Chapter 8: News Of The World

News of the World is the sixth studio album by Queen, released in 1977.

Containing hit songs "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" and "Spread Your Wings", the album went platinum in the United Kingdom, four times platinum in the United States and achieved high certifications elsewhere throughout the world also.

News of the World was the second album to be produced solely by the band (the first being A Day at the Races) and was recorded at Sarm West and Wessex Studios, England and co-produced and engineered by Mike Stone.

After releasing A Day at the Races, Queen's self-producing debut and followup to A Night at the Opera which featured their magnum opus "Bohemian Rhapsody", having received some criticism that Races was a "boring" album,[1] Queen decided to shift their musical focus towards the mainstream, but remaining as the producers of the next album. After completing the A Day at the Races Tour, the quartet re-entered the studio to begin work on their sixth studio offering in July 1977, enlisting Mike Stone as assistant producer at the Basing Street Studios in Wessex, London. The group completed recording and production of the album two months later in September and released the album on 28 October. Initially, the album's critical response was mixed, and some was rather negative commenting that the group had again produced a "bland" album; however as the singles for the album were released, the reviews' favourability improved, and sales quickly improved.[2]

During the recording of the album, the Sex Pistols were recording their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols in the next studio and Johnny Rotten was eager to meet Mercury, so he crawled on all fours through Queen's studio, up to the side of the piano where Mercury was playing, and said "Hello, Freddie!" before crawling out.

Brian May describes News of the World as being a "rootsier" album than previous Queen records, partly due to the punk scene breaking at that time, which inspired Queen to record a more "back to basics" rock album. News of the World is a less finely polished production than their previous offerings. The complex vocal harmonies and guitar orchestrations that are used heavily in earlier Queen albums are used much more sparingly and subtly on this album.

1. We Will Rock You

"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen. Due to its prevalence in popular culture, "We Will Rock You" has been recognized by various authorities as being quite influential, including Rolling Stone, which ranked it #330 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004[1] , and also the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century.

Cover Versions:

* 1991: Italian band Kirlian Camera covered the song on their album Todesengel. The Fall of Life.
* 1992: Warrant covered the song for the film Gladiator.
* 1992: Brazilian band Viper covered the fast version of the song in their third album Evolution, and later in a 1993 live album Maniacs in Japan.
* 1996: Linda Ronstadt performed a soft lullaby version for her album Dedicated to the One I Love.
* 1997: El General remade the song in Spanish as "Nosotros Te Conmoveremos" for the compilation Tributo a Queen: Los Grandes del Rock en Espanol.
* 2000: DJ Hurricane and Scott Weiland collaborated on a cover of the song for the album Don't Sleep.
* 2000: Queen members May and Taylor recorded a rap-style version of the song with boy band 5ive.
* 2000: Actress Kimberly Williams performs an alternate version of the song for the television miniseries The 10th Kingdom.
* 2003: John Farnham performed a rendition for his Greatest Hits CD, featuring samples from the original recording. According to the liner notes for One Voice: The Greatest Hits, Brian May contributed an extended guitar solo.
* 2003: a remix by KCPK, sung by a chorus of children, was released in a series of animated Evian adverts which aired in France, Germany and Belgium. The remix was later released as a single and entered the local charts[2].
* 2004: Houseboyz performed a cover version for the video game Dance Dance Revolution Extreme[3].
* 2005: German band Pink Cream 69 covered the song in their album Food For Thought[4].
* 2005: Nickelback covered the song as a bonus track, through a promotion with Wal-Mart, for their album All the Right Reasons.
* 2008: Japanese singer Kosaka Riyu recorded a trance music version of the song.


