Did Queen ever fully recover from Hot Space in the US?

[b]ParisNair wrote: [/b]

Did the recent American Idol appearances get people talking? I mean are they getting more air-play on tv and radio etc?[/QUOTE]
I think what brought a lot of attention to Queen in recent months is the appearance on AI as well as Brian's comments
on Adam Lambert's new song, "Time for Miracles". It's amazing how many times Brian's name was mentioned in forums related to the new song. And with the discussions, many Lambert fans became curious about Freddie. I've read where some Lambert fans became Queen fans because they became curious about the band and started listening to their music.
As far as what happened to them here in the US, most of the factors were already mentioned in this thread except the fact that SUN City played a part in there undoing. I supported them going to Sun City because I believe (just like the band did),
that Music and politics don't mix. Yeah, what was going on their was wrong, but why punish the fans? 
One of the biggest things that I respected about Queen is the fact that they were leaders, not followers. They never let anything dictate the direction they were going. Hot Space may not have done so well, but what it did was gain a lot of respect towards the band from other artists who became big.

Queen's Super Bowl halftime set would look like this, guaranteed:

Hammer to Fall (abbreviated fast version, like the TCR tour opener)
Tie Your Mother Down
WWRY
WATC

As nice of a thought as it is, it won't happen. The only way Brian and Roger go to the Super Bowl is by buying tickets. Even when they had Paul, the best they could've dreamed of was getting a two-song slot during the pre-game parties outside the stadium (much like Journey did with their excellent performance of Don't Stop Believing...even if they were only invited to perform it as a thinly-veiled promo for that Glee show).

Hot Space wasn't the nail in the coffin for Queen over here. Lest we forget, Body Language actually did well enough as a single that the band encored with it during their '82 North American tour. The problem was that, in releasing (more or less) an entire album of disco-pop tracks, they alienated their original fans in North America (and elsewhere), and as disco was being slowly taken off of life support by 1982 in America, the new fans didn't stick around for long.

The nail in the coffin was the IWTBF video. Even then, I think a small-scale arena tour would have gone a long way--as long as Freddie didn't do the fake boob gag during the encore. Hell, just leave IWTBF in Europe and don't even play it over here. When Queen chose to largely ignore North America, they essentially gave up any chance of winning it back.

That's like asking Brian May to play on top of The White House.

First off, 'Body Language' was not an encore track, but played after the 'GDML / BRock' instrumental.  Check queenconcerts.com.  In listening to some boots of that tour, it seems like the air gets sucked out of the concert halls.  It was the only time I ever took a 'break' during one of their shows.  Carry over from previous success aided in the sale of singles.  It came out before the LP.  A fan or nonfan familiar with 'The Game' and previous LPs buys 'BL' on the spot, with a certain expectation.  Same goes with the LP.  Expectations were higher than the quality of the product.

That being said, I don't think the general makeup of the song is 'that bad', but the first four songs on HS lack most of the Q trademarks and add those of the times.  As many have mentioned, if given more of a pop like 'Staying Power' was given live, a piano and some guitar, and perhaps place it at the end of side two, after 'Las Pallabras', a change of order in side one, etc etc.

 Hell, if it had been up to me, I'd have released 'Flash' as a 45 only (minus the annoying 'voices'), and included it on side one of HS, with the ending movie credits version of 'The Hero' ending the album.  Having 'Let's Get Crazy' and 'Man Made Paradise' included certainly would not have hurt. 

What always gets me is the 'it was ahead of its time' comment.  Really?  'Disco Demolition' took place in Chicago three years earlier.   I own some jazz/funk albums.  I still listen to Stanley Clarke's 'School Days' a few times a year.  If that is what HS tried to come close to, it missed by a mile.

"Under Pressure' was given a ton of airplay on MTV.  So was 'Radio GaGa'.  Another, so to speak, 'non' Queen trademark song, with a silly video.  Same goes with IWTBF.  'Man On Fire' and 'It's An Illusion (with Freddie on LVs) replacing the weak links on 'The Works' ('Radio' and 'Machines') would have helped, along with including 'I Go Crazy'.  I think it was more the music, some lack of effort, no Brian and Roger vocals to help change the tempo, and trying to fit in with the times.  They weren't the only ones who made that mistake.

[QUOTE]





[b]*goodco* wrote: [/b]



First off, 'Body Language' was not an encore track, but played after the 'GDML / BRock' instrumental.  Check queenconcerts.com.

[/QUOTE]
They did play it in the encore on the first two nights of the tour.  Check queenconcerts.com or queenlive.ca :-)

Stanley Clarke's School Days... excellent stuff.

damn, I stand corrected.  Thanks, GH (holding head in shame;-)) 

Wise move, removing it as an encore, don't you think?

I'll add in another two cents worth.....the final three songs played from '78 through '82 remained the same......AOBTD was added in '80 at the beginning of the encore.  By '82, the song was, well, 'dated'.  Prefer it's position during the middle of the concert.  Get it over with, and move on.  And something other than SHA as an encore in '82 would have been nice. 

That's another point for a later topic......the good ol' audience participation bit was gone by then.  The new 'stuff' didn't lend itself to the 'feel' that the tours had for the previous 5 to 6 years.

There are some good points here, but I think it was a chain of events instead of just one event.

What hasn't been mentioned here (unless i missed it) is the effect of Flash Gordon. Queen were coming off of a huge commercial success - there was not a band more prominent on USA radio in 1980 than Queen. Many fans and even casual listeners were anxious to see what they had to offer new. What they got was an unlistenable soundtrack with a cheezy single (although I love the Hero). This was a major misstep. I had a few friends that were fans and we all ran out to buy the "new Queen album" and we were all very dissapointend. The album was a commercial failure, and huge momentum was lost.

Greatest Hits was next - no harm done, but no ground gained.  Under Pressure was not a huge hit here.

Hot Space needed to prove something, but I think all it proved is that four posh whitebread English blokes had as much business trying funk as the Meters would have trying prog rock. I know some of you love it, and that is cool. But the fan base that was established wasn't amused.

Next shot at recapturing their US dwindling rock base was two years later with Radio Gaga. Strike three (or five - I lost count). No tour, no press, no audience. And no effort to regain a US audience after that. The IWTBF video is given way too much credit in the US demise, IMHO. Their fans had moved on already - the video had little impact, although many (including Brian) use it as a convenient excuse to counter the reality of a string of bad musical decisions and no touring support.

Hardcores like me kept on seeking out the 80's output, but the damage had been done. It's a shame that an album like Innuendo was never heard by many US fans.

[QUOTE]





























































[b]*goodco* wrote: [/b]































damn, I stand corrected.  Thanks, GH (holding head in shame;-))





























[/QUOTE]
Haha... no worries!

[QUOTE]Wise move, removing it as an encore, don't you think?[/QUOTE]
Definitely.  It was the hit single, but they knew it wasn't working with the rock crowd.

[QUOTE]And something other than SHA as the first encore in '82 would have been nice.[/QUOTE]
Like... anything from the first 5 albums.  That's what plenty of people came to hear.  They couldn't have gone wrong with Keep Yourself Alive or Liar.  It's too bad they dropped the latter, as it sounded great in April '82 with Freddie's improv at its best.