| Hot Space | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 4 May 1982 | |||
| Recorded | June 1981 – March 1982 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:29 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| Queen chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Hot Space | ||||
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Hot Space is the tenth studio album by the Britishrock bandQueen. It was released on 4 May 1982 byEMI Records[10] in the United Kingdom and byElektra Records in the United States. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, they employed many elements ofdisco,funk,R&B,dance,pop andnew wave music on the album.[3][1] Combined with the ongoing backlash against disco music, this made the album less popular with fans who preferred the traditional rock style they had come to associate with the band. Queen's decision to record a dance-oriented album germinated with the massive success of their 1980 hit "Another One Bites the Dust" in the US.[1]
"Under Pressure", Queen's collaboration withDavid Bowie, was released in 1981 and became the band's second number one hit in the UK.[11] Although included onHot Space, the song was a separate project and was recorded ahead of the album, before the controversy over Queen's new disco-influenced rock sound.[12] The album's second single, "Body Language", peaked at number 11 on the US charts.
Before 1979, Queen had never used synthesisers on their albums.[13] Beginning withThe Game, Queen began usingOberheim OB-X synthesisers on their songs, including "Play the Game" and "Save Me". OnHot Space, the band went even further, introducing thedrum machine for the first time. A departure from their trademark 70s sound, most ofHot Space is a mixture of rhythm and blues, funk, dance and disco, while the rock songs continued in a pop rock direction similar to their previous album (an exception is the song "Put Out the Fire").[1][2]
During an interview in 1984,Roger Taylor affirmed that "it was reallyJohn [Deacon]" who turned the band towards a more disco sound. Elaborating, he said: "John’s always beenR&B orientated, our bass player who wrote 'Another One Bites The Dust', ... which turned out to be the biggest selling record of the year. And I think that was the song that catapulted us into taking that road. I think we went too far and did too much. ... Everybody in the band feels that way now."[14]
Disliking the new sound,Brian May and Taylor were critical of the influence thatPaul Prenter,Freddie Mercury's personal manager between 1977 and 1984, had on the singer.[15] Recalling the recording process in 2011, Taylor openly criticized the direction in which Prenter was taking Mercury (and thus the rest of the band), stating that "[Prenter] wanted our music to sound like you'd just walked in a gay club...and I didn't". May also noted that the making of the album in Munich took much longer than usual and that all of the band got into "deep emotional trouble" in the city, blaming a mixture of drink, drugs and partying as the reason for the relatively lengthy recording sessions.[16] According toMack, Queen's producer, Prenter loathed rock music and was in Mercury’s ear throughout theHot Space sessions.[15] Prenter also refused all requests from US radio stations to speak to Mercury.[15] May states, "this guy, in thecourse of one tour, told every record station to fuck off. But not just "fuck off", but "Freddie says, ‘fuck off’".[15] Queenroadie Peter Hince wrote "None of the band cared for him [Prenter], apart from Freddie", with Hince regarding Mercury's favouring of Prenter as an act of "misguided loyalty".[15]
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The horn arrangement for Mercury's "Staying Power" was added byArif Mardin (who also producedChaka Khan and added horn sections toBee Gees andAretha Franklin records).[17] "Staying Power" would be performed on the band's accompanyingHot Space Tour, albeit much faster and heavier, with real drums replacing the drum machine and guitars and keyboards replacing the horns. (This arrangement contained no actual bass guitar, asJohn Deacon played guitar in addition to May.) It was also played on Queen'sThe Works Tour, until it was dropped from the setlist halfway through the European leg of the tour. In Japan, the band released "Staying Power" as a single in July 1982. Mardin's contributions were recorded atRecord Plant Studios in New York. The original demo of the track featured a guitar instead of horns.
