Album Tracks That Could Have Made Singles

AlbaNo1 wrote:

Queen’s singles stats in the US are pretty dire. Body Language must have got in that high somehow off the back of the Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love through some record company trickery. It doesn’t make sense.

It was a bona fide hit that got a lot of airplay but burned out fast. I don't think it was "riding the coattails of The Game singles". If that were the case, then how do you explain Need Your Loving Tonight stalling at #44...Flash's Theme stalling at #42...Under Pressure stalling at #29? All of those were released AFTER Another One Bites the Dust and BEFORE Body Language.

It burned out quickly because it is so repetitive and lacks substance but it's instantly catchy and grabs your attention so it quickly raced up the charts but has faded into obscurity in the decades since mainly because classic rock radio won't play it because it's just synth and drum machines. It's the only true American hit they won't touch because of that.

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

Queen’s singles stats in the US are pretty dire. Body Language must have got in that high somehow off the back of the Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love through some record company trickery. It doesn’t make sense.

It was a bona fide hit that got a lot of airplay but burned out fast. I don't think it was "riding the coattails of The Game singles". If that were the case, then how do you explain Need Your Loving Tonight stalling at #44...Flash's Theme stalling at #42...Under Pressure stalling at #29? All of those were released AFTER Another One Bites the Dust and BEFORE Body Language.

It burned out quickly because it is so repetitive and lacks substance but it's instantly catchy and grabs your attention so it quickly raced up the charts but has faded into obscurity in the decades since mainly because classic rock radio won't play it because it's just synth and drum machines. It's the only true American hit they won't touch because of that. Well...Radio GA Ga, too. Just too synth for classic rock radio.

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

Queen’s singles stats in the US are pretty dire. Body Language must have got in that high somehow off the back of the Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love through some record company trickery. It doesn’t make sense.

It was a bona fide hit that got a lot of airplay but burned out fast. I don't think it was "riding the coattails of The Game singles". If that were the case, then how do you explain Need Your Loving Tonight stalling at #44...Flash's Theme stalling at #42...Under Pressure stalling at #29? All of those were released AFTER Another One Bites the Dust and BEFORE Body Language.

It burned out quickly because it is so repetitive and lacks substance but it's instantly catchy and grabs your attention so it quickly raced up the charts but has faded into obscurity in the decades since mainly because classic rock radio won't play it because it's just synth and drum machines. It's the only true American hit they won't touch because of that.

PrimeJive, I understand you Americans need "special treatment" at times, but I'm pretty sure we would all have got your message without the CAPITALIZATION. Anyway, not so sure about its contents. Need Your Loving simply wasn't a great song and might have sounded like a Crazy Little Thing rip-off, while Flash's Theme was a very unusual pop song in terms of phrasing, structure, chorus etc. The relative flop of UP is a mystery though, that one is difficult to diagnose indeed. And no, you don't want me to elaborate on that.

As for the second paragraph, that only applies to the US and, surprisingly, Poland. I don't think BL raced up the charts anywhere else.

k-m wrote:

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

Queen’s singles stats in the US are pretty dire. Body Language must have got in that high somehow off the back of the Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love through some record company trickery. It doesn’t make sense.

It was a bona fide hit that got a lot of airplay but burned out fast. I don't think it was "riding the coattails of The Game singles". If that were the case, then how do you explain Need Your Loving Tonight stalling at #44...Flash's Theme stalling at #42...Under Pressure stalling at #29? All of those were released AFTER Another One Bites the Dust and BEFORE Body Language.

It burned out quickly because it is so repetitive and lacks substance but it's instantly catchy and grabs your attention so it quickly raced up the charts but has faded into obscurity in the decades since mainly because classic rock radio won't play it because it's just synth and drum machines. It's the only true American hit they won't touch because of that.

PrimeJive, I understand you Americans need "special treatment" at times, but I'm pretty sure we would all have got your message without the CAPITALIZATION. Anyway, not so sure about its contents. Need Your Loving simply wasn't a great song and might have sounded like a Crazy Little Thing rip-off, while Flash's Theme was a very unusual pop song in terms of phrasing, structure, chorus etc. The relative flop of UP is a mystery though, that one is difficult to diagnose indeed. And no, you don't want me to elaborate on that.

As for the second paragraph, that only applies to the US and, surprisingly, Poland. I don't think BL raced up the charts anywhere else.

Ah...what a classy, appropriate response. Yes, I'm an AMERICAN. *gasp* ALL CAPS!

