Queen Quiz — The Invisible Man

Dale Tatnell
Aug 6
2 min read

Cover Artwork for Queen's single “The Invisible Man”

“The Invisible Man”, the third single from Queen's thirteenth studio album “The Miracle”, was released in the UK on the 7th of August 1989.

The song was written by Roger Taylor, but credited to Queen. The inspiration of the song comes from when Taylor was reading the H.G. Well's novel of the same name. Some of the song was written while Taylor was in the bath, similar to what Freddie Mercury had done a decade earlier with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”.

This song is notable because the lyrics mention all four band members. Mercury's is announced by Taylor at the beginning of the first verse. Mercury says the names of the other three band members, starting with John Deacon, whose name concluded the first verse. Then, just before his solo, Brian May's name is said twice. Finally, when Taylor's name is said, the first “r” is rolled to mimic a drum; Taylor responds with a quick drum beat.

The music video for “The Invisible Man” is known for its use of early computer animation, especially during May's guitar solo, where multiple versions of him appear on-screen. The concept focus on a boy playing a video game where the band members are the villains, all dressed in black. Mercury, wearing virtual reality goggles, appears and disappears throughout the room as the boy tries to “shoot” him with his game controller.

The band emerges from the closet and continue to perform the song in the boy's room for a while before transferring back to the computer screen. Deacon takes off his cowboy hat and throws it towards the screen; it shoots out of the screen, landing on the boy's bedroom floor. In a move that seems to imitate him, the boy takes off his baseball cap and puts on the cowboy hat. The scene then shifts back to the video game screen, showing the band again, with Deacon now hatless. The boy walks beneath them wearing Deacon's cowboy hat and eventually produces the “Game Over” message.

The video also features a young Danniella Westbrook acting as the boy's sister. Westbrook would later become famous for her role as Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.