One of the most popular transatlantic bands of the 1970s, Queen made two major errors in the 1980s. The first was the 1982 HOT SPACE; the second was an extremely ill-advised booking at Sun City, the all-white resort of apartheid-era South Africa. The combination effectively destroyed the band's career in the United States, and while they would remain popular around the world they would never again be considered a significant act in the highly lucrative American market.

HOT SPACE received incredibly savage reviews in 1982. Heard in isolation, it is hard to imagine why--but within the context of Queen's overall work it is easy to understand. Although Queen occasionally dabbled with dance-inflected music and even scored the occasional hit in that direction, it was best known as a highly eccentric hard rock band. But HOT SPACE was dance music pure and simple.

In truth, the album is not as bad as you may have heard. At its best, it has tremendous energy and a raging sexuality; the opening track "Staying Power" and the minor chart hit "Body Language" (the best track in the collection) are quite good; the band also scores with David Bowie co-featured on "Under Pressure." But the remaining cuts range from the utterly uninspired "Back Chat" to the incredibly dire "Action This Day." When all is said and done, there's very little substance, and what substance there is simply doesn't live up the band's usual standard.

It is true that the album would have a significant influence (for good or ill depending on your point of view) on the band's later work--and if you are a hardcore Queen fan you may want to add it to your collection. But a word of warning: even most hardcore Queen fans find that HOT SPACE sticks going down.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

It's quite funny, this album took me by surprise. I got this album and "The Works" a week ago to add to my collection. I had heard a lot of negative stuff about this album, but my ears proved me wrong. I loved it! (Not my favorite Queen CD by any means, just good). "Staying Power" is totally cool and catchy, very funky, as is "Dancer," which features some vintage Brian May guitar work. These are two of my favorites off the album. "Back Chat" is also quite good, the chord progression is kinda reminicent of "House of the Rising Sun." "Body Language," could be the worst song on the album, not necessarily bad, but not as good as the others. "Action This Day" is a great, upbeat song with a nice beat. "Put Out The Fire" is vintage Brian May. Another great song on the album is the amazing tribute to my musical idol, John Lennon, "Life Is Real." It's a very Lennon-esque tune, which makes it all the more a better tribute. "Calling All Girls" sends a nice positive message, "Las Palabras de Amor" is a great ballad. Then Freddie Mercury delivers an amazing vocal performance with the reggae "Cool Cat." Then comes the big finish, the classic off this album, "Under Pressure" with David Bowie dueting with Freddie.

So now, take my advice, go and give this album another listen. This album is not for new Queen fans, do not make this your first album. However, it is perfect for all the staunch Queen fans out there, like myself. After all, how bad can it be, it's Queen, all the elements that make Queen Queen are all in there. So please, diehard fans, go and give this album another listen, you will not be disappointed.

Queen were the first "non -Beatles" band I got into in the early 1980s, and when I first heard Hot Space I didn't hate it. It just struck me as noticeably "funkier" than their 1970s work and more synth heavy. From my perception living in Scotland in the 1980s Queen were decidedly unfashionable in an era where kids listened to bands like Iron Maiden, U2, The Smiths and Simple Minds to acquire credibility among their peers. I myself just listened to whatever I liked, as not really belonging to any group, peer pressure meant nothing to me. So judging from the point of view of a fan, not as knee jerk detractor, I liked it...sort of.

I distinctly remember thinking at the time that if you didn't know much about Queen and compared Queen II to Hot Space you might have a hard time beleiving this was the same band, both musically and physically. Queen II is grandiose, overblown and theatrical, very much as the royal connotation suggests. Hot Space sometimes sounds like The Human League, saving Mercury's voice and occasional bursts of heavy guitar and guitar solos.

But I don't believe Hot Space is a bad album, just the wrong experiment at the wrong time, In 1982 disco was already waning, and it made Queen seem passé for the time. And popular music is very much an area where people want to be associated with something cool. (Music doesn't have to be "new" by the way, just cool!) And for many fans Hot Space was simply *too* different from their established signature sound. I myself think that there are some good melodies and hooks in the album. The production is good enough and there are some fine moments from Mercury and May. And the funky stuff is largely one Side 1 (hey the old vinyl LP's still have an grip on me) Side 2 has a few songs that wouldn't sound out of place on earlier Queen records, for example the heavy Put Out The Fire and the plaintiff Mercury ballad Life Is Real, a tribute to John Lennon.

Overall I think that this album isn't as bad as people say (or pretend) it is, yet I can't say that it's Queen's best work either. I should also say that I think there are *loads* of albums by other bands that get slammed mainly because they are in a different style, so it's not like Hot Space is a unique phenomena either. It's not the first album by Queen anyone should buy IMO, but I don't think you should turn your nose up at it just because "some others do"

I was fortunate enough to see Queen in concert 19 times during their touring days in the US, up to and including their last tour in this country in support of this piece of garbage album, Hot Space.

I find it amusing reading reviews here from people who actually think it's good! I remember clearly when this album came out, how despised it was. I never met a fan of the band who liked it then, even at the concerts.

Yes, this one album single handedly destroyed Queen's career here in the US, from which they would never recover. Queen never toured the states again, yet they remained tremendously popular around the rest of the world. They still made alot of good music after this diatribe of stank.

Now over 20 years later....I STILL hate this album. It's awful.

To the dude who thinks this junk is brilliant because it is a chick magnet, rock on, dude. It's just too bad that you don't know what Queen were all about.

I pulled this CD out today after not having listened to it for several years. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. All of the songs are at least decent, and some of them are excellent. My favorites are "Staying Power", "Body Language" and of course "Under Pressure". One thing I have to add is that the remixed version of "Body Language" is fairly useless. The same thing goes for most of the remixes on the other Queen CDs.