The song was first played live on 20 April 1992, three years after its release, during The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, performed by the three remaining members of Queen, with Roger Daltrey singing lead vocals and Tony Iommi playing rhythm guitar. Mercury himself never performed the song live, as he died in November 1991 from AIDS at the age of 45, and his final performance with Queen was at the end of The Magic Tour, at Knebworth Park on 9 August 1986. The song is sung mainly by Mercury, with May singing on the choruses and middle eight.
There are at least three versions of this song. The longer one is the album version, while the shortest one is used in the music video and in the Greatest Hits II compilation. Compared to the album version, both the single version and video version features a different beginning, omitting the acoustic/electric guitar part and the short rhythmic-electric guitar part immediately following. It starts with the band singing the chorus a cappella, and then, after a 1/8 + 2/4 A5 power chord, it picks up on the first electric guitar riff by May that follows the short rhythmic guitar part mentioned before. The guitar solo section is different as well: the album version features an extra solo, done at the same tempo as the rest of the song, just before the faster main solo. Mercury's vocals after the middle eight are also slightly different and are positioned on the "extra" solo on the album version, and on the main solo on both the single version and video version. The compilation album Queen Rocks includes a composite version that begins with the a cappella vocals of the single version but then includes the extra guitar solo of the album version.
The song, according to John Deacon, was one of only a few which was already written before the band entered the studio in the beginning of 1988 for what would become "The Miracle" album. The title stems from a catchphrase of Anita Dobson, later Brian May's second wife: "I want it all and I want it now!". "I Want It All" is notably heavy and features themes relating to rebellion and social upheaval. Songwriter May, however, claims that it is about having ambitions and fighting for one's own goals; because of this, the song became an anti-apartheid song in South Africa and has also been used as a gay rights protest theme and a rallying anthem for African-American youth.
The music video features the band performing in a studio that used halogen lighting. It was directed by David Mallet and filmed at Elstree Studios, London in March 1989. In the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD audio commentary, Brian May and Roger Taylor recall that Mercury's health was already quite bad when the video's shooting took place, and it was remarkable that it didn't show up in the video, with Mercury performing with all the energy he had. The video also features Mercury's first public appearance with a beard to hide the kaposi's sarcoma marks on his jawline, after shaving off his trademark moustache during the video shoot for The Great Pretender in February 1987.
'I Want It All' reestablishes our old image in a way. It's nice to come back with something strong. Something that reminds people we're a live group. I don't think we're a singles band, really. Just before we put the single out I started listening to what's on the radio, and the kind of stuff that becomes a hit these days bears no resemblance to what we do. People only remember the hits, but I suppose we have done okay.
— Brian May
We were heading into the period where we decided to share the credit for all the songs, and John has said that [the song] was pretty much a finished song when we went into the studios – that's true, it was just this riff that I was obsessed with for months. The actual title was a favorite phrase of Anita's, a very ambitious girl: 'I want it all, and I want it now '... We were never able to perform this song live. It would have become something of the staple core of the Queen show, I'm sure, very participatory. It was designed for the audience to sing along to, very anthemic.
— Brian May
Interesting, I wrote myself a bit in the middle. I can't remember quite why that was, it's a very sort of Pete Townshend thing to do, isn't it? But it made a nice little kind of duet in the middle, a bit of sparring between me and Freddie, and I know he enjoyed that.
— Brian May
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