Blackberry Playbook ‘Flash’ Commercial

In the latest Blackberry Playbook commercial, the tablet's ability to run Flash-based applications is touted with the help of none other than the Queen song 'Flash.'

After the commercial's narrator asks the question, 'What's so special about web browsing on the new Blackberry Playback?,' his answer comes in the form of the pounding piano and dramatic vocal flourishes of Queen's 'Flash.' The tune originally served as the theme song to the 1980 film 'Flash Gordon.' In fact, the entire soundtrack to the movie features Queen's music, and is considered the band's ninth studio album.

Written by guitarist Brian May, 'Flash' (or 'Flash's Theme,' as it's known on the soundtrack) features vocals by May, singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor. The single version of the song includes lines from throughout the sci-fi action movie, while the soundtrack version contains dialog from the first scene.

Blackberry is not the first entity to make good use of the Queen track. Rap icons Public Enemy sampled 'Flash' on their song 'Terminator X to the Edge of Panic' off their 1988 disc 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.'