Song Anatomy: Queen - Killer Queen
Writer: Freddie Mercury
Producer: Roy Thomas Baker and Queen
Recorded: Summer 1974 at Trident Studios in London
Released: October 1974
Players:
Freddie Mercury -- vocals, piano
Brian May -- guitar, vocals
Roger Deacon -- bass
Roger Taylor -- drums, vocals
Album: Sheer Heart Attack (Uni/Hollywood, 1974)
Also On:
Queen Live Killers (Elektra, 1979)
Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1981)
Greatest Hits (Hollywood, 1992)
The Crown Jewels (Hollywood, 1992)
Greatest Hits I & II (Hollywood, 1995)
Gold (EMI, 2003)
"Killer Queen" was the first single from Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack.
Lead singer Freddie Mercury wrote the song as an ode to a high-class call girl. "Classy people can be whores, too," he explained at the time.
Guitarist Brian May, meanwhile, felt that "Killer Queen" was "the turning point" in the band's career -- "It was the song that best summed up our kind of music, and a big hit, and we desperately needed it as a mark of something successful happening for us. We were penniless, you know, just like any other struggling rock-and-roll band, all sitting around London."
The song, and the Sheer Heart Attack album, did have their critics, however. As producer Roy Thomas Baker noted, "People didn't like it at the time, because they thought it was a bit over the top, which it was. It had every conceivable production idea that was available to us."
Both "Killer Queen" and Sheer Heart Attack peaked at Number 12 on their respective Billboard charts.
The album as well as the single topped out at Number Two in the U.K.
Sheer Heart Attack was also Queen's first album to be certified gold in the U.S.
FAST FORWARD:
Mercury's death from AIDS on November 24th, 1991, brought an end to the band, though not their success. 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a Number One hit in the U.K. shortly after Mercury's death, and it was a hit again in the U.S. after it was used in the soundtrack for the 1992 Mike Myers film Wayne's World.
May and drummer Roger Taylor continued to pursue solo careers. In addition, they've overseen a stage musical in London's West End called We Will Rock You that features Queen's music, and there have been versions of the show in Australia, Germany, Spain, Russia, the U.S., and Canada.
Foo Fighters singer-guitarist Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins inducted Queen into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on March 19th, 2001.
2001 also saw disharmony among the surviving members of the group. May and Taylor recorded a new version of "We Are The Champions" for the film A Knight's Tale with British pop star Robbie Williams. Deacon refused to take part in the session and savaged the results, saying, "It's rubbish. It is one of the greatest songs ever written but I think they've ruined it... I don't want to be nasty but let's just say Robbie Williams is no Freddie Mercury. Freddie can never be replaced -- and certainly not by him." All hard feelings have since been taken care of, and Deacon, May, and Taylor are friends again.
Queen was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in late 2002 and inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2003.
May and Taylor are among the many international artists who have played AIDS fund- and awareness-raising concerts in South Africa in recent years.
May and Taylor toured in 2005 and 2006 with Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, performing songs from all of their bands.
Bassist John Deacon is no longer active in the music business, and, after some tension a few years back, he seems to get along well again with May and Taylor.
May, Taylor, and Rodgers have begun recording new material, though no release date has been announced.
May recently hired round-the-clock security for his London home after a schizophrenic male wrote a message about killing May, then went missing.
Producer: Roy Thomas Baker and Queen
Recorded: Summer 1974 at Trident Studios in London
Released: October 1974
Players:
Freddie Mercury -- vocals, piano
Brian May -- guitar, vocals
Roger Deacon -- bass
Roger Taylor -- drums, vocals
Album: Sheer Heart Attack (Uni/Hollywood, 1974)
Also On:
Queen Live Killers (Elektra, 1979)
Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1981)
Greatest Hits (Hollywood, 1992)
The Crown Jewels (Hollywood, 1992)
Greatest Hits I & II (Hollywood, 1995)
Gold (EMI, 2003)
"Killer Queen" was the first single from Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack.
Lead singer Freddie Mercury wrote the song as an ode to a high-class call girl. "Classy people can be whores, too," he explained at the time.
Guitarist Brian May, meanwhile, felt that "Killer Queen" was "the turning point" in the band's career -- "It was the song that best summed up our kind of music, and a big hit, and we desperately needed it as a mark of something successful happening for us. We were penniless, you know, just like any other struggling rock-and-roll band, all sitting around London."
The song, and the Sheer Heart Attack album, did have their critics, however. As producer Roy Thomas Baker noted, "People didn't like it at the time, because they thought it was a bit over the top, which it was. It had every conceivable production idea that was available to us."
Both "Killer Queen" and Sheer Heart Attack peaked at Number 12 on their respective Billboard charts.
The album as well as the single topped out at Number Two in the U.K.
Sheer Heart Attack was also Queen's first album to be certified gold in the U.S.
FAST FORWARD:
Mercury's death from AIDS on November 24th, 1991, brought an end to the band, though not their success. 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a Number One hit in the U.K. shortly after Mercury's death, and it was a hit again in the U.S. after it was used in the soundtrack for the 1992 Mike Myers film Wayne's World.
May and drummer Roger Taylor continued to pursue solo careers. In addition, they've overseen a stage musical in London's West End called We Will Rock You that features Queen's music, and there have been versions of the show in Australia, Germany, Spain, Russia, the U.S., and Canada.
Foo Fighters singer-guitarist Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins inducted Queen into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on March 19th, 2001.
2001 also saw disharmony among the surviving members of the group. May and Taylor recorded a new version of "We Are The Champions" for the film A Knight's Tale with British pop star Robbie Williams. Deacon refused to take part in the session and savaged the results, saying, "It's rubbish. It is one of the greatest songs ever written but I think they've ruined it... I don't want to be nasty but let's just say Robbie Williams is no Freddie Mercury. Freddie can never be replaced -- and certainly not by him." All hard feelings have since been taken care of, and Deacon, May, and Taylor are friends again.
Queen was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in late 2002 and inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2003.
May and Taylor are among the many international artists who have played AIDS fund- and awareness-raising concerts in South Africa in recent years.
May and Taylor toured in 2005 and 2006 with Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, performing songs from all of their bands.
Bassist John Deacon is no longer active in the music business, and, after some tension a few years back, he seems to get along well again with May and Taylor.
May, Taylor, and Rodgers have begun recording new material, though no release date has been announced.
May recently hired round-the-clock security for his London home after a schizophrenic male wrote a message about killing May, then went missing.
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