The Fairy POLLers Master-Stroke: The ILX Queen Poll Results Thread (#68 in a series)

here we go.
http://www.rirocks.net/images/queen-vintage-logo.jpg

let's kick things off with the albums.

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/album_review/edda0d398f511281ef2435304403da7c29057c14.png
1 vote

http://www.rockmusic.org/queen/discografia/queen/caratulas/A_Day_At_The_Races.jpg
1 vote

http://allmusic.galeon.com/caratulas/q/queen_-_a_night_at_the_opera-front.jpg
3 votes

http://www.official-kornucopia.com/img/Album_Covers/Queen_-_Queen_II_-_Album_Cover.jpg
6 votes

and here it is, your no. 1 Queen album:
http://dvfnvgxhycwzf.cloudfront.net/media/ArticleSharedImage/imageFull/.fn2k-N2T/ArticleSharedImage-15930.jpg
7 votes

yay!

never noticed those little bicycles on the bottom of the Jazz sleeve. how cool!

Sheer Heart Attack totally deserved to win that. Queen II may be the dedicated fan favourite, and A Night At The Opera may be the "classic", but when it comes to the crunch I think Sheer Heart Attack is a stronger record than both.

Anyway, bring on the results! :D \o/

now for our tracks. as mentioned previously, the rollout will comprise of 39 tracks in honour of the song that takes that number for its title.

22 ballots were received, an impressive 105 songs were nominated.

Def agree with you Turrican, and always have really. SHA was my first Queen record, and still my fave. Queen II has also always been my pet favorite, even tho I think SHA (and in truth Night at the Opera) are better. Actually, Queen II and Jazz are probably about the same for me, quality-wise, just very different characters.

By the way, who voted Jazz as their favourite Queen album? Whoever it was, much respect... I've always thought that was one of Queen's most underrated albums.

a nice tune to start proceedings, i think:

https://queenphotos.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/during-the-shooting-of-spread-your-wings-and-we-will-rock-you-videos-in-roger_s-garden-january-1978-by-peter-hince.png
39. Spread Your Wings
News Of The World, 1977
87 points (5 votes)

'Spread Your Wings' is undoubtedly one of my highlights of the News Of The World album, and I've always been surprised at how badly this did on the UK chart. It only peaked at #34 on the UK chart after coming off a #2 hit with 'We Are The Champions', which completely ruled it out for inclusion on the Greatest Hits compilation. A seriously underrated single.

one of my votes. interestingly, it pipped Get Down, Make Love for the 39th spot, which as we all know appeared on the same album.

Always liked this song, though perhaps ironically? I remember tossing "Sammy was low" back and forth with my friends in high school, as a sort of joke about how ridiculous the line was, but also how in earnest it was (and John Deacon's songs in general). And I will now cop to not including any of his tunes in my ballot. Sorry JD :(

Yeah, this was on my ballot too... it was one of those that was there from the beginning from the first draft to the last, actually. I like 'Get Down, Make Love' too, but nowhere near as much as this!

http://cdn1.knowyourmobile.com/sites/knowyourmobilecom/files/9/39/queen-making-of-i-want-it-all-video.jpg
38. I Want It All
The Miracle, 1989
88 points (5 votes)

this was actually one of the first Queen songs i heard and loved (my older brother owned The Miracle on cassette).

YES! \o/ Another one that I voted for! I like to think that if it hadn't been for Freddie's unfortunate health problems, this could have ended up becoming a big Queen live staple. I just imagine 'I Want It All' going down a storm in front of thousands of people in the same way a lot of their other big live songs.

listening to it now - the vocals sound fantastic.

I prefer the way the single version starts, with the vocals before the drums kick in, but the album version has the longer guitar solo!

The Invisible Man follows I Want It All nicely in the album's sequence. it's cool how they namecheck each other throughout that song. R-r-roger Taylooor!

Back to Spread Your Wings: John's bass line is terrific rhythmically and melodically, Roger Taylor is clearly following him and the piano. Deacy's also the only member of the band who seems to be having any fun in the freezing-their-tits-off video.

The Invisible Man follows I Want It All nicely in the album's sequence. it's cool how they namecheck each other throughout that song. R-r-roger Taylooor!

