“We saw 20 minutes of the finished film and thought it very good and over the top. We wanted to do something that was a real soundtrack. It’s a first in many ways, because a rock group has not done this type of thing before...” Brian May

Queen's ninth studio album was the original soundtrack to the movie based on the comic strip character Flash Gordon. It was the band's first sortie into the film world and would prove to be their only full soundtrack album. Later they would write several songs for the first Highlander adventure in 1986, which emerged (in reworked form) as the album A Kind Of Magic, also in that year, but that was not a soundtrack LP.

The Flash Gordon music was recorded for Director Mike Hodges and Producer Dino De Laurentiis' $22 million remake of the 1930's black and white sci-fi film. Queen were first approached in 1979, and as writing film music was something they had all thought about but had not yet got around to, their Manager arranged a meeting with De Laurentiis and mentioned Queen's interest in scoring the film. Rumour has it that De Laurentiis' first reaction was simply, “Who are the Queens?” They were, as it turned out, the first rock band he had ever listened to and the outcome was that the band was commissioned to write the music for the movie.

Brian later explained, “We saw 20 minutes of the finished film and thought it very good and over the top. We wanted to do something that was a real soundtrack. It's a first in many ways, because a rock group had not done this type of thing before, or else it's been toned down and they've been asked to write mushy background music. Whereas we were given the license to do what we liked, as long as it complemented the picture.”

Having just finished a lengthy European tour, and a further three-week stint in Japan, spanning January to May, Queen spent the summer of 1979 working on The Game album, mostly at Musicland studios in Munich. It was during these sessions that they also started work on the score for Flash Gordon. Producing two albums simultaneously was not easy, but both progressed well. After touring, holidays and other ventures, more work on Flash Gordon and The Game followed in the early part of 1980, again in Munich, and then a U.S. tour commenced in June and ran through to October. After a well-earned holiday for most of October, Queen recommenced work on the Flash soundtrack in London and had completed it by November.

The music was composed, performed, arranged, and produced by Queen, with the overall album credited as a Brian and Mack production. Like The Game, which was the first Queen LP to feature synthesizers, Flash Gordon continued the trend, though it features significantly more synths than its predecessor. Additional orchestral arrangements on the album were by Howard Blake, who also conducted the orchestra, and all of it was recorded at Anvil Studios. The orchestra features mostly throughout the film, to complement Queen's music, though some of it did also make the final soundtrack album too.

The album cover concept came from Freddie; the Flash Gordon logo over a vivid yellow background, and with a scene from the film on the back, while the inner sleeve featured four individual photos of the band taken during the 1980 USA Game Tour by regular Queen live photographer Neal Preston.

Though some fans were dubious to hear Queen were recording music for a comic character-inspired film adventure, the album that emerged was a pleasant surprise on various levels. The music works well as an accompaniment to the visuals of the film, punctuated by sound effects and dialogue from the cast, including Max Von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Topol, and the larger-than-life English actor Brian Blessed. Any reservations among the fans were soon cast aside when the album's only single Flash was released worldwide prior to the album and fared well in the charts.

Roger: “We've been offered quite a few films, but Flash Gordon was something which Brian and I were quite attracted to because of its sci-fi thirties connotations. The album was totally under our control and it was our idea to put dialogue on the album. That wasn't the original concept. We thought we'd get little snippets to give some idea of what was happening in the film and some atmosphere of the story.”

All tracks were titled after the appropriate part of the film each part was written for, and when hearing the album in its own right the listener gets a vivid idea as to what's happening in the story. The drama of the action, dialogue and over-the-top special effects, with Queen's distinctive sound threading through it all, is a compelling and greatly unusual blend.

Flash Gordon was released in the UK on 8th December 1980 – a day that will forever live in history as a notorious date because it happens to be the day that John Lennon was shot dead outside his apartment in New York.

The album reached No.10 in the UK charts, achieving Gold award status. It was well received by the press and critics alike and each review of the film made a special reference to the music from Queen. The LP was nominated for a BAFTA award and an Ivor Novello, and the film premiered in London on 11th December 1980.