"Headlong" is a song by British rock band Queen, released as the third single from fourteenth studio album, Innuendo (1991). The song was written by Queen guitarist Brian May, who intended to record it for his then-upcoming solo album Back to the Light (1992), but when he heard Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury sing the track, he allowed it to become a Queen song. As with all the songs on Innuendo, the track was promptly credited to the entire band. The song was the first single to be released in the United States under their contract with Hollywood Records on 14 January 1991, though it was not released in the United Kingdom for another four months (the first single in the United Kingdom was "Innuendo", which Hollywood eventually released in the US as a promotional single for radio stations). The song charted on the Album Rock Tracks chart in the United States, reaching number three. When Innuendo was remastered in 2011, a version of the song with May on the lead vocals instead of Mercury was released. The cover of one of the CD singles is inspired by Grandville illustrations, as are all of the other singles from the album. Critical reception Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Third single from the highly successful album Innuendo, is the kind of hard rock that Van Halen would be jealous of. EHR programmers shouldn't be afraid: it's loud but it's also melodic." Chart performance "Headlong" was the third single release from the album Innuendo in the band's native UK. Released in May 1991, it entered the UK singles chart at number 28 in its first week and peaked at number 14 during the following week. In total the song spent 3 weeks within the UK top 40. It was the second highest-charting song, off of the album, after the song "Innuendo", which had reached the top of the charts. Promotional video The accompanying music video for "Headlong" was one of the final Queen videos shot with lead singer Freddie Mercury, some 12 months before his death from AIDS, though it was actually shot before the "I'm Going Slightly Mad" video (released as the second single in the UK). The video showed the band in the studio performing the song (in a stage-like setup), as well as shots of the band working in the studio. The version of the song in the video