"Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by bassist John Deacon, the song was featured on the group's eighth studio album, The Game (1980). It was a worldwide hit, charting at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, from 4 October to 18 October (being their second and final number one single in the country). The song spent 15 weeks in the Billboard top 10 (the longest running top ten song of 1980), including 13 weeks in the top five, and 31 weeks total on the chart (more than any other song in 1980). It reached number two on the Hot Soul Singles chart and the Disco Top 100 chart, and number seven on the UK Singles Chart. This version was ranked at number 34 on Billboard's All-Time Top Songs.
The song won an American Music Award for Favorite Rock Single and also garnered a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song has also featured at sports events.
History
John Deacon's bass line was inspired by "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, produced by Reinhold Mack at Musicland Studios in Munich, consisted of Deacon playing almost all instruments: bass guitar, piano, electric guitar and handclaps. Roger Taylor added a drum loop and Brian May contributed depth to music with his guitar and an Eventide Harmonizer. There are no synthesisers in the song: all effects are created by piano, electric guitars and drums, with subsequent tape playback performed in reverse at various speeds. Finally, 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. 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. 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.
At the 1981 American Music Awards on 30 January, "Another One Bites the Dust" won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single. It lost to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind". The song also appears in Queen's Greatest Hits album in 1981.
To "bite the dust" means to die or to lose in a contest or game. The beginning lyrics set up a scene similar to a mobster movie, with "machine guns ready to go". Later lyrics refer to a failed relationship as "another one bites the dust". The singer is not going to let it get him down, "standing on my own two feet". The song was used in a preliminary cut of Rocky III, before being replaced by Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". "When one of my idols, Brian May, attended one of our shows in Los Angeles in 1984, he brought up that subject", recalled Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan, to whom Sylvester Stallone had supplied a copy of the film. "I offered to send him a copy of the tape, which I still own." Record World said that "a brutal bass conspires with the sing-along hook on this thoroughly contagious [song]." Classic Rock History critic Millie Zeiler rated it John Deacon's 2nd best Queen song.
Alleged backward masking
In the early 1980s, "Another One Bites the Dust" was one of many popular rock songs that some 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. The song does, however, contain a backmasked piano, which can be heard clearly when it is played backward.
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). A study evaluating CPR chest compression rates in veterinarians and registered veterinary nurses found that Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" helped improve the accuracy of compression rates. When used as an auditory aid, the song resulted in a significantly higher number of participants achieving the correct rate of 100–120 compressions per minute, outperforming other aids like the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive". However, the content of the lyrics was not considered "quite as appropriate".
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals
- Brian May – electric guitar
- Roger Taylor – drums
- John Deacon – bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, percussion
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Original release
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1980–1981)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report)
|5
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|France (IFOP)
|24
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Israel
|1
|-
!scope="row" |Italy (Musica e Dischi)
|10
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|South Africa (Springbok Radio)
|3
|-
!scope="row"|Spain (AFYVE)
|1
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100
|1
|-
!scope="row"|US Hot Disco Singles (Billboard)
|1
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
!Chart (2018–2019)
!Position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Canada (Hot Canadian Digital Songs)
|19
|-
|-
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
!Chart (2021–2022)
!Position
|-
|}
Reissues
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (2003)
!Position
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (2011)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Back Catalogue Singles Flanders)
|13
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1980)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report)
|72
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)
|69
|-
!scope="row"|Canada Top Singles (RPM)
|33
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
|92
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
|68
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)
|38
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles (Gallup)
|97
|-
!scope="row"|US Cash Box Top 100
|1
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1981)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report)
|65
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100
|65
|-
!scope="row"|West Germany (Official German Charts)
|71
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (2018)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)
|75
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (2019)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)
|17
|}