Scandal - Remastered 2011

This was written by Brian May and it was based on his problems with the British Press. In particular they had upset him with their comments on his divorce and relationship with the actress Anita Dobson.

In an interview with the video magazine Hard 'N' Heavy (1989, Volume 3), May confirmed it was the antics of the British tabloid press which inspired this song: "It's something which has affected us, individually, as members of the group recently. It's very strange, 'cause we were fairly famous for a long time in England, you know the last 15 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... you've heard about what they did to Elton, you know? These stories about Elton, and everything, which he sued them for and got a million quid (NB. slang for pound) off 'em. You know, great. Well they did very similar things to me particularly, and to a certain extent to Roger, and Freddie also had been through it a little while before. But this thing is total... you know, steam in and destroy someone's life. They really are the scum of the earth. You can't exaggerate it too much."

Another inspiration for the song's brutal anti-press lyrics could have been the tabloid treatment of Freddie Mercury from 1986 onwards. In the Days of our Lives documentary, May and Taylor both spoke angrily about how paparazzi would hound Mercury, sticking cameras in the windows of his Garden Lodge house and trying to investigate his shopping for medicine. The irony being that the press were right in their speculation: Mercury was indeed seriously ill, but only chose to disclose it publicly just before he died in 1991. "We hid everything - I guess we lied! Because we were trying to protect him" admits May. Taylor noted that he would "say anything" to avoid exposing the truth, and slammed a Sun front page from 1987 showing Mercury, clearly looking very haggard and ill, emerging from the doctor's surgery. Given the circumstances it's no surprise that the song has such a strong ire.