Will any other band get as lucky as QUEEN?
08-13-04, 10:48 PM
#26
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Re: Will any other band get as lucky as QUEEN?
Originally posted by Buttmunker
Let's face it, for some reason, the rock band Queen has always received "special treatment" from radio stations. I don't know what it was, but I'll give two major examples:
1) In 1978, they released the single We Are The Champions, and the B-side was We Will Rock You, and it was a smash hit at #4. Yet radio stations took this a step further - to Queen's benefit - and played the B-side first, followed by the A-side. Always. Always. That meant that Queen got two back-to-back songs played at every rotation, while all other bands just got one song played.
2) In 1992, Bohemian Rhapsody hit #2 on the chart. It was a 16-year song by then, and had originally charted at #9 in 1976. Thanks to Wayne's World, the song (and the band) received a second life.
Now how many songs can you recall re-charting and doing better than the first time, and not being re-recorded or updated? Right, I didn't recall any either.
With this said, will any other classic rockers ever achieve this kind of "special treatment?"
Let's face it, for some reason, the rock band Queen has always received "special treatment" from radio stations. I don't know what it was, but I'll give two major examples:
1) In 1978, they released the single We Are The Champions, and the B-side was We Will Rock You, and it was a smash hit at #4. Yet radio stations took this a step further - to Queen's benefit - and played the B-side first, followed by the A-side. Always. Always. That meant that Queen got two back-to-back songs played at every rotation, while all other bands just got one song played.
2) In 1992, Bohemian Rhapsody hit #2 on the chart. It was a 16-year song by then, and had originally charted at #9 in 1976. Thanks to Wayne's World, the song (and the band) received a second life.
Now how many songs can you recall re-charting and doing better than the first time, and not being re-recorded or updated? Right, I didn't recall any either.
With this said, will any other classic rockers ever achieve this kind of "special treatment?"
Freddie Mercury went to his grave longing for greater acceptance in the US like the band had in the rest of the world. After they released the, in retrospect, poorly concieved Hot Space album, American rock radio dropped the group and any current releases they had from that point on without of any sort of significant airplay. It was, by the admission of Brian May, the one thing that tormented Mercury, literally, until he passed.
08-14-04, 02:34 AM
#27
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Re: Re: Will any other band get as lucky as QUEEN?
Originally posted by tecumseh1000
Freddie Mercury went to his grave longing for greater acceptance in the US like the band had in the rest of the world. After they released the, in retrospect, poorly concieved Hot Space album, American rock radio dropped the group and any current releases they had from that point on without of any sort of significant airplay. It was, by the admission of Brian May, the one thing that tormented Mercury, literally, until he passed.
Freddie Mercury went to his grave longing for greater acceptance in the US like the band had in the rest of the world. After they released the, in retrospect, poorly concieved Hot Space album, American rock radio dropped the group and any current releases they had from that point on without of any sort of significant airplay. It was, by the admission of Brian May, the one thing that tormented Mercury, literally, until he passed.
08-14-04, 03:29 PM
#28
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This all goes beyond my point. The Zeppelin point another post made does not apply to my point - that being, that although some stations may back-to-back Zeppelin, it is not the case all of the time.
My point is that, while some bands get back-to-back songs played, Queen has this always with We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions.
My other comment about the 2nd Coming of Bohemian Rhapsody was really just a footnote to the great luck Queen had with their 2-song rotation. Bohemian Rhapsody almost became a #1 hit for Queen in 1992, peaking at #2 for one week! That is phoenomenal!!!!! I was the happiest guy of them all, watching that old song sail past the current hits of the day! It was a great moment in music history, as far as I'm concerned, and I've never the seen the likes of it since, before, or after. That's luck.
And why do I keep calling it 'luck?' Listen, I am a Queen fan, too, and I don't have anything against them. Why would I bash them, they were great! But so were The Beatles, but you don't hear Come Together followed by Something every single time, despite the fact that it was a double-hit single!
That's my point. So if we can keep the posts close to the point, and stop attacking and being argumentative, I'll continue staying in this thread to discuss. Otherwise, don't look for me to defend myself anymore.
My point is that, while some bands get back-to-back songs played, Queen has this always with We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions.