― charlie h, Wednesday, September 23, 2015 2:09 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I love those parts... "Rrrrrroger Taylor" expressed with a roll on the R, as in "drum rolls", and Brian May repeated twice because of his trademark delay lines! "Brian May! Brian May!"

http://spd.fotolog.com/photo/29/28/94/david_queen54/1204752498_f.jpg
37. Jealousy
Jazz, 1978
91 points (4 votes)

i think that video for Spread Your Wings may have been shot in Roger's garden.

'Jealousy' was one of those that was on the first draft of my ballot and I think I ended up dropping it at the last moment, which is something I really didn't want to do because it's one of my favourites on Jazz, and I think it gets overlooked a great deal.

I love this song. One (of many) examples of Queen writing songs that were not over the top, and captured real emotions with sophistication and grace.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tM5_AWdw_3s/VKwDPVr7M6I/AAAAAAAAXuA/sFScakzay3s/s1600/1511622_295500470611413_2061614542406130843_n.jpg
36. Flick Of The Wrist
Sheer Heart Attack, 1974
94 points (4 votes)

xpost:

I love the buzzy sitar-like sound that Brian gets out of his guitar on 'Jealousy' - it's kinda a reprise of the sound he got on 'White Queen (As It Began)' but I think it works better here!

Ah, 'Flick Of The Wrist'! I love it, although I didn't vote for it - the main reason being that I have such a hard time seeing 'Flick Of The Wrist' as a "standalone" track, even though I think a standalone version did make it onto a B-side? For me, the track is at its most potent when taken as part of a suite along with 'Tenement Funster' and 'Lily Of The Valley' ... the segue between 'Tenement Funster' and 'Flick Of The Wrist' is one of my favourite moments of the Sheet Heart Attack album, and I think the impact of the segue is completely lost when 'Flick Of The Wrist' is listened to in isolation.

x-post: It is in fact the same (cheap acoustic) guitar.

If 'Tenement Funster/Flick Of The Wrist/Lily Of The Valley' could have been voted for as one track, I probably would have voted for it... but, as I said, if we were to allow things like that, then I guess people would argue that side 2 of Queen II should be voted for as one track also.

yeah, agreed Dominique re. Jealousy. Queen really were adept at leveraging very sincere, tender emotion through the vehicle of wonderful, expressive vocals & the restrained arrangements that such emotion called for.

Flick of the Wrist is a good example of Roger and John failing to gel as a rhythm section -- simple drums, bass part busy but with space left for the groove, and they just can't get a feel together. A really good example of everyone following Roger coming in too late around "squeeze you 'til you've dried". Coulda been a contender.

i voted Flick Of The Wrist very high on my ballot. love that playful menacing romp through the verses (and May's playing throughout the whole song).

http://www.ultimatequeen.co.uk/queen/gallery/singles-1/keep-yourself-alive-portugal7front.jpg
35. Keep Yourself Alive
Queen, 1973
99 points (5 votes)

Yeah, 'Flick Of The Wrist' has some great playing from May on it. I love it how this is essentially the prequel to 'Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)', it's one of Freddie's "pissed off with the music business" songs.

xpost

Of that group, I took Tenement Funster, and do think it's the easiest to take on its own, apart from the medley. But yeah, those songs are part of a group in my mind.

yeah, i did sense a bit of venom from Freddie on Flick Of The Wrist, without actually knowing if it was genuine or not.

as for Keep Yourself Alive: a fantastic, historic song.

YES! 'Keep Yourself Alive' was one of those songs that, like 'Jealousy', was on the first draft of my ballot and I ended up dropping it at the last moment. I absolutely love this song... the buzzy intro, the guitar solo (which I think John Peel actually thought was a synthesizer, hence why they put the "No Synths" messages on their albums) - there's an interesting use of chords in the track, too.

Also: "Do you think you're better every day? No I think that I'm two steps nearer to my grave" - da da Da dA Da dA Da dA Da dA Da DA DA!

When I heard the debut album for the first time, it was surprising to hear Queen with relatively lower production values, but over time I've actually come to enjoy the way the record sounds.

our first song to hit 100 points:

https://queenphotos.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/the-game-tour-1980.jpg
34. Dragon Attack
The Game, 1980
100 points (5 votes)

By the way, who voted Jazz as their favourite Queen album? Whoever it was, much respect... I've always thought that was one of Queen's most underrated albums.

