Another One Bites the Dust

"Another One Bites the Dust"
Song

"Another One Bites the Dust" is a 1980 funk/rock song from the English rock band Queen, written by bassist John Deacon and was a worldwide crossover hit (hitting number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, hitting #2 on the R&B charts, and the Disco Top 100). In the band's native UK, the song peaked at #7. The song is Queen's best selling single and their biggest hit to date, with sales of over 7 million copies. The track is on the album The Game (1980). In 1998, it was remixed and re-released by Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel and featured Free's rap vocals.

History

The bass line was inspired by the song "Good Times" by the Disco group Chic. In an interview with New Musical Express, Chic co-founder Bernard Edwards stated, "...that Queen record came about because that Queen bass player... spent some time hanging out with us at our studio".

Recording sessions were produced by Reinhold Mack at Musicland Studios in Munich, and consisted of Deacon playing almost all the instruments: bass, piano, rhythm and lead guitars and handclap percussion. Roger Taylor added a drum loop under protest and Brian May did some noises with his guitar and an Eventide Harmoniser. There are no synthesizers used in the song: all effects are created with pianos, guitars, and drums, with subsequent tape playback performed in reverse at various speeds. Finally, some sound effects were run through the Harmoniser for further processing. The effect of the Harmoniser can be heard clearly in the "swirling" nature of the sound immediately before the first lyric. Taylor hated the song, but Freddie Mercury strongly believed in it and added some ideas. During the mix the road crew suggested it as a single but the band didn't like the idea until Michael Jackson recommended it after a concert (this was confirmed by Roger Taylor and Brian May on the U.S. radio show In the Studio with Redbeard that spotlighted the album The Game on one episode).

The song garnered Queen its only Grammy nomination, for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The band lost to Bob Seger's album Against the Wind.

The immense success and popularity of "Another One Bites the Dust" may be responsible for causing Queen to abandon (albeit temporarily) their hard rock roots for their next album, Hot Space.

The music video was filmed at the Reunion in Dallas, Texas.

Alleged backmasking

A common urban legend surrounding the chorus is that, when played in reverse, it contains the messages "it's fun to smoke marijuana" and "start to smoke marijuana". The song can be heard in reverse here.

Cover versions

In 1998, Wyclef Jean along with Pras Michel, Canibus, and Free remixed the song using a new instrumental track and samples from the actual song for the 1998 movie Small Soldiers. This version also appeared on Queen's compilation Greatest Hits III released in 1999. It was remixed again in 2006 by The Miami Project.

Uses in popular culture

• In the game Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Yoda in duel mode will say sometimes "Bites the dust, another one does".
• In an episode of Digimon, Arukenimon says "another one bites the dust" after Wargreymon destroys one of the destiny stones.
• During the Gulf War, the American Military FM stations would often play this, each time a Scud missile was brought down, either by Patriot or flying Coalition aircraft patrols.
• At Los Angeles Dodgers games, it can be heard after opponents strike out.
• It can be heard playing in the background of the film Biggles: Adventures in Time which John Deacon also wrote the theme for in his only solo/non-Queen collaboration with a band called The Immortals.
• It inspired the "Weird Al" Yankovic self titled debut album parody "Another One Rides the Bus".
• It also inspired a parody by Belgian comedian Chris Van den Durpel called "We kapen een gratis bus" (We hijack a free bus), poking fun at Steve Stevaert's free public transportation policy.
• In the 1980s, it was used as a Detroit Lions football team fight song, which generated considerable attention from the sports media. After a series of losses, fans began singing the lyrics as "Another one beats our butts"
• In an episode of Family Guy, the opening lyrics to the song were sung by Stewie Griffin as he swept a pile of leaves over a pit he dug in a sandbox in order to trap children he found untenable.
• "Another One Bites the Dust" was on the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• Commonly in Australian Domestic Cricket, the chorus of the song comes on when a batsman gets out and is a real crowd pleaser ("Another One Bites the Dust" topped the Australian Charts for six weeks in 1980).
• The chorus is also played in English One Day Domestic Cricket in the same way as it is in Australian Domestic Cricket. The most times it is played is probably in a Natwest Pro40 Match (40 overs), and a Twenty20 (20 overs).
• The chorus of this song was often sung in the sporting TV show Gladiators, when a Gladiator beats a challenger at a game. The gladiator would sing this song as a way to taunt, and the crowd would sing along too.
• Throughout most of the 1990s, a brief portion of the song was played at Texas Rangers home games whenever catcher Ivan Rodriguez threw out a would-be base stealer.
• Gwen Stefani's hit song "Hollaback Girl" name-checked and featured a brief snippet of the song's bassline.
• Theme song for 1980s WWF wrestler Junkyard Dog from late 1984 to early 1986.
• Kira Yoshikage from the Japanese manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a Stand named Killer Queen. Killer Queen has a tertiary bomb called Another One Bites the Dust.

Trivia

• Sylvester Stallone wanted to use the song for his movie Rocky III, but could not secure the rights. Survivor then created the song "Eye of the Tiger" for Stallone instead. Interestingly, according to Peter Jones, he also wanted to meet Freddie Mercury at one point, but Mercury refused... they were dining at the same restaurant.

• According to stories floating around Atlanta, GA for the last 20+ years this song was intentionally played by Ross Brittan and Brian Wilson, 2 DJ's from radio station WZGC, after the announcement that another victim of the Atlanta Child Murders had been found. This story became a urban legend and was debunked by Ross Brittan several years later.

Charts

Country	Peak position	Certification
Argentina	1
Canada	1
Guatemala	1
Spain	1
U.S.	1	platinum
New Zealand	2
U.S. R&B	2
Ireland	4
Australia	5
Austria	6
Germany	6
UK	7
Switzerland	8
Italy	11
Sweden	12
Netherlands	14

See also

• List of best-selling singles in the United States