Queen-Another One Bites the Dust

The band I am focusing on this week is Queen! I am a total sucker for older rock bands like them. Freddie Mercury, the lead singer, is a very inspirational and outgoing songwriter. He surely is one of a kind, and his dramatic and orchestration music style backs him up. I am sure most of you have heard one of their most popular songs, “Another One Bites the Dust” so I’ll focus on their song.

The St. Valentines Day Massacre inspired Queen to write “Another One Bites the Dust,” Many people that listened to the song were outraged by how vivid and violent the song was (keep in mind that this was the 1980’s so no one heard of scream-o yet). If you aren’t familiar with the lyrics here are some that describe the murderer;

Steve walks warily down the street,
with the brim pulled way down low
Ain’t no sound but the sound of his feet,
machine guns ready to go

Around the end of the song they have a machine gun firing effect also. Families were so outraged by the song that Queen had been taken to court 3 times and had won each case because of freedom of speech. In my opinion, I like that there is a background to the song and actual meaning to it. Comparing most songs made today to this song, there is no meaning in those songs the record company just wants money.

The song was a number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, second on R&B charts and the Disco Top 100, and number seven in the UK Singles Chart. There is an alleged backward masking in the song also. Where you can allegedly hear “decide to smoke marijuana” or “it’s fun to smoke marijuana.” A spokeswoman for the band has denied that the song has a hidden message in it.

Here is the regular music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeMrttj8Ucg

Here is the backwards “message” in the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlvFkws9PYY