Steve walks warily down the street

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

1980 : Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

Queen's third entry on the list and I think this one is probably the one that surprises me the most - it's got a fine vocal performance from Freddie (let's face it, they all do) but there's not really a lot more to it other than a bit of bass, is there?  Well, it's mostly 3:38 of fine vocals and bass over some drum loops, but there is a bit more to it than that.  But not a lot - there's just some weird sounds in the middle of it for no obvious reason, but they work well enough.  It also occurred to me whilst selecting the lyric for the title that it had NEVER occurred to me what the opening line was - who is Steve exactly?

Wikipedia tells me something that seems obvious when I read - the bass line was inspired by Chic's "Good Times".  It also tells me that it's a comparatively rare Queen thing - a John Deacon composition (he also wrote "I Want To Break Free", "You're My Best Friend" and a few other less well-known tracks) and he also played most of the instruments on it as well.  Apparently Roger Taylor wasn't a fan to start with ("it's not rock and roll") but Freddie stopped any such nonsense ("Darling, leave it to me. I believe in this") - I do wonder where Queen would have been without Freddie (not even considering the absolutely unique vocals he provided).

It's from The Game (their eighth album) and soon became a live favourite - apparently initially Roger Taylor used to sing the chorus live, but it soon became unnecessary due to audience participation.  After an LA concert, one Michael Jackson suggested they release it as a single - he often use to go and see them live and his comment on hearing it was "That's it, that's the gravy. Release it and it will top the charts". 

And they did and well, it did OK, I guess.  It "only" got to #7 in the UK, but did three weeks at #1 in the US and thirteen weeks in the top five.  Oh yes, it's really done very well across the pond over the years, selling over five million and is #48 on their all-time singles chart.  It's only sold 1.2 million over here - we don't give them Queen boys as much love as we should, I guess.

For a change, Wikipedia also provides a couple of interesting random facts about the track - it was the subject of some controversy back in the day because Christian evangelists claimed the song used backmasking to influence you to "decide to smoke marijuana".  Yes, because of all the things Freddie got up to in his life, smoking pot was far and away the thing that such types would be most annoyed by.  The other random fact is a more heartwarming one - it's a good track for doing CPR to ("Staying Alive" is the only other one I know) because it has a strong beat at the correct speed (110 bpm).

For a change, Wikipedia is more interested in remixes than covers - it mentions a Hollywood Records remix from '92 (which seems completely pointless), a Wyclef Jean remix from '96 (done for Small Soldiers, getting to #5 in the UK - and it's very bad) and a Queen vs Miami Project remix from '06 (which got to #31 - this is a hate crime as well).  The one cover it does mention is the Captain Jack version (#5 in Finland - this is pretty awful as well, but at least they've tried something a bit different) and Weird Al Yankovic's parody "Another One Rides The Bus" also gets a mention because there's a good argument that it was that track that made him (and yes, it's really quite something).  secondhandsongs.com doesn't give us any other versions I've heard of except for a Glee version and they really don't count for this things, do they?  Except for the track coming up next, where it very much does count. 

So - Wikipedia has convinced me of its popularity, but not necessarily over here - what was the competition like?  The top five of the year were The Police's "Don't Stand So Close To Me" (a good track, but not necessarily one that deserved six weeks at #1), Barbra Streisand's "Woman In Love" (a fine track, but not one many remember these days, I suspect), Kelly Marie's "Feels Like I'm in Love" (very much of its time, but an enjoyable slice of nostalgia), ABBA's "Super Trouper" (can you believe they don't win a year?) and Ottawan's "D.I.S.C.O." (another enjoyable slice of nostalgia) - I can't say I'm surprised that none of them won the year.

Other tracks that jumped out of the charts from this year were Madness' "My Girl", "Baggy Trousers" and "Embarrassment" (not their last mention I suspect - we forget how many great tracks they've had over the years), Booker T & The MGs' "Green Onions" (an interesting, if not great, track), Kenny Rogers's "Coward Of The County" (I refuse to accept this isn't a great track), Blondie's "Atomic" (their best track?), "Call Me" and "The Tide Is High" (a fine threesome), Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers", The Jam's "Going Underground", Martha And The Muffins' "Echo Beach" (unfairly forgotten over the years), Johnny Logan's "What's Another Year" (included here to make my wife happy), Splodgenessabound's "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please" (maybe not the BEST track of the year), Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved", ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All" (another ace track), The Gap Band's "Oops Upside Your Head" (surely wedding DJs have kept that close to the top?), David Bowie's "Ashes To Ashes" and "Fashion" (another artist that never wins a year) and Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster".  All of which are obviously dwarfed by St Winifred's School Choir's "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" - and there really is nothing quite like that song.  Bizarrely, most of the stuff from across the Altantic this year barely dented the charts over here with some very odd tracks in there like Paul McCartney's "Coming Up" and Elton John's "Little Jeannie" - the only one I'm going to call out is Irene Cara's "Fame" which is a very fine track indeed.

I like this track and it's surprisingly inventive when you really listen to it, but I'm still surprised it took the year.  I also really don't feel that Queen needed to win three years, so I'd have given this one to ABBA or Bowie.  But funnily enough they didn't ask me for my thoughts, so we are where we are - well done to Freddie and John who seemed to be the driving forces behind this (I can quite imagine Brian and Roger harumphing away in the background).

1979 - A much more popular track than I remember
1981 - A track that's grown in popularity