Live cover performances:

* 1992: Queen with guest singer Axl Rose performed the song at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
* 1996: Alanis Morissette and her band ended the first encore of her "Can't Not" Tour (following the song, "You Learn") with a cover of the song. Drummer Taylor Hawkins took the microphone, while Morissette took to the drums.
* 2003: Robbie Williams covered the song at his Knebworth Park gig. The performance subsequently appears on his Live Summer 2003 album which was released in the same year.
* 2003: Anastacia performed a version with Queen members May and Taylor at the 46664 Mandela concert.
* 2007: Prince's performance at the Super Bowl XLI started with a rendition of the song.
* 2007: Japanese singer Kumi Koda covered the song in her a-nation '07 performance.
* 2007: Girl band Hope sang the song on series 4 of X Factor.
* 2008: Finnish band Sonata Arctica plays "We Will Rock You" in concerts of their 2008 tour, using the crowd as a human drum kit.
* 2008: KoRn plays "We Will Rock You" as medley with their Coming Undone at their live concerts.
* 2008: Celine Dion performed a cover of this song as The Show Must Go On for her world tour concerts.
* 2008: Stone Temple Pilots who recently reunited have played the song at many of their shows.
* 2008: New Kids On The Block interpolated this song with "Hangin' Tough in Live performances on their tour in support of their comeback album

Remixes:

* 1991: Rick Rubin did some remixes of "We Will Rock You", released by Hollywood Records. The "Ruined Remix" also contains contributions by Flea and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
* 2003: Japanese techno artist Killingscum remixed 5ive's cover of the song in the track Morning Knifreak.
* Norman Cook performed a Fatboy Slim remix on "We Will Rock You".
* DJ Speedo has performed a gabber style remix for various compilation CDs.

Sampling:

* 1999: The "stomp-clap" is sampled as Juvenile is introduced on the track 'You Dig' from The Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare.
* 2002: Eminem sampled the "stomp-clap" on his album The Eminem Show for the song Till I Collapse.
* 2003: Kid Rock samples the song on "Hillbilly Stomp" from his self titled album. The song uses banjos, dobros and slide guitar to make it sound unique.
* 2007: Bon Jovi use the song as intro of their song "Summertime" in all the Lost Highway Tour.
* 2008: Detroit rapper Pick Up used this song as a sample for the track, "Like Me Or Not," off his debute album 8 Milez North.

Parodies & References to song:

* 1987: Henry Rollins did a parody of "We Will Rock You" titled "I Have Come to Kill You".
* 2003: Blondie's song Good Boys uses the line "You got me on your face/A big disgrace."
* 2004: Scum of the Earth did a cover version on their debut album Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium. However, the song title was changed to "Pornstar Champion" with modified lyrics.

Appearances in other media:

* We Will Rock You was a featured song on the game Donkey Konga.
* 2004: The song featured in a global Pepsi-Cola TV ad campaign performed by Beyoncé Knowles, Pink and Britney Spears, and was produced by Brian May. Brian May and Roger Taylor both make guest appearances in the ad, which was shown on TV in the United Kingdom, Finland, Brazil, Malaysia, Romania, Philippines, India, Mexico, and Latin America.

2. We Are The Champions

"We Are the Champions" is a power ballad written by Freddie Mercury, recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. One of their most famous and popular songs, it has since become an anthem for sporting victories and has been often used or referenced in popular culture (see below). The song has been covered by many artists.

Musically, it is based around Mercury's piano part, with Roger Taylor and John Deacon providing a drums and bass guitar backing. Brian May overdubbed some guitar sections, initially subtle, but building to a 'solo' played simultaneously with the last chorus. Mercury employed many jazz chords (major and minor 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th harmonies), and the choruses featured these voiced as 4 and 5-part vocal harmonies. The lead vocal is very demanding and strident (highest point is a C5), and in live performances, Mercury often deferred to let Taylor handle the highest parts of the melody. An exception to this was Mercury's performance of the song at the Live Aid concert in 1985.

The single featured "We Will Rock You" as a B-side, and preceded the song on the album. The two songs were often played consecutively at the close of Queen concerts, and are customarily played together on radio broadcasts (in album order). Keeping with tradition, it was also used to close the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with all the show's acts joining in behind the lead vocal of Liza Minnelli.

