10 September 1984 – Freddie Mercury released ‘Love Kills’ – This is his 1st solo single. It peaked at number 10 on the UK charts.
(It was released in the USA the next day, 11 September 1984)
Freddie was never one to remain inactive for very long, he started recording tracks for a proposed solo album shortly after the 1982 ‘Hot Space’ tour, with ‘Love Kills’ being one of the early survivors to make it past the demo stage. Initially, the song was submitted for Queen’s ‘The Works’ album but, after several unsuccessful attempts, it was discarded and set aside. Freddie recognized the songs potential and decided to work on the track further. It was later offered to Italian composer, Giorgio Moroder for the restored and updated version of the 1927 Fritz Lang film ‘Metropolis.’
How Moroder became involved in the writing of the song is uncertain. On the soundtrack to ‘Metropolis,’ a set of lyrics is printed that is completely different from the well-known version. Reportedly, when Moroder first asked Freddie to contribute to the song, he agreed but was displeased with the result and chose to rewrite it. This set of lyrics, though, sounds akin to the personal feel that Freddie had been going for and would later explore on his solo album, the finished lyrics also contain several of Freddie’s trademarks. But considering the song was practically finished before Moroder’s involvement, the extent of his contributions has remained a mystery. But, Peter Freestone later revealed that Freddie would play the song to Moroder over the telephone and that Moroder actually contributed considerably to the recording, justifying his co-credit.
Brian May later revealed (by way of Queen archivist Greg Brooks) that ‘Love Kills’ features Roger’s programmed drums and his guitar work, though he failed to mention if John contributed any bass, which sounds synthesized anyway. In essence, ‘Love Kills’ is almost a complete Queen recording, but since it was rejected and Freddie later turned it into something far greater than it had been, 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐭 100!
Source: “Queen – Complete Works” by Georg Purvis
The B-side, “Rotwang’s Party (Robot Dance)” was written and performed by Giorgio Moroder. Although used in his rendition of Metropolis, it was not included in the film’s soundtrack album.
