The Week in Queen (2)

When I was very young I owned a concert t-shirt from Queen's Hot Space Tour '82. I would have been about seven years old that summer, so clearly I did not actually acquire the garment at a stadium venue. In fact, I believe my dad won it playing a ball-toss game when the carnival came through town, and subsequently gave it to me. At the time I just thought it was cool to have a black rock and roll t-shirt, especially one repping a band I knew primarily from the song "Another One Bites the Dust" (and, of course, the Flash Gordon soundtrack).

It's funny how memory works. In the moment I thought the shirt was totally wicked and I wore it until it literally disintegrated. In retrospect, remembering the scratchy way it used to feel against my skin, I realize it was doubtless a bootleg repro made of the cheapest imaginable materials. Ah, kids are dumb.

On to the task at hand!

Monday: Queen-free! But I did hear Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" on the way home from the train station, and that easily took up the airtime slots of two or three potential songs off A Night at the Opera ("Bohemian Rhapsody" excluded, of course.)

Tuesday, 5:05 pm: "Bohemian Rhapsody" on 102.7 Jack FM while driving from the train station to daycare.

Wednesday, 6:15 pm: "Bohemian Rhapsody" on Big 100 FM, literally as soon as I started the car after getting off the train.

Thursday: Also Queen-free. I heard "Land of 1000 Dances" on the Crystal City Underground muzak system, though. Not at all a case of airwave timesharing, since that system plays golden oldies pretty much exclusively, and Queen doesn't fall into that category. "Land of 1000 Dances" simply never fails to make me happy.

Friday, 4:50 pm: "Another One Bites the Dust" on 102.7 Jack FM, once again just as soon as I started the car after getting off the train.

Saturday, 1:35 pm: "Another One Bites the Dust" on Sirius XM Classic Rewind while doing a bit of housecleaning

Sunday: Queen-free.