― Turrican, Wednesday, September 23, 2015 9:30 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it was me! i'm partial to the late '70s stuff so it was between that and News Of The World for me.

i nearly voted for "Spread Your Wings" and "Dragon Attack," glad to see they made it, bummed to hear that it was at the expense of "Get Down, Make Love"

xpost:

First song to hit over 100 points and also the first song that I either didn't vote for or wasn't in contention for my ballot. I enjoy 'Dragon Attack' whenever I hear it and I think it's okay, but not really anything more than that. I think there's far superior Queen songs in this kind of vein.

yeah but what about the RAK and Jack Ben remix??

Yeah, Dragon Attack is almost the worst of Queen for me -- one not very interesting riff repeated infinitely, Taylor thumping on cardboard lazily and groovelessly, Deacy getting nervous and clamming on his bass solo IN THE STUDIO, dumb lyrics about nothing -- if Freddie were out-of-tune and histrionic I would take the "almost" out, but the vocals are good.

Sorry I did mine backwards and bolder the ones that placed. D'oh.

Fav album...queen 2

Also thanks to charlie h for running the poll, it got me into the band again in a big way.

Let Me Entertain you is a good one!

For reals. I just bought some of the 2011 remasters thanks to him.

people always have different ideas about whether to bold songs that placed or didn't place. i have a preference but opinions are too mixed for there to be a 'right' or 'wrong' really.

tracks

killer queen
ogre battle
you don’t fool me
don’t stop me now
brighton rock
stone cold crazy
somebody to love
bicycle race
we will rock you
we are the champions
flash’s theme
seven seas of rhye
you’re my best friend
she makes me
mustapha
fat bottomed girls
the show must go on
one vision
i want it all
a kind of magic

album - sheer heart attack

I'm curious as to how many voted for one of We Will Rock You/Champions and not the other. Same with Bicycle and Fat Bottomed

Somebody to Love
Bohemian Rhapsody
Under Pressure
Now I'm Here
Sheer Heart Attack
All Dead, All Dead
Get Down, Make Love
Don't Stop Me Now
Jealousy
The Prophet's Song
You're My Best Friend
'39
Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)
Another One Bites the Dust
Dead On Time
Killer Queen
It's Late
Who Needs You
Play the Game
March of the Black Queen

Awesome poll with nice surprises throughout and a very, very distinguished selection of songs.
Also thanks charlie h for running this thing and everyone chiming in with commentary. My contribution:

Favourite album - A Day At The Races

Greatest tracks

1 Somebody To Love
2 Under Pressure
3 Father To Son
4 Jealousy
5 We Are The Champions
6 Don't Stop Me Now
7 It's A Hard Life
8 She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)
9 Play The Game
10 Spread Your Wings
11 Innuendo
12 Sail Away Sweet Sister
13 My Melancholy Blues
14 The Show Must Go On
15 Drowse
16 Liar
17 Was It All Worth It
18 Back Chat
19 You Don’t Fool Me
20 The Night Comes Down

Most interesting for me, besides the placing of Death On Two Legs: the universal love for The Prophet's Song. Had no idea it is held in such high regard.

Funnily enough, it was playing at an obscene volume in a Kebab shop I drunkenly stumbled into many years ago. A very surreal Queen moment.

Yeah its one of those things where you feel like it's only you that are really into these songs as a favorite and find out you have a commonality amongst the diehards.

I was certain Two Legs was out once we got to the top 8 or so.

Yeah, I had similar thoughts about 'Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)' once we moved into the Top 10 or thereabouts. I'm still finding it incredible that 'Hammer To Fall', 'I Want To Break Free' or 'Radio Ga Ga' never placed within the Top 39!

Jazz - 5
News Of The World - 5
Queen II - 5
Sheer Heart Attack - 5
A Night At The Opera - 4
The Game - 4
A Day At The Races - 2
Hot Space - 2
Innuendo - 2
Flash Gordon - 1
Queen - 2
The Miracle - 1
The Works - 1
A Kind Of Magic - 0

― mike t-diva, Saturday, September 26, 2015 11:57 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i had to go and add up the total track points for each because it's such an interesting example of how people's favorite albums and favorite individual tracks don't always line up very cleanly:

1. A Night At The Opera – 1201
2. Sheer Heart Attack – 997
3. Queen II – 878
4. Jazz – 766
5. News Of The World – 608
6. The Game – 521
7. Hot Space – 490
8. A Day At The Races – 438
9. Innuendo – 409
10. Queen – 264
11. Flash Gordon – 141
12. The Works – 106
13. The Miracle – 88

i was starting to get worried that this poll would understate the pure pop pleasure of Queen's hits, so i'm pretty happy at how well "Somebody To Love" and "You're My Best Friend" did. god, these harmonies. obviously there were plenty of pop/rock groups doing impressive harmonies in the 60s and early 70s, but was any single vocalist stacking their own voice on top of itself anywhere near as ambitiously as Freddie before Queen came along? I can't really think of anybody.

