Queen for a Day - Put Out the Fire

Did you know that Queen was a very socially conscious band that wrote message songs?

Neither did I.

This anti-gun track is the first that I can think of (if we are not counting "Don't Try Suicide"....and I'm not) but it won't be the last.

Keeping with my belief that Brian was not as interested as Freddie and John at mining the dance rock idiom, "Put out the fire" is the most rocking track on the record. Since it opened Side Two it actually gave the Queen fan that was the 15 year old me hope that the first half of the record was the experiment and Side Two would get back to rocking!

That was sort of true. It just wasn't enough.

However, it is the most blistering Brian has sounded in years. Like he's letting loose some demons, frustrated at being stuffed into a disco band demons.

This song is an oasis on this record.

Grade: B+