Sheer Heart Attack (song)
| "Sheer Heart Attack" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| A-side | "Spread Your Wings" |
"Sheer Heart Attack" is a song by the British rock band Queen, originally released on their sixth studio album News of the World in 1977. It is one of only two songs on the album entirely written by Roger Taylor.
Background
"Sheer Heart Attack" is one of Queen's heaviest songs. It was originally written for Sheer Heart Attack in 1974, but was not included on the album for several reasons. The song was finished for News Of The World in 1977.
Roger Taylor plays almost every instrument on the finished track, with some help from Brian May on guitar. This is one of the few Queen recordings that does not feature bassist John Deacon.
The song was the B-side of the Deacon-penned single "Spread Your Wings" in February 1978. It was also the B-side of the single "It's Late", written by May, which was released only in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Japan in April 1978.
Live performances
The song was first performed live in 1977. It was usually performed in some sort of medley, and is the only Queen song for which drummer Taylor would perform lead vocals on stage. It has been released on three live albums: Live Killers in 1979, Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl in 2004 and Queen Rock Montreal in 2007.
Comments
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[“Sheer Heart Attack”] was written in essence, not completely, wasn’t finished at the time of recording Sheer Heart Attack, but really we didn’t have room, and it wasn’t quite finished and for a number of reasons it didn’t get on. But now, it lives again, and actually I’m quite pleased with it. It’s really pure energy, and it’s one of my contributions to News of the World.
— Roger Taylor, 1977
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We came up with the title for the Sheer Heart Attack album, and it was a song that I had an idea for, but I hadn't actually finished the song, yet. By the time I had finished the song, we were two albums later, so it just struggled out on the News of the World album. It's quite interesting, because we were making an album next-door to a punk band, the Sex Pistols, and it really fit into that punk explosion that was happening at the time, which was happening right then. It was actually better that it happened that it came out on the News of the World album.
— Roger Taylor, 1991
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
- Brian May - electric guitars
- Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, rhythm guitar, bass guitar
