Amidst a sea of hits and critical acclaim for their singles, there was one Queen song that wasn’t that well received by the British public – at least according to Freddie Mercury.
Following their rise to fame in the ’70s, built on a foundation of rock-oriented and instrument-heavy tracks, Queen decided to shift their focus towards the dance and disco sounds that defined the ’80s music scene.
By 1982, the culmination of this effort was their album Hot Space, which was heavily influenced by the dance styles of the era and built upon the momentum of their hit song ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. Freddie Mercury was particularly thrilled about the release, as mentioned in the book ‘Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words’.
Freddie Mercury was particularly excited about the release, according to the book Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words.
The album came out with two promotional singles: ‘Under Pressure’, certified Platinum 3x in the UK, and ‘Body Language’, which peaked at number 25 in the country’s charts.
Mercury didn’t take that reaction well, writing: “I’m extremely upset — outraged, in fact. I just think they could have given it a chance. I mean, I know ‘Body Language’ was the first one of its kind from us, but it met with such disapproval in England. God!”
However, he found solace in the fact that American listeners had taken a liking to the song, propelling it to the 11th spot on the US Hot 100 Charts.
“In this case, with Hot Space, I think it is a big risk and the public have been torn between two. I hope the Americans will see it as something new because the other side of the spectrum is that England just totally ignored it. It was obviously not their cup of tea. So, they just rejected it totally”, he said.
He also dashed any hopes that the band would revert to their classic rock style due to the charting failure, saying: “If they think that because of that situation, I’m going to send leave back and come out with a rehash of ‘[Bohemian] Rhapsody,’ they’re mistaken”.
“There’s no way I’m going to see that. But I’m glad that the Americans have seen that side of it.”
While not as big as ‘We Are The Champions’ or ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Body Language’ remained on the US charts for 14 weeks. The Hot Space album was also a hit, reaching Billboard 200’s 22nd spot and staying there for 21 weeks.