Queen of the Reich

"Queen of the Reich" was written by Chris DeGarmo, first recorded in 1981 on a Mob demo tape and recorded again in late summer 1982 at Triad Studios. It was issued as the band's debut single in September 1983 on EMI America with "The Lady Wore Black" as the B-side, in a radio edit of 4:08, and reached 94 on the UK singles chart; Music Week said on September 24, 1983 that it was selling heavily on import, partly through Kerrang!'s support, and called it basically good heavy material. The video opens with a crawl about an evil ruler who enslaved the world with a crystal-powered computer, five freedom fighters, played by the band, and a rescue by Tate, and ends with to be continued.

A search summary attributes to Wilton that it was inspired by a nightmare DeGarmo had, which is second-hand and unverified. Chris Collins, the first singer of Dream Theater, sang it at his audition. Shadowkeep covered it on Rebellion - A Tribute to Queensrÿche (2000), Dungeon in 2002, Galneryus in 2010 and Unleash the Archers on the Japanese edition of Apex (2017). Setlist.fm counts 1,171 performances by Queensrÿche, 305 by Geoff Tate and 1,522 across 17 artists; the first was on June 29, 1983 at the Paramount Theatre in Portland, opening for Zebra. A live 5:19 version from Tokyo, August 5, 1984, is on the 2003 EP reissue. Our upload is titled only with the song, so its version is unknown.