There's a particularly amusing parody of Flash Gordon in 2012's 'Ted' when the actor Sam Jones who played the title character in the 1980 movie turns up at a house party. Flash Gordon was directed by Mike Hodges and was a British/American collaboration featuring production and actors from both sides of the Atlantic. The film did well in British theatres but was received poorly in America and became something of a cult classic. And with the entire soundtrack being recorded by Queen it also became something of a noteworthy release amongst fans too. 'Flash' is the lead track from an album of almost entirely instrumental music based around the film. Whereas Highlander's musical contributions had been written upon viewing the rushes of the completed shoot and also based on current Queen material waiting to be published Flash was a project specifically conceived while the film was in production. It was also one of the earliest examples of a feature film that used a rock band to create the music for its film, something that's almost common in Hollywood nowadays.Noted for its pounding bassline and thunderous vocalisation of the word 'Flash', there are two versions of the song one which contains snippets of dialogue from the actual film and one which doesn't the latter topping the charts in Austria. In general this album also marked a massive change for Queen's music as the band became heavily involved with synthesisers; an instrument they'd previously, and proudly, displayed there were no involvement from in any of their music. The band had used some synth production on their previous effort 'The Game', with several more notable examples (some included in this list) following in the years afterwards.