Maps of Music

Innuendo (1991)

Where the lyrics of Innuendo take you, and where it was really made.

Freddie Mercury had been diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 and kept it from the public, yet this album was made during his illness and became the last Queen album released in his lifetime.

Key places

Recording at Mountain Studios, Montreux (1991)

Recording site Mountain Studios — The band moved its recording to Mountain Studios in Montreux after reporters kept bothering Mercury at his London home. The safer setting helped the band concentrate on the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Metropolis, London (1991)

Recording site Metropolis Studios — Metropolis in London is listed as a recording place for the album. The source does not give a specific session date for this studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Innuendo: fourteenth studio album by the British rock band Queen
• Released 4 February 1991 by Parlophone in the UK and Hollywood Records in the US
• Produced by David Richards and Queen
• Recorded between March 1989 and November 1990
• Peaked at number one in seven countries, including the UK
• Final Queen album released during Freddie Mercury's lifetime
• Mercury died 24 November 1991, nine months after release

Background

• Queen's previous album The Miracle came out in May 1989, and the band did not tour for it
• Mercury privately diagnosed HIV-positive in 1987; AIDS diagnosis not yet made public at the time of a BBC Radio 1 interview
• Rumours about his health spread from 1988, fed by visible weight loss
• Mercury chose not to speak publicly about his health
• The band aimed for a November or December 1990 release to catch the Christmas market
• Mercury's declining health pushed the release back to February 1991
• Band relocated to Mountain Studios in Montreux because reporters kept disturbing Mercury at his London home
• Early in recording the band decided all work would be credited to Queen as a whole
• In the US the album came out on Disney-owned Hollywood Records to gain more exposure there

Recording

• Recorded between March 1989 and November 1990
• Mountain Studios in Montreux used for recording, where a safer and quieter atmosphere helped the band focus
• Metropolis in London also listed as a recording place
• Stylistically seen as a return to Queen's mid-1970s bombastic rock and lavish production
• Producer David Richards handled synth-orchestra programming on the title track

Cover

• Cover designed by Queen and Richard Gray
• Booklets and single covers inspired by illustrations of 19th-century French artist Jean-Jacques Grandville

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).
• John Deacon (bass) joined in February 1971, completing the classic line-up.
• Mercury suggested the name "Queen".
• Early works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, later expanding into arena rock and pop rock.

Members

• Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano, 1970–1991, died 1991).
• Brian May (guitar, vocals, 1970–present).
• Roger Taylor (drums, vocals, 1970–present).
• John Deacon (bass, 1971–1997, retired).
• Paul Rodgers (vocals, 2004–2009) and Adam Lambert (vocals, 2011–present) toured as "Queen +".

Career

• First UK chart hit with Queen II (1974); international success with A Night at the Opera (1975) and "Bohemian Rhapsody", which topped the UK chart for nine weeks.
• News of the World (1977) contained "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", now sports anthems.
• Greatest Hits (1981) is the best-selling album in UK chart history.
• Live Aid performance (1985) is ranked among the greatest in rock history.
• Estimated record sales of 250–300 million, one of the world's best-selling music artists.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and the Polar Music Prize in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone wrote that Innuendo was the group's most playful top-to-bottom pile since The Game
• Eddy also wrote that there is no getting around the new album's craft, and that he suggested the band were finally satisfied with their lot in life
• Eddy added that the album is so lightweight it would be forgotten as soon as it ends
• People wrote that if this is cartoon rock and roll, at least it is good and brazenly cartoonish
• The Orange County Register called it a mixed bag
• The LA Times was surprised that the heart of the album is soft and sentimental, but said the sentimentality goes down well and that Queen had not forgotten how to rock

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's retrospective review said Innuendo was a fitting way to end one of rock's most successful careers
• In 2016 Ron Hart of Rolling Stone described it as Queen's last masterpiece, likening it to David Bowie's final album Blackstar
• In 2016 Classic Rock's Malcolm Dome ranked it as Queen's ninth greatest album
• Dome praised the brilliantly synthesised orchestrations of the title track

Records

• Peaked at number one in seven countries, including the UK
• Title single debuted at number one in the UK and spent one week at the top
• These Are the Days of Our Lives was the UK Christmas number one of 1991
• Ranked 94th greatest album of all time in a national 2006 BBC poll
• First released on vinyl in full, across 2 LPs, on 25 September 2015

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The video for These Are the Days of Our Lives was Mercury's last appearance in a video, and it ends with a whispered farewell to the camera.
• I'm Going Slightly Mad was started in Mercury's London kitchen, where he and his friend Peter Straker wrote outlandish lines through the night.
• Delilah was written for Mercury's favourite female calico cat, and Taylor later admitted he was not fond of the song.
• The flamenco interlude in Innuendo was played by Yes guitarist Steve Howe, who had come to visit the band.
• Elton John performed The Show Must Go On at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with the remaining members of Queen.
• Mercury did not speak publicly about his health, saying that he did not want to sell his music out of people's sympathy for him.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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