From Queenpedia.com
After the phenomenal success of The Miracle, and indeed the 1980s in general, Queen were soon recording the follow-up. What emerged in February 1991 was to become the last completed Queen studio album in Freddie's lifetime - Innuendo. The first single lifted from this stunning return to form was the epic title track, a song which was six and a half minutes in length but had hit written all over it.
Unusually for Queen, the video had minimum input from the band - much of the ideas coming from director's Jerry Hibbert and Rudi Dolezal. The piece required no actual work on the part of the band, relying instead of award winning animation. There were two main sections to the video - the first was a doll's house style theatre complete with grotesque yet imaginative characters was made from clay models and was brought to life via stop motion animation. The second part was the more difficult to create, as each member of the band became a living characature in the style of famous artists. To this end, live action stock footage was used as a template, in effect placing an oddly realistic yet heavilly stylised version of Queen directly in the centre of the action.
The two styles of animation, including a masterful stop motion vaudeville inspired jester dance sequence during the flamenco guitar solo, were combined with archive footage of war and celebration, in much the same vein as the earlier Under Pressure video, plus animated recreations of Granville's drawings which had inspired the album and single sleeve design for the era. The result was breathtaking - a true masterpiece once again from a band that seemingly knew no limitations.
Combining with the buzz around Queen's return, the video helped Innuendo crash straight into the UK singles charts at number one, Queen's first UK chart topper in ten years after several very near misses. Despite Queen's new American record company, Hollywood Records, electing not to release the single in the USA due to the sheer length of the piece, the promo would go on to win a Gold Camera award at the prestigious American Film and Video Festival, and make its home video debut on the Greatest Flix II compilation in 1991.
There are several versions of the video known to hardened Queen fans. The most notable differences came in the brief segments of stock footage used during the mid section of the song. The directors had elected to use footage of conflict in the Second World War, but just prior to release, war broke out in the Persian Gulf and, as the Allied Forces were engaged in the battles it was deemed inappropriate to include such footage. The resulting replacement was somewhat tamer - folk dancing. It is this version which features on all current official releases. There are also several versions that differ only by slightly different footage used, or by a tint on the video, though whilst these have been broadcast on various music channels since 1991, none have been officially released.
Credits
| Version | Name | Artist | Recorded | Format | Length | Director | Filming Location |
| Standard Version | Innuendo | Queen | November-December 1990 | Video | 6.32 | Jerry Hibbert & Rudi Dolezal | Unknown |
| Further Conflict Version | Innuendo | Queen | November-December 1990 | Video | 6.32 | Jerry Hibbert & Rudi Dolezal | Unknown |
| Sepia Tinted Version | Innuendo | Queen | November-December 1990 | Video | 6.32 | Jerry Hibbert & Rudi Dolezal | Unknown |
| Alternate Stock Footage Version #1 | Innuendo | Queen | November-December 1990 | Video | 6.32 | Jerry Hibbert & Rudi Dolezal | Unknown |
| Alternate Stock Footage Version #2 | Innuendo | Queen | November-December 1990 | Video | 6.32 | Jerry Hibbert & Rudi Dolezal | Unknown |
Availability
- Standard Version - Greatest Flix II VHS, Box Of Flix VHS, Greatest Flix I & II Promo DVD, The A-Z Of Queen, Volume 1 DVD,