whilst recording. The synthesisers then were so good, they were
very advanced compared to the early Moogs, which did little
more than make a series of weird noises. The ones we were using
could duplicate all sorts of sounds and instruments – you could
get an entire orchestra out of them at the touch of a button.
A m a z i ng.’
When finally released in 1980, ‘The Game’ proved to be a huge
commercial and fiscal success, turning out to be the group’s highest
selling album to date. It featured hit single ‘Crazy Little Thing
Called Love’, as well as ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. Interestingly
enough, the band only released ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ as a
single after Michael Jackson told the band he thought it would be
a hit. Inspired by the likes of Chic and the Sugar Hill Gang, the
track would stay at No. 1 for four weeks in America, spawning a
multitude of new fans. John Deacon, once again, explained the
composition of the track, ‘I listened to a lot of soul music when I
was in school and I’ve always been interested in that sort of music.
I’d been wanting to do a track like “Another One Bites the Dust”
for a while, but originally all I had was the line and the bass riff.
Gradually I filled it in and the band added ideas. I could hear it as
a song for dancing but had no idea it would become as big a hit as
it did.’
The album itself went four times platinum in America, and was
quickly followed up by the soundtrack album of cult sci-fi classic
‘Flash Gordon’. Performing badly as far as sales were concerned,
the album, nevertheless, was innovative, and showed the band
in a whole new light, as Brian May showed when talking about
the composition of the critically acclaimed soundtrack: ‘We saw
20 minutes of the finished film and thought it was very good
and over the top. We wanted to do something that was a real
soundtrack. It’s a first in many ways, because a rock group hasn’t
done this type of thing before, or else it’s been toned down and
they’ve been asked to write pretty mushy background music,
chris devlin
(Chris Devlin)
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