Thebassline of May's "Dancer" was played on anOberheim OB-Xa synthesiser by him. The song itself – a fusion of rock and disco – is something of a follow-up to "Dragon Attack" from the band's 1980 albumThe Game in that it fuses heavy elements of music with danceable ones, asLed Zeppelin did.[17] The phone message at the end of "Dancer" ("Guten Morgen, Sie wünschten, geweckt zu werden.") is in German, and was recorded in a hotel room inMunich; it translates as "Good morning, you wanted to be woken up.". The lyrics of "Dancer" are also notable for being the only ones on the album that make reference to the album title itself.[18]
"Back Chat", written by John Deacon, is the track most influenced byblack music. In addition to normal bass duties, Deacon also plays rhythm guitar[19] and synthesiser on the song. As the album's final single, it stalled at number 40 on the UK charts and failed to chart in the US.
"Body Language" is atypical among Queen songs, as there is very little guitar on the track, with the song being driven by a rhythmic bassline. Mercury, who composed the song on synth bass, had previously explored the instrument's potential with his contributions to theFlash Gordon soundtrack.[20] The song's lyrics describe the gaycruising culture which Mercury was immersed in at the time. The "Body Language" video, featuring scantily clad models writhing around each other in abathlike setting, proved somewhat controversial and was banned in a few territories. The song also appeared in the 1984 documentary filmStripper, being performed to by one of the dancers. Whilst the video was restricted to late-night showings on MTV, it nonetheless helped the song become the album's biggest hit in America, reaching number 11 on theBillboard Hot 100 in June 1982.[21]
"Action This Day", one of two Taylor songs that appear on the album, was clearly influenced by thenew wave movement/style current at the time; the track is driven by a pounding electronicdrum machine in 2/4 time and features a saxophone solo, played by Italian session musician Dino Solera.[22] "Action This Day" takes its title from aWinston Churchill catchphrase that the statesman would attach to urgent documents, and recapitulates the theme of social awareness that Taylor espoused in many of his songs. The band performed "Action This Day" at every show on the Hot Space Tour with a more conventional arrangement, replacing the drum machine and bass synth with a rockrhythm section and replacing the saxophone solo with an actual synthesizer. The verses are duets between Taylor and Mercury, while the chorus is sung by both.
"Put Out the Fire" is an anti-firearm song written by May, featuring lead vocals and falsetto by Mercury, and backing vocals by Mercury, May and Taylor. May recorded its guitar solo under the influence of alcohol (after many unsuccessful attempts).[20]
Though never released as a single, "Put Out the Fire", the album's most traditional Queen song, later appeared on theQueen Rocks compilation in 1997. A new video was also produced for the accompanying video compilation, featuring a live performance of the song intercut with footage of fire and explosions. It also received significant airplay onAOR stations in the United States, peaking at #15 on theBillboard Mainstream Rock chart.[23]
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Mercury wrote "Life Is Real" as a tribute toJohn Lennon, whosemurder in 1980 had also previously prompted the band to perform his song "Imagine" on tour. It is also one of the few Mercury songs whose lyrics were written before the music.
"Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)" was not played live on the European leg of the tour. It was only played a couple of times on the North American leg. While not released as a single, it received enoughAOR radio airplay in the United States to peak at #57 on theBillboard Mainstream Rock chart.[23]
The first Queen song written by Taylor to be released as a single (albeit in selected countries, including the US and Australia, but not the UK), "Calling All Girls" failed to create much of an impact on the charts where it peaked at number 60 in the US and number 33 in Canada, despite its music video based on theGeorge Lucas filmTHX 1138. Taylor composed "Calling All Girls" on guitar and played the feedback noises during the song's break.[20] Queen never performed the song in Europe, and a live recording from Japan in 1982 is commercially available on theQueen on Fire – Live at the Bowl DVD, where "Calling All Girls" accompanies the photo gallery. The single was released in July 1982.
May's lyrics for "Las Palabras de Amor" were inspired by Queen's close relationship with their Latin-American fans, and have been interpreted as an allegory for theFalklands War.[17] A top 20 hit in the UK, "Las Palabras de Amor" marked the band's fifth single to feature at least one in-studio appearance onTop of the Pops, the others being "Seven Seas of Rhye" (three performances, only partially still existing), "Killer Queen" (two performances, one of which only partially exists), "Now I'm Here" (two performances, with only one of them partially existing) and "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" (one performance). For this mimed performance, May is seen playing a grand piano, although he only played synthesisers on the recording. May also sang lead vocals for the harmonised line "this night and evermore".
