News of the World by Queen

News of the World, Queen's sixth album, came out on 28 October 1977, on EMI in Britain and Elektra in America, and it's the sound of a band hearing punk rattle the gates and deciding to travel lighter. With punk stirring up a backlash against the grand, progressive gestures Queen had made their name on, they stripped the symphonic layers back and went for something quicker, rawer and more spontaneous. They made it at Sarm and Wessex Sound Studios in London, co-producing with engineer Mike Stone.

The bare, stomping "We Will Rock You" and the lead single "We Are the Champions", which went to number two at home and four in the States, have been played back to back on the radio ever since, and sports crowds adopted them as anthems. Reviewers were split at first over the change of direction; the album went to number three in America anyway, and its standing has only grown.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.