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Why did Queen decline in popularity in the US during the 80s?
Posted on 11/22/14 at 12:57 pm
Posted on 11/22/14 at 12:57 pm
They were popular worldwide for their entire run, but in the 1980s people in the United States just lost interest. Just look at their album sales (by peak position):
Queen (1973) US: 83 UK: 24
Queen II (1974) US: 49 UK: 5
Sheer Heart Attack (1974) US: 12 UK: 2
A Night at the Opera (1975) US: 4 UK: 1
A Day at the Races (1976) US: 5 UK: 1
News of the World (1977) US: 3 UK: 4
Jazz (1978) US: 6 UK: 2
The Game (1980) US: 1 UK: 1
Hot Space (1982) US: 22 UK: 4
The Works (1984) US: 23 UK: 2
A Kind of Magic (1986) US: 46 UK: 1
The Miracle (1989) US: 24 UK: 1
Innuendo (1991) US: 30 UK: 1
Queen remained one of the most popular pop/rock bands of the 1980s in Europe and South America. However, their popularity waned in the United States after the release of their 1980 album The Game (which featured Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love). What happened?
Queen (1973) US: 83 UK: 24
Queen II (1974) US: 49 UK: 5
Sheer Heart Attack (1974) US: 12 UK: 2
A Night at the Opera (1975) US: 4 UK: 1
A Day at the Races (1976) US: 5 UK: 1
News of the World (1977) US: 3 UK: 4
Jazz (1978) US: 6 UK: 2
The Game (1980) US: 1 UK: 1
Hot Space (1982) US: 22 UK: 4
The Works (1984) US: 23 UK: 2
A Kind of Magic (1986) US: 46 UK: 1
The Miracle (1989) US: 24 UK: 1
Innuendo (1991) US: 30 UK: 1
Queen remained one of the most popular pop/rock bands of the 1980s in Europe and South America. However, their popularity waned in the United States after the release of their 1980 album The Game (which featured Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love). What happened?
This post was edited on 11/22/14 at 12:58 pm
Posted on 11/22/14 at 1:10 pm to RollTide1987
IMHO, Because the quality of their music declined. The Game felt like a weird departure to me but had enough to still keep me interested. By Hot Space I was done. And I was a HUGE Queen fan.
That's not to say there weren't good tunes sprinkled here and there, but at some point the became a little too self-conscious and the albums suffered for it.
That's not to say there weren't good tunes sprinkled here and there, but at some point the became a little too self-conscious and the albums suffered for it.
Posted on 11/22/14 at 1:11 pm to RollTide1987
"Flash Gordon" killed them. They had one good song (Under Pressure) after "The Game" came out.
Posted on 11/22/14 at 1:11 pm to RollTide1987
Isn't that performance for Live Aid 85 or whatever considered one of the best performances by any band ever? I would bet their ticket sales were still doing fine. As for album sales, hair metal was taking over so I guess that could be a reason.
Posted on 11/22/14 at 4:51 pm to RollTide1987
Honestly, Bohemian Rhapsody is their only song that I thought was interesting.
OK - Somebody to Love is really good too s omake it two.
But
We are the Champions,
Bicycle Races,
Another One Bites the Dust,
We Will Rock You
Are just pure crap. And that crap is what made the airwaves. Even a country with terrible taste isn't going to listen to that for long.
OK - Somebody to Love is really good too s omake it two.
But
We are the Champions,
Bicycle Races,
Another One Bites the Dust,
We Will Rock You
Are just pure crap. And that crap is what made the airwaves. Even a country with terrible taste isn't going to listen to that for long.
Posted on 11/22/14 at 6:13 pm to RollTide1987
'hot space' is what did them in. the "side one" tracks were just too jarring compared to anything they did prior, including 'the game'. while i can appreciate alot of the album nowadays, i was pretty horrified when i'd first heard it
funny, the live versions of the songs from 'hot space' are actually pretty aggressive & energetic, barely resembling the studio versions....if those versions appeared on the album instead, the band probably would've kept their momentum going IMO...
funny, the live versions of the songs from 'hot space' are actually pretty aggressive & energetic, barely resembling the studio versions....if those versions appeared on the album instead, the band probably would've kept their momentum going IMO...
