Body Language - Remastered 2011

This song is blatantly about sex, featuring lots of groaning by Freddie Mercury and a video that was so racy that MTV wouldn't play it. The song was quite a departure for Queen, as it contained very little guitar and a disco feel. Queen was always experimenting with different sounds, but this was a pretty drastic departure even by their standards.

This song appeared to be a source of contention within the band, as were the bulk of the Hot Space album recording sessions. Freddie Mercury had recently hooked up with a new assistant, Paul Prenter, who was putting pressure on Freddie to cut loose from the rest of the band and radically change his sound. He was generally cited as a bad influence on Freddie, and later leaked controversial stories about Freddie's love life to the press. Roger Taylor summed it up in the Days of our Lives documentary: "He wanted our music to sound like you had just walked into a gay club. And I didn't!" Also in the documentary, a lot was made of the debauchery surrounding the sessions - producer Mack and roadie Peter "Ratty" Hince both hinted that drugs, drink and loose women were involved, and Brian May went as far to say, "we all got into deep emotional trouble in Munich - Freddie more so." Such a debauched attitude surely contributed to the sleazy feel both musically and lyrically of "Body Language."

The more disco-orientated sound on Hot Space, and particularly this song, did not go down well with hardcore Queen fans, with the new songs sometimes being booed at concerts - some went as far as making signs saying "Disco Sucks!" Freddie Mercury hinted at this negative reaction during a 1982 Milton Keynes show that is seen on the On Fire: Live At The Bowl DVD. He announces: "We're gonna do some songs in the funk, black category - whatever you call it" before dismissing the haters - "I mean it's only a bloody record, people get so excited about these things!"