Revisiting "Classic Queen"

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Classic Queen album cover
I have an older cousin who, when I was a teenager, gifted me her old turntable (which was outdated at the time, but has somehow made a comeback), complete with built-in 8-track player (a technology I am sure is never coming back). Along with it were a handful of 8-track tapes, most of which I had no interest in, but one of them was Queen's The Game, which included a song I'd at least heard of, "Another One Bites the Dust". So I listened to that one.

It was my first exposure to Queen, and I remember really liking some of that album over the summer I listened to it. In particular, the songs "Need Your Loving Tonight" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were favorites of mine. One of the songs got chopped off halfway through due to the 8-track format, ending on one track and resuming on the next. Very awkward.

Despite liking some of this album, I didn't really become a fan of Queen until I saw Wayne's World. I'd heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" once before (ironically, in a friend's car), and had liked "Killer Queen", but it was really after that exposure to Wayne's World that I became hooked. And the first Queen album I picked up was a compilation album...Classic Queen.

The history of that album is a little sordid. For the release of Queen's 1991 album Innuendo, they had switched record companies in America, moving from Capitol to Hollywood Records (a Disney subsidiary). Along with this, the company released remasters of all of Queen's previous studio albums, as well as Live Killers. The cynical speculated that this was due to Freddie Mercury's observed physical condition, and a financial windfall upon his potential passing. Sadly, Freddie passed on November 24th, 1991.

Here's where things get sordid: I mentioned that Hollywood Records had released Queen's studio albums and Live Killers, but what of Greatest Hits or Greatest Hits II? Those remained unreleased, and after the success of Wayne's World and the reintroduction (or introduction to some of us) of Bohemian Rhapsody in the United States, Hollywood Records decided to cash in with a two-fer: Rather than release the aforementioned greatest hits albums in the U.S., they would instead release what is essentially their own version of Greatest Hits II, called Classic Queen. Because the era of music covered by Greatest Hits II wasn't a particularly fruitful one for Queen in the U.S., Hollywood Records would put Bohemian Rhapsody on their version of Greatest Hits II (Classic Queen), along with a few other changes they hoped would appeal to U.S. listeners. Then, to get people to buy the other Queen hits they were familiar with from the time Queen was popular in the U.S., they'd release an altered version of Greatest Hits, without Bohemian Rhapsody, months later.

Classic Queen's album cover is even similar to that of Greatest Hits II.

Hollywood Records' later version of Greatest Hits is truly odd without Bohemian Rhapsody. Prior to that, if you wanted a more authentic version of Greatest Hits -- with Bohemian Rhapsody -- you'd have to get an import. We had a local indie music shop in town that was advertising them. I went there one night with a couple of friends, and my friend Mike spotted me the cash to pick this up. The owner of the music shop was casting shade on Classic Queen, saying "No one here really cares about any of those songs anyway.", before calling out Radio Ga Ga in particular.

The choices of the tracks Hollywood Record chose to substitute from Greatest Hits II on Classic Queen is interesting. Stone Cold Crazy, which was never a single, was included because Metallica had covered it. One Year of Love had appeared in the movie Highlander, itself not a hit in America either, but sort of a cult classic at that point. Tie Your Mother Down and Keep Yourself Alive may have been included because they are more straight-ahead rock tracks. And The Miracle gets an edit that I didn't notice at the time, not having heard the original, but is jarring now that I have. In all, there are 6 tracks different between the albums.

Here's the track listing of both albums for comparison. Songs not included in both versions are highlighted.

Track # Greatest Hits II Classic Queen
1 A Kind of Magic A Kind of Magic
2 Under Pressure Bohemian Rhapsody
3 Radio Ga Ga Under Pressure
4 I Want It All Hammer to Fall
5 I Want to Break Free Stone Cold Crazy
6 Innuendo One Year of Love
7 It's a Hard Life Radio Ga Ga
8 Breakthru I'm Going Slightly Mad
9 Who Wants to Live Forever I Want It All
10 Headlong Tie Your Mother Down
11 The Miracle The Miracle (Edit)
12 I'm Going Slightly Mad These Are the Days of Our Lives
13 The Invisible Man One Vision
14 Hammer to Fall Keep Yourself Alive
15 Friends Will Be Friends Headlong
16 The Show Must Go On Who Wants to Live Forever
17 One Vision The Show Must Go On

Classic Queen is a flawed album, but also an album I love, for the nostalgia factor. It's also kind of a bittersweet listen, as some of the nostalgia it provides is for people and places no longer around.

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