My other comment about the 2nd Coming of Bohemian Rhapsody was really just a footnote to the great luck Queen had with their 2-song rotation. Bohemian Rhapsody almost became a #1 hit for Queen in 1992, peaking at #2 for one week! That is phoenomenal!!!!! I was the happiest guy of them all, watching that old song sail past the current hits of the day! It was a great moment in music history, as far as I'm concerned, and I've never the seen the likes of it since, before, or after. That's luck.
And why do I keep calling it 'luck?' Listen, I am a Queen fan, too, and I don't have anything against them. Why would I bash them, they were great! But so were The Beatles, but you don't hear Come Together followed by Something every single time, despite the fact that it was a double-hit single!
That's my point. So if we can keep the posts close to the point, and stop attacking and being argumentative, I'll continue staying in this thread to discuss. Otherwise, don't look for me to defend myself anymore.
08-14-04, 03:36 PM
#29
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Oh, and before all you Queen fans rally up against me and have me thrown to the wolves, I posted the exact same question on another site, and here are some responses that are interesting.
http://messageboard.thedoors.com/cgi...=0#entry496152
http://messageboard.thedoors.com/cgi...=0#entry496152
08-14-04, 04:11 PM
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Originally posted by Buttmunker
My point is that, while some bands get back-to-back songs played, Queen has this always with We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions.
My point is that, while some bands get back-to-back songs played, Queen has this always with We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions.
There was a Usenet discussion about this a few years ago, incidentally.
That's luck.
08-14-04, 04:39 PM
#31
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First of all, your link takes you to a page that says you do not have permission to access this forum.
Next, there's not really much of anything to keep discussing. As you should notice, nobody here agrees with you or can understand what the heck you're talking about by "special treatment." End of story. But if you want another viewpoint...
I theorize that the playing of We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions back-to-back goes back to when they were still playing vinyl on the radio. I think someone figured out early on that it was just easier to play the tracks off the album instead of flipping a 45. We Will Rock You is track one, Champions is track two. Since these two songs were placed on the album that way...by Queen...it just makes sense to play them as they were meant to be played. But that again begs the question as to why Rock You always got, and still gets, played first, when Champions was technically the A-side to Rock You's B-side. One reason is what I mentioned before about the way the tracks fall on the album. Another reason may be the fact that We Will Rock You started to gain a lot of popularity at sporting events. People would call radio stations and request it, and DJ's probably started to go ahead and play what was technically supposed to be the single right after it. I'm sure Queen never intended it to be that way, since Champions was chosen as the single, but then again, they did put Rock You before Champions on the album. Maybe the marking of Champions as the A-side was a mistake, and We Will Rock You was supposed to be the A-side. All in all, I think the bottom line here is...
WHO THE HELL CARES?!?
I don't think there's been any fan in the entire world since these songs were released who gives a royal rat's rectum as to why both songs always get played back-to-back, nor do they think that Queen gets "special treatment." This entire argument is ridiculous. And I do say argument because you're the one who keeps coming back and trying to make some weird point, and we keep either disagreeing with you or just plain wondering what the hell you're talking about. And on the subject of "attacking," it just ain't happening. If anything, your calling me "narrow-minded" was the only thing here that could have been construed as attacking.
You want to know why a radio station plays them back-to-back? Call a radio station. You want to know why We Will Rock You ended up getting some alleged "preferential treatment" over the intended A-side? Call Queen or their record company. All anyone here, including yourself, can do is just guess.
Dude...I have nothing against you personally, and I'm not trying to attack you. I love debate as much as the next person. But this is something that nobody is seeing eye-to-eye with you on, so why don't we just forget it.
Have a great day, my friend.
EDIT: By the way, I've always heard those Zeppelin songs back-to-back. No exceptions. ZZ Top's Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago is another pair.
Next, there's not really much of anything to keep discussing. As you should notice, nobody here agrees with you or can understand what the heck you're talking about by "special treatment." End of story. But if you want another viewpoint...
I theorize that the playing of We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions back-to-back goes back to when they were still playing vinyl on the radio. I think someone figured out early on that it was just easier to play the tracks off the album instead of flipping a 45. We Will Rock You is track one, Champions is track two. Since these two songs were placed on the album that way...by Queen...it just makes sense to play them as they were meant to be played. But that again begs the question as to why Rock You always got, and still gets, played first, when Champions was technically the A-side to Rock You's B-side. One reason is what I mentioned before about the way the tracks fall on the album. Another reason may be the fact that We Will Rock You started to gain a lot of popularity at sporting events. People would call radio stations and request it, and DJ's probably started to go ahead and play what was technically supposed to be the single right after it. I'm sure Queen never intended it to be that way, since Champions was chosen as the single, but then again, they did put Rock You before Champions on the album. Maybe the marking of Champions as the A-side was a mistake, and We Will Rock You was supposed to be the A-side. All in all, I think the bottom line here is...