Not really -- they were super influenced by the Beach Boys and Beatles as far as recording in general, and the Beach Boys are the only real precedent I can think of that even comes close, as far as overdubbing vocal tracks. Thinking specifically of things like Heroes and Villians, Good Vibrations, Pet Sounds as a whole, etc

Songwriting wise, it breaks down like this:

Freddie - 18
Brian - 11
"credited to Queen" or "Queen/David Bowie" - 5
John - 4
Roger - 1

The thing about the songs that are credited to the whole band is that sometimes it's clear who actually wrote the song, and sometimes it's unclear. I mean, 'I Want It All' is definitely a Brian May song that ended up being credited to the whole band, because that's what they were doing at the time. 'Stone Cold Crazy' is an early example of the song being credited to the whole band, but it's said that the song was actually an old Freddie Mercury song from one of his previous bands.

'The Show Must Go On' was a collaborative effort - John Deacon and Roger Taylor came up with the initial chord sequence, but it was Brian May that jumped upon the chord progression and decided to write a song around it and work on the song further, and the lyrics were co-written between him and Freddie.

'Innuendo' was also a true collaborative effort - the first part of the song with the bolero rhythm developed out of a jam session between Brian, John and Roger, and then Freddie came up with the vocal melody and collaborated on the lyrics with Roger. The middle section is apparently 100% Freddie, but I can't think of anyone else in the band who would have or could have written that part.

'Under Pressure' is a bit of a sketchy one - the band were apparently working on a song called 'Feel Like', which was written by Roger, and a couple of musical elements of 'Feel Like' did indeed end up in 'Under Pressure', but they felt like the song wasn't happening. In the meantime, Bowie came over to jam and at some point the bass riff was created and there are different stories regarding who actually came up with the riff - Deacon once said Bowie had written it, Brian and Roger said that Deacon had written it, Bowie said that he had nothing to do with it and it was already written before he had anything to do with the track. The rest of the track was apparently pulled together by Freddie and Bowie. Brian May has said that he "backed off" a little during the creation of 'Under Pressure', which he said was difficult for him.

Here's what 'Feel Like' sounded like, written by Roger... you had hear one of the main chord progressions of 'Under Pressure' in there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2g5cdDlbXs

Or in short...

Roger's initial chord sequence + Deacon's bass riff + Freddie & Bowie's lyrics/melody/additional parts = 'Under Pressure'

i was starting to get worried that this poll would understate the pure pop pleasure of Queen's hits, so i'm pretty happy at how well "Somebody To Love" and "You're My Best Friend" did. god, these harmonies. obviously there were plenty of pop/rock groups doing impressive harmonies in the 60s and early 70s, but was any single vocalist stacking their own voice on top of itself anywhere near as ambitiously as Freddie before Queen came along? I can't really think of anybody.

― some dude, Saturday, September 26, 2015 11:00 PM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

heh when I was a kid I remember thinking they hired choirs to back Freddie up because the vocals sounded so massive. the Beach Boys used layering to get a fuller, richer sound, but never really sounded like a choir.

(not that they were supposed to - I just think Queen used the layering technique for different aims, to add an additional layer of pomp)

always loved how May used his guitar like a mini-orchestra. I mean in the 70s, guitar harmonies were obviously a thing, but bands often just added one harmony note to the riff to accentuate the main riff, whereas May would sometimes add three or four parts to harmonize in the guitar and use the harmonies to act as a kind of loud, electric string section.

"Processional" a great example of this from II of course.

I'm curious as to how many voted for one of We Will Rock You/Champions and not the other. Same with Bicycle and Fat Bottomed

― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, September 26, 2015 12:59 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i voted for "We Will Rock You" but probably would've made room for "We Are The Champions" if the ballots were a little longer. the texture of the guitar on "Rock You" is just too good, i never get tired of it as much as i hear the song. i saw Fall Out Boy live last year and an unexpected highlight of the show was Patrick Stump rising out of the stage playing a piano and singing "Champions" -- really one of the few contemporary frontmen who can remotely pull off a Queen song.

