Album
The Works
The Works is Queen's eleventh studio album, released on 20 February 1984. It follows Hot Space (1982), whose heavy use of synthesisers had taken the band away from their guitar-driven sound. Here Brian May and Roger Taylor's rock instincts come back to the front, while Freddie Mercury's taste for early 1980s electronic music and John Deacon's interest in New York funk still find a place. It was recorded between August 1983 and January 1984 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and Musicland Studios in Munich, and the title comes from Taylor's remark as sessions began: "Let's give them the works!"
It is worth hearing as the record where Queen rebalanced their sound without abandoning what they had explored before. The reaction in the United States to the "I Want to Break Free" video led the band to skip a North American tour, and their US sales slipped, but the album did far better elsewhere, especially in Europe. It spent 94 weeks on the UK chart, the longest run of any Queen studio album, and has sold over six million copies worldwide.
The Works: tracklist, credits and charts
9 tracks · 37:14Tracklist
- 1Radio Ga GaRoger Taylor5:47
- 2Tear It UpBrian May3:26
- 3It’s a Hard LifeFreddie Mercury4:07
- 4Man on the ProwlFreddie Mercury3:25
- 5Machines (or ‘Back to Humans’)Brian May and Roger Taylor5:09
- 6I Want to Break FreeJohn Deacon3:20
- 7Keep Passing the Open WindowsFreddie Mercury5:21
- 8Hammer to FallBrian May4:26
- 9Is This the World We Created…?Brian May and Freddie Mercury2:13
- Produced by
- Mack, Queen, Reinhold Mack
- Recorded at
- Musicland Studios, The Record Plant, Record Plant (Los Angeles, California, US), Musicland (Munich, West Germany)
- Recorded
- August 1983 – January 1984
- Engineered by
- Mack, Mike Beiriger
- Labels
- EMI, Capitol
- Length
- 37:14
Line-up
- John Deacon · bass guitar, synthesizer, acoustic guitar
- Fred Mandel · sampler, synthesizer, piano, other instruments · guest
- Brian May · guitar, background vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Freddie Mercury · sampler, lead vocals, piano, background vocals, synthesizer
- Roger Taylor · drums (drum set), drum machine, sampler, vocoder, background vocals, tambourine, electronic drum set, analog synthesizer
- Mack · sampler · guest
Singles
- “Radio Ga Ga” · 23 January 1984
- “I Want to Break Free” · 2 April 1984
- “It's a Hard Life” · 16 July 1984
- “Hammer to Fall” · 10 September 1984
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1984 | 2 |
| US Billboard 200 · 1984 | 23 |
| Dutch Albums · 1984 | 1 |
| Austrian Albums · 1984 | 2 |
| European Top 100 Albums Chart · 1984 | 2 |
| Norwegian Albums · 1984 | 2 |
| German Albums · 1984 | 3 |
| Swedish Albums · 1984 | 3 |
| Swiss Albums · 1984 | 3 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi) · 1984 | 4 |
All 16 charts
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) · 1984 | 7 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 1984 | 7 |
| New Zealand Albums · 1984 | 9 |
| French Albums (SNEP) · 1984 | 14 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 1984 | 16 |
| Canadian Albums (RPM) · 1984 | 22 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia | Platinum |
| Austria | Platinum |
| Brazil · 1985 | Gold |
| Canada | Platinum |
| Denmark · 2022 | Gold |
| France · 1985 | Gold |
| Germany | Platinum |
| Italy | Gold |
| Netherlands | Gold |
| Poland · 2009 | Platinum |
| South Africa | 3× Gold |
| Spain · 1984 | Gold |
| Switzerland | Platinum |
| United Kingdom | Platinum |
| United States | Gold |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
77.1
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
16k
ListenBrainz listeners
178k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
1.1k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Also released on 20 February
Every year →
More from Queen
Full discography →
Queen
1973
Queen II
1974
Sheer Heart Attack
1974
A Night at the Opera
1975
A Day at the Races
1976
Queen’s First E.P.
