Six frontman, Dick Valentine, as the ghost of Freddie Mercury dancing near his own grave. It was widely misinterpreted that Valentine (as Mercury) was dancing on his grave. He explains on his website's video section "Though some have claimed this video portrays me dancing on Freddie Mercury's grave, actually it's more like we are resurrecting Mr. Mercury for the duration of the song and his grave is the logical starting point." [1] Roger Taylor has said the video is tasteless and that he will "wait for the royalties". On the other hand, Brian May reportedly enjoyed the video.
* Sophie Ellis-Bextor has made a live-cover of this single at the Al Murray's Happy Hour, on ITV.
* "Radio Ga Ga" is one of the songs performed by the inmates of CPDRC Philippines (as seen on various web based video sites).

Influences:

* "Radio Ga Ga" is also the name of a radio station in Targu Mures (Marosvasarhely), Romania, in 88 FM (in the region).[2]
* "Radio Gaga" is also a Norwegian cartoon published in the Norwegian cartoon album pondus.[3]
* "Radio Ga Ga" is also a radio program broadcast on Melbourne's (Australia) 3WBC-FM - 94.1FM locally. See [4]
* "Radio Gaga" is also a Macintosh computer program for listening to and recording Internet radio.
* American pop singer-songwriter and musician Lady Gaga named herself after this song.

2. Tear It Up

"Tear It Up" is May's song, and the demo features him doing the vocals instead of Mercury. It was written as an attempt to revive Queen's old sound. It features stomping percussion similar to "We Will Rock You" that drives the song.

3. It's A Hard Life

"It's a Hard Life" is a song by English rock band Queen, written by lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was featured on their 1984 album The Works, and it was the third single from that album. It reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart and was their third consecutive Top 10 single from the album.

The opening lyric of "It's a Hard Life" is based on the line "Ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto!" (Laugh, Pagliaccio, at your broken love!) from "Vesti la giubba", an aria from Ruggiero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci. Mercury was well-known for his love of opera, which influenced many Queen songs, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Musically, the song strongly features Mercury's piano playing and the band's characteristic technique of layered harmonies. It is recorded very much with the ethos of earlier Queen albums in that it features 'no synthesizers'. By that time the band had been using synths on record since 1980's The Game and the gesture of returning to the traditional Queen sound was comforting to some fans.

Tim Pope's video which accompanies the song (which is full of visual jokes) has been created in an operatic "style," with the band and extras appearing in period "operatic-style" costume. The video also featured an unusual "skull and bones"-themed guitar that cost more than £1,000 [1] played by May, which can be seen on the single cover.

The band found the costumes hot and uncomfortable, and the "eyes" on Mercury's outfit were ridiculed by the others, saying he looked "like a giant prawn"[1]. Both Roger Taylor and Brian May[2] groaned out loud when shown this video during their commentary for the Greatest Video Hits 2 collection. Taylor said it was "the worst music video ever." May pointed out more positively that the video was a thematic joke, as it portrayed Mercury as a wealthy man singing about how hard life and love are, and at that point Mercury in real life possessed great wealth but was still searching for love.

Roger Taylor, by his side, remarked that he'd "actually loved the song, hated the video." Despite this, the video was posted on the band's official YouTube channel.

One of the extras in the clip is Mercury's then-lover, Barbara Valentin.

4. Man On The Prowl

"Man on the Prowl" is a three-chord rockabilly Mercury composition (similar to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") in which Fred Mandel plays the piano ending. Note that "Tear It Up", "It's a Hard Life" and this song are free of synthesizers. Mercury played rhythm guitar throughout the song, while May played the solo using a Telecaster.

5. Machines (Or 'Back To Humans')

"Machines (Or 'Back to Humans')" came up as an idea by Taylor, and May collaborated with him and finished it. Producer Reinhold Mack programmed the synth-"demolition" using a Fairlight CMI II Sampler, and the song is sung as a duet between two Mercury (harmonising with each other) and a robotic Taylor (using a Roland VP330 Vocoder). The instrumental remix of the song samples parts of "Ogre Battle" from Queen's second album Queen II. This song, along with Radio Ga Ga are some of the heaviest uses of electronics on the album.

6. I Want To Break Free

"I Want to Break Free" was written by bassist John Deacon. In the UK Chart, it peaked at number 3, and remained in the chart for fifteen consecutive weeks from its release in late April 1984. Most of the song follows the traditional 12 bar blues progression in E Major, a rare thing for a Queen song.

Two differing versions of the song are in circulation. The version on The Works is in fact shorter than the single remix by 61 seconds, because of a fade-in synthesiser introduction and a longer solo in which both the synthesiser and guitar feature separately. This is in contrast to "Hammer to Fall", a song which was edited down by thirty seconds from the album version to be released as a single. The promotional 45 sent to radio stations by Capitol Records had both versions on either side. However, Queen's name and the song title were deliberately left off one, so the labels read "Special Single Mix (Queen 4:21)" and "Special Single Mix-Edited (3:59).