Ok I'll steer clear of using caps for emphasis. There are no bold or italics bar that I can find on this site. I was responding to you and AlbaNo1's saying it was "riding on the Game's coattails", correct? I listed the three singles that preceded Body Language and you offered garbled excuses for each one. None of which makes them as bad as "shitty" which is what you called BL. I guess I couldn't handle the "truth" on UP's lack of success, huh?

Ok. That settles it. How silly of me to even bring up the three preceding singles.. Two were brand new releases that weren't on The Game album (one of which was a surprise collaboration with one of the world's most iconic rock stars). Body Language's success was obviously riding on the Game's coattails and had nothing to do with the song being immediately appealing in and of itself.

Yeah...I kinda made it clear from the beginning I was talking about it's performance in the American market and it appeared the record company made a correct choice judging by its chart placement. If you can put your obvious prejudices aside, you'd have to agree that the American market was not insignificant, no? It was only the biggest single market in the world.

You said it yourself "there was a lot of anticipation for something new in the States" and they got two shots of "something new" before Body Language and they didn't chart well but you still say "this shitty song(BL) benefited highly from the success of The Game singles".

Work a little more on your intellectual prowess/reasoning and less on bigoted feelings towards my nationality and maybe you can make a more persuasive case next time.

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

k-m wrote:

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

Queen’s singles stats in the US are pretty dire. Body Language must have got in that high somehow off the back of the Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love through some record company trickery. It doesn’t make sense.

It was a bona fide hit that got a lot of airplay but burned out fast. I don't think it was "riding the coattails of The Game singles". If that were the case, then how do you explain Need Your Loving Tonight stalling at #44...Flash's Theme stalling at #42...Under Pressure stalling at #29? All of those were released AFTER Another One Bites the Dust and BEFORE Body Language.

It burned out quickly because it is so repetitive and lacks substance but it's instantly catchy and grabs your attention so it quickly raced up the charts but has faded into obscurity in the decades since mainly because classic rock radio won't play it because it's just synth and drum machines. It's the only true American hit they won't touch because of that.

PrimeJive, I understand you Americans need "special treatment" at times, but I'm pretty sure we would all have got your message without the CAPITALIZATION. Anyway, not so sure about its contents. Need Your Loving simply wasn't a great song and might have sounded like a Crazy Little Thing rip-off, while Flash's Theme was a very unusual pop song in terms of phrasing, structure, chorus etc. The relative flop of UP is a mystery though, that one is difficult to diagnose indeed. And no, you don't want me to elaborate on that.

As for the second paragraph, that only applies to the US and, surprisingly, Poland. I don't think BL raced up the charts anywhere else.

Ah...what a classy, appropriate response. Yes, I'm an AMERICAN. *gasp* ALL CAPS!

Ok I'll steer clear of using caps for emphasis. There are no bold or italics bar that I can find on this site. I was responding to you and AlbaNo1's saying it was "riding on the Game's coattails", correct? I listed the three singles that preceded Body Language and you offered garbled excuses for each one. None of which makes them as bad as "shitty" which is what you called BL. I guess I couldn't handle the "truth" on UP's lack of success, huh?

Ok. That settles it. How silly of me to even bring up the three preceding singles.. Two were brand new releases that weren't on The Game album (one of which was a surprise collaboration with one of the world's most iconic rock stars). Body Language's success was obviously riding on the Game's coattails and had nothing to do with the song being immediately appealing in and of itself.

Yeah...I kinda made it clear from the beginning I was talking about it's performance in the American market and it appeared the record company made a correct choice judging by its chart placement. If you can put your obvious prejudices aside, you'd have to agree that the American market was not insignificant, no? It was only the biggest single market in the world.

You said it yourself "there was a lot of anticipation for something new in the States" and they got two shots of "something new" before Body Language and they didn't chart well but you still say "this shitty song(BL) benefited highly from the success of The Game singles".

Work a little more on your intellectual prowess/reasoning and less on bigoted feelings towards my nationality and maybe you can make a more persuasive case next time.

^ This

Using all caps on TWO words is not a cardinal sin.

Unfortunately the sparing use of all caps was apparently not enough draw attention to the lack of success of three previous singles ...

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

k-m wrote:

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

Queen’s singles stats in the US are pretty dire. Body Language must have got in that high somehow off the back of the Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love through some record company trickery. It doesn’t make sense.

It was a bona fide hit that got a lot of airplay but burned out fast. I don't think it was "riding the coattails of The Game singles". If that were the case, then how do you explain Need Your Loving Tonight stalling at #44...Flash's Theme stalling at #42...Under Pressure stalling at #29? All of those were released AFTER Another One Bites the Dust and BEFORE Body Language.

