Queen has a slew of hit records, but one of their catchiest comes courtesy of Flash Gordon.
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The Sam Jones starring Flash Gordon featured a soundtrack from one of the most iconic bands of all time, and they delivered a magnum opus with an incredibly catchy theme song. You’ve likely heard it in other forms since then, including a hilarious feature in Ted 2. So after all these years, does he ever get tired of the Flash Gordon theme?
“No I don’t,” Jones told ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian. “It’s amazing you mention that because for the younger generation, which introduced that new age demographic for me, my children’s children, even the younger generation who can’t remember the name of the movie Flash Gordon, they refer to it as ‘you know, that movie that Queen did the soundtrack to. Isn’t that amazing? So Queen not only complimented the film, but it brought tremendous value, it really did.”
Jones never had the chance to meet Freddie Mercury, but he has had the chance since then to meet Queen guitarist Brian May.
“Brian May was so gracious. This film crew from the U.K. has been shadowing me for the last three years doing a documentary called Life After Flash, and Brian was so gracious to be part of one of those interviews. So I’ll probably see him at that screening in London in October.”
The Flash Gordon soundtrack is also considered Queen’s ninth album and consisted of 18 tracks. The theme song, ‘Flash’s Theme’, was written by May, and ended up hitting #23 on the U.S. charts and #10 in the U.K. May, Roger Taylor, Mercury, John Deacon, Howard Blake, and Richard Wagner would all take on writing duties for Flash Gordon, and the band also crafted a soundtrack for Highlander.
Jones has had quite the journey since Flash Gordon launched into theaters, but no one expected the movie to claim this kind of status with fans.
“It blew up,” Jones said. “We make these movies, it all looks good, it all looks reassuring that it’s going to do very well, especially with everyone speaking such positive words and projections about it, but you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Here I am 36 years later… It’s been a great adventure.”
Jones is appearing this weekend at Wizard World Nashville, and you can view the entire interview in the video above.
