"Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the Britishrock bandQueen. Written by bassistJohn Deacon, the song was featured on the group's eighthstudio albumThe Game (1980). It was a worldwidehit, charting at number one on the USBillboard Hot 100 for three weeks, from 4 October to 18 October (being their second and final number one single in the country). The song spent 15 weeks in theBillboard top 10 (the longest running top ten song of 1980), including 13 weeks in the top five, and 31 weeks total on the chart (more than any other song in 1980). It reached number two on theHot Soul Singles chart and theDisco Top 100 chart, and number seven on theUK Singles Chart.[7][8] The song is credited as Queen's best-selling single, with sales of over 7 million copies.[9] This version was ranked at number 34 onBillboard's All-Time Top Songs.[10]
John Deacon's bass line was inspired by "Good Times" by thedisco groupChic.[18][19] In an interview withNME, Chic co-founderBernard Edwards stated, "That Queen record came about because that Queen bass player... spent some time hanging out with us at our studio."[20]
Recording sessions, produced byReinhold Mack atMusicland Studios inMunich, consisted of Deacon playing almost all instruments:bass guitar,piano,electric guitar and handclaps.Roger Taylor added a drum loop andBrian May contributed depth to music with his guitar and anEventide Harmonizer. There are no synthesisers in the song: all effects are created by piano, electric guitars and drums, with subsequent tape playback performed in reverse at various speeds. Finally, sound effects were run through the harmonizer for further processing. The effect of the harmonizer can be heard clearly in the "swirling" nature of the sound immediately before the first lyric. In early live performances, Taylor sang lead on the chorus, as opposed to the studio version sung entirely by Mercury. As the song became more well-known, the band could rely on audiences to sing the chorus by themselves. After attending a Queen concert in Los Angeles,Michael Jackson suggested toFreddie Mercury backstage that "Another One Bites the Dust" be released as a single.[21]
To "bite the dust" means to die or to lose in a contest or game. The beginning lyrics set up a scene similar to amobster movie, with "machine guns ready to go". Later lyrics refer to a failed relationship as "another one bites the dust". The singer is not going to let it get him down, "standing on my own two feet". The song was used in a preliminary cut ofRocky III, before being replaced bySurvivor's "Eye of the Tiger". "When one of my idols,Brian May, attended one of our shows in Los Angeles in 1984, he brought up that subject", recalled Survivor guitaristFrankie Sullivan, to whomSylvester Stallone had supplied a copy of the film. "I offered to send him a copy of the tape, which I still own."[25][22]
Billboard called it a "snarling track" with a "spare, lean sound."[26]Record World said that "a brutal bass conspires with the sing-along hook on this thoroughly contagious [song]."[27]Classic Rock History critic Millie Zeiler rated it John Deacon's 2nd best Queen song.[22]
In the early 1980s, "Another One Bites the Dust" was one of many popular rock songs that some Christian evangelists alleged contained subliminal messages through a technique calledbackmasking. It was claimed that the chorus, when played in reverse, can be heard as "Decide to smokemarijuana",[28] "It's fun to smoke marijuana",[29][30] or "Start to smoke marijuana".[31] A spokeswoman for Hollywood Records (Queen's current US label) has denied that the song contains such a message.[32] The song does, however, contain a backmaskedpiano, which can be heard clearly when it is played backward.[33]
"Another One Bites the Dust" was used in a study to train medical professionals to provide the correct number of chest compressions per minute while performingCPR.[34] The bassline has close to 110 beats per minute, and 100–120 chest compressions per minute are recommended by theBritish Heart Foundation,[35] and endorsed by theResuscitation Council (UK).[36] A study evaluating CPR chest compression rates in veterinarians and registered veterinary nurses found that Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" helped improve the accuracy of compression rates. When used as an auditory aid, the song resulted in a significantly higher number of participants achieving the correct rate of 100–120 compressions per minute, outperforming other aids like theBee Gees' "Stayin' Alive".[37] However, the content of the lyrics was not considered "quite as appropriate".[38]
Dave Ogilvie edited the Phase 5 remix for inclusion on the April 1992 compilationBASIC Queen Bootlegs removing profanity from the rap verse and problematic samples due to copyright clearance. A separate remix byOnyx producer ChySkillz was due to appear featuring rap verses byIce Cube,Hi-C and Manson. Ogilvie also recorded his own remix in sessions for the album, but did this not feature on the final track listing. All four versions have since leaked.
The song enjoyed its greatest success in Queen's native United Kingdom, where it entered and peaked at number five on theUK Singles Chart, two places higher than the original,[88] going on to spend six weeks on the chart. It also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Finland. It charted number 18, number 23, number 50 and number 62 in New Zealand, Austria, Sweden and France, respectively. The music video for this version was directed byMichel Gondry.
The song became Pras' third top ten hit in the United Kingdom from his debut solo albumGhetto Supastar, following thetitle track and follow-up singleBlue Angels. However, Pras was not available for the filming of the video, and rapperCanibus recorded a new verse to take his place. This version was used only for the promotional video.[citation needed]
The song was remixed again in 2006. The single reached the UK Top 40, peaking at number 31, credited to Queen vs The Miami Project.[107] The lead remix was byCedric Gervais & Second Sun for which a new video was filmed.
In 1996, Queen Dance Traxx and GermanEurodance groupCaptain Jack covered the song for the albumQueen Dance Traxx 1 and released it as a single. The song reached number 5 inFinland and peaked at number 12 in theNetherlands. It also reached number 33 inAustria, number 41 inBelgium and number 61 inGermany. The music video for this version was directed byRudi Dolezal and was filmed inBerlin, Germany.
^"Good Times".Superseventies.com.Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved11 April 2010. Excerpt fromBronson, Fred (1988).The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard Books.
^Epley, Nicholas; Keysar, Boaz; Van Boven, Leaf; Gilovich, Thomas (2004). "Perspective Taking as Egocentric Anchoring and Adjustment".Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.87 (3): 333.doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.3.327.PMID15382983.Participants in this experiment listened to a short segment, in reverse, from the Queen (1980/1991) song, "Another One Bites the Dust" [...]. The chorus of this song has long been used to support the claim that rock and roll bands "backmask" illicit or immoral statements into their music in an attempt to influence listeners [...]. Proponents of this view report being able to hear the phrase "It's fun to smoke marijuana" when the chorus from "Another One Bites the Dust" is played backward.
^Yeoman, Ian (August 2009). "Buy•ology: How everything we believe about why we buy is wrong".Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management.8 (4):399–400.doi:10.1057/rpm.2009.3.Queen and the song 'Another one bites the dust', when played backwards yields 'it's fun to smoke marijuana' in a subliminal sort of way.
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