I decided to roll with "Queen" and the stadium anthem that has been immortalized since the 1980's. I also remember this song being in the middle of a local bruhaha when another child was found in the Infamous Atlanta Child murders and the local DJ made a comment "This next song is dedicated to the missing children.." and he spun up Queen "Another one bites the dust" and I remember hearing this on the way to school in the morning and several cars had pulled over because the owners were laughing too much to drive. insensitive...you betcha, but back then people were not as sensitive as they are now.
"Another One Bites the Dust" is a 1980 song by British rock band Queen. Written by bass guitarist John Deacon, the song featured on the group's eighth studio album The Game (1980). The song was a worldwide hit, charting number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, from 4 October to 18 October (their second number-one single in the country). The song spent fifteen weeks in the Billboard top ten (the longest running top ten song of 1980), including thirteen weeks in the top five, and 31 weeks total on the chart (more than any other song in 1980). It reached number two on the Hot Soul Singles chart and the Disco Top 100 chart, and number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The song is credited as Queen's best-selling single, with sales of over 7 million copies.This version was ranked at number 34 on Billboard's All-Time Top Songs.
The song won an American Music Award for Favorite Rock Single and also garnered a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Recording sessions – produced by Reinhold Mack at Musicland Studios in Munich (West Germany) – consisted of Deacon playing almost all instruments: bass guitar, piano, and handclap. Roger Taylor added a drum loop and Brian May contributed noises with his guitar and an Eventide Harmonizer. There are no synthesisers in the song: all effects are created by piano, electric guitars and drums, with subsequent tape playback performed in reverse at various speeds. Finally, sound effects were run through the harmonizer for further processing. The effect of the harmonizer can be heard clearly in the "swirling" nature of the sound immediately before the first lyric. In early live performances, Taylor sang lead on the chorus, as opposed to the studio version sung entirely by Mercury. As the song became more well-known, the band could rely on audiences to sing the chorus by themselves.
After attending a Queen concert in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson suggested to Freddie Mercury backstage that "Another One Bites the Dust" be released as a single.
At the 1981 American Music Awards on 30 January, "Another One Bites the Dust" won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single. The song also garnered Queen a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It lost to Bob Seger's Against the Wind. The music video for "Another One Bites the Dust" was filmed at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. The song also appears in Queen's Greatest Hits album in 1981.
The song was used in a preliminary cut of Rocky III, before being replaced by Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". "When one of my idols, Brian May, attended one of our shows in Los Angeles in 1984, he brought up that subject," recalled Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan, to whom Sylvester Stallone had supplied a copy of the movie. "I offered to send him a copy of the tape, which I still own.
About a decade or so ago I was doing the DJ thing at our lodge picnic in a nice park. Down the hill from us was a large wedding party having their photos taken. On a whim I got on the mic and dedicated that song to the poor bridegroom in the group. A split second after doing it I had the thought that this could go good or very badly since some people are easily offended. Fortunately it went better than expected. All the girls started jumping around and dancing and the guys were all laughing and clapping. After the song ended they were all waving at me and yelling thank you......
ReplyDeleteHey Bob (Good name btw)
ReplyDeleteLOL, that was a good story and it shows that people still have a sense of humor.