It burned out quickly because it is so repetitive and lacks substance but it's instantly catchy and grabs your attention so it quickly raced up the charts but has faded into obscurity in the decades since mainly because classic rock radio won't play it because it's just synth and drum machines. It's the only true American hit they won't touch because of that.

PrimeJive, I understand you Americans need "special treatment" at times, but I'm pretty sure we would all have got your message without the CAPITALIZATION. Anyway, not so sure about its contents. Need Your Loving simply wasn't a great song and might have sounded like a Crazy Little Thing rip-off, while Flash's Theme was a very unusual pop song in terms of phrasing, structure, chorus etc. The relative flop of UP is a mystery though, that one is difficult to diagnose indeed. And no, you don't want me to elaborate on that.

As for the second paragraph, that only applies to the US and, surprisingly, Poland. I don't think BL raced up the charts anywhere else.

Ah...what a classy, appropriate response. Yes, I'm an AMERICAN. *gasp* ALL CAPS!

Ok I'll steer clear of using caps for emphasis. There are no bold or italics bar that I can find on this site. I was responding to you and AlbaNo1's saying it was "riding on the Game's coattails", correct? I listed the three singles that preceded Body Language and you offered garbled excuses for each one. None of which makes them as bad as "shitty" which is what you called BL. I guess I couldn't handle the "truth" on UP's lack of success, huh?

Ok. That settles it. How silly of me to even bring up the three preceding singles.. Two were brand new releases that weren't on The Game album (one of which was a surprise collaboration with one of the world's most iconic rock stars). Body Language's success was obviously riding on the Game's coattails and had nothing to do with the song being immediately appealing in and of itself.

Yeah...I kinda made it clear from the beginning I was talking about it's performance in the American market and it appeared the record company made a correct choice judging by its chart placement. If you can put your obvious prejudices aside, you'd have to agree that the American market was not insignificant, no? It was only the biggest single market in the world.

You said it yourself "there was a lot of anticipation for something new in the States" and they got two shots of "something new" before Body Language and they didn't chart well but you still say "this shitty song(BL) benefited highly from the success of The Game singles".

Work a little more on your intellectual prowess/reasoning and less on bigoted feelings towards my nationality and maybe you can make a more persuasive case next time.

Gosh man, what a rambling, incoherent response it is. You're just repeating the same thing over and over again.

First of all, you do realize my comment was tongue in cheek, right? I'm from the UK and I'd be the first to admit we're a bunch of proper morons as well. I mean, hello, we just did Brexit. Just chill man.

Can you tell me what was garbled about my "excuses" for NYLT and FT's lack of great success? You also wrote: "I guess I couldn't handle the "truth" on UP's lack of success, huh?" While I wrote: "The relative flop of UP is a mystery though, that one is difficult to diagnose indeed." What on earth are you talking about then?

And finally, there is nothing wrong or insulting with calling BL "shitty". You may disagree of course, but there is nothing vulgar about that.

@k-m

Look...I appreciate when someone steps forward with grace and humility and admitts that they are a "proper moron". I really do. Now, I disagree with you also lumping all of your fellow countrymen into that basket but in regards to you I agree with your self-assesment. However, I still don't see how you've adequately answered my original question of how Body Language 'heavily benefitted from the coattails of The Game's success" in America with 2 years and three failed singles separating it from AOBTD.

Remember, I asked you why those three singles didn't appear to benefit and you said:

NYLT(Sept 1980)=not a great song/might be seen as a CLTCL rip-off

FT(Dec 1980)=very unusual structure, phrasing, chorus

UP(Oct 1981)=a mystery hard to diagnose but then added "And no, you don't want me to elaborate."


Then...we finally see the release of:

BL(Apr.1982)=you call it a "shitty song"(and no I'm not at all insulted or offended by that word)

BL, of course, charted much higher than any of them. Why do you hold the position that the "shitty song" released 2 years later benefited from "The Game's coattails", but the superior songs that immediately followed AOBTD didn't? I mean, according to you, those Game coattails were powerful enough to turn "shit" into a "hit"!

Yes...your reasoning seems "garbled" to me. Connect the dots, please?

Gen Z you stated that Queen after the flop of TYMD they decided against heavy songs being released as singles.You have forgotten about Hammer To Fall.Queen heavy rock which was a hit all over Europe.They even released the fab "Headbangers Mix" 12 inch remix.

k-m wrote:

^^ Some good points there re Body Language. This shitty song benefited hugely from the success of The Game singles, there was a lot of anticipation in the States for something new from Queen, that's why it charted relatively high.