1977
News of the World
1977
Jazz
1978
Live Killers
1979
The Game
1980
Flash Gordon
1980
Greatest Hits
1981
Hot Space
1982
A Kind of Magic
1986
Live Magic
1986
Hungarian Rhapsody: Live in Budapest
1987
The Miracle
1989
At the Beeb
1989
Innuendo
1991
Greatest Hits II
1991
Box of Tricks
1992
Classic Queen
1992
The 12″ Collection
1992
Live at Wembley ’86
1992
Five Live
1993
The Greatest 3
1995
Made in Heaven
1995
Queen Rocks
1997
The Crown Jewels: A 25th Anniversary Celebration
1998
Greatest Hits III
1999
Highlander
2000
Greatest Hits I, II & III: The Platinum Collection
2000
We Will Rock You
2002
Jewels
2004
We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan
2004
Queen on Fire: Live at the Bowl
2004
Stone Cold Classics
2006
The A–Z of Queen, Volume 1
2007
Rock Montreal
2007
The Singles Collection, Volume 1
2008
The Singles Collection, Volume 2
2009
Absolute Greatest
2009
The Singles Collection, Volume 3
2010
The Singles Collection, Volume 4
2010
Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (1973–1976)
2011
Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977–1982)
2011
Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (1984–1995)
2011
Icon
2013
Live at the Rainbow ’74
2014
Queen Forever
2014
A Night at the Odeon
2015
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack
2018
Riffs
2025
Pop
2025
Anthems
2025
Ballads
2025
The best of 1984
All of 1984 →
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Metallica · 1984
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Iron Maiden · 1984
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Pantera · 1984
The Warning
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Live Undead / Haunting the Chapel
Slayer · 1984
Live Undead
Slayer · 1984
Haunting the Chapel
Slayer · 1984
No Remorse
Motörhead · 1984
Prince of Darkness
Ozzy Osbourne · 1984
More on EMI
The label →
The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden · 1982
A Night at the Opera
Queen · 1975
Piece of Mind
Iron Maiden · 1983
Powerslave
Iron Maiden · 1984
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden · 1992
Hot Space
Queen · 1982
Somewhere in Time
Iron Maiden · 1986
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Iron Maiden · 1988
A Kind of Magic
Queen · 1986
13
Black Sabbath · 2013
Queen II
Queen · 1974
Dance of Death
Iron Maiden · 2003
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia 1984-02-20; musicbrainz + wikidata 1984-02-27 (7 days apart, likely another territory)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 27 February 1984 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 20 February 1984 | |
| Wikidata | 27 February 1984 | |
| US release | 1984 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 27 February 1984 | earliest UK or European date |
39 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | XE | EMI | 077774601627 | other |
| — | XE | Virgin EMI Records | 602527717661 | remaster |
| 1984 | FR | EMI | 5099924001410 | other |
| 1984 | JP | EMI | other | |
| 1984 | US | EMI | other | |
| 1984 | CA | Capitol Records | other | |
| 1984 | JP | EMI | other | |
| 1984 | GB | EMI | 5099924001410 | other |
| 27 February 1984 | GB | EMI | original | |
| 27 February 1984 | GB | EMI | original | |
| 27 February 1984 | GB | EMI | 077774601627 | original |
| 1986 | XE | EMI | 077774601627 | other |
| 1987 | US | Capitol Records | 07777460162 | other |
| 26 November 1991 | US | Hollywood Records | 720616123329 | other |
| 1994 | GB | Parlophone | 077778949824 | other |
| 1994 | XE | Parlophone | 077778949824 | other |
| 1994 | IT | Parlophone | 077778949824 | other |
| 25 February 2004 | JP | EMI | 4988006818200 | other |
| 13 April 2008 | ES | EMI | 8423793300218 | other |
| 30 December 2008 | PL | Agora SA | 9788375524345 | other |
| 2011 | ZA | Universal | 6009143480636 | remaster |
| 2011 | AR | Island | 602527717661 | other |
| 2011 | — | EMI | 00602527717661 | remaster |
| 5 September 2011 | — | EMI | 00602527717623 | remaster |
| 5 September 2011 | MX | EMI | 00602527577173 | other |
| 5 September 2011 | GB | Island | 602527717661 | remaster |
| 5 September 2011 | XE | Island | 602527717623 | remaster |
| 21 September 2011 | JP | Island | 4988005668868 | remaster |
| 21 September 2011 | JP | Island | 4988005668868 | remaster |
| 7 February 2012 | US | Hollywood Records | 050087250591 | other |
| 7 February 2012 | CA | Hollywood Records | 00050087250591 | remaster |
| 28 March 2012 | JP | Island | 4988005699961 | remaster |
| 2014 | — | EMI | 00602547024879 | other |
| 2014 | CA | Hollywood Records | 00050087318437 | deluxe |
| 2014 | CA | Hollywood Records | 00050087318444 | other |
| 17 October 2014 | — | EMI | 00602547025715 | deluxe |
| 25 September 2015 | XE | Virgin EMI Records | 602547202789 | other |
| 20 March 2019 | JP | Island | 4988031321850 | other |
| 29 September 2023 | CA | Hollywood Records | 00050087522087 | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25)
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1200×1200 | upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25) |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 800×800 | upscaled |