Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~61 minutes
Release: 30 September 2024
What happens when one of the biggest bands on the planet makes a late career album while their singer is seriously ill, yet still refuses to tone anything down? In this episode, Neil and Chris dive into Queen's Innuendo, the proggy, theatrical and surprisingly eccentric record that became Freddie Mercury's last studio album with the band. They start with childhood memories of Queen greatest hits tapes and chewed video cassettes, then work forward to how an algorithm, some database wizardry and a lot of Spotify data randomly landed them on this 1991 curveball.
From there they unpack how Innuendo sits in a world dominated by Nirvana, Metallica and U2, why it only sold a fraction of those records, and why that does not say much about its quality. They weave in stories about Brian May's boots, jukebox obsessions and knife sharpening detours, while constantly circling back to how this album balances hooky pop, theatrical prog and hard rock stomp at a time when so much around Queen was changing. Along the way they bring in quotes from producer David Richards and interviews that show just how determined the band were to treat these sessions like a proper band record, not a cautious final statement.
Neil and Chris spend quality time with the title track Innuendo, marvelling at how it was essentially built live in the casino hall at Mountain Studios, with the band improvising until a fully formed epic emerged. They talk about hearing the count in, the almost Zep like stomp, the flamenco influenced middle section and how Freddie still sounds full of beans in the vocal takes despite his declining health. The live feel, the mic setup and the decision to let the band be a band give the song a rawness you might not expect from late period Queen.
They then move through the album's big hooks, from Headlong's joyful head first rush to These Are the Days of Our Lives and of course The Show Must Go On. Along the way they pick out how Brian May's guitar tone, Roger Taylor's drum sound and John Deacon's bass choices glue together songs that bounce between pop, rock and theatrical balladry. Media placements, chart positions and the way tracks like The Show Must Go On have been used in films and TV all feed into a wider look at how these songs took on a second life after Freddie's death.
Innuendo is not just a late album from a legacy band, it is a reminder of how strange, ambitious and downright nerdy Queen always were beneath the hits. Neil and Chris argue that understanding this record, with its mix of prog detours, big choruses and poignant final statements, gives you a more honest picture of who Queen were than any nostalgia heavy playlist. It is the sound of four very different personalities pulling together under pressure, still willing to take risks when it would have been easy to coast.
By the end of the episode you get a sense of Innuendo as both a swan song and a continuation of a band that never really cared about fitting the moment. The stories about Freddie's energy in the studio, Brian's meticulousness and the band's refusal to frame this as a farewell make the album feel alive rather than morbid. Alongside all the detours into films, algorithms and boots, you come away with a fresh appreciation for late era Queen and why these songs still hit so hard.
Perfect for: Listeners who grew up on Queen greatest hits, fans discovering the band through the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, production nerds curious about late period Mountain Studios sessions, and anyone who loves a heartfelt, slightly daft deep dive into a band refusing to go quietly.