Queen, Hotspace

nyarlothothep

I thought I'd post this here as it would be interesting to get the reactions of metal and rock people. When Hotspace was released a lot of metallers/hard rock people didn't like it, in fact hated it. I think it's an ok album, there are some good tracks. I like Body Language, the bass riff is pretty damn good and the track is funny too. The video is also funny. The album was a creative risk that went too far for most but it's probably Queen at their most Queen in certain respects, contrary, eccentric, outrageous! Imo it's underrated and fascinating in being so of its time in addition to being in a completely different style for Queen.

Kess73

It certainly influenced large chunks of the current Muse album.

As for HotSpace itself. It is very much an album of it's time and has dated quite badly.

I think Queen were trying to expand their sound, but they failed (imho of course) in that they ended up sounding like they were trying to latch onto some of the trends of the time and regurgitate them rather than incorporating those sounds into their own sound.

Brave in many ways, but also lacking in originality in many ways. For me it is an album that almost turned me off of Queen as the Flash soundtrack was the first Queen album that I got into, and in 1982 I was throwing myself into all things rock and metal (Maiden's The Number Of The Beast being the first LP that blew me away as a new release) and when HotSpace came out I just could not believe it was the same band that released Flash a few years earlier.

I think over the decades I have softened a lot towards HotSpace, but it is still an album that I only like a couple of tracks off of, and it certainly paled in comparison to the album that followed it in The Works.

Actually if one looks at the two albums that came before it (The Game, Flash) and the two that followed it (The Works, A Kind Of Magic) it really sticks out like a sore thumb and is almost faddish in it's sound.

blastman

I always liked Las Palabras De Amor, but I thought they'd lost their minds regarding the rest of it.

nyarlothothep

Kess73 wrote: »

It certainly influenced large chunks of the current Muse album.

As for HotSpace itself. It is very much an album of it's time and has dated quite badly.

I think Queen were trying to expand their sound, but they failed (imho of course) in that they ended up sounding like they were trying to latch onto some of the trends of the time and regurgitate them rather than incorporating those sounds into their own sound.

Brave in many ways, but also lacking in originality in many ways. For me it is an album that almost turned me off of Queen as the Flash soundtrack was the first Queen album that I got into, and in 1982 I was throwing myself into all things rock and metal (Maiden's The Number Of The Beast being the first LP that blew me away as a new release) and when HotSpace came out I just could not believe it was the same band that released Flash a few years earlier.

I think over the decades I have softened a lot towards HotSpace, but it is still an album that I only like a couple of tracks off of, and it certainly paled in comparison to the album that followed it in The Works.

Actually if one looks at the two albums that came before it (The Game, Flash) and the two that followed it (The Works, A Kind Of Magic) it really sticks out like a sore thumb and is almost faddish in it's sound.

I never really understood the dated argument as it's measuring a genre based on the cultural preferences of one's time which is going to be dated anyway. On A Night at the Opera they flaunted contemporary convention and produced 1920s style music. Anyway that's what draws me to Hotspace, the incredible cheese and the primitive synths and disco sounds. Yes that does sound like I'm saying it's dated too I guess but I don't think that lessens it. Body Language, what a song.

Kess73

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I never really understood the dated argument as it's measuring a genre based on the cultural preferences of one's time which is going to be dated anyway. On A Night at the Opera they flaunted contemporary convention and produced 1920s style music. Anyway that's what draws me to Hotspace, the incredible cheese and the primitive synths and disco sounds. Yes that does sound like I'm saying it's dated too I guess but I don't think that lessens it. Body Language, what a song.

Music can sound very much of it's time but not sound dated. For me music can date badly thanks to a bad production or mix, it can date badly through sounding unoriginal, it can date badly through a lack of a fesh feel as few things can make music sound dated on release as a generic sound. There are many reasons as to why music can sound dated and it is rarely as simple as it being recorded years ago.

HotSpace, to my ears, is one of the worst Queen albums, and it, again imo only, paled in comparsion to the albums that came either side of it.

I think it sounds as it does to me because I think Queen were trying to force a sound, by pretty much throwing in what they thought was trendy, rather than taking an influences or influences and letting it work through their own sound and talent. They toyed with their influences in the albums on either side of Hot Space, but they let their own ability get stamped onto those influences rather than the other way around and it showed.


Give me a choice between listening to Hot Space or The Works, and Hot Space gathers dust every time.

nyarlothothep

Kess73 wrote: »

Music can sound very much of it's time but not sound dated. For me music can date badly thanks to a bad production or mix, it can date badly through sounding unoriginal, it can date badly through a lack of a fesh feel as few things can make music sound dated on release as a generic sound. There are many reasons as to why music can sound dated and it is rarely as simple as it being recorded years ago.

HotSpace, to my ears, is one of the worst Queen albums, and it, again imo only, paled in comparsion to the albums that came either side of it.

I think it sounds as it does to me because I think Queen were trying to force a sound, by pretty much throwing in what they thought was trendy, rather than taking an influences or influences and letting it work through their own sound and talent. They toyed with their influences in the albums on either side of Hot Space, but they let their own ability get stamped onto those influences rather than the other way around and it showed.


Give me a choice between listening to Hot Space or The Works, and Hot Space gathers dust every time.

