Stone Cold Crazy (2:14)

“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 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, resulting in credit going to the entire band. Early versions of the song were much slower, according to the band, although no bootlegs exist. Due to the pace and overall sound of the song, some debates put it forward as the first thrash metal song.

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”.

In 2009 it was named the 38th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.