News of the World is the sixth studio album by Queen, a British rock group. The group's members include Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. They were released on October 28, 1977, by EMI Records (UK) and Elektra Records (US). This is the group's second album to be produced by Sarm and Wessex Sound studios. This album purposed to push back punk rock and their hatred for progressive rock bands like Queen. The band responded by taking a different approach than their operatic rock style towards a more hard rock sound. News of the World reached fourth on the UK Album charts and third on the US Album charts. It sold over four million copies with its lead singles, “We Are the Champions’ and “We Will Rock You”. This song would hit the top five music charts and forever be remembered as two phenomenal rock anthems.
American sci-fi artist Frank Kelly Freas painted the album cover. He is most known as the “Dean of Science Fiction Artist” and the second artist to be inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Roger Taylor had an issue of Astounding Science Fiction from 1953. On that cover was a giant shiny metal robot holding the dead body of a human. The story titled “Gulf Between” was written by Tom Godwin, with a caption reading, “Please… fix it, Daddy? The story's moral is that "Machines are the servants of humans, not their equals. There will always be a gulf between Flesh and Steel.”[1] The band would contact Freas, who graciously accepted their request to alter the painting for them. On the outside cover, Mercury and May are replacing the dead man in the original artwork, with Taylor and Deacon falling to the ground. In the inside gatefold, the illustration shows the robot extending its hand to snatch up the terrified fleeing audience while shattering through the auditorium. Frank had never heard of the band before and was a classical music fan. He said he only listened to the band after the album was released “because I thought I might just hate them, and it would ruin my ideas”[2], but he liked their music.