In 1977-1978, "We Are the Champions" was released as a single for the time in many countries, including U.S. where it reached number 4 on the Billboard Pop Singles, UK, Ireland and Norway where it reached the top ten, and Germany, Austria and Sweden where it was a top 15 hit.

In 1992, 1993 and 1998, the single was re-released in France, totalling 45 weeks on the chart and peaking respectively at #19, #14 and #10. The song has thus its greatest success during the 1998 World Cup because the French team was the winner arnas.

"We Are the Champions" was also covered by Crazy Frog under the title "We Are the Champions (Ding a Dang Dong)". It was released as a single on June 5, 2006. A cover of the 1977 Queen song of the same name, it was released to coincide with the 2006 World Cup, but Queen's vocals are featured in the song.

The single had its greatest success in France. It went straight to #1 on June 10, 2006, and stayed at this position for five weeks. Then, it kept on dropping in the chart. It remained for 9 weeks in the top 10, 17 weeks in the top 50 and 25 weeks in the chart. On August 30, 2006, it was certified Gold disc two months after its release by SNEP, the French certificator, and became the 15th best selling single in 2006 in that country.

Other cover versions:

* The song was covered by Live 2 Love as a dance track, where it appeared in the Japanese version of Dance Dance Revolution Extreme.
* Scatman John did a cover of this song along with Invisible Man.
* Era has also covered this song.
* Das Oath covered the song and has had it featured on more than one CD, including Dynamite with a Laserbeam: Queen as Heard Through the Meat Grinder of Three One G.
* La Unión, from Spain perform the song as "Somos Campeones" in Spanish on the 1996 album Tributo A Queen: Los Grandes Del Rock En Español.
* Queen (May/Taylor) re-recorded this song for the soundtrack of the 2001 film A Knight's Tale with Robbie Williams on vocals. Williams also made a music video for the song.
* William Hung covered this song for his 2004 album Hung for the Holidays.
* Gavin DeGraw covered this song for the 2005 album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
* In addition to performing the song live in a medley with "We Will Rock You" during the show's seventh season, American Idol contestant Michael Johns also recorded a studio version of the medley.
* Jean-Sébastien Lavoie, a contestant of French TV show Nouvelle Star, covered the song in 2003. His version, released as a single, reached #38 in France and #53 in Switzerland.[23]
* A sound-alike cover appears on the 1977 album Top of the Pops, Volume 62. When the album was re-issued in 2008 on iTunes, it was credited to Top of the Poppers.
* Florent Pagny covered the song as duet with David Hallyday on his 2001 album 2.
* The song has also been performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. [1]
* Green Day covers the song in most of their live sets.
* Jonathan Coulton has covered the song, along with We Will Rock You, as part of his Thing a week project.

Live cover performances:

* Green Day covered the song at Live 8 in 2005. Also, they have often covered the song at their shows.
* The Bad Plus performs a jazz cover of this song in Blunt Object: Live in Tokyo (2005).
* Japanese singer-songwriter Angela Aki performs the song along with "We Will Rock You" in her live concert (2006).
* The Jonas Brothers, Rooney, and the entire tour crew performed the song at their final concert for the 'When You Look Me In The Eyes' tour. The brothers pulled their entire family onstage and sang with the fans.

Uses in popular culture:

