Okay, maybe not earth-shatteringly serious as topics go, but this is bothering me.
Everywhere I look, I'm finding separate release dates for this single. For example:
"April 7th, 1986" according to...
Queen Live (Greg Brooks' book)
Queen: Ultimate Illustrated History (Phil Sutcliffe's book)
The Complete Illustrated Lyrics (says "April," no number)
UltimateQueen.co.uk (says "April," too)
Or
"March 12th, 1986" according to...
Queenpedia's POTU page
Queen Fanatic Collector's blog (link
Or
"March 17th, 1986: according to... link
Anyone have any insights? Obviously, two are wrong (March 17 seems the least likely, yet it's as detailed as source as any). And the April date is currently the official one, but we all know "Official" doesn't always mean "accurate" (no offense QPL).
good question - prob. mid March, but April is the "correct" answer - take into account that promo copies of the single are sent well in advance - and, well, frankly, the single flopped, so promo copies are mostly what you will find in circulation these days - AKOM was the lead single in Europe and the band opted for the rockier "Princes" for the States...
anyone in the forum can upload some advertising for the "Princes" single in the US? that would be helpful
Thanks.
Freddie explains in one interview that POTU was released in the US to coincide with the March 7th release of Highlander, and AKOM was released elsewhere at the time to be a stand-alone single, not directly related to Highlander, because Highlander didn't hit the UK until August. The band was worried that POTU, without fans seeing the movie, would confuse audiences (according to Freddie).
Speculation: if April is the correct date for the US & Canada, it might explain partly why it flopped, since Highlander would have come and gone in a month, since it wasn't really a blockbuster. By the time the video and single came out, Highlander was old news.
It was 7 April 1986.
It seems from the records we have that Queens singles were released either on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, with some even being on a Thursday.
Does anyone know why singles were released on different days in the US?
In the UK during the '70's singles were always released on a Friday and then this was changed to a Monday during the '80's. It is still a Monday to this day.
I can't speak for the previous decades, but in Canada over the last 10 or 15 years, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays are always released on Tuesdays. Sometimes they're pushed back weeks or months, but Tuesday is universally New Release Day for every shop.
Even the cable networks are onboard with that, as new OnDemand movies and TV episodes are uploaded on Tuesdays each week.
And thanks for the confirmation on the POTU release date!