"Cool Cat", written by Mercury and Deacon, originally featuredDavid Bowie on backing vocals and a few lines of spoken word to a rhythm during themiddle eight. According to Mercury in a 1982 TV interview, Bowie was unhappy with the results and requested that his vocals be removed days before its parent album was slated to be released.[24] With the exception of the electric piano (which was played by Mercury), all the instruments are played by Deacon, including guitars, synths and a drum machine.[25] On the album version, Mercury sings the entire song infalsetto.[26] The alternate take with Bowie's vocals still intact is widely available on variousbootleg recordings[27] and surfaces from an early 1982 vinylHot Space test pressing from the US. Deacon can be heard using theslap bass technique throughout the track. The song was used in 2023 in an Amazon Prime commercial[28] featuring a young woman who, among other things, has a bobblehead of Mercury and buys a jacket on Prime similar to the one the bobblehead is wearing.
Aduet with Bowie, "Under Pressure" was the result of an impromptujam session in the band'sstudio in Montreux.[29] When it was released in 1981, "Under Pressure" reached number one in theUK singles chart.[30] Although it was credited to the entire band and Bowie, Mercury was the primary director of this track, with him and Bowie being the main lyricists (each writing the lines they sang). John Deacon came up with the bass riff.[31] Part of thechord progression is based on a rough demo of an unreleased song, "Feel Like".[32] The songwriting is credited to all five participants.
The 1982 Hot Space Tour was Queen's last tour of North America until theQueen + Paul Rodgers Tour in 2005. The band did not tour North America forThe Works tour in 1984, norThe Magic tour in 1986, after which they ceased touring, due to Mercury's ill-health withAIDS.[33]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
| Chicago Tribune | [34] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [35] |
| The Guardian | [36] |
| MusicHound Rock | [37] |
| Rolling Stone | [2] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [38] |
| Smash Hits | 5/10[39] |
| Sounds | [40] |
Due to itsdance-pop sound,Hot Space is widely considered by critics to be one of Queen's most artistically disappointing albums.Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllMusic said of the album that "the band that once proudly proclaimed not to use synthesizers on their albums has suddenly, dramatically reversed course, devoting the entire first side of the album to robotic, new wave dance-pop, all driven by drum machines and colored by keyboards, with Brian May's guitar coming in as flavor only on occasion."[41]Alex Petridis ofThe Guardian gave the album two stars and said: "Like Queen, disco was melodramatic, unrepentantly camp, extravagantly arranged and omnivorous in its influences. Or at least it had been. By the time of 1982'sHot Space, disco had mutated into the weird, skeletal, dubby electronic sound pioneered by DJLarry Levan, which really didn't suit Queen at all." Despite this, "Under Pressure" remains one of the band's staple songs.[citation needed] However, neither of these reviews are contemporary, and would both be coloured by decades of the album's perceived reputation, so can hardly be considered to reflect its reception, as the Sounds and Rolling Stone reviews can be.
