Another One Bites the Dust
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| "Another One Bites the Dust" | ||
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| Single by Queen | ||
| from the album The Game | ||
| Released | 22 August 1980 | |
| Format | vinyl record (7") | |
| Recorded | 1980 | |
| Genre | Funk rock | |
| Length | 3:32 | |
| Label | EMI, Elektra (US) | |
| Writer(s) | John Deacon | |
| Producer(s) | Queen and Mack | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Queen singles chronology | ||
| "Play the Game" (1980) |
"Another One Bites the Dust" (1980) |
"Need Your Loving Tonight" (1980) |
"Another One Bites the Dust" is a 1980 funk/rock song from the English rock band Queen. It was written by bassist John Deacon and was a worldwide crossover hit (hitting number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, hitting #2 on the R&B charts, and the Disco Top 100). It was successful on the R&B charts because some fans thought Queen was an R&B group. The song is Queen's best selling single and their biggest hit to date, with sales of over 7 million copies. The track is on the album The Game (1980).
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[edit] History
According to Queen: The Magic Years Volume 2, John Deacon originally wrote it as a cowboy theme but eventually changed the lyrics to fit a funkier arrangement after hearing "Good Times" by the funk group Chic. Recording sessions were produced by Reinhold Mack at Musicland Studios in Munich and consisted of Deacon playing almost all the instruments: bass, piano, rhythm and lead guitars and handclap percussion. Roger Taylor added a drum loop under protest[citation needed] and Brian May did some noises with his guitar and an Eventide Harmoniser. There are no synthesizers used in the song: all effects are obtained through the recording of pianos, guitars, and drums, with subsequent tape playback performed in reverse at various speeds. Finally, some sound effects were run through the Harmoniser for further processing. The effect of the Harmoniser can be heard clearly in the "swirling" nature of the sound immediately before the first lyric. Taylor hated the song but Freddie Mercury strongly believed in it and added some ideas[citation needed]. During the mix the road crew suggested it as a single but the band didn't like the idea until Michael Jackson recommended it after a concert (this was confirmed by Roger Taylor and Brian May on the U.S. radio show In the Studio with Redbeard which spotlighted the album The Game on one episode).
The song garnered Queen its only Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and lost to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind".
The immense success and popularity of "Another One Bites the Dust" may be responsible for causing Queen to abandon (albeit temporarily) their hard rock roots for their next album Hot Space.
The bassline is one of the most recognisable bass lines in pop music history.[1]
The music video was filmed at the Reunion in Dallas, Texas.
[edit] Alleged backmasking
A common urban legend surrounding the chorus is that, when played in reverse, it contains the messages "it's fun to smoke marijuana" and "start to smoke marijuana". In actual fact, the song does not contain any deliberate backmasked message; it is purely coincidental that the title of the song sounds vaguely like the aforementioned phrase. The song can be heard in reverse here.
[edit] Uses in popular culture
- In the game Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Yoda in duel mode will say sometimes "Bites the dust, another one does".
- During the Gulf War, the American Military FM stations would often play this, each time a Scud missile was brought down, either by Patriot or flying Coalition aircraft patrols.
- At Los Angeles Dodgers games, it can be heard after opponents strike out.
- It can be heard playing in the background of the film Biggles: Adventures in Time which John Deacon also wrote the theme for in his only solo/non-Queen collaboration with a band called "The Immortals"
- The opening bassline was inspired by Chic's (Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers) "Good Times",[citation needed] and in turn inspired the "Weird Al" Yankovic self titled debut album parody "Another One Rides The Bus".
- In the 1980s, it was used as a Detroit Lions football team fight song, which generated considerable attention from the sports media. After a series of losses, fans began singing the lyrics as "Another one beats our butts"
- In an episode of Family Guy, the opening lyrics to the song were sung by Stewie Griffin as he swept a pile of leaves over a pit he dug in a sandbox.
- "Another One Bites the Dust" was on the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- Commonly in Australian Domestic Cricket, the chorus of the song comes on when a batsman gets out and is a real crowd pleaser ("Another One Bites The Dust" topped the Australian Charts for six weeks in 1980).
- The chorus of this song was often sung in the sporting TV show Gladiators, when a Gladiator beats a challenger at a game. The gladiator would sing this song as a way to taunt, and the crowd would sing along too.
- Throughout most of the 1990s, a brief portion of the song was played at Texas Rangers home games whenever catcher Ivan Rodriguez threw out a would-be base stealer.
- Gwen Stefani's hit song "Hollaback Girl" name-checked and featured a brief snippet of the song's bassline.
- Theme song for 1980s WWF wrestler Junk Yard Dog from late 1984 to early 1986.
- Kira Yoshikage from the Japanese manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a Stand named Killer Queen. Killer Queen has a tertiary bomb called Another One Bites the Dust.
- Almost seven years after the death of Freddie Mercury, Wyclef Jean remixed the song using a new instrumental track and samples from the actual song for the 1998 movie Small Soldiers. This version also appeared on Queen's compilation Greatest Hits III released in 1999 and it's remixed again in 2006 by The Miami Project.
[edit] Trivia
- Sylvester Stallone wanted to use the song for his movie Rocky III, but could not secure the rights. Survivor then created the song "Eye of the Tiger" for Stallone instead. Interestingly, according to Peter Jones, he also wanted to meet Freddie Mercury at one point, but Mercury refused... they were dining at the same restaurant.
- According to stories floating around Atlanta, GA for the last 20+ years this song was intentionally played by Ross Brittan and Brian Wilson, 2 DJ's from radio station WZGC, after the announcement that another victim of the Atlanta Child Murders had been found. This story became a urban legend and was debunked by Ross Brittan several years later.
[edit] Charts
| Preceded by "Upside Down" by Diana Ross |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single October 4, 1980 |
Succeeded by "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand |
