12/05/2025
Brian's arrangement of The Show Must Go On was almost entirely directed by Brian on the Korg M1 synthesizer, with David Richards' contribution on the octave rise of the second verse (which was performed by some musicologists as a note of hope in the title).
Brian will talk about his work on another track shortly after the release of the album: These Are The Days Of Our Lives. Interviewed by Extreme's guitarist, Nuno Bettencourt, he explains that the floating and atmospheric side of the solo was wanted: We could have done a clear and sliced solo, which, at first glance, would have been more dramatic. He states that the take held on the disc is the first and only take, which had left Roger, the author of the song, doubtful. I said: Leave it like that for a while, let it sit, and see if you end up appreciating it. A welcome reversal of the usual process, which saw the guitarist get lost in speculations and details, sometimes at the big dam of his bandits. Innuendo's sessions wrap up in November, making it the band's longest album to complete, although actual studio time doesn't beat The Game's records.
Despite an almost white year for Queen, on December 3, 1990, an ideal Christmas present made its appearance in supermarket VHS: the Queen at Wembley videotape, featuring 20 tracks from the July 12, 1986 show, filmed by Gavin Taylor, and already broadcasted in the United States. British Television. With its blue design reminiscent of A Kind Of Magic (and always signed Richard Gray), the jacket brings out the bright yellow of Freddie's bulldog jacket, alone in the crowd. Earlier, Queen announced to her 2 record labels that the future Innuendo won't be finished in time for the holidays.
Mid-January, the single Innuendo is released as a mouth amusement for the eponymous LP, aided by a very successful music video, signed by Hibbert Ralph & Doro Productions, which announces the fantastic and baroque tone of the album. A music video that serves as a subterfuge, after the one from The Miracle, to show Freddie's slim body and face as little as possible, since all the footage of the band in it is reworked from old videos. Each of the 4 members (not present during the making of the clip) sees their image redesigned by computers to resemble a different style drawing: Freddie appears scribbled in the image of a sketch of Leonard de Vinci, John is as dressed in Miro's trait, Roger triggers a each hits his drum from the germs of paintings at Jackson Po***ck, and finally Brian appears in the form of a Victorian engraving at the water fort.
Dressed in a sumptuous cover, as mysterious and baroque as the one of The Miracle was kitsch, the 2-track CD of Innuendo (with Bijou in front of B, which will be on the album) briefly takes the pop music planet: drawer song nourished by Queen's early influences (Yes, Black Sabbath, but especially Led Zeppelin), it keeps a very modern sound and dimension, while being the longest single in the band's history, exceeding half a minute Bohemian Rhapsody! Sign of fan activism, the song is at number one in the UK charts for a week, between Enigma (new age pop group) and KLF (dadaist eurodance duo), 2 formations to synthetic and modern music... It's fair to say that Queen is an UFO figure in the mainstream of the English music landscape, who has been chasing guitars for the benefit of dance music and variety for several years already.
As has been the case several times in the past decade, Queen adopts a more cautious strategy in the United States, where Headlong is sent as a lead single on January 17th (in the States Innuendo will be sent as a promotional single for radio only), with All God's People opposite B.
It's Hollywood Records, the new record label, who - sign of the times - managed to flex the quartet, who still believes a lot in Innuendo.... Headlong is far from being representative of the album, both in its quality and feel. The label reminds them that American radios remain faster than in Europe for titles longer than 5 minutes. Determined to win back the hearts and wallets of Americans, Queen returns to her sanctuary of Metropolis Studios for 2 days, to shoot a clip intended for Headlong. It's the only clip post-The Miracle where Freddie is not smeared by makeup or post-production effects only ample jogging hides his slimness... Who can't stop laughing and sticking his tongue out at the camera, wearing his acting out. The little acoustic guitar you can see in Brian's hands is just his first instrument, the famous Spanish guitar he received for his 7th birthday.
Innuendo, which would turn out to be Queen's final album from Freddie's alive, was sent to the record and press on February 4, 1991. Published under a mostly white cover evoking the hues of A Night At The Opéra, this band’s final album has more than one thing in common with the 1975 masterpiece. Once again (according to Bo Rhap), it's about giving everything, this time not because of the imperative of business success but because of the health of one of the band members.
But this story, which seems cut to be moving, will only be told much later, because the band, and Freddie in particular, refuses to draw attention to what must remain a private order issue. Communication around Innuendo is therefore minimal: no concerts, no press conferences, almost no photos, and only Roger and Brian giving interviews. At the journalists' microphone, they hold the tongue with aplomb, without letting anything see through.
The rare interviews they grant still calm rumors of the band's split - which have never really stopped since 1983, but double down on the prolonged absence of concerts. Unmissable, they repeat that laconic phrase again as interviews go on, Freddie no longer wants to return on tour without further comment, although Brian sometimes sighs confessing that he would want nothing more in the world than to be in front of a crowd. When it comes to working on the new album, they evoke the same serenity as in 1989: the quartet left the competitive spirit, among them 4 at first, but also with the other groups. Yet, since 1986, it's still a new generation of rock heavyweights that surpassed them, including the young and sassy Gun's N'Roses (who claims to be Queen), as well as Bon Jovi, who became the champion of extended world tours in the late eighties, while reaching the top of the eighties. spectacular sales figures, far ahead of Queen's last albums. Both are American, and signify a certain influx of English rock popularity, in the wake of the decline of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, in favor of American hard FM.
But a third musical stream, more extensive and all-around, will in the following years supersede all the hard rock competition: alternative rock. Because in early 1991, a few months before the surprise Nirvana, the general public is already somewhat tired of the easy grooves of rock FM and hair metal, and is already beginning to favor some artists with the most vintage sound, such as R. E. M. or Lenny Kravitz. Also, younger English indie rock fans are wearing the Stone Roses, a band deeply marked by the creativity of the '60s and '70s. It's in this context that Innuendo becomes Queen's first English number one since Under Pressure, which was propelled by Bowie's presence.
Such an arty music video and such a long and original lead single could not have been able to compete, in the mid-80s, with the kings of simplicity that were the great bands of new wave. A brief comparison to Radio Gaga or A Kind Of Magic is eloquent. Was Queen at the beginning of a form of creative revival?
