After hearing this song, I spent some of the sparse allowance money I got as a 9th grade kid and bought "The Game"--an album that, rumor had it, featured backwards masking that encouraged the kiddies to "smoke marijuana." I chose not to believe the rumor, bought the album, and listened to "Another One Bites the Dust" over and over and over and over.
There were other songs on the album worth listening to. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was a chart topper. And I enjoyed "Need Your Loving Tonight." The other songs were okay, but side two didn't get a lot of air time.
One reason I liked "Another One Bites the Dust" is because we used to play it after every 9th grade football game that we won. I think Coach Pratt made us turn it off on away games. But we'd play it on the bus afterwards. I think we either went undefeated or only lost one game that season.
It wasn't until my cousin Randy came to live with me that I discovered that the rumors were true. He showed me how to listen to the backward masking on "Another One Bites the Dust." And it did say "smoke marijuana" overlayed on top of "another one bites the dust." Because of all the crap I'd been through because of Randy's pot smoking habit, this backwards masking thing pissed me off to the point that I think I got rid of the record. I either threw it away or gave it to someone one who wanted it. By then, I'd become more of a Billy Joel fan, so I didn't buy anymore Queen albums. But I will admit that I must be a bigger Queen fan than I thought I was, because when I saw "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the theater, during a number of scenes I said to Julie, "That's not what really happened" or "Their timeline is off."
As a post-break up song, "Another One Bites the Dust" is about that moment when self-loathing gives way to being just plain pissed. How pissed? Pissed enough to call up Steve--an assassin-for-hire that likes to wear hats and loud shoes--to kill the formerly beloved with a machine gun.
Now, I'm NOT advocating violence against former lovers. The world already has one O. J. Simpson. It doesn't need any more. But I think this song does tap into a universal truth--nothing helps to heal a broken heart quite like fantasies of violent revenge.
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