The music video, directed by David Mallet, was a parody of the northern British soap opera Coronation Street. During part of the video, the band members dressed in drag, as mildly similar characters found in the soap at the time; Mercury's character was loosely based on Bet Lynch, while May's character was based on Hilda Ogden.[1] The video also depicted the band in what appeared to be a coal mine in their normal look, and it also features a ballet piece with the Royal Ballet (one of the dancers was Jeremy Sheffield), for which Freddie Mercury shaved his trademark moustache to portray Nijinsky (though he had kept it for the parody part of the video, interestingly enough). According to Brian May in an interview about Queen's Greatest Hits, the video ruined the band in America, where many people - unlike the case in the UK - failed to see the soap-opera connection & interpreted the video as an open declaration of transvestitism and Mercury’s homosexuality. This might explain why singles failed to go above #40 in the US Billboard charts after "Radio Ga Ga", until The Show Must Go On reached No. 2. The video was initially banned by MTV in the U.S., but the ban was lifted in 1991 when it aired on VH1's My Generation 2-part episodes devoted to Queen hosted by guitarist Brian May. The song received renewed attention when it was used in a media advertising campaign for Safeway.

Cover versions:

* In 1998, Masterboy made a dance cover.
* Belgian singer Arno Hintjens recorded a cover of the song.
* In 2006, Dewa 19, one of the bestselling Indonesian rock bands covered the song on their album Republik Cinta (Republic of Love).
* A ska version was recorded and released by Australian ska band Area 7.
* Las Vegas band, The Cab, released a cover of this song in June 2009 on The Lady Luck EP

Live cover performances:

* At the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Lisa Stansfield performed the song. She entered the Wembley stage wearing hair curlers (à la Hilda Ogden) and pushing a vacuum cleaner in a direct reference and tribute to the song's video.

* Extreme performed the song live a few times. Most notably, they played a bit of it during their medley on the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. They also performed it live in London around the same time with Brian May himself as a guest guitarist.

Parodies

In the late 1990s, the Spanish TV program "El Informal" made a parody of the videoclip of the song. The song was called "Me Quiero Reír" (I Want to Laugh) and it featured the presenters dressed as the band members and performing funny sketches.

7. Keep Passing the Open Windows

"Keep Passing the Open Windows" was written by Mercury in 1983 for the film version of The Hotel New Hampshire, based on a novel by John Irving. The phrase is mentioned on a number of occasions throughout the film and was, according to the opening credits, also co-produced by the band's manager Jim Beach, who changed it in order to suit the album mood better. Mercury played piano and synths and wrote the lyrics after reading the quote in the book.

8. Hammer To Fall

"Hammer to Fall" is a 1984 hard rock song written by Brian May and performed by the British rock group Queen. It appeared on their 1984 album The Works.

It was the fourth and final single to be released from that album, although the single version was edited down by thirty seconds in contrast to the version on the album. Different sleeves were used to package this single and the live picture sleeve is now a collector's item. The song was also the subject of a popular music video directed by David Mallet, in which was a regular live performance of the song by the band in Brussels during the Works Tour, over which the single edit of the song was dubbed. The song harks back to the Queen of old, with a song being built around a hard angular and muscular riff.

The song was a concert favorite and was also played at Live Aid. Live versions of the song in the 1980s also usually served as an opporitunity for touring keyboardist Spike Edney to appear onstage playing rhythm guitar (he was usually not visible from his keyboard stack.) A different version of the song with the first part played in the style of a ballad was played by Queen + Paul Rodgers in 2005. The song peaked at number 13 in the UK, at 1 in the EUA and Japan, and at 3 in South America; then was later featured in the film Highlander.

At the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, Extreme singer Gary Cherone performed the song with the band, having earlier done a medley of other Queen songs with his own group.

The lyrics refer to the Cold War era in which the band members grew up, fuelling the popular conception that the song was about nuclear war:

For we who grew up tall and proud
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud
Convinced our voices can't be heard
We just wanna scream it louder and louder and louder
What the hell are we fighting for
Just surrender and it won't hurt at all

The song, however, contains many more references to death and its inevitability:

Rich or poor or famous
For your truth it's all the same (oh no oh no)
Lock your door while the rain is pouring
Through your window pane (oh no)
Baby now your struggle's all in vain, yeah, yeah.

The issue was effectively settled when May wrote on his website that Hammer to Fall is really about life and death, and being aware of death as being part of life. "The Hammer coming down is only a symbol of the Grim Reaper doing his job!"

9. Is This the World We Created...?

"Is This the World We Created...?" was written in Munich after Mercury and May watched the news. Mercury wrote the lyrics and May wrote the chords. The song was recorded with an Ovation but live they used May's Gibson Chet Atkins CE nylon-stringed guitar.