Every Queen Album Ranked Worst To Best
12. The Miracle
13th studio album (1989); UK #1; US #24
The most disjointed album Queen ever put out, likely hindered by Freddie's deteriorating health, The Miracle was the band's last release of the '80s and perfectly encapsulates the hit-or-miss wave they were riding - it seems every good track is sandwiched between two bad ones.
Queen were always original to a fault, but this album seems like a pastiche of not only things they had done before, but things other people had done as well - Rain Must Fall sounds exactly like Candi Staton's Young Hearts Run Free, and instantly makes you want to put that on instead.
But lead single I Want It All is top-tier among Queen's hits, and a song that gains a whole new meaning in hindsight - 'So I'm living it all, yes I'm living it all/And I'm giving it all, and I'm giving it all.' You sure were, Freddie, even at your worst of times.
Key Tracks: I Want It All; Breakthru; Scandal
Fun Fact: The deluxe version of the album features an instrumental track called Chinese Torture, which was indeed inspired by Chinese water torture: a process in which cold water was slowly dripped onto an individual's head.