Posted on 11/23/14 at 2:58 pm to RollTide1987
Queen were open-minded when it came to changing with the times, even if they occasionally did it with a bit of snark (like in the lyrics of the song "Sheer Heart Attack"). News of the World is a really raw album; there aren't tons of layers on that album like there had been with the previous few. It was the most stripped down they had ever been on record. I think this album deceived them; "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" were a collective smash hit in America, and I think the band and their management misinterpreted just what Americans were into when it came to these two tracks. That is, these two songs basically made sports way more fun, so good for you, lads.
Queen then doubled down on the raw sound yet added synthesizers to a couple tracks on The Game, and while none of the synth-inclusive tracks hit in America, "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were two more big American hits for the band.
Now here's where they suffered one instance of bad luck and then made one really bad decision with their music.
Flash Gordon was a competent soundtrack given the nature of the project, and especially given that Brian May is actually an astrophysicist. Certainly this man can commandeer a project that answers the question: What does music sound like in space? The material the boys provided was perfect, but the movie was awesomely bad, and it flopped in America. Not good for Queen. They needed to make a good move.
They didn't.
Hot Space saw Queen doubling down even more on the synth sound and the disco beats, and they really underestimated--or rather, were completely unaware of--Americans' newfound hatred for that type of sound. Queen were a 1970's band who were making disco sounds in 1982, so they got lumped in, for some people, with the Bee Gees at the worst possible time.
Queen took a short break and then recorded The Works. It's a really good 1980's rock album with a lyrical and thematic focus on the then technological and political future, of course with a few good pop love songs sprinkled in there, and for all the reasons mentioned in the above paragraphs, it flopped in America while becoming a smash hit everywhere else imaginable. By the time they hit the road for their tour for their next album, A Kind of Magic, it behooved the band to simply capitalize on their international popularity and not worry too much about the America that they'd lost. The Miracle and Innuendo are perhaps their most "English" albums; their popularity everywhere outside America had long been cemented. And then Freddie died.
Queen then doubled down on the raw sound yet added synthesizers to a couple tracks on The Game, and while none of the synth-inclusive tracks hit in America, "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were two more big American hits for the band.
Now here's where they suffered one instance of bad luck and then made one really bad decision with their music.
Flash Gordon was a competent soundtrack given the nature of the project, and especially given that Brian May is actually an astrophysicist. Certainly this man can commandeer a project that answers the question: What does music sound like in space? The material the boys provided was perfect, but the movie was awesomely bad, and it flopped in America. Not good for Queen. They needed to make a good move.
They didn't.
Hot Space saw Queen doubling down even more on the synth sound and the disco beats, and they really underestimated--or rather, were completely unaware of--Americans' newfound hatred for that type of sound. Queen were a 1970's band who were making disco sounds in 1982, so they got lumped in, for some people, with the Bee Gees at the worst possible time.
Queen took a short break and then recorded The Works. It's a really good 1980's rock album with a lyrical and thematic focus on the then technological and political future, of course with a few good pop love songs sprinkled in there, and for all the reasons mentioned in the above paragraphs, it flopped in America while becoming a smash hit everywhere else imaginable. By the time they hit the road for their tour for their next album, A Kind of Magic, it behooved the band to simply capitalize on their international popularity and not worry too much about the America that they'd lost. The Miracle and Innuendo are perhaps their most "English" albums; their popularity everywhere outside America had long been cemented. And then Freddie died.
Posted on 11/23/14 at 11:10 pm to RollTide1987
I just got their new release Live at the Rainbow '74 and it's awesome.
Posted on 11/25/14 at 9:13 pm to RollTide1987
I just lost interest after Jazz. As a teenager at the time of release, I loved the inside cover of that album though.
The Live Aid performance in '85 kicked arse......even Radio Gaga with the swaying crowd. Let's just say Freddie was one hell of a singer and a flamboyant front man.
The Live Aid performance in '85 kicked arse......even Radio Gaga with the swaying crowd. Let's just say Freddie was one hell of a singer and a flamboyant front man.
Posted on 11/27/14 at 1:44 am to RollTide1987
Queen was heavily criticized for playing Sun City in 1984. Some speculate that that had some effect on their popularity.
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