Flash (song)

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Flash
  DE 3 01/12/1981 (28 weeks)
  AT 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 04/01/1981 (10 weeks)
  UK 10 December 06, 1980 (13 weeks)
  US 42 01/17/1981 (10 weeks)

Flash (also called Flash's Theme ) is a 1980 song by Queen , written by and produced by Brian May and Reinhold Mack . It appeared on the soundtrack album for the movie Flash Gordon .

history

There are two versions of this rock song by Queen: The album version, which contains the entire dialogue from the first scenes of the film, and the single version, which contains sentences from different scenes. The latter is better known around the world. In particular, the exclamation “Gordon's alive !?” (in German: “Gordon is still alive !?”) spoken by Brian Blessed (who plays Prince Vultan in the film) is known, which song interrogators can misunderstand as “ cucumber salad ” . The single version is also included in the Greatest Hits of 1981.

Flash is sung in a duet by Freddie Mercury and Brian May, with Roger Taylor responsible for the backing vocals . May also plays all the instruments in the song. He uses a piano from Imperial Bösendorfer (with 97 keys, instead of 88 with an additional octave in the low range), an Oberheim OBX synth (which he also plays in the video) and also his own Red Special electric guitar.

It was released on November 24, 1980. While the song made it into the top 50 of the charts in the United States, it was significantly more successful in Europe (especially in Austria at number 1). In the episode Not All Dogs Go to Heaven from Family Guy , the song could be heard in the film The Ice Princes, as well as in commercials for the Blackberry Playbook and Clash Royale . The song was used as the opening song at the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship and was used by the Miami Heat ( NBA ) and Philadelphia Phillies ( MLB ) sports teams.

Google used the song in a commercial for the NightSight function of its Google Pixel 3 smartphone.

Music video

The music video was shot in November 1980 at Anvil Studios London, directed by Donald Norman . In the video, the band plays the song, accompanied by scenes from the movie Flash Gordon. The video was available on iTunes in 2011 .

Cover versions

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts UK Charts US
  2. ^ "Queen: Greatest Hits" Allmusic
  3. ↑ Google's latest Pixel 3 pitch is a rock 'n' roll hommage to ruined photos . In: Advertising & Marketing Industry News , December 16, 2018.
  4. ↑ Music video on Youtube.com