What's funny about this is every one of The Game's singles didn't even "benefit" from the one before it. CLTCL was released a half year before the release of the Album and hit #1. The next release, Play the Game, was the first single to officially kick off The Game's release and it stalled at # 42. It couldn't even manage to crack the top 40!

As we know...the exact same pattern happened with the Game's next two singles AOBTD(#1) and NYLT(#44).

Fast forward a year and a half later and Queen set up Hot Space the exact same way as The Game with a single Under Pressure(featuring David Bowie to boot!) 6 months ahead of the album's release but this time it doesn't turn out as well. It stalls at # 29. Body Language is released. 6 months later and markedly improves on UP's performance by 18 chart points at #11.

Even at Queen's peak of popularity in America they had to earn every hit. None of their single successes really carried over to the next one. Did WWRY/WATC's massive success carry over to the lead off single to Jazz? Not really. FBG/BR stalled at #24.

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

k-m wrote:

^^ Some good points there re Body Language. This shitty song benefited hugely from the success of The Game singles, there was a lot of anticipation in the States for something new from Queen, that's why it charted relatively high.

What's funny about this is every one of The Game's singles didn't even "benefit" from the one before it. CLTCL was released a half year before the release of the Album and hit #1. The next release, Play the Game, was the first single to officially kick off The Game's release and it stalled at # 42. It couldn't even manage to crack the top 40!

As we know...the exact same pattern happened with the Game's next two singles AOBTD(#1) and NYLT(#44).

Fast forward a year and a half later and Queen set up Hot Space the exact same way as The Game with a single Under Pressure(featuring David Bowie to boot!) 6 months ahead of the album's release but this time it doesn't turn out as well. It stalls at # 29. Body Language is released. 6 months later and markedly improves on UP's performance by 18 chart points at #11.

Even at Queen's peak of popularity in America they had to earn every hit. None of their single successes really carried over to the next one. Did WWRY/WATC's massive success carry over to the lead off single to Jazz? Not really. FBG/BR stalled at #24.

Well, ok, that I like better. You have obviously been there, you might have more knowledge regarding the immediate effect of particular songs. On paper, it always looked to me like BL benefitted hugely from The Game, especially that it flopped almost everywhere else but ok, happy to accept it was a bona fide US hit. Next time, don't get so offended by a few cheeky comments, you should be used to it by now after Gervais hosting the Globes so many times. We do like a bit of a joke at your expense, of course. I mean, who else would follow their nick with the name of the country they come from, lol.

k-m wrote:

PrimeJiveUSA wrote:

k-m wrote:

^^ Some good points there re Body Language. This shitty song benefited hugely from the success of The Game singles, there was a lot of anticipation in the States for something new from Queen, that's why it charted relatively high.

What's funny about this is every one of The Game's singles didn't even "benefit" from the one before it. CLTCL was released a half year before the release of the Album and hit #1. The next release, Play the Game, was the first single to officially kick off The Game's release and it stalled at # 42. It couldn't even manage to crack the top 40!

As we know...the exact same pattern happened with the Game's next two singles AOBTD(#1) and NYLT(#44).

Fast forward a year and a half later and Queen set up Hot Space the exact same way as The Game with a single Under Pressure(featuring David Bowie to boot!) 6 months ahead of the album's release but this time it doesn't turn out as well. It stalls at # 29. Body Language is released. 6 months later and markedly improves on UP's performance by 18 chart points at #11.

Even at Queen's peak of popularity in America they had to earn every hit. None of their single successes really carried over to the next one. Did WWRY/WATC's massive success carry over to the lead off single to Jazz? Not really. FBG/BR stalled at #24.

Well, ok, that I like better. You have obviously been there, you might have more knowledge regarding the immediate effect of particular songs. On paper, it always looked to me like BL benefitted hugely from The Game, especially that it flopped almost everywhere else but ok, happy to accept it was a bona fide US hit. Next time, don't get so offended by a few cheeky comments, you should be used to it by now after Gervais hosting the Globes so many times. We do like a bit of a joke at your expense, of course. I mean, who else would follow their nick with the name of the country they come from, lol.

I love Ricky Gervais!

This whole conversation was triggered by many in this thread wondering just why the hell Body Language was released as a single and just wanted to point out that it was more successful than most of their singles in the U.S. at least in the short term. It made sense for American radio at that time when songs like Olivia Newton John's "Physical" were all the rage.

^^ Cool, you made your point. Obviously, this strategy backfired anyway in terms of album sales, so it might have been the case the single was picked up by people who wouldn't normally listen to Queen, while the real fanbase made sure the album tanked, lol.

.