A Day at the Races
Also named for a movie featuring the Marx Brothers, Queen’s next release, A Day at the Races, shot to number one in Japan and the UK, but managed to reach only number five in the American charts. In January 1977 the band launched another marathon tour, which included 41 shows in the United States. For the first time, Queen played before a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York. Other venues included Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium.
Queen was filling larger venues, and developing a staunch fan base in the United States, with many thrilled by Freddie’s camp performances and costumes, while others dismissed him as being too effeminate. In 1977 Queen released the album News of the World, and in the fall undertook another massive tour. The album reached number three in the American charts, and the single We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions climbed to number four.
For the rest of the decade and into the 1980s the pattern was retained, an album released followed by tours which featured Freddie’s enticing his audience to sing with him on some numbers, accompanied with huge light and pyrotechnic displays. In 1979 Queen finally achieved their first number one record in the United States with the single Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and Mercury began playing rhythm guitar onstage when the song was performed live.
They achieved a second number one single with the song Another One Bites the Dust in the fall of 1980, holding the top spot in the United States for three weeks. Both singles were included in the album The Game, and the airplay they received helped Queen achieve the number one album spot in the US charts, the only one of their albums to reach that plateau. A collaboration with David Bowie, Under Pressure, only managed to reach number 29 in the US in 1981.
Queen’s concert tours continued to be successful, playing to large crowds of their devoted fans, but 1980 was their peak in the United States in terms of chart success. Freddie Mercury continued to be controversial with some in the US, coy about his sexuality when asked, though often teasing in a manner which fed the discussion. Later in 1981 they released their first greatest hits album which, although the greatest selling album of all time in the UK, managed to reach only number 11 in the United States.