Don't Stop Me Now

Not even highly rated when it was first released, but now "one of the catchiest feel good songs"? What happened?

It aged well.

Well, the album had been out for some months, bicycle race and FBG had been the favoured, first single(s) so it was always 'up against it' as regarding success, as was normal for 2nd, 3rd or even 4th singles from most albums. And socially, Britain in early '79 was a bloody miserable place, due to the industrial unrest etc and the theme was completely out of kilter with events.
But ,there was a hint of it becoming something special from my own, personal experience, as several of my 'non Queen fans' friends, loved it.
I knew it was gonna get there eventually.

As others have said, Bicycle Race/FBG was the lead single - ahead of the album.

Fewer second (still fewer third) singles sold well in the 1970's.

But I remember DSMN climbing week-after-week up the chart. I think that - as a second single - speaks to people waking up and realising DSMN was a very good song.

(That Brian might've claimed to hate it says nothing, of course, about the song's quality. But more about his worries for Freddie.)

Thank you for a brilliant and topical question. 173 posts. Really?

Not added to the live set straight away but dropped from the live set pretty quickly.

Shaun Of The Dead might've marked the start of its revival.

SHAWN OF THE DEAD made it into something that non music lovers and well. ..de-gayed it for some sectors of the masses (dumb- asses sometimes)

So it got Fresh reboot.

At least to my understanding. Especially in my lifetime in the US etc. I think it's rated higher in the UK before among regular folks..but that boost certainly helped "make it cool"

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy should be due a similar lift in the next few years.

Great song.

Surely it would fit into some film , either ironically or comedically.

It was initially my favourite track on the album when it was released. A smattering of joy on what I thought was a miserable side 2. I've since come to really quite like Jazz but it took a while for me to really warm to it.
I'd only recently got around to getting Queen II so it was a bit of a comedown.
Anyhow, IIRC when it was released as a single it hovered around the top 10 forever, and was on the Radio 1 and 2 playlists for weeks.
I think it even climbed back up a place or two after initially dropping. Something that was very rare back then when chart positions really mattered.

There are a number of songs from 78/79 that just about went top 10 and I'm sure people remember them as big hits.
Making Plans for Nigel was one, played on the radio and TV constantly but made it to about #15 or so.
Chas and Dave 'Gertcha' barely went top 20.
TBF. Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls didn't quite make Top 10 and I'm pretty sure if asked, most people would think it was a top 5.

(I used to buy a lot of singles.... Gertcha wasnt one of them.)

We all know why Brian hated this song because his guitars got cut on it mostly :P Shaun of the dead probably helped propel the popularity of it tbf

Good old Freddie. This song is a classic.

[QUOTE] [b]ggo1 wrote:[/b]

It was initially my favourite track on the album when it was released. A smattering of joy on what I thought was a miserable side 2. I've since come to really quite like Jazz but it took a while for me to really warm to it.
I'd only recently got around to getting Queen II so it was a bit of a comedown.
Anyhow, IIRC when it was released as a single it hovered around the top 10 forever, and was on the Radio 1 and 2 playlists for weeks.
I think it even climbed back up a place or two after initially dropping. Something that was very rare back then when chart positions really mattered.

There are a number of songs from 78/79 that just about went top 10 and I'm sure people remember them as big hits.
Making Plans for Nigel was one, played on the radio and TV constantly but made it to about #15 or so.
Chas and Dave 'Gertcha' barely went top 20.
TBF. Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls didn't quite make Top 10 and I'm pretty sure if asked, most people would think it was a top 5.

(I used to buy a lot of singles.... Gertcha wasnt one of them.)[/QUOTE]

Well I had always wondered why BR/FBG wasn't a top ten hit because it spent twleve weeks in the chart - among the highest number of weeks by any Queen single in the UK charts. Looking at the weeks it hovered around positions 11-13.

Here's something which I made a little while back with all every cart position of Queen albums and singles in the UK: http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1577127/queen-in-the-uk-charts-document.aspx

Regarding the UK chart performances, DSMN is the only second single that beat the lead single (in their 70´s albums).

Comparing DSMN with other second singles in the 70's, only You're My Best Friend (#7) did better on the UK charts.

[QUOTE] [b]Enigma wrote:[/b]I remember Brian May hated "Dont Stop Me Now" maybe because it was written by Freddie who knows but there was a competition going on in the band to see who could score the most hits![/QUOTE]

no. you couldn't be further from the truth. it had nothing to do with it being written by Freddie. if it did - then he'd also hate STL, Bo Rhap, KQ etc. you need to do research BEFORE quoting imagined reasons as gospel. Go find a quote where Brian said he hated it - or even that he disliked it because Freddie wrote it. what utter nonesense.
He didn't hate it, he was ambivalent toward it - because it was written for piano lead, and the guitar didn't really shine - save for a few bars.

and your last sentence is utter rubbish. by 1978 the singles breakdown was this:

Writer.............singles......top 10 hits
Brian..............3½............0
Freddie..........6½............6
John..............2...............1
Roger............0...............0

there was no competition within the band to write the most singles. they democratically chose to release the most commercial tunes.

I don't think he hated it because it was written by Freddie. He didn't like it cause originally there was nothing for him to do on it.
He had to fight for the guitar solo I believe. But he nailed it tbf.
That competitiveness is part of what made them so good.

Also you (accidentally I'm sure :-) ) left We Will Rock You off the list of most popular songs.
There is an argument that it is the most well known song in the world, Probably that would actually be 'Happy Birthday' but it is at that level.

There are tribes in deepest South America that have never had any human contact who sing We Will Rock You every Thursday night, just before dinner.