Killer Queen Totally Explained

Everything about Killer Queen totally explained

"Killer Queen" () is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was their breakthrough hit, reaching #2 in the UK in early 1975. The song was taken from Queen's 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack, and was written by pianist and lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was released as a Double A-side, along with "Flick of the Wrist".
Mercury commented that the influences he received for the track included early Beatles records, Beach Boys and (lyrically) Noel Coward. He wrote the lyrics first before adding the complex musical arrangements. The recording features elaborate 4-part vocal harmonies (particularly in the choruses, and also providing backing parts in the verses), and also an elaborate multitracked guitar solo by Brian May.

Recording sessions

Besides using a grand piano as he used to, Freddie Mercury overdubbed the song with an upright (credited as "jangle piano"), in order to give the track a vaudeville sound. Besides piano, bass, drums, and guitar, there are several percussion instruments such as bike horn and bell tree.

Queen on the record

Freddie Mercury:
Brian May:

Live recordings

Live Killers (1979)
We Will Rock You (1981)

Cover versions

Travis covered the song for their 2001 single Sing.

Sum 41 performed a tribute to this song on (2005).

A version of Killer Queen is playable in the games Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 as downloadable content and for the PlayStation 2, as well as in the games Guitar Freaks and Drummania for the arcade.

Panic! at the Disco covered the song as part of their live set during the Nothing Rhymes with Circus tour. As of 2006, bootleg videos from the tour featuring the song were available on the video sharing website YouTube.

Most recently, Runner-up Dilana released the song as a single in October 2007.

Trivia

The Killer Queen is the name of the antagonist in the Queen musical We Will Rock You. She also performs the song in the show.

The song was included in the List of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks, although its inclusion has been subject to criticism.

On the Shaun of the Dead DVD scene selection menu, the scene in which the characters fight off zombies while Queen's Don't Stop Me Now plays is entitled "Killer Queen"

In the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Yoshikage Kira, the main antagonist of series four, possesses a Stand named "Killer Queen".

In the yaoi manga Yellow, "Killer Queen" is the name of a male escort service.

Killer Queen has an appearance in the PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero as well as part of a 3-song-pack download for Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360

Killer Queen is the name of an episode from the Sci-Fi Channel series Scare Tactics

"Killer Queen" is the name of a purchasable guitar in the video game Guitar Hero III.

Two videos were made, although one of them is rarely scene. Further Information

Get more info on 'Killer Queen'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://killer_queen.totallyexplained.com">Killer Queen Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.