NEWS OF THE WORLD

Established classic rock acts were faced with the snarling, spitting challenge of punk in 1977. Some of them reacted better than others, and in my view Queen were one of the groups that reacted poorly, padding News of the World out with unenthusiastic and sloppy hard rock numbers clearly intended to give the band some tough guy credibility. We Will Rock You is one of the most moronic, repetitive, dull and dreary rock anthems I have ever heard, and it baffles me how anyone above the age of 11 manages to find any enjoyment in it at all. Sheer Heart Attack is an old song from, obviously, the Sheer Heart Attack sessions, which has transparently had a punkish guitar line superimposed over it in order to repurpose the song as a jab at punk.

Sandwiched between those is We Are the Champions, which like We Will Rock You is horribly overexposed, terminally cheesy, horrendously predictable and simplistic and overall really not that good. After three utter duds in a row like that, the album improves somewhat, meandering through unappealing pomp-rock and fey pop of the sort dabbled with on A Day At the Races. None of it is notable enough to forgive the horrible opening of the album, nor is it significant enough to really merit a place in the Queen canon. Quite simply, this is one the most inessential and skippable albums Queen would release in the 1970s.