Stone Cold Crazy

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“Stone Cold Crazy”
Song by Queen
Album Sheer Heart Attack
Released November 8, 1974
Recorded July - September 1974
Genre Hard rock
Length 2:12
Label EMI / Hollywood Records
Writer Freddie Mercury
Brian May
John Deacon
Roger Taylor
Producer Roy Thomas Baker
Queen
Sheer Heart Attack track listing
"In the Lap of the Gods"
(7)
Stone Cold Crazy
(8)
"Dear Friends"
(9)


“Stone Cold Crazy”
Single by Metallica
from the album Garage Inc.
A-side Enter Sandman
B-side Enter Sandman (Demo)
Released 1991
Format CD single
Genre Thrash metal
Speed metal
Length 2:17
Label Elektra Records
Writer(s) Freddie Mercury
Brian May
John Deacon
Roger Taylor
Producer Bob Rock
Metallica singles chronology
"One"
(1989)
"Enter Sandman"
(1991)
"Don't Tread on Me"
(1991)

"Stone Cold Crazy" is a song by English rock band Queen from their successful 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack. The song is the eighth track on the album. Although the song was never released as a single, it has been featured on Queen compilation albums and was played live on almost every show in their first ten years. The song was among the fastest song in Queen's repertoire and, at the time, it was uncommonly quick-paced in the rock and roll genre. It was also among the heaviest songs recorded at the time.

The song is regarded as probably the first piece of speed metal as well, along with "Highway Star" by the famous hard rock band Deep Purple.

The song credit is shared between all the members of the band, although Mercury played it with his band Wreckage before Queen was created in the late 1960s. It was the first song Queen performed live in 1972, but the song underwent many changes musically and lyrically before getting recorded, and, therefore, the band credited the song to the entire band. Early versions of the song were much slower, according to the band, although no bootlegs exist.

The lyrics feature a gangster theme, even mentioning Al Capone. A person is daydreaming about committing various crimes, although the lyrics are very tongue-in-cheek and have humorous lines such as "walking down the street/shooting people that I meet/with my rubber tommy water gun".

"Stone Cold Crazy" is a precursor to the metal sub-genres of speed and thrash metal. Even beyond the fast tempo, May's staccato riffs and Taylor's jackhammer drums are similar to later metal styles. Songs such as this one influenced metal bands for years to come.

[edit] Metallica version

Metallica covered this song as their contribution to the compilation album "Rubaiyat – Elektra's 40th Anniversary" and was later used as a B-side of their "Enter Sandman" single and subsequently won a Grammy Award for their version, which also appeared in their covers' album Garage Inc.. The Metallica version of the song is more aggressive than the original; they also slightly altered the lyrics, adding profanity and changing the more humorous lines for more violent lyrics, such as "walking down the street/shooting people that I meet/with my fully loaded tommy gun".

Hellyeah played Metallica's version of Stone Cold Crazy on the 2007 Family Values Tour. Sometimes referring to it under the title "Stone Cold Wasted".

[edit] See also