Another One Bites the Dust

History

John Deacon's bass line was inspired by the song "Good Times" by the disco group Chic. In an interview with NME, 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 (West Germany) and consisted of Deacon playing almost all the instruments: bass guitar, piano, rhythm and lead guitars and handclap percussion. Roger Taylor added a drum loop and Brian May contributed some noises with his guitar and an Eventide Harmonizer. There are no synthesisers 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 harmonizer for further processing. The effect of the harmonizer can be heard clearly in the "swirling" nature of the sound immediately before the first lyric. After attending a Queen concert in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson suggested to Freddie Mercury backstage that "Another One Bites the Dust" be released as a single. In early live performances, Taylor sang lead on the chorus, as opposed to the studio version sung entirely by Mercury. As the song became more well-known, the band could rely on audiences to sing the chorus by themselves.

At the 1981 American Music Awards on 30 January, "Another One Bites the Dust" won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single. The song also garnered Queen a 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 music video for "Another One Bites the Dust" was filmed at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. The song also appears in Queen's Greatest Hits album in 1981.

Alleged backward masking

In the early 1980s, "Another One Bites the Dust" was one of many popular rock songs that Christian evangelists alleged contained subliminal messages through a technique called backmasking. It was claimed that the chorus, when played in reverse, can be heard as "Decide to smoke marijuana", "It's fun to smoke marijuana", or "Start to smoke marijuana". A spokeswoman for Hollywood Records (Queen's current US label) has denied that the song contains such a message.

Use in medical training

"Another One Bites the Dust" was used in a study to train medical professionals to provide the correct number of chest compressions per minute while performing CPR. The bassline has close to 110 beats per minute, and 100–120 chest compressions per minute are recommended by the British Heart Foundation, and endorsed by the Resuscitation Council (UK).

Music video

The music video for this song was directed by Daniella Green in 1980.

Personnel

Hollywood Records remixes

The first official remix of "Another One Bites The Dust" was Phase 5's Long Dusted B-Boy Version, which was released on the Hollywood BASIC compilation BASIC Beats Sampler in early 1992. The remix featured a new rap verse by Money-B of Raw Fusion and contained many samples from other records including, but not limited to, "Flash" by Queen themselves, "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow, "I Know You Got Soul" by Eric B. & Rakim, "Good Times" by Chic, "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" by Isaac Hayes and "It's Too Funky in Here" by James Brown. Dave Ogilvie edited the Phase 5 remix for inclusion on the April 1992 compilation BASIC Queen Bootlegs removing profanity from the rap verse and problematic samples due to copyright clearance. A separate remix by Onyx producer ChySkillz was due to appear featuring rap verses by Ice Cube, Hi-C and Manson. Ogilvie also recorded his own remix in sessions for the album, but did this not feature on the final track listing. All four versions have since leaked.

Wyclef Jean remix

In 1998, American rapper Wyclef Jean covered and remixed the song for the film Small Soldiers. His version also features rap verses from Pras Michel and Free, and music by Queen. The track also appears on Queen's compilation Greatest Hits III, released in 1999, and on Pras' debut album, Ghetto Supastar, released in 1998.

Background

It enjoyed the most success in the United Kingdom, where it entered the chart at number 5, its highest chart position, going on to spend six weeks on the chart. It also reached the top 10 in Finland. It charted number 18, number 23, number 50 and number 62 in New Zealand, Austria, Sweden and France, respectively. The music video for this version was directed by Michel Gondry. The song became Pras' third United Kingdom Top 10 hit from his debut solo album Ghetto Supastar, following the title track and follow-up single Blue Angels. However, Pras was not available for the filming of the video, and rapper Canibus recorded a new verse to take his place. This version was used only for the promotional video.

Track listing

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Radio Edit) – 4:00
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (LP Version) – 4:20
3. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Instrumental) – 4:17
4. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Acappella) – 4:45

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (New LP Version) – 4:20
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Team 1 Black Rock Star Main Pass Mix) – 4:46
3. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Team 1 Black Rock Star Radio Edit) – 4:17

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Small Soldiers Remix) – 4:20
2. "Rock and Roll (Part 2) (Dutch Remix)" (instrumental) (performed by Gary Glitter) – 3:51
3. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Instrumental) – 4:17

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Radio Edit) – 4:00
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Instrumental) – 4:17

Queen vs. The Miami Project

The song was remixed again in 2006. The single reached the UK Top 40, peaking at number 31, credited to Queen vs The Miami Project. The lead remix was by Cedric Gervais & Second Sun for which a new video was filmed. Further remixes by Oliver Koletzki, A Skillz, Soul Avengerz and DJ Pedro & Olivier Berger were available on other formats.

Track listing

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Cedric Gervais & Second Sun Radio Edit)
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Original Version)

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Cedric Gervais & Second Sun Radio Edit)
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Cedric Gervais & Second Sun Vocal Mix)
3. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Oliver Koletski Remix)
4. "Another One Bites the Dust" (A Skillz Remix)
5. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Soul Avengerz Remix)
6. "Another One Bites the Dust" (DJ Pedro & Oliver Berger)
7. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Cedric Gervais & Second Sun Radio Edit) (video)

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Cedric Gervais & Second Sun Radio Edit)
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Cedric Gervais & Second Sun Vocal Mix)
3. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Oliver Koletski Remix)
4. "Another One Bites the Dust" (A Skillz Remix)
5. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Soul Avengerz Remix)
6. "Another One Bites the Dust" (DJ Pedro & Oliver Berger)

Captain Jack version

In 1996, Queen Dance Traxx and German Eurodance group Captain Jack covered the song for the album Queen Dance Traxx 1 and released it as a single in October 1996. The song reached number 5 in Finland and peaked at number 12 in the Netherlands. It also reached number 33 in Austria, number 41 in Belgium and number 61 in Germany. The music video for this version was directed by Rudi Dolezal and was filmed in Berlin, Germany.

Track listing

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Radio Mix) – 3:48
2. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Club Mix) – 5:29

Remixed by Hal & Dj Ufuk a.k.a. Helmut Apel & Ufuk Yildirim

1. "Another One Bites the Dust" (DJs Extended Mix) – 6:23

Other cover versions

Jimmy "Spiderman" Allen, David Hill and James Hunter recorded a cover after the Detroit Lions won its first four games of the 1980 season. The Lions lost seven of its last twelve contests and missed the postseason with a 9–7 record. Doug English commented in retrospect, "The time to dance and strut is after you win the Super Bowl. It was not a time to mock the opposition. That's the way to earn a target on your back, and we did in the end."

In 1981, parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a parody of the song, titled "Another One Rides the Bus". This version was recorded live on the Dr. Demento Show and was released on his debut album.

In 2004, Gwen Stefani sings the line "Another one bites the dust" on the Pharrell Williams-produced track "Hollaback Girl" from her album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. As she sings the line, the brass section briefly mimics John Deacon's familiar bassline. The track became a single the following year.

The Def Leppard song "Man Enough" from their 2015 self-titled album features a bass line similar to "Another One Bites the Dust," with guitarist Phil Collen explaining that people had told him about how their song reminded them of the Queen song.

Sampling

In 1981, the track formed part of Grandmaster Flash's legendary proto-mashup "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" alongside popular breakbeats and samples from emerging hip hop artists.

In 1997, the track was also sampled by Foxy Brown and Jay Z on the Trackmasters remix of her single "I'll Be".