"Bicycle Race" has never really registered with me, it's probably the song on the US greatest hits that i'm least likely to encounter if i'm not listening to that comp or its parent album. but hearing it this week it's really better than i ever gave it credit for, even if it's still kind of slight and nowhere near as amazing as "Fat Bottomed Girls."

yeah between the two I prefer Rock You tho I do like Champions, just have grown more tired of it.

being a sports fan I think hearing Rock You in the wrong context for many years ruined it for a little while for me, but that percussion and melody alone are classic (presumably the song was written in response to them coming out for an encore and having the audience sing "You'll Never WAlk Alone" to them and them being blown away by that).

thanks for the kind words, guys. this poll had a small but truly dedicated following, which i am thankful for.

so here is a list of the results to make things more manageable for those referencing this thread in the future:

39. Spread Your Wings
38. I Want It All
37. Jealousy
36. Flick Of The Wrist
35. Keep Yourself Alive
34. Dragon Attack
33. Back Chat
32. It's A Hard Life
31. We Are The Champions
=29. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
=29. White Queen (As It Began)
28. Mustapha
27. You Take My Breath Away
26. All Dead, All Dead
25. Sheer Heart Attack
24. Now I'm Here
23. Flash's Theme
22. Father To Son
21. We Will Rock You
20. Fat Bottomed Girls
19. Liar
18. Bicycle Race
17. Ogre Battle
16. Play The Game
=14. Brighton Rock
=14. Innuendo
13. Seven Seas Of Rhye
12. Don't Stop Me Now
11. The Show Must Go On
10. Another One Bites The Dust
9. The March Of The Black Queen
8. You're My Best Friend
7. Stone Cold Crazy
6. Bohemian Rhapsody
5. The Prophet's Song
4. Killer Queen
3. Somebody To Love
2. Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)
1. Under Pressure

i'm not especially keen on placing emphasis on the songs that didn't make the rollout, but since you're probably curious & we've had a bit of time to celebrate the real winners, here's a list of some of the songs that narrowly missed the cut (and their respective placings).

40. Get Down, Make Love (86 points, 4 votes)
41. '39 (82 points, 5 votes)
=42. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (80 points, 4 votes)
=42. The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (80 points, 4 votes) -- did anyone know that this song took its name from a painting?
44. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos) (78 points, 3 votes)
45. Sail Away Sweet Sister (75 points, 4 votes)
=46. Hammer To Fall (69 points, 4 votes)
=46. In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited (69 points, 3 votes)
48. Radio Ga Ga (67 points, 4 votes)
49. Tie Your Mother Down (64 points, 3 votes)
50. Sweet Lady (63 points, 3 votes)

1. Under Pressure
*2. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)*
3. You Take My Breath Away
*4. In the Lap of the Gods . . . Revisited* (I wonder if anyone voted for the pitched-down vocal song meaning to vote for the whoa-whoa-la-la-la song. I almost voted for both.)
5. Stone Cold Crazy
*6. Son and Daughter*
7. Brighton Rock
8. Another One Bites the Dust
9. Father to Son
10. Bicycle Race
11. The Prophet's Song
12. Don't Stop Me Now
13. Spread Your Wings
14. White Queen (As It Began)
15. Fat Bottomed Girls
16. The March of the Black Queen
17. All Dead, All Dead
*18. The Millionaire Waltz*
*19. Great King Rat*
20. Mustapha

I voted Under Pressure as number one -- as you can tell by my list, I like the serious earnest side of Queen the most; I also think that Bowie not phoning it in resulted in Queen also not phoning it in when the era of Queen phoning it in had arrived. Also Freddie playing rhythm piano always always resulted in better drumming from Roger. There is also something fascinating about two of the most mannered singers in rock music each doing their thing and sounding absolutely 0% phoney baloney.

Yay! Another voter for 'Son and Daughter'! Definitely one of my highlights of the first Queen album... I love that greasy riff.

I had myself a quick listen to The Miracle earlier this morning, still think the title track, 'Scandal', 'Breakthru' and 'Was It All Worth It' are all incredibly underrated.

Yes, I had never even heard that record until this poll, and the title track from the Miracle is incredible -- would have voted for it had I heard it, like, anytime prior to now.

