The justly forgotten superhero film Flash Gordon premiered this week in 1980 with a goofy plot and seriously great themes from Queen. The main theme, simply called “Flash,” even became a UK Top 10 hit as part of a thunderingly melodic, simply unforgettable soundtrack that couldn’t have been composed and performed by any other band.
Who else, really, would you call to score a movie about the fight by a football player and his friends (including a future 1980s-era James Bond named Timothy Dalton) to save Earth from the terrible machinations of a fu manchu-sporting overlord from the fluorescent world of Mongo? The included movie dialogue on “Flash” is all you ever need to know about the film itself, an unwatchable bit of B-movie sci-fi schlock that isn’t even saved by the presence of Max Von Sydow as Ming (no kidding) the Merciless.
Welcome distraction is provided by Queen, who always possessed an outsized sense of pop proportion: Who can forget that thudding bass line, as Brian May, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury sing our hero’s name like a spark of ozone? Their themes for Flash Gordon work seamlessly within the movie itself, creating a over-the-top aural landscape that bolsters a frankly ridiculous script.
“Flash” is the best of them all. Composed by May, the song again incorporates the synthesized modern sound of their uneven project of the year before, The Game – because it was, in fact, recorded simultaneously. You could argue that Queen’s Flash Gordon soundtrack boasts a fizzier creativity, despite the fact that all but two of the tracks are instrumentals.
Paste “Under Pressure” on the back of this project, as Queen did with 1982’s Hot Space, and it might be the better album — if only for the way the Flash Gordon soundtrack mirrors its subject’s story arc, from the title track to Queen’s heavy-metal howl on “Battle Theme.” Well, and the fact that it sounds like they are having a whole lot more fun.
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