Queen Discussion Thread

Flash's Theme

Written by: Brian May

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - vocals
Brian May - guitars, vocals, piano, synthesizer
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, vocals, timpani




- An amazingly well known pop culture phenomenon. Almost any bar you walk into, if you start singing this song, people will sing along!

- The intro in the beginning is from Ming The Merciless, the outro by Dale Arden and Hans Zharkov.

- Played live through 1982 and then used as a taped intro in QAL (thus why no video below. Brian only played the one chord of The Hero.

-I don't have much data but I know that it hit #42 in the US and #10 in the UK when released.

QUOTES:
- “Mike Hodges really made it into a cult film by being very self consciously kitsch, where as Dino [deLaurentiis] regarded it as an epic and not to be messed with. I’ll never forget: [Dino] came to the studio, sat down and listened to our first demos and said, ‘I think it’s quite good, but the theme will not work in my movie. It is not right.’ And Mike walked over and said, ‘A chat with you, Dino. You don’t understand where this film is going to be pitched.’ But I had a really nasty moment there: ‘Oh now, he hates my ‘Flash’ aaaahhh-aaaaaahhh, and it’s going to go on the cutting room floor.’” – Brian May

ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:

SINGLE VERSION A/K/A FLASH

- NOT essential - cuts the intro and adds more film dialogue into the mix.

ALTERNATIVE PROMO

- NOT essential , additional dialogue and the like.

1991 HOLLYWOOD REMIX

- NOT essential. At all. Ever.
- Released on the 1991 Hollywood remastering, this is an AWFUL remix. Boring and grating.

ROCKS EDIT
- NO YT video but NOT essentianl. Not much different.

HIGH OCTANE

- NOT essential - splices the song together with bits of The Hero for Japanese racing in 2007.

QUEEN + VANGUARD

- NOT essential.
- UK DJ Vanguard made several remixes and actually hit #15 on the UK charts. This is one example. Really not essential. At all.

OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS

ROCK MONTREAL

- AUDIO only, never on the video. I'm not sure why. But it was on the CD released.

ON FIRE AT THE BOWL

- Opens the show - more The Hero really - much like QAL but with more of the latter song.

COOL COVER VERSION:

TENACIOUS D

- Ok, the song is a bit humorous if done right and I love Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Perfectly reverent but tongue in cheek version

PERSONAL NOTES:
- A song straight out of my childhood. I remember seeing Flash Gordon on HBO long before I was into music and the power of this song was just apparent to me even then. I was in love! It was Flash and Star Wars when i was a lad. I still get nostalgic hearing it!

Next up? Well I'm going to take things a bit quicker with the soundtrack. As most of it is quick bursts of instrumentals with no alternative takes or what not, I think I'll take a few at a time unless something dictates otherwise (such as the last track The Hero and a few others. So now...we'll do a three for!

In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme)
Ming's Theme (In The Court Of Ming The Merciless)
The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction Of Dale)

With the exception of the stretch when they opened with Rock It and Jailhouse Rock Queen always made the best entrances!

I haven't seen the movie Flash Gordon and probably watch it's rerun when it comes out in HBO or Showtime.

I assumed only the main theme (Flash) was played. Do you mean all the other 3: In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme), Ming's Theme (In The Court Of Ming The Merciless), and The Ring (Hypntoic Seduction Of Dale) were also played in the movie?

Another 3-peat although this one does have one alternate take so 4 vids!

#1
Football Fight

Written by: Freddie Mercury

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - synthesizer
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums




- An extremely fun cheesy battle sequence from when Flash beats up the guards while playing football since..you know...he's a quarterback.

- The full band performs together which is something of an irregularity in the soundtrack.

ALTERNATE VERSION:

EARLY VERSION - NO SYNTHS

- ESSENTIAL listening
- This is basically the same song but Freddie plays the piano on it instead of the synth. I will always prefer the original instrument over a synth. The early version makes it sound like it would have fit in well on QUEEN II.
- This version was originally labeled Freddie's Theme #2

PERSONAL NOTES:
- FUN! Very inspiring to boys of all ages who are fighting imaginary bad guys. (I'm not being sexist here, I just don't know it from the girls side )

#2.
In The Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)

Written by: Roger Taylor

Musicians:

Roger Taylor - drums, timpani, synthesizer
John Deacon - guitar




- A reprise of the love theme with different dialogue.

PERSONAL NOTES:
- Not much different. If you liked the original, you'll like the reprise.

#3
Execution of Flash

Written by: John Deacon

Musicians:

John Deacon - guitar
Howard Blake - orchestrations




- You read that right. This is for all intents and purposes, John Deacon's first solo track. It's John on guitar with a few orchestrations by Howard Blake!

PERSONAL NOTES:
- It's great to see John on his own...on guitar no less. It's short and sweet and does the job well.

Next up, another 3-fer including my favorite instrumental (of sorts) on the soundtrack...Of sorts because it features some amazing Freddie vocalizations.

The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash), Arboria (Planet Of The Tree Men), and
Escape From The Swamp