The thing about the The Miracle is that it undoubtedly begins with not only one of the worst opening tracks on Queen album, but probably one of the worst tracks in their entire discography: 'Party', although I have a soft spot for 'Khashoggi's Ship', the song that it slides into... particularly the bit where Freddie is all like "I SAID KISS MY ASS, HONEY!" ... I'm not really a massive fan of 'My Baby Does Me', either, but 'Rain Must Fall' has grown on me quite a lot... the melody is quite George Michael, I think.

The rest of The Miracle, though, is sublime IMO... it's fitting that about half the album ended up being released as a single.

listening to Innuendo for the first time now. striking me as a bit bland so far other than the title track and "Don't Try so Hard", which is gorgeous. hate the production, but Freddie sounds really good.

feel like May's impact is muted by generic big 80's guitar production

is it my imagination or is Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy a genuinely amazing song that was very unlucky not to place?

No, you're absolutely right. Especially regarding the high placing of You're My Best Friend (in my mind pretty much the ANATO-counterpart of Lover Boy somehow) or Killer Queen.

The 'Dining at the Ritz..." counting segment is genuinely amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsS74PtwW0k

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy was on my short list, and I've always liked it. And yeah, I think had there been campaigning for it, it might have made the list (certainly I like it better than #39 "Spread Your Wings")

i think it's one of those rare songs that can lighten my spirits and make me smile irrespective of the mood i bring to it. and of course it's impeccably arranged and beautifully poised. the likes of Spread Your Wings does seem rather gravid and humourless in comparison.

14. (tied) Innuendo
Innuendo, 1991
176 points (6 votes, one number one)

Great results. And in particular, ^this is why I heart this board. And yeah, time for a Queen binge on Spotify.

Innuendo
Killer Queen
Under Pressure
The Show Must Go On
Somebody To Love
White Queen (As It Began)
The March of the Black Queen
Fat Bottomed Girls
Fight From The Inside
Another One Bites The Dust
Bohemian Rhapsody
Death on Two Legs
Seven Seas of Rhye
Dragon Attack
Save Me
Now I'm Here
Jesus
Let Me Live
Nevermore
I Want It All

'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' is one of those Queen songs that I don't mind listening to when it's on, but has never really been a favourite of mine. It's definitely nowhere near the quality of 'You're My Best Friend' to my mind.

Wow, my #1 "It's Late" didn't even place Top 50. BUMMER.

Like what the f tho

Dang, no "Body Language" or "Princes of the Universe" either.

Have had a busy few days, but here's my ballot:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Innuendo
3. Seven Seas of Rhye (Queen II version)
4. The Show Must Go On
5. Under Pressure
6. Brighton Rock
7. Father to Son
8. March of the Black Queen
9. Liar
10. Play the Game
11. It’s a Hard Life
12. Mustapha
13. Doing Alright
14. We Will Rock You (BBC session version - but happy for votes to be counted towards the News of the World version)
15. Backchat
16. Radio Ga Ga
17. Flash
18. Dancer
19. Now I’m Here
20. Dragon Attack
Album: Sheer Heart Attack

In hindsight, would probably remove Radio Ga Ga and Dragon Attack, and replace with a couple of tracks from the debut (Great King Rat, My Fairy King, or maybe Jesus). Looks like it wouldn't have made much of a difference to the top 39, though.

Did anyone else vote for Doing Alright? It's always been a favourite of mine. I love its mood swings, through the various gentle/plaintive sections and then the sudden bursting-in of May's guitar. Some might say they did something similar with a little more subtlety and majesty on White Queen (As it Began). But I still prefer the earlier track, perhaps because of its greater rawness.

Anyway, thanks so much to charlie h and everyone else for making this poll a ton of fun! The top 39 is a true fans' list, IMO. Death on Two Legs was the surprise package, but I can see why it did so well. It includes what's probably my favourite intro of any Queen song. And the rest of the track is oh-so-vicious. Love it!

I am also sad Princes didn't place. That said, great results. Probably one of the better ballot poll results I've seen here.

thanks Wordy! glad you enjoyed the poll.

billstevejim, your No. 1 vote for It's Late was almost enough to push it into the Top 50. but it only received one other vote for a total of 55 points.

elsewhere:
Body Language (46 points, two votes)
Princes Of The Universe (26 points, one vote)

glancing over the votes, A Kind Of Magic appears to be the worst performing album by far. top song was One Vision with two votes for 31 points. the well-known title track floundered with one vote for 12 points.

41. '39 (82 points, 5 votes)

so close.

'39 would have made my ballot and likely placed. Poop.

Let's do this Queen thing!. Ow!