News of the World, Critical Review

A glamorous man calls upon the crowd as they thunderously yell back we will rock you and a guitar unabashedly radiates the arena! Yep, this is the band Queen playing “We Will Rock You,” which helped make the album, “News of the World,” a historical gem. The album was created at a pivotal moment in history in the late 70’s when rock & roll was evolving and punk and New Wave were starting to displace the glam rock style that Queen had popularized.1 Queen modified their style and introduced new techniques like the call and response which made “We Will Rock You” a popular tune. But have you ever wondered where that technique came from? I claim “News of the World” isn’t a unique work of art and just used pre-existing elements of African-American music. I will discuss how the album’s songs show the African-American techniques discussed by Starr and Waterman, how Freddie Mercury, the lead singer, has a style that is inspired by African-American women, and how two songs from the album are played in the style of the African-American rooted blues genre. The implications of this that one of the most beloved albums in history may not be as original as we thought.

These are the three African-American techniques Queen incorporated into their album: call and response, riffs, and timbre. First, the call and response is when “a lead singer and chorus alternate” and is “a hallmark of African-American musical traditions”.7 This is predominantly featured in the song “We Will Rock You.” Freddie belts out the lines “we will, we will rock you,” and then says lines like sing it or one more time to encourage the audience to repeat the phrase.6 Second, riffs are “short phrases that recur in a regular cycle” and in “African music-making repetition is regarded as an aesthetic strength”.7 Riffs are definitely heard in “We Will Rock You,” but many other songs in the album also display this feature such as “We are the Champions,” “All Dead, All Dead,” and “It’s Late.” Third, “African singers and instrumentalists make use of a wide palette of timbres” which include humming and growling.7 This technique is heard in “Spread Your Wings” where Freddie displays a powerful buzzing behind his voice.

Flamboyance and hyper sexuality are traits that characterize Freddie and made him a rare treat on the rock & roll scene, however these traits were borrowed from African-American singers, including Etta James and Big Mama Thornton. Maureen Mahon noted, “black women rock n’ rollers made choices about self-presentation designed to accentuate their charisma, blazing a path for succeeding generations of performers.”4 Etta heavily emphasized her appearance when she performed and she could pull off a fantastic combo of being glamorous and defiant.4 Freddie also loved to have a bombastic appearance and has Etta to thank for the concept. Freddie’s grandiose presence is highlighted in the music video for “We Are the Champions” where he wears a dazzling neck chain and an elegant black and white singlet. Another African-American singer, Thornton, helped “set the style for rock and roll by putting sexuality and play with gender expectations in the foreground.”3 Freddie is notable for lacing his lyrics with innuendo and unorthodox gender jabs and he has Thornton to praise for that. Freddie’s provocative lyrics are expressed in the song, “Get Down, Make Love,” where he says phrases like “you say you’re hungry, I give you meat, I suck your mind, You blow my head.”6

The songs titled, “My Melancholy Blues” and “Sleeping on the Sidewalk” were heavily influenced by The blues genre which is regarded as having an African-American origin.7 “My Melancholy Blues” has a shuffle beat with a 2/4 meter which is a fundamental blues beat.5 The song also has bluesy lyrics that evoke feelings of loneliness, love, and despair like, “Another party is over, And I’m left cold sober,” and “Baby left me for somebody new… Wanna be intoxicated with that special brew.”2,6 “Sleeping on the Sidewalk” is a blues rock that has bluesy lyrics that elicit perceptions of injustice and hopelessness such as “Now they tell me that I ain’t so fashionable, An’ I owe the man a million bucks a year” and “I sure get hungry and I sure do want to go home.”2,6 Queen’s emphasis on blues was uncommon delicacy only seen in this album and they have the African-American culture to thank for that.

Queen’s album “News of the World,” is a masterpiece with an infinite lifespan, but it was a copied package that mostly mixed antecedent African-American musical traits. The African-American derived techniques such as the call and response, riffs, and timbre are encoded in nearly all of the album’s songs. Freddie Mercury’s extravagant appearance and erotic woven lyrics are appropriated traits from African-American women like Etta James and Big Mama Thornton. “My Melancholy Blues” and “Sleeping on the Sidewalk” are imitations of the African-American entrenched blues genre. So the news of the world is that Queen has a lot to thank from the African-American community.

Critical Models

1. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/queens-news-of-the-world-10-things-you-didnt-know-195704/
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/arts/music/super-bowl-halftime-show.html?rref=collection%2Fspotlightcollection%2Fpop-jazz-music-reviews&action=click&contentCollection=music&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

References

1. Epstein, Dan. “Queen’s ‘News of the World’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/queens-news-of-the-world-10-things-you-didnt-know-195704/
2. “GCSE Music – Blues – Revision 3.” BBC News, BBC, www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/ztx3b9q/revision/3.
3. Maureen Mahon, “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll,” Women and Music, 15, 2011, 1-17. (PDF)
4. Maureen Mahon, “Rock,” The Music of Black Americans: An Introduction.  Eds. Mellonee Burnim and Portia Maltsby.  558-584 (PDF)
5. “My Melancholy Blues.” Queen Songs, LG, www.queensongs.info/song-analysis/songwriting-analyses/no-synth-era/news-of-the-world/my-melancholy-blues.
6. Queen. News of the World. EMI Records and Elektra Records, 1977.
7. Starr and Waterman, “Introduction” and “Streams of Tradition: The Sources of Popular Music,” American Popular Music (2008) online access at UW Libraries http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/gpo1267/american-popular-music.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.