* The song is a playable song in the music video game Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, which is unlockable in the U.S. and U.K. versions of the game by completing career mode on lead guitar.
* The song is featured as end credits song in Pro Evolution Soccer 2, We Will Rock You being the opening song of the same game.
* The song has been played in 2002, UEFA Champions League Cup Final, after Real Madrid beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen(2-1) at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland.
* The song was used in South Park: Undeniable and Eric Cartman's Greatest Hits.
* The song has been used together with "We Will Rock You" in The Mighty Ducks' trilogy.
* The song has been sampled by Dame Dash, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Young Chris, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron & Twista for their song, "Champions".
* The song appears in three episodes of The Simpsons - in "War of the Simpsons," Homer sings "I Am the Champions" after catching a legendary catfish, General Sherman. In "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken," Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney sing it after the Springfield Isotopes win the pennant. In "She Used To Be My Girl," it was played by the Fox News truck during the media circus followed by Major Quimby's paternaty scandal.
* The song appears in Season 5 of The Sopranos as the character Tony Blundetto's ring tone on his cell phone.
* The song was used in Drawn Together episode, "Spanky's Cup", the song plays after Spanky beats Cartman at his field, the entire cast celebrate the champions. It also plays in "The Chronicles of Leap", "Ice Skating", "Toot Goes Bollywood", and "Merry Christmas".
* At the end of the AFL Grand Final in Australia, the song is played over the stadium as the Premiership team does a lap of honor.
* The song is used as the entrance music of professional wrestling tag team The Kings of Wrestling.
* The song was used in the episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Hal shows his skating abilities.
* The song has been played to celebrate numerous sports championships. It was played at the finals of 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, after Italy won the cup. Usually, the winner of the German soccer championship plays the song during the celebration.
* The song was used during the end cutscene for The Matrix: Path of Neo.
* The song was used at the end of the South Park episode "Stanley's Cup" for someone else's happy ending, rather then the protagonist's.
* The song marked the climax of the ending of the 1984 hit comedy Revenge of the Nerds.
* The song was televised locally right after Sri Lanka won the 1996 Cricket World Cup on March 17, 1996.
* John Cusack dances to this song after he finds out that his ex-girlfriend has not had sex with his hated neighbor in the 2000 film High Fidelity.
* This song was the closing credits song for the movie 'A Knight's Tale' (2001.)
* Fernando Alonso sung the song after winning the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix, securing the Contructors' title for his team, Renault. The team later released an MP3 of the song being "played" by the engine they had used in that season, with the different notes played by changing engine speeds to adjust the pitch of the engine sound and exhaust note.
* The song was in the 2005 film, Kicking & Screaming.
* An Australian dart team - the Warilla Bowls All-Nighters adopted it as their 'team song' after winning back-to-back premierships in 2005.
* In the film Chicken Little (2005), Chicken Little sings the song after winning the big baseball game, but improvises the lyrics ("I Am The Champion" instead of "We Are the Champions"). Pro wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin also altered the song in this fashion in 2001.
* Liberal talk-radio personality Randi Rhodes used the song after the 2006 midterm elections to celebrate Democratic victories in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
* It was used as a musical extract for which to answer questions on in the 2006 Level One NCEA Music Exam
* It was used as the introductory music prior to Prince's halftime TV performance at Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007 in Miami, Florida.
* It was used after the Boston Celtics won the 2008 NBA finals
* On an episode of So You Think You Can Dance in 2007, Danny Tidwell performed a solo to Gavin DeGraw's version.
* A grunt sings a line of the chorus in Halo: Combat Evolved after you get killed by one.
* The song was used in JJB Stadium after Manchester United won the league there in the 2007-08 season. It was used again the following season at Old Trafford Stadium when Manchester United retained the title in 2008-09.
* The song was used in the movie What Happens in Vegas when Jack wins the jackpot in the casino.
* It was featured at the end an episode of The Big Bang Theory when the Perpetual Motion Squad won a science match.
* In the series Angel, Cordy, Wes, and Gunn sing the song in a karaoke bar after getting fired.
* In an episode of Phineas and Ferb, after winning at the baseball game, Phineas begins to sing "I Am the Champion" instead of "We Are the Champions".
* In the May 20, 2009 Season 8 finale of American Idol, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen performed the song with Queen.
* In the June 2, 2009 RoboTech Fiesta held in Suntec City Singapore,the song was played when Admiralty Secondary School won the Grand Championship Title.
* In an episode of WarioWare, Inc., Dr. Crygor sings "I Am the Champion" after catching a East Asian Catfish. Wario, Jimmy, Dribble, 9-Volt, and Orbulon sing it after Dr. Crygor quits his job. In "War of the Volts", 18-Volt sings "I Am the Champion" after catching a legendary dogfish, General.

