Hot Space

In 1982, the band released the album Hot Space , a departure from their trademark seventies sound, this time being a mixture of pop rock , dance, disco, funk , and R&B . Most of the album was recorded in Munich during the most turbulent period in the band’s history. Mercury and Deacon enjoyed the new soul and funk influences, but Taylor and May were less favourable, and were critical of the influence Mercury’s personal manager Paul Prenter had on him. According to Mack , Queen’s producer, Prenter loathed rock music and was in Mercury’s ear throughout the Hot Space sessions. May was also scathing of Prenter—Mercury’s manager from 1977 to 1984—for being dismissive of the importance of radio stations and their vital connection between the artist and the community, and for denying them access to Mercury. May states, “this guy, in the course of one tour, told every record station to fuck off”. Queen roadie Peter Hince wrote “None of the band cared for him [Prenter], apart from Freddie”, with Hince regarding Mercury’s favouring of Prenter as an act of “misguided loyalty”. During the Munich sessions, Mercury spent time with Mack and his family, becoming godfather to Mack’s first child. Q magazine would list Hot Space as one of the top fifteen albums where great rock acts lost the plot. Though the album confused some fans with the change of musical direction, it still reached number 4 in the UK.