3.18.14 The Countdown Continues - Strange Connections

93 days to go…
3.18.14 by Q3

There are 93 days until Chicago…so I thought I would start a countdown. And since I am counting down to the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour!! What could be betterer than possible songs for Queen and Adam to perform in concert?

Assuming they change out a few songs during the tour, and do 22 – 24 unique songs a night (excluding the guitar and drum solos), there could be around 30 songs performed in these concerts. And, hopefully, I get a lot of them in my countdown. But that won’t be easy. The Queen catalog is so big, the potential cover list is almost a universe, and there is a chance that they could also decide to perform an Adam song.



#93 “Another One Bites the Dust” (1980)
Written by John Deacon

The track appears on "The Game". Queen's eighth studio album, released on 27 June 1980. It was the only Queen album to reach #1 in the US and became their best selling studio album in the US with over four million copies sold.

Get out your setlists planner. Write this one down. I predict it will be played at every Queen + Adam Lambert concert. Queen loves it. Adam loves it. Americans and Canadians love it.

#1 in Canada (RPM 100 Singles)
#1 US Billboard Hot 100
#2 US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
#2 US Billboard Hot R&B Singles

Note: It was not as popular in the UK where it peaked at #7. But 1980-1981 is one of the times when they US and UK markets veered apart.


Music is an intersecting set of influences

If I understood string theory and intersecting alternate reality, I might understand this better, but physics was never my forte. And I promise not to post the "Circle of Life" or "The Circle Game".

Nothing demonstrates those strange interconnections better then “Another One Bites the Dust”, a song that is at the center of numerous threads. I will only follow one.

1929: Milton Ager composes and publishes "Happy Days Are Here Again".

1947: Al Jolsen records “About a Quarter to Nine”.



1978: “Good Times”, a disco song written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers is released by Chic. The lyrics are largely based on Milton Ager's "Happy Days Are Here Again." It also contains lines based on lyrics featured in "About a Quarter to Nine" made famous by Al Jolson. Nile Rodgers has stated that these depression-era lyrics were used as a hidden way to comment on the then-current economic depression in the United States.

John Deacon's bass line was inspired by the song "Good Times.” In an interview with New Musical Express, Chic co-founder Bernard Edwards stated, "...that Queen record came about because that Queen bass player... spent some time hanging out with us at our studio".

1980 Michael Jackson recommends that Queen release ABTD as a single.

August 22, 1980: Queen releases “Another One Bites the Dust” as a single. The B-sides were "Don't Try Suicide" and "Dragon Attack."

August 22, 1980: Queen releases “Another One Bites the Dust” as a single. 

Queen performs the song in over 200 concerts.

Queen - Another One Bites The Dust (Montreal, 1981)




May 14, 2012: Adam releases “Trespassing” (album)

One of the tracks on the album is "Shady" (featuring Nile Rodgers and Sam Sparro). Another track was co-written by Adam and Pharrell Williams but the baseline is clearly influenced by that same baseline from Chic to Queen to Trespassing.

Adam Lambert - Trespassing (Live @ iHeartRadio)



Critics notice the influences….

Newsday: “For much of Trespassing, Lambert draws inspiration from Michael Jackson and Queen’s Freddie Mercury that encourages him to sound bigger and bolder than ever. Subtlety be damned.”

USA Today: “Adam’s album kicks off like a drill-team version of Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. It also establishes a recurring outsider theme, as Adam swaggers undaunted past a ‘No Trespassing’ sign, singing ‘Life’s my life and liberty, and I’ll shine when I want to shine.’ Here, and throughout the album, Adam embraces his ‘other-than’ status. For an artist (and an audience) that prides itself on pushing boundaries, this song’s an audacious opening volley.”

Fans notice the similarity between “Trespassing” and “Another One Bites the Dust”. Mash-ups are inevitable.





August 2013: Adam Lambert & Nile Rodgers and Chic - Trespassing - AFTEE - Martha Clara Vineyards, NY





September 2013: Queen + Adam Lambert (iHeartRadio 2013) - Another One Bites The Dust




Strange Connections, Strange Intersections

And back the "Another One Bites the Dust" it was released with two different B-sides..."Don't Try Suicide" and "Dragon Attack."



A Queen Another One Bites The Dust Composer: J. Deacon Producer: Queen, Mack 
B Queen Dragon Attack Composer: B. May Queen Producer: Mack Rate







Queen + Adam Lambert Setlist Contest

Predict the setlist and win a fantastic prize package!

Talon has put together an great contest! And so I have added a fabulous prize. So let's have some fun and see who can predict the setlist for the upcoming tour.

Fabulous Prize!!

The winner will receive a Queen + Adam Lambert fantastic prize package...

Queen "Innuendo" [one of Queen's masterpieces] choice of CD, MP3, Vinyl and Casette
Adam Lambert "Sleepwalker" [US Import single]
Adam Lambert ""Trespassing" EP [CD and download MP3]
A special Queen + Adam Lambert tour item [to be selected by Q3 but I promise it will NOT be a t-shirt!]

Plus you will be crowned as Queen + Adam Lambert fan royalty and receive acclaim across the Queenbertasphere!

It's easy to enter!!

Just create a list of 25 songs you think will be played by Queen + Adam Lambert during the upcoming tour.
You will earn points for each song you pick that is performed at any of the 19 Queen + Adam Lambert concerts from June 19, 2014 Chicago United Center concert through the July 20, 2014 concert at Merriweather (Columbia, MD).
Is a concert date is added to the tour between June 19, 2014 and July 31, 2014, performances in those concerts will also earn points.

MORE INFO AND ENTER HERE: adamtopia.com/thread/2243/queen-adam-lambert-setlist-contest

You have time to work on your entry -- entries can be submitted or changed until June 18, 2014 at 11:59PM PST (AKA Adam time).





NOW: Glee Music from "Trio" available on iTunes. Adam songs: "Barracuda" (Rachel and Elliott), "Gloria" (Rachel, Santana, and Elliott), "The Happening" (Kurt, Dani, and Elliott), "Hold On" (Artie, Blaine, Sam, Tina, and Pamela Lansbury)

TODAY Queen + Adam Lambert tickets on sale 

April 1, 2014 Glee Episode 14: "New New York" - Adam/Starchild/Elliott Gilbert will be in the first all New York episode. Plot details unknown.
Adam song: Elliott (Adam Lambert) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) will duet on A Great Big World’s “Rockstar”. Gleek Out Brazil confirms that this is NOT the Nickelback "Rockstar" but the A Great Big World song.

June, 19, 2014: Queen + Adam Lambert North American Tour kicks off in Chicago, 19 dates!!

Soonish: Adam will release a new album. Expected sometime in 2014.