Sampling and parodies:

* Producer Rick Rubin remixed the song (along with "We Will Rock You") for Hollywood Records. (This mix also samples James Brown's "Funky Drummer".)
* The song has been sampled by Dame Dash, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Young Chris, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron & Twista for their song, "Champions".
* J.B.O. released a spoof version, “Wir sind die Champignons” (We Are the Mushrooms), in 1997.
* David Strassman parodied it on the Teddy's Farewell Tour, making his puppets mock him by singing, "We are the Voices, in his Head."




“ Certainly it's a relationship that could be, but I was thinking about football [soccer] when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something that the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses; I thought we'd see how they took it. It worked a treat. When we performed it at a private concert in London, the fans actually broke into a football chant between numbers. Of course, I've given it more theatrical subtlety than an ordinary football chant. You know me. I certainly wasn't thinking about the press when I wrote it. I never think about the British music press these days. It was really meant to be offered the musicians the same as the fans. I suppose it could also be construed as my version of "I Did It My Way." We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy. No bed of roses as the song says. And it's still not easy. -Freddie Mercury (1978)”

“ I have to win people over, otherwise it's not a successful gig. It's my job to make sure people have a good time. That's part of my duty. It's all to do with feeling in control. That song "We Are the Champions" has been taken up by football fans because it's a winners' song. I can't believe that somebody hasn't written a new song to overtake it.” -Freddie Mercury (1985)

3. Sheer Heart Attack

"Sheer Heart Attack" was half-finished at the time of the eponymous album. Roger Taylor sang lead on the demo but for the definitive version the band decided Mercury should sing lead vocals (probably based on the fact that May had already sung two songs and Taylor one). Guitars[citation needed] and bass were played by Taylor, apart from some guitar "screams" by May during the instrumental section.

During this time, the punk rock movement went into full effect, and this song was viewed as something of a jab at the musicians who felt bands like Queen were too self-indulgent. Of note is the lyric "I feel so inarticulate", and the fact that Taylor stated in interviews that he thought many of the 1970s punk bands had very little talent.

German Heavy metal band Helloween covered the song. The cover can be heard as a B-side for their single "Just a Little Sign".

4. All Dead, All Dead

"All Dead, All Dead" was written and sung by May, and features Mercury on backing vocals; May also plays piano. Lyrically, the song deals with May's experiences following the death of his childhood pet cat.

5. Spread Your Wings

"Spread Your Wings" is a song by Queen, from their 1977 album News of the World. It was released as the A side of the single Spread Your Wings/Sheer Heart Attack in 1978. It is a rock ballad, written by bassist John Deacon. It features Deacon on bass and acoustic guitar, Freddie Mercury on piano and vocals, Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums.

The song is in 4/4 meter, and starts with a simple piano motif in D. It is written in D Major, then modulating up to D's relative minor, B minor in the bridge, coming down to D in the chorus.

The lyrics of the song describe a troubled young man named Sammy who works sweeping the floor at Emerald Bar. The narrator (Mercury) of the song encourages Sammy to pursue his dreams, telling him to "spread your wings and fly away".

This song was covered by German power metal band Blind Guardian on both their 1992 album Somewhere Far Beyond, and their 1996 album The Forgotten Tales.

6. Fight from the Inside

"Fight from the Inside" was written and sung by Roger Taylor. In addition to the drums, Taylor also plays rhythm and bass guitar, the latter borrowed from Deacon himself.

The track is built around a jangly guitar riff and is amongst the first in the Queen catalogue to focus predominantly on the drums and bass, as opposed to the lead guitars. Lyrically, the song can be interpreted as an expression of scorn directed at punk rock fans which at the time had lambasted Queen ([1]).

Guitarist Slash has cited the guitar riff to this song as one of his favourite riffs of all time.