Who cares if it's a success?? It's still the ugly kid in the Queen catalogue. No real songs just lots of sound effects and soundbytes...and the title track...come ooon FLASH A-HAAA? Isn't that brilliant of a lyric :P
So once again: It was you who dubbed it a flop in the first place and it invariably wasn't. That's what this thread is about. Your personal dislikes don't change the album's sales and chart rankings.
You also can't change the fact that FG IS serious music. The fact that you don't like it doesn't make it "a joke". Even sound effects are music, you know. But as I said: You obviously don't wanna get it.
To NOTWMEDDLE: Both Japan and Germany are larger music markets than the UK.
Phil, every week we don't see the German charts or the Japanese charts in Billboard.com just the US and UK. To us Americans, England is the next biggest market!
It's certainly nothing different than to what David Bowie was putting out at the time - just listen to the instrumentals he released on Low and "Heroes".
Allow me to be pedantic for a while: Bowie certainly wasn't putting stuff like that out 'at the time'...'Low' and 'Heroes' were both released in 1977, and 1979's 'Lodger' and 1980's 'Scary Monsters and Super Creeps' contained no purely instrumental tracks, though an instrumental track called 'Crystal Japan' (featured on a Japanese advert, I think?) dates from 1980 alright.
That said, there is a general similarity okay, except that 'Flash Gordon' was written with a film in mind, and contained fewer 'real' songs than either of Bowie's albums that you mention.
Finally, while I prefer Queen to Bowie, I think that those two albums are superior to 'Flash Gordon': the fact that that album (FG) is the only Queen studio album that I don't own says it all....
<Phil, every week we don't see the German charts or the Japanese charts in Billboard.com just the US and UK. To us Americans, England is the next biggest market!>
Fair enough, but I don't think this holds true for the US music industry itself, for whom the size of a market really does matter. Any American record company would prefer to have a hit in Japan or Germany over the UK, because it'd equal more $$$.
Oh please, this is a DISCUSSIONBOARD, means u can DISCUSS things and give ur own OPINIONS! And if we can't criticize Queen's discography it's become a very sad little Queenforum mr Turd!
Of course, you can post your opinion..... but you can never change two very important facts
1) it was an official Queen Album and 2) it was a success and gave them even a top ten hit in the UK.
and what you should consider always when you are listening to Flash Gordon: it was a SOUNDTRACK album, not a regular studio album. So it is ridiculous to compare it to the other Queen records. Some people like soundtracks, some don`t, just a matter of taste - but as a soundtrack album Flash Gordon is very good.
It's not ridiculous i see it as an Queen album, why is it in the all the Queen books n stuff? It counts as a full Queenalbum so i treat it that way. Of course it's a soundtrack and we should judge it like one...but there are betetr soundtracks out there even by Queen so in my eyes the FG "Soundtrack" is a flop commercially AND artisticly it didn't sell like other Queen albums worldwide at the time of release so it's considered A FLOP!! *sigh*
but there are betetr soundtracks out there even by Queen so in my eyes the FG "Soundtrack" is a flop commercially AND artisticly it didn't sell like other Queen albums worldwide at the time of release so it's considered A FLOP!! *sigh*
My god, how stubborn can you get. You can repeat your propositions in that prayer wheel-like fashion forever, but it won't change the facts. At the time of release FG very well sold like other Queen albums (even better than some) in many territories. The UK charts do not represent the whole word. FG can't be considered a commercial flop by any serious definitions. Why don't you show some intelligence by accepting this banal fact.
LOL believe wot u want people!
...yes Flash Gordon woz VERY successful! Great record! Yes worldwide success!! Beat the crap out of The Game!! stubborn twats
Flash Gordon in the charts:
Highest Chart Position(GOLD)
UK No.10
US No.23
NL No.13
Time spent in charts
UK 15 weeks
US 13 weeks
NL 09 weeks
The Game in the charts:
Highest Chart Position(x...PLATINUM)
UK No.1
US No.1
NL No.2
Time spent in the chart
UK 18 weeks
US 48 weeks
NL 18 weeks
...sure maybe it did a little better in Switzerland or South America...but who cares?
US and UK are the world's leading musical territory's. If you're successful in America and UK, ur in! So chartwise these are the facts. Maybe someone can add his/her country's info and this stupid thread is over.
Nobody said that it was better than the Game (or more successful), but a flop it was certainly not (can`t be with the album and single being top ten in the UK)
By the way the Netherlands are hardly important - and in Japan and Germany the album was more successful than in the UK. As I said before it`s of course a Queen album (and is treated as such by all the books), but it`s a soundtrack and therefore you can`t compare it with the success of The Game or News of the World for instance!!!!!!
Then u don't now the definition of the word mister Cetera. When a certain album is called a flop it either means the album is a total failure musicwise and in the charts, but they also call it a flop when the lp or single doesn't get the same attention and doesn't sell like the last released product or how it usually sells, in Queen's history at that point in time. SO my dear peeps! Flash Gordon wozn't a success, nor a good Queenalbum. It's almost unanimous as the least favorite lp together with Hot Space....u CAN compare it to other Queenalbums, why not?? It's a Queen lp! wot a load of bulldoody! As Flash did it so great in the singlecharts and everyone thinks it's so great, u see it as a Queensingle so the album is a Queenalbum, their names are on it, the songs are composed and performed by the gang and they played some songs live!!!
My god, for a SOUNDTRACK album it was a success, believe it or not!!!!
Anyway whats the problem. If you don`t like it, ok. But many Queen fans enjoy it. And you can`t compare it to the other queen products because it was a completely different project!
As I pointed out before:
You're comparing it solely to The Game. It's one of their most successful albums. Compared to The Game nearly all of their albums were "flops".
Do you really wanna claim that all Queen-albums bar The Game and Greatest Hits were flops ?
No not only The Game, that woz just an example. I could've picked Opera or Races or Jazz for that matter, would've still made my point. Just picked the one before Flash, the one people were thinkin of when they heard of the Flash Album, when they saw the movie and when they were listening to the record.
