The Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files: Queen’s Other “Flash” Of Genius

Time for another installment of the Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda Files, in which we alphabetize our vault of cassingles to find a track that came thisclose to being a hit:

Artist: Queen Song: “The Hero” Album: Flash Gordon, 1980 What happened: We’re pretty sure you already know this, but in 1980, British director Mike Hodges made an updated film version of the long-running Flash Gordon comic strip. And because the movie’s bright-and-tight wardrobe and hammy dialogue somehow didn’t make it campy enough, he hired Queen to compose the soundtrack, resulting in one huge hit (“Flash’s Theme”) and a bunch of synthed-out instrumentals. But buried toward the end of the album is the closing-theme number “The Hero,” a grandiose guitar anthem that could only have been hammered out by Brian May. Why it should have been a hit: Everything you could want from a Queen song is here: Big, sliding riffs; an overdone orchestra section; and a cameo from Max Von Sydow as Ming The Merciless. It sounds like two classic-rock bands merging as one–Sheer Heart Attack railroaded into In Through The Out Door. Joyfully stupid, in that great Queen style.

Queen – The Hero [MP3, link expired]