I agree with some of those dated points. I think bad mix/production isn't really a problem unless the band have the money or technical ability to afford great mixes or extract them from average equipment. Venom's first album sounds badass because the mix/production is crap. I think something can easily sound dated though if it's hopping on the bandwagon.

Someone said that Hotspace was the last risky album Queen undertook before setting their stall on The Works. That's obviously debatable and The Works has some good songs but Hotspace was a wtf?! album in good and bad senses of the expresssion and that's what makes it interesting. John Deacon and Freddy Mercury wanted to go in a disco/funk direction, the other two weren't happy about it. They also recorded during a difficult time in their career. That may be why they didn't really integrate the sound into their style. Which do you think is the worst Queen album out of interest?

ush

Had all the Queen albums bar Flash Gordon and Hot Space. Queen in the eighties became a singles band. Innuendo had some filler on it but that was the closest they came again to a solid album.

Kess73

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I agree with some of those dated points. I think bad mix/production isn't really a problem unless the band have the money or technical ability to afford great mixes or extract them from average equipment. Venom's first album sounds badass because the mix/production is crap. I think something can easily sound dated though if it's hopping on the bandwagon.

Someone said that Hotspace was the last risky album Queen undertook before setting their stall on The Works. That's obviously debatable and The Works has some good songs but Hotspace was a wtf?! album in good and bad senses of the expresssion and that's what makes it interesting. John Deacon and Freddy Mercury wanted to go in a disco/funk direction, the other two weren't happy about it. They also recorded during a difficult time in their career. That may be why they didn't really integrate the sound into their style. Which do you think is the worst Queen album out of interest?

For me it is a toss up between Hot Space and Made In Heaven. The Flash Gordon soundtrack that I loved as a kid would be one of the weaker albums as well but that is nothing more than a soundtrack.

Motley Crue

Hot Space, for me, was a rather interesting experimental Queen album. I always liked the versions of the songs the band did live more than the studio versions since the arrangement was changed to compliment a more "Rock" feel

As Roger Taylor once said in an interview, of Hot Space "Freddie wanted our music to sound like the kind of thing you'd hear as you walked into a Gay Bar...and I didn't"

I've heard a lot of stories about the band falling out (especially while recording 'The Works' in particular) but this album seems to have caused a lot of friction. Even now Brian May, who normally doesn't like speaking ill of Freddie's decisions given they were such good friends and he's dead, always makes a point of mentioning the conflict in the band during the recording of that album - with him and Roger on the side of a more traditional release and Freddie and John on the side of a Black Funk, Soul, RnB, Hip Hop and Dance collaboration with the Queen sound....

I imagine Freddie released he was wrong when he released this album, Queen's sharp rise in the US after 'Another One Bites the Dust' on 'The Game' hit a massive curb ball and this release really spelled the end of Queen in the United States for almost 10 years - the American's were extremely unforgiving of a song like 'Body Language' which (the first video ever banned by MTV) was just too close to the pro-homosexual community for most American's liking. We're talking about a country who banned 'I Want to Break Free' so Body Language must have destroyed them.

The single did well in the US, but in Europe, received a really poor response. And when Disco didn't survive in the US Queen weren't likely too either having adopted a more Disco friendly sound for the US and been thrown in that grouping.

Personally I hate the album and feel Freddie was influenced by the likes of Paul Prenter who had too much influence on him at the time. I also think Back Chat is a good song but it's not Queen and the music video for that song is a disgrace.

Under Pressure seems out of place on that album and most people don't associate it with that release, rather just a single on their Greatest Hits

nyarlothothep

I can't really hate the album, I'm removed from the disco era so I can't get any of the hate for it though I imagine it's similar to my hate of the current hipster dominance in music or what I used to hate,, 1998-2000 with the dominance of dance music, though I don't hate music from that era now because it was self evidently cheesy. Staying Power is pretty funky.

ush

Great post Motley Crue! Hot Space was never part of my Queen experience. I'll have to check out the Body Language video now.

Is it like this?

ush

Doesn't yer man from The Darkness have a Hot Space tattoo?

Roanmore

Least favourite Queen album but I love Put Out the Fire, sounds like it should have been on The Game album. I also like Los Palabras and Life is Real (Under Pressure is a given).

Motley Crue

ush wrote: »

Great post Motley Crue! Hot Space was never part of my Queen experience. I'll have to check out the Body Language video now.

It's going in that kind of direction but it's just the most sexually charged video Queen ever produced, which in itself says something

As people have mentioned here there are some great songs on that album as stand alone pieces, or great tracks if they were by other bands, but on a whole the album really went against the grain of what Queen had built up - I suppose it was the same as watching the video premier of Until It Sleeps in 1995 as a long haired, denim wearing, ripped T Shirt Thrash Metal Metallica fan....

Take this for example....

Freddie in 1976


Freddie in 1982

nyarlothothep

ush wrote: »

Great post Motley Crue! Hot Space was never part of my Queen experience. I'll have to check out the Body Language video now.

Is it like this?

It's fairly tame by today's standards but it was the first ever music video to be banned. It's got some wtf?! moments, eg Freddy dancing with big black mamas saying "sexy body, I want your body" with one of them lifting off like a rocketship in front of him in the way only cheesy 80s special effects can afford. Also the expressions on the band member's faces are hilarious, eg John Deacon at the end grinning for some reason. And it all takes place in a bi-sexual sauna. It's quite unintentionally funny.