WHO THE HELL CARES?!?
I don't think there's been any fan in the entire world since these songs were released who gives a royal rat's rectum as to why both songs always get played back-to-back, nor do they think that Queen gets "special treatment." This entire argument is ridiculous. And I do say argument because you're the one who keeps coming back and trying to make some weird point, and we keep either disagreeing with you or just plain wondering what the hell you're talking about. And on the subject of "attacking," it just ain't happening. If anything, your calling me "narrow-minded" was the only thing here that could have been construed as attacking.
You want to know why a radio station plays them back-to-back? Call a radio station. You want to know why We Will Rock You ended up getting some alleged "preferential treatment" over the intended A-side? Call Queen or their record company. All anyone here, including yourself, can do is just guess.
Dude...I have nothing against you personally, and I'm not trying to attack you. I love debate as much as the next person. But this is something that nobody is seeing eye-to-eye with you on, so why don't we just forget it.
Have a great day, my friend.
EDIT: By the way, I've always heard those Zeppelin songs back-to-back. No exceptions. ZZ Top's Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago is another pair.
Last edited by The_Infidel; 08-14-04 at 04:42 PM.
08-14-04, 05:43 PM
#32
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Well, other people on other forums (specifically the one you claim you can't enter) differ from you and actually form opinions that seem to suggest that I do make some sort of sense. If you were a jury of 12 against me, I'd be strapped in the electric chair for making a "weird point."
You may not care (as you made a huge point of making), but why speak for everybody else? You think you're the keynote speaker of this forum, of this thread, of this world?! You think you speak for the people? Get over yourself.
You may not care (as you made a huge point of making), but why speak for everybody else? You think you're the keynote speaker of this forum, of this thread, of this world?! You think you speak for the people? Get over yourself.
08-14-04, 07:17 PM
#34
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i dont really get the point of this thread or what the OP is getting at, maybe it would make more sense if it was worded differently, "special treatment" just sounds silly.
radio stations arent in the business of selling Queen albums, so i dont think they give special treatment, i think they play what the people want, and the people seem to want both songs. if "we are the champions" sucked, believe me, they would cut it off after "we will rock you".
"freebird" is 9 minutes long, is that special treatment?
"beth" was a KISS b-side and that was played instead and became a hit, is that special treatment because a DJ flipped it over and liked the other song better?
rhapsody became a hit again because its one of the all time great songs in rock history. TONS of old songs are in new movies and new commercials and they dont shoot up the charts like rhapsody did. is it a conspiracy? uhh no.
radio stations arent in the business of selling Queen albums, so i dont think they give special treatment, i think they play what the people want, and the people seem to want both songs. if "we are the champions" sucked, believe me, they would cut it off after "we will rock you".
"freebird" is 9 minutes long, is that special treatment?
"beth" was a KISS b-side and that was played instead and became a hit, is that special treatment because a DJ flipped it over and liked the other song better?
rhapsody became a hit again because its one of the all time great songs in rock history. TONS of old songs are in new movies and new commercials and they dont shoot up the charts like rhapsody did. is it a conspiracy? uhh no.
08-14-04, 08:28 PM
#36
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Originally posted by brianluvdvd
Better yet Buttmunker...why don't you delete it?
Silliest thread ever!
Better yet Buttmunker...why don't you delete it?
Silliest thread ever!
08-15-04, 12:55 AM
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i've never heard green day's "brain stew" on the radio without hearing "jaded" after it. they are two separate songs, but always get played together and even show up on some playlists as one song: "Brain Stew/Jaded"
08-15-04, 07:20 AM
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http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1377
For information, in a number of countries [Britain, Australia, The Netherlands & France, to name just four] the two tracks were released as a "Double A" single which may or may not be relevant. I half-thought the same was true in the USA but I cannot be certain.
They also appear right next to each other [tracks one and two] on the album News of the World and, I believe, were separated by less that a second on vinyl. Not sure about the timing on the CD but I think they are next to each other on the Greatest Hits as are Fat Bottomed Girls and Bicycle Race; another Double-A in the UK.<small>
</small>Agreed.
