Queen | Queen II | Sheer Heart Attack | A Night at the Opera | A Day at the Races | News of the World | Jazz
The Game | Hot Space | The Works | A Kind of Magic | The Miracle | Innuendo | Made in Heaven
- Channel Hop: This album saw Queen move away from Capitol Records in the US and sign with Hollywood Records in a bid for greater American exposure, following a decline in popularity in the region that spanned most of the '80s. Incidentally, Hollywood's distributor at the time, Elektra Records, had previously been Queen's first US label. Hollywood would gain the rights to Queen's full backlog as part of the deal, enabling a massive and comprehensive reissue campaign concurrently with Innuendo; they continue to hold the rights to this day.
- Creator Backlash: Roger Taylor later admitted he is not fond of "Delilah", stating "I hate "Delilah". That's just not me".
- Enforced Method Acting: Freddie Mercury wanted the guitar solo on "All God's People" to reflect the quiet desperation he was going for in the music, so he kept pestering Brian May until he annoyed him enough to get him to deliver a flawless solo. The producers and engineers were shocked at first, since Freddie was usually a diplomat, but when they finally saw what he was doing they understood he just wanted to encourage Brian to perform at his best.
- Nominal Coauthor: Like The Miracle before it, every song on Innuendo was credited to the full band regardless of who actually wrote it. Unlike The Miracle, no material on Innuendo was written by all four members at once; in fact, seven out of the album's twelve songs were written by just one member eachnote . The closest Innuendo gets to a full band composition is "The Hitman", which was penned by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and John Deacon, but not Roger Taylor.
- One-Take Wonder: Freddie Mercury was very ill when the band were to record "The Show Must Go On." Brian May recalled that before recording the take, he reportedly threw a shot back, famously exclaiming "I'll fucking do it, darling!" and did it in one go.
- Referenced by...: Countdown to Final Crisis sees Pied Piper play "The Show Must Go On" to destroy Apokolips and fend off Brother Eye.
- Refitted for Sequel: "All God's People" is a refitted outtake from the sessions for Freddie Mercury's opera album Barcelona, hence its heavy Classical Music leanings.
- Schedule Slip: The album was originally intended to be released in time for the 1990 holiday season. However, complications brought about by Freddie Mercury's failing health resulted in it being delayed by several months, instead coming out in February of 1991.
- Similarly Named Works: "The Show Must Go On" has no relation to the identically named Pink Floyd song from The Wall.
- Swan Song:
- "The Show Must Go On" is about Freddie Mercury facing death with dignity. When Brian May presented the demo to Freddie, he had doubts that the latter would be able to sing due to his illness at the time. When the time came to record the vocals, Mercury drank a measure of vodka and said "I'll fucking do it, darling!", then recorded it in one take.
- As far as music videos go, "These Are the Days of Our Lives" was the last time Freddie appeared. By this point, his illness had progressed to the point where he needed to stand in place, wear make-up, and have the video shot in monochrome in order to hide how gaunt and physically weak he had become, but he nonetheless delivered a stellar performance that belied his failing health.
- Tribute to Fido: "Delilah" is an ode to Freddie Mercury's favorite cat.
- What Could Have Been: "Headlong" and "I Can't Live With You" were originally intended for Brian May's solo debut Back to the Light, which was worked on concurrently with Innuendo, but came out the year after it. However, after his bandmates took a liking to the songs, they were instead recorded for this album, the latter in a more synth-heavy style. May would remix "I Can't Live With You" for the 1997 compilation Queen Rocks to bring it back to how he originally planned to record it.
- Working Title: "All God's People" was originally penned under the title "Africa by Night".
