Why Queen's Hot Space Has Sadly Always Been Luke Warm

Are you sitting down? It really hurts me to say this, but in my opinion, this is Queen's worst album. In summary 1980's disco music never really suited Queen at all...



I would love to tell you that Hot Space is a lost classic, its lowly reputation a result of snobbery, but it just isn't. The best example of this is when Freddie nearly gives himself an injury trying to make Hot Space work, with some fairly excruciating results. "Give ME your BOD-AAAAY! SEX-AAAAAAAY SEX-AAAAY BOD-AAAAY! Look at MEEEEEEE! Look at MEEEEEE!" he cries on the track Body Language...



Queen took most of 1981 off to work on the follow-up to their big 1980 hit album The Game. Fans were confident that the band's next release would follow in their winning tradition of classic albums. Unfortunately, this was the case. Unlike its predecessor, Hot Space is an inconsistent effort, marred by some unfocused song writing and material that was simply not as strong as their earlier work. 


No-one can aruge with the brilliance of disco inspired "Another One Bites the Dust" on the Game album, but sadly Queen decided to dedicate the entire first side of Hot Space to dance/disco music, something that alienated rock fans. And while Body Language nearly cracked the U.S. Top Ten, the rest of the dance material was easily forgettable -- Back Chat, Staying Power, Action This Day and so on -- however, the album is not a total washout. The more rock-oriented second side does contain some great tracks, such as Put Out the Fire, Calling All Girls, Las Palabras de Amor, and the excellent David Bowie collaboration &"Under Pressure." But it was not enough to save Hot Space from a cruel critical and commercial fate. It's worth noting that to date worldwide, Hot Space has sold approx 5 million copies. Compare that however with A Night at the Opera, which has sold approx 11 million copies and you might just see the point I am trying to make in this post...