News Of The World

News Of The World was Queen's sixth album, released in 1977, and saw a shift in their musical style. The advent of punk music had begun to make the prog-rock, orchestral music that Queen was known for passe, so this album was more stripped-down rock and roll.

It kicks off with, other than "Bohemian Rhapsody," there most well known songs, the one-two punch of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions." The former is now ubiquitous at sporting events, played between the action to stir up the crowd. Brian May wrote it as an attempt to get the audience in on the song, as it is only two stomps and a hand clap. He ends it with one of his greatest guitar solos.

The follow-up, "We Are The Champions," was written by Freddie Mercury, and some saw it as hubris to declare himself the "champion of the world." But is a collective pronoun, we, so could be seen as speaking for the band, or some other group. My memory of it is that was immediately co-opted by the New York Yankees, who won their first World Series in over twenty years that fall. It's still used by championship teams.

The rest of the album is spotty. John Deacon, who didn't write many songs, had a knack for hits. "Spread Your Wings" is a lovely song about finding your own true path, and is unabashedly inspirational. Roger Taylor has two songs, the hard-rocking "Fight From The Inside," and the equally raucous "Sheer Heart Attack," which was a holdover from the album of the same name, their third. "Get Down, Make Love" has some elements of funk, and some baldly sexual lyrics, such as "You say you're hungry, I give you meat, I suck your mind, you blow my head."

In terms of songwriting, May is the champion on this album. In addition to "We Will Rock You," he is the composer of "All Dead, All Dead," a deceptively simple tune about the end of a relationship, said to be inspired by the death of his cat. He also contributed "It's Late," which is very much in the style of Mercury, as it has several sections and builds to a prog-rock climax.

The album artwork is of note. It was taken from a painting by Frank Kelly Freas, which appeared on the cover of a pulp science-fiction magazine. Freas reworked it at the band's request, substituting them for the robot's victims in the original. The cover frightened some younger fans.

The album received mixed reviews, with some praising the band for their shift in style and others condemning them for it. I think it's a so-so record, with amazing heights but too many tracks that are forgettable.