“I’m Having a Good Time”: All Hail the (skating programs of) QUEEN

I have a theory that if the rock band Queen were a food… it would be pizza.

Everyone likes pizza, right? You might debate about the best style (sorry deep-dish haters, but I’m Chicago-style all the way). You might argue about the ideal toppings. You might even want to make a case for what qualifies as pizza (“Does it need cheese to be pizza?” “Yes. Yes it does. Next question please.” And so on.)

But personally, I can’t think of another food that carries more universal appeal than pizza. Likewise, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a more likable band than the one consisting of Brian May, John Deacon, Roger Taylor, and Freddie Mercury that came into its prime in the late 1970s/early 80s and keeps rocking (on TV, in film, during timeouts of stadium sports events) today– some 30+ years after Mercury’s untimely death in 1991. 

And about those stadium sports events… you know how sometimes a game or a match isn’t what you hoped it would be, and suddenly the speakers (or a live marching band) gets the audience stomping and clapping the rhythm to “We Will Rock You”...

And you’re singing along as best you can, maybe only joining in for the chorus, but it’s loud, and it’s fun, and… then the time out is over and the game resumes, and you’re thinking Awww… can’t we all just keep singing instead?

In figure skating, you CAN. Granted, “We Will Rock You” isn’t often a Queen selection of choice (more on that later), but whatever IS… audience participation is part of the event. And even if the program in question isn’t going as planned, the song carries the skater. It uplifts the crowd! No wonder it works so well in stadiums– where else is there room for Mercury’s vocals to climb and soar like that?

That’s a key thing, though: It needs to be an original Queen track; covers don’t carry the same magic. They just don’t.

Case in point: Hungarian pairs team Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko used a mix of the original “Another One Bites the Dust” and a (to my ears, anyway) lackluster cover version when they started the 2023-24 season… by 2024 Worlds, the original “Dust” comprised their entire SP and helped them towards a 4th place finish.

All this is not to say there aren’t some great remakes… but if a skater chooses “Somebody to Love” (for instance), why go with the terrific George Michael version when the recording Michael emulated is right there…?

Given that need for vocals, it might go without saying that Queen programs didn’t become a competitive mainstay until vocals were allowed in all disciplines (not just ice dance). But that would overlook several programs utilizing orchestrated versions of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

As you might know, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a nearly six-minute suite melding balladry, operatic passages, and hard rock into one of the most unique (and uniquely successful) Top 40 singles of all time. But if its sheer length didn’t make it difficult to edit into even an exhibition program, its utter complexity did. 

However, orchestral versions of “Rhapsody” (usually embracing the balladry within it) made their way into competitive skating in the 2000s… and other orchestrations of Queen’s work soon joined the fold as well. This medley used by Canadian pairs team Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch at 2013 Worlds was a big hit as they reached the podium at Canadian Nationals… and nearly reached the Worlds podium too! 

Once Mercury’s vocals were permitted in competition, the Queen programs we were treated to became increasingly electric (literally)! This FS by Adam Rippon to “Who Wants To Live Forever”-- a ballad– got the needle moving back in the 2015-16 season… 

And this arrangement of “Under Pressure”-- a collaborative effort between Queen and David Bowie that I still wish was used more often– brought the band into the ice dance world, courtesy of Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

In the leadup to this post, I ran a couple of different surveys trying to determine A) a favorite Queen song for figure skating, and B) a favorite Queen song in general. With regard to skating, “Who Wants to Live Forever” did well, as did “Don’t Stop me Now”... but the option “ANY Queen works!” was popular too.

My poll about songs in general brought more of the “ANY Queen works!” vibe, with no less than nine different hits mentioned– everything from “Fat-Bottomed Girls” to “I Want to Break Free”  (used in exhibition by OGM Meryl Davis/Charlie White) to “The Show Must Go On” (used in some Moulin Rouge performances, among other places) to… well, just about every song mentioned in this article.

Which includes several medleys– like this one that brought Ross Miner a lot of love from the audience, if not the Olympic selection committee– back in 2018: 

(songs used are “Somebody to Love,” “Love of My Life,” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”)

As bottomless as the well of Queen music is, it should come as no surprise that deeper cuts (AKA lesser-known tracks) are making their way to the ice surface in the 2020s. Did you know there was a skater-friendly track on their A Day At The Opera album entitled “The Millionaire Waltz”? Thanks to Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava, you do now!

For those who have loved many a rousing Queen exhibition program through the decades but wondered if a competitive version of the same might come off as too “camp” to take seriously (and I admit I may have been one of those people), I think the past decade has put that wondering to rest. If the passion, drama and engagement created by this music is branded more campy than the average skating fan can tolerate, then the average skating fan isn’t attending the competitions I’ve witnessed. 

And if “looking the part” of Freddie Mercury himself is considered a step too far– whether it’s the sleeveless white tee shirt & jeans, or iconic jackets like this one– 

Don’t tell two-time World Champion Madison Chock, for she and Evan Bates brought more Queen goodness (and an homage-paying jacket!) to their Rhythm Dance in 2023-24.

If you’re somehow still unconvinced of this band’s kind of magic when it comes to this sport, I’ll just leave you with this question: When is the last time you learned a skater was using Queen music and thought Oh, God, not again!

I think the answer speaks for itself.