The song is “out” because the singer was. From the look and feel of the band, to the sheer whomp of their name, Queen earned the right to be obvious. They are the teen age — all the pitch, bitch and overkill it could possibly amount to. But hindsight puts a knowing grin on the face of their work. Skillfully, they turned English pop into a dry pastiche of its antecedents; but it was the band’s conviction that added them to that self-same canon.
“Champions” is a soft/loud mix of parody and heft that wags the mainstream. Be it the locker room or the rock band, the bud zone puts men at ease with the closeness of same-sex interplay. In “We Are the Champions,” Freddie mocks that. (Arguably, he’s singing about gay pride.) But really — we’re just a part of his dream, which is to be the most entertaining and charismatic diva. And he sells it.