9 October 1989 – ‘Scandal’ / ‘My Life Has Been Saved’ single released by Parlophone in the UK 🇬🇧
The track ‘Scandal’ was written by Brian May for Queen’s thirteenth studio album ‘The Miracle.’
(As with all songs on ‘The Miracle,’ and onwards, authorship was credited to Queen)
The song is a painful yet true vicious attack on the tabloids of which Brian and Freddie were victims. They wouldn’t leave Brian alone during his divorce, publishing photos of him and Anita Dobson, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere especially for his children. They were constantly haggling Freddie while his health was slowly declining (the press was noticing every bloody detail including his weight loss and his appearance was making headlines)
The press is absolutely horrendous. 😞
“This is something from me, obviously. It’s very strange, ‘cause we were fairly famous for a long time in England, you know, the last fifteen years or whatever, but we didn’t become a prey to these kind of scummy papers until recently. And it’s not related to what you are doing, you know. They are not interested what music you play, or anything. They just want the dirt, and if they can’t find any they’ll invent it if they choose to pick on you. So we were all going through a lot of changes in our lives and suddenly it became a big problem, you know, in a similar way. The idea for this song happened in the studio, but thematically, it’s very close to all of our hearts – particularly Freddie and particularly me, and a little later, Roger, as we were pursued by the media to a destructive point. It was very painful, we did get very hurt – these paparazzi invading our lives. There’s money to be made trashing peoples’ lives in newspapers, and it’s probably never going to change in England. They really are the scum of the earth. You can’t exaggerate it too much.”
(Brian May)
It’s no wonder the band and Freddie particularly loathed interviews and the press!
The video was filmed at Pinewood Studios UK, directed by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher (the Torpedo Twins). It was strictly performance based: the band performing on a specially built stage designed to look like an enormous newspaper. The band didn’t care for the video as it had nothing to do with the seriousness of the song. It was lovely seeing Freddie in his element though! No matter the circumstances, Freddie continued with his psssion, making music and he let nothing interfere. A remarkable man through and through!
“I have kept the first take, as Freddie did for the vocals. In one evening, the song was finished, because we couldn’t do a better take.”
Brian May
👉 https://youtu.be/VMO3YNoNyTY
The B-Side is John Deacon’s beautiful track, ‘My Life Has Been Saved.’ It was recorded during ‘The Miracle’ sessions but unfortunately, it didn’t make the cut and was placed as the flip side of ‘Scandal.’
The track has beautiful keyboard work and a hardworking Brian on slide guitar. The song has a more moody, atmospheric appreciation for life and taking things in stride in a world of disarray and confusion.
It was released as a track on Queen’s fifteenth and final studio album, ‘Made In Heaven.’
