Song#: 3895
Date: 05/13/1989
Debut: 92
Peak: 50
Weeks: 10
Genre: Rock
Pop Bits: After Queen's 1986 gold-selling LP A Kind of Magic, the band took a little break to do other projects. During that time, members Brian May and Freddie Mercury were experience personal issues. For May it was a divorce. For Mercury, it was his AIDS diagnosis, which was kept private at the time. Despite everything, the band continued on and in '88 got back into the studio to work up their next album The Miracle. It would take a year to record and in the spring of '89 this first single would be issued out. It would become a hit in the UK (#3) and make the Top 10 in many countries. In the US, the track would do well at Rock getting to #3, but it didn't fully catch fire in a more mainstream way and the single stopped at the halfway point on the Pop chart. Further singles would not reach any US chart. With those results, the album would get to #24 and fail to reach the gold level sales mark. It was their first regular studio album to miss going at least gold since their 1974 second album Queen II. This single would also be the band's final regular release to make the Pop chart (barring a pair of charting reissues and a live track - see below).
ReduxReview: I remember hearing this when it came out and liking it, but not enough to buy the single or invest in the album. I hooked into it a bit more later on when diving into the band's Greatest Hits series. It was a good arena rocker with a strong, demanding chorus. I also liked the dreamy pop bridge that provided a cool break in between all the cascading guitars. Then all hell breaks loose when it goes into double-time later in the song. It really should have done a lot better on the chart, but with glam metal being the rock flavor of the day on pop radio, this more intense track didn't attract the kids. I did buy the band's next LP Innuendo and enjoyed it quite a bit. There were some gems on it including the dramatic "The Show Must Go On," which was the album's last track and and emotional one following Mercury's death.
ReduxRating: 8/10
Trivia: Double Shot! 1) Although Freddie Mercury's health was in severe decline, the band was able to record their fourteenth studio album Innuendo. It would be released in February of '91. Although no singles made the Pop chart, four made the Rock Top 40 including the #3 "Headlong" and that helped the album get to #30 and go gold. In late November of '91, Freddie Mercury would pass away. A few years later, the remaining band members would collaborate on a new album where they were able to take previously recorded vocals by Mercury and rework them into new tracks. The resulting LP, Made in Heaven, would be issued out in 1995. It would get to #58 in the US and go gold. In the UK, it became a #1 multi-platinum hit. No other studio album of new material has been released under the singular Queen name since. 2) Queen had an unexpected resurgence in 1992 thanks to a film. The Mike Myers/Dana Carvey SNL skit based comedy flick Wayne's World became a major success and Queen's 1975 #9 hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" gained a new generation of fans thanks to its prominent use in the film. It got so much attention that the single was reissued and it would chart again. This time around, the song would best its original peak and get to #2. Thanks to the song's success, 1977's "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" would also get a reissue, but it would only get to #52. Queen would make the US Pop chart one last time via a live track. At a Freddie Mercury tribute concert held in 1992, Queen would perform "Somebody to Love" (#13, 1976) with George Michael taking on the lead vocal. It would be released as a single and make it to #30.
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