12/15/2025
22 August 1980 - āAnother One Bites The Dustā is released as a single by EMI in the UK, with āDragon Attackā on the B-side š¬š§
š¶Oh, let's goš¶
The song is on the album āThe Gameā
This masterpiece was written by the dark horse, the anchor, Mr. John Deacon and it was produced by Queen and Mack.
āI listened to a lot of soul music when I was in school and Iāve always been interested in that sort of music. Iād been wanting to do a track like āAnother One Bites The Dustā 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 as it did. The song got picked up off our album and some of the black radio stations in the US started playing it, which weāve never had before.ā (John Deacon, 1980)
Freddie contributed to transform Deakyās cowboy-based song in a worldwide hit, one of their most known and appreciated:
āA fantastic bit of work from Freddie really. I mean, I remember Deacy having this idea, but Deacy doesn't sing of course, so he was trying to suggest to Freddie how it should be and Fred just went in there and hammered and hammered until his throat bled, making... you know, he really was inspired by it and took it to a new height, I think.
Freddie would certainly fight for things he believed in. Like 'Another One Bites the Dust' which was a bit of a departure for Queen. Roger, at the time, certainly felt that it wasn't rock and roll and was quite angry at the way it was going. And Freddie said, āDarling, leave it to me. I believe in this.ā. John had written the song. But it took Freddie's support to make it happen.ā (Brian May)
Itās the best-selling Queen record, it sold over 7 millions copies, and it stayed on top of the charts all around the world for weeks, gained an incredible success.
āāAnother One Bites The Dustā was a dance hit, but it doesnāt mean weāre going to do everything in that style from this point on. We like to experiment, although I have learnt a lot from all this back rhythm disco music, from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.ā (Freddie Mercury)
āJohn Deacon, being totally in his own world, came up with this thing, which was nothing like what we were doing. We were going for the big drum sound: you know, quite pompous in our usual way. And Deaky says, āNo, I want this to be totally different: it's going to be a very tight drum sound.ā It was originally done to a drum loop - this was before the days of drum machines. Roger did a loop, kind of under protest, because he didn't like the sound of the drums recorded that way. And then Deaky put this groove down. Immediately Freddie became violently enthusiastic and said, āThis is big! This is important! I'm going to spend a lot of time on this.ā. It was the beginning of something quite big for us, because it was the first time that one of our records crossed over to the black community. We had no control over that; it just happened. Suddenly we were forced to put out this single because so many stations in New York were playing it. It changed that album from being a million-seller to being a three-million seller in a matter of three weeks or so.ā (Brian May)
Johnās iconic and amazing bass line was inspired by "Good Times" by the disco group Chic. In an interview with NME, Chic co-founder Bernard Edwards stated: Ā«That Queen record came about because that Queen bass player... spent some time hanging out with us at our studio.Ā».
Roger added a drum loop: āI remember laying down the backing track with him and... he really wanted the drums as dry as they could possibly be, so I just stuffed it all with blankets and made it as dead as I possibly could and very low tuned.ā (Roger Taylor)
Brian contributed noises with his guitar and an Eventide Harmonizer.
Brian said many times that the guitar solo (recorded by Deaky in the studio version) is one of the most difficult and technic passages that he has to play on stage: āPlaying Johnās guitar part live on stage is one of the most difficult things I've ever done.ā. For John, a lover of funk, it was instead elementary.
Everyone remembers the story of the legendary Michael Jackson attending a Queen concert in Los Angeles, and suggested to Freddie backstage that "Another One Bites the Dust" had to be released as a single.
āCredit for the song should go to Michael Jackson in many ways. He was a fan and friend of ours and kept telling me, āFreddie, you need a song the cats can dance to.ā. John introduced this riff to us during rehearsal that we all immediately thought of disco, which was very popular at the time. We worked it out and once it was ready, played it for Michael. I knew we had a hit as he bobbed his head up and down. āThat's it, that's the gravy. Release it and it will top the chartsā, he said. So we did and it did.ā (Freddie Mercury)
In 1980, , "Another One Bites the Dust" won an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single.
Freddie loved to sing this top hit, he did it with so much passion, until his throat bled! ā„ļøš
