Queen II | Sheer Heart Attack | A Night at the Opera | A Day at the Races | News of the World | Jazz
The Game | Hot Space | The Works | A Kind of Magic | The Miracle | Innuendo
- Dying Moment of Awesome: For Freddie, by this point he was well aware he was finished and wouldn't last much longer and Innuendo sees him going out on a high. Notably The Show Must Go On is the final track of what he knew full well would almost certainly be his last full album. Effectively making a song about fighting to the end the very last song for both him and Queen as it's classic lineup.
- Harsher in Hindsight: "I'm Going Slightly Mad" is a silly song, full of weird metaphors, but once you learn it was written reflecting Freddie's real-life AIDS dementia...
- In particular, Freddie sitting on a couch with the rest of the band, and the others scooting away from him, becomes even more this once the public became aware of Freddie's condition given the stigma still connected to HIV and AIDS at the time.
- One-Scene Wonder: Steve Howe plays a few seconds of flamenco guitar on the title track, but that's one of the most famous parts of the song and album.
- Surprisingly Improved Sequel: After various Contested Sequels in the band's '80s output, Innuendo is generally regarded by fans as a major return to form for Queen, with many even ranking it on par with their "golden age" albums (i.e. everything up to The Game).
- Tear Jerker: This album was Freddie Mercury saying goodbye, and he did it exactly how you'd expect him to.
- Tough Act to Follow: As the album was so well-received by the fans and the public in general, a lot of what they have done since is usually measured up against it. That includes their solo careers. Roger Taylor himself admitted
that the challenge of living up to Innuendo and the rest of the band's legacy is a major factor in why Queen hasn't recorded any new, original material since The Cosmos Rocks in 2008.