Sandy Robertson ofSounds gave the album four stars, describing it as "fairly lickable funkpop" featuring "'Put Out The Fire'... with, plenty screaming Brian May axe histrionics ... a ballad in the old boy's mode called 'Life Is Real' ... a candymix of phasers, acoustics and electrics in 'Calling All Girls' ... sleazy keyboard/vocal pomp sobs in 'Las Palabras De Amor' ... a languid summer streak and slow slide through 'Cool Cat' and the cornerstone 'Under Pressure' itself."[40]
Rolling Stone's review at the time said Queen offered "a bit more than bluster", but described all but four of the songs as "at best, routinely competent and, at times, downright offensive".[42]
Michael Jackson, who was close friends with the band during the time, later citedHot Space as an influence for his own albumThriller.[43][44]
In a 2015 interview with Greg Prato of Songfacts,Extreme guitaristNuno Bettencourt described howHot Space had been an important album for him as a musician. "I think it's interesting because that album taught me two things. It taught me that even if you're in a band as a guitar player, music doesn't have to be driven by guitar - it's about the song, first. But I think the main thing is that Queen actually did an album like that - it was the fans' least favorite, but it was one of my favorites because it took a risk and branched out. All those synth parts they did and horns, I could always hear them with guitar in my head somehow. But quite oddly enough, or coincidentally enough, the titleHot Space is exactly what it meant: it's all the space between the music. That's what makes it funky and that's what makes it have a pocket."[45]
In the 2011 documentaryQueen: Days of our Lives, Queen's former manager Jim Beach describedHot Space as "a disaster really [...] it didn't appeal to the hardcore Queen fans who would turn up to concerts with 'Disco Sucks' banners."
After the conclusion of the Hot Space tour in late 1982, the band would rarely include songs from the album in their later live set-lists with only "Under Pressure" remaining as a staple until their final concerts in 1986.
All lead vocals byFreddie Mercury unless noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Staying Power" | Mercury | 4:11 | |
| 2. | "Dancer" | Brian May | 3:49 | |
| 3. | "Back Chat" | John Deacon | 4:35 | |
| 4. | "Body Language" | Mercury | 4:32 | |
| 5. | "Action This Day" | Roger Taylor | Mercury and Taylor | 3:32 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Put Out the Fire" | May | Mercury with May | 3:19 |
| 7. | "Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)" | Mercury | 3:32 | |
| 8. | "Calling All Girls" | Taylor | 3:51 | |
| 9. | "Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)" | May | Mercury with May | 4:31 |
| 10. | "Cool Cat" |
| 3:29 | |
| 11. | "Under Pressure" (withDavid Bowie) |
| Mercury and Bowie | 4:06 |
| Total length: | 43:29 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Body Language" (1991 bonus remix by Susan Rogers) | Mercury | 4:44 |
| Total length: | 48:13 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Staying Power" (Live atMilton Keynes Bowl, June 1982) | Mercury | 3:57 |
| 2. | "Soul Brother" (B-side to "Under Pressure"[46]) | Mercury | 3:36 |
| 3. | "Back Chat" (Singleremix) | Deacon | 4:12 |
| 4. | "Action This Day" (Live atSeibu Lions Stadium inTokorozawa, November 1982) | Taylor | 6:25 |
| 5. | "Calling All Girls" (Live at Seibu Lions Stadium in Tokorozawa, November 1982) | Taylor | 4:45 |
| Total length: | 22:55 | ||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Las Palabras de Amor" (Top of the Pops video, 1982) | 4:30 |
| 7. | "Under Pressure" (1999 Rah Mix Promo Video[47]) | 4:10 |
| 8. | "Action This Day" (live at Milton Keynes Bowl, June 1982[48]) | 4:46 |
| Total length: | 35:41 | |
Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album. Specific instruments sourced from Queenvinyls.[49]
Queen
Additional personnel
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[50] | 15 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[51] | 1 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[52] | 6 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[53] | 1 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[54] | 10 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[55] | 7 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[56] | 5 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[57] | 9 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[58] | 6 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[59] | 5 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[60] | 3 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[61] | 4 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[62] | 4 |
| USBillboard 200[63] | 22 |
| Chart (1982) | Position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums Chart[64] | 17 |
| Canadian Albums Chart[65] | 46 |
| French Albums Chart[66] | 14 |
| UK Albums Chart[67] | 51 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[68] | Gold | 25,000* |
| Canada (Music Canada)[69] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Japan (RIAJ)[70] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[71] | Platinum | 15,000‡ |
| Poland (ZPAV)[72] | Platinum | 20,000* |
| South Africa (RISA)[73] | Gold | 25,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[74] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[75] | Gold | 500,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
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