Buttmunker, I think you need to step back and to gain some perspective here. You made a point and a fair number of people have expressed their own views on the matter: that doesn't necessarily mean that they all think you are an oaf or anything: it is just how debate is supposed to work.
This having been said, I do not wish either to close the thread or to witness anything else resembling personal attacks from anyone contributing here.
Benedict
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They also appear right next to each other [tracks one and two] on the album News of the World and, I believe, were separated by less that a second on vinyl. Not sure about the timing on the CD but I think they are next to each other on the Greatest Hits as are Fat Bottomed Girls and Bicycle Race; another Double-A in the UK.<small>
Originally posted by Dead
So, how exactly is a songs impact on the listeners, which drive it to a particular place in the charts, "special treatment"? It seems to me that it's not, it's just evidence that a new generation liked what they heard.
So, how exactly is a songs impact on the listeners, which drive it to a particular place in the charts, "special treatment"? It seems to me that it's not, it's just evidence that a new generation liked what they heard.
Buttmunker, I think you need to step back and to gain some perspective here. You made a point and a fair number of people have expressed their own views on the matter: that doesn't necessarily mean that they all think you are an oaf or anything: it is just how debate is supposed to work.
This having been said, I do not wish either to close the thread or to witness anything else resembling personal attacks from anyone contributing here.
Benedict
Moderator, Music Talk
08-22-04, 11:27 PM
#39
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They didn't get lucky. They were a great band.
And that's proven by their musical We Will Rock You which got it's North American debut in Las Vegas and I got to see it tonight... and it rocked...
And that's proven by their musical We Will Rock You which got it's North American debut in Las Vegas and I got to see it tonight... and it rocked...
09-09-04, 08:46 PM
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Re: Re: Will any other band get as lucky as QUEEN?
Originally posted by tecumseh1000
Freddie Mercury went to his grave longing for greater acceptance in the US like the band had in the rest of the world. After they released the, in retrospect, poorly concieved Hot Space album, American rock radio dropped the group and any current releases they had from that point on without of any sort of significant airplay. It was, by the admission of Brian May, the one thing that tormented Mercury, literally, until he passed.
Freddie Mercury went to his grave longing for greater acceptance in the US like the band had in the rest of the world. After they released the, in retrospect, poorly concieved Hot Space album, American rock radio dropped the group and any current releases they had from that point on without of any sort of significant airplay. It was, by the admission of Brian May, the one thing that tormented Mercury, literally, until he passed.
In other words, with albums/singles regularly debuting in the top 10 in virtually every other country in the world and MASSIVE tours (including the Magic Tour in '86) they could've cared less about the USA.
09-10-04, 02:07 AM
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Michael i disagree 100%%%
it`s America,.
you can tour the world and it`s not the same..
they might have said it!!
but i don`t believe it...
it`s America,.
you can tour the world and it`s not the same..
they might have said it!!
but i don`t believe it...
Last edited by tommy28; 09-10-04 at 02:11 AM.
09-10-04, 01:40 PM
#42
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Also, while "We Will Rock You" may have been a B-Side, I think it's silly to say it was never intended for airplay. May (and I think Mercury as well) have both stated that "We Will Rock You" was written with the specific purpose of being played for massed concert and stadium events. Maybe they underestimated how popular it was going to be, but they wrote it to appeal to fans in large arenas... which is exactly what happened.
09-10-04, 01:41 PM
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Originally posted by tommy28
Michael i disagree 100%%%
it`s America,.
you can tour the world and it`s not the same..
they might have said it!!
but i don`t believe it...
Michael i disagree 100%%%
it`s America,.
you can tour the world and it`s not the same..
they might have said it!!
but i don`t believe it...
What's so hard to believe?
If your albums and singles regularly chart in the top 10 in almost every other country in the world and your tours play to millions, is ONE country going to make a difference to you?
09-10-04, 05:20 PM
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Originally posted by Michael Allred
What's so hard to believe?
If your albums and singles regularly chart in the top 10 in almost every other country in the world and your tours play to millions, is ONE country going to make a difference to you?
What's so hard to believe?
If your albums and singles regularly chart in the top 10 in almost every other country in the world and your tours play to millions, is ONE country going to make a difference to you?
it`s America..
also~
Brian has said many times in interviews that Freddy would have got a big kick out of the re-charting of Bohemian Rhapsody because of Wayne's World,he also went on to say many times that it always Bothered Freddy greatly that Queen Failed to stay on top in the US.....
