Queen - The Game
#265
by Andrew Anthony
Queen
The Game
Genre: Classic rock, no wait, disco, no wait, rockabilly, no wait, new wave, no wait, prog rock, no wait, soft rock, no wait…it’s QUEEN.
Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5 (but he’s biased)
Andrew’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Allen’s Highlights:
Play the Game
Another One Bites the Dust
Need Your Loving Tonight
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Save Me
Andrew’s Highlights:
This is tough to do because I’m such a huge Queen fan. That said:
Play the Game
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Rock It (Prime Jive)
Save Me are my favorites.
What can I say about Queen that half a million music critics and countless millions of fans worldwide haven’t already said? Perhaps I could mention that Queen was the first rock band I remember hearing as a kid. Another One Bites the Dust was the first Queen song I remember hearing and I was hooked from that moment on. I remember excitedly telling one of my closest friends in the mid-80s how awesome Queen was. He gave me a look that half confusion and half disgust and made some kind of “Ugghhh” sound. So, I had him listen to The Game. By the end of Play the Game, he was convinced and we’ve shared a deep and abiding love of the band’s music ever since then. Now, for the album itself. Some would argue that Queen bats significantly less than a thousand, especially with their 80s albums. Songs like Dragon Attack, Need Your Loving Tonight, and the schmaltztastic Sail Away Sweet Sister, could stand as evidence of this argument. They are definitely the weak tracks on the album. However, that said, they still have moments of, if not brilliance, at least some fun to be had. That slamming bassline in Dragon Attack coupled with Brian May’s screaming guitar solo equal good old-fashioned rockin’ times. Need Your Loving Tonight proves that John Deacon writes great basslines but sucks as a lyricist. But, as the kids say, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. And Sail Away Sweet Sister DOES have those sweet, sweet Queen vocal harmonies that no one can touch. In fact, oddly enough, although it’s my least favorite track, it’s the one that most closely resembles 70s Queen. Now, despite the filler on this album, when Queen records a hit song, that hit song is a MONSTER hit song. Another One Bites the Dust was EVERYWHERE in 1980. According to Billboard, it was Number One for 3 weeks, 15 weeks in the Top Ten, and 31 weeks total on the charts, more than any other song released in 1980. It was also a big crossover hit, placing in the Soul and Disco charts as well as the mainstream Hot 100, and selling over 7 million singles. Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen’s first Number One hit, spent 4 weeks at the top of the charts and was a platinum single. For many of Queen’s old-school rock fans, The Game was the beginning of the end, as the band began experimenting with a more pop sound, disco, and funk. These songs were tailor-made for radio and MTV, most clocking in between 3 and 4 minutes—Crazy Little Thing Called Love is only 2:44! Plus—GASP!! This was Queen’s first album to violate the (for some reason) sacred classic rock commandment, Thou shalt not use synthesizers. Queen would go on to estrange themselves even more severely from their rawk fans with the criminally underrated and super funky Hot Space in 1982.
So, in summary, 4.5 out of 5 because there is a bit of filler, but not enough to make the album seem like a ripoff. The big hits are GARGANTUAN and the rest of the album is still good stuff.
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