"The Invisible Man" is a song by the British rock band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, written by drummer

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

but credited to Queen. The song is sung mostly by

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

, with vocal contributions from Taylor. The song was released in August 1989 as the third single from the bands album '' The Miracle.'' Taylor claims that he got the inspiration to create the song while reading a book, and the bassline instantly came to his imagination. The song title was inspired by the

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

of the same name. This song contains a distinction whereby all four band members' names are mentioned in the lyrics. The first being

, followed by

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician, best known for being the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", " Another One Bit ...

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

's name is then said twice (just before his guitar solo starts), and while saying "Roger Taylor", the first "r" is rolled to emulate the drums at the end of the verse. Mercury's name is announced by Taylor, and the other three by Mercury.

Music video

In the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

called "The Invisible Man" plays a large part, as a young boy is playing a game while the band (all dressed in black), who are the "bad guys" and Freddie Mercury (is their boss in the game, since he's the one who wears a virtual reality googles, while the rest of the band didn't, but instead of them wearing virtual reality googles like Freddie Mercury, they wear black shades instead) enters the real world and perform the song in his room. As they perform, the boy tries to shoot them with the game controller. From time to time, Mercury appears in various places in the child's room, vanishing before the boy can shoot him with the video controller. After Mercury emerges from the child's closet with his band in tow, John Deacon removes his cowboy hat and throws it to the floor. In perhaps a futile attempt to emulate him, the boy removes his baseball cap, and dons the other. The screen then shows an image of the band in the game once more, Deacon without a hat, and the child walks underneath them, with a " Game Over" message appearing. A then-15-year-old

Danniella Westbrook Danniella Westbrook (born 5 November 1973) is an English actress, best known for originally playing Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' on and off from 1990 to 2000 and 2009 to 2016. Away from ''EastEnders'', she has presented var ...

, who joined

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'' the following year, appears in the video as the boy's sister. Freddie Mercury's eyewear and John Deacon's cowboy hat were also used in the cover of their next single "

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

Track listings

7" Single A Side. "The Invisible Man" (Album Version) - 3:57 B Side. "Hijack My Heart" - 4:11 12"/CD Single A Side. "The Invisible Man" (Extended Version) - 5:28 2/B1. "Hijack My Heart" - 4:11 3/B2. "The Invisible Man" (Album Version) - 3:57

Personnel

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, sampler,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

, co-lead vocals *

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

* David Richards -

sequencer Sequencer may refer to: Technology * Drum sequencer (controller), an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically * DNA sequencer, a machine used to automatically produce a sequence readout from a biological DNA sam ...

, programming

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

*
Lyrics at Queen official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Invisible Man, The 1989 songs 1989 singles Queen (band) songs Parlophone singles Songs written by Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) Capitol Records singles Hollywood Records singles Electro songs Electronic rock songs Songs about fictional male characters Music based on novels