On September 22, 2003, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor joined pop superstars Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Pink in Rome to film one of the most iconic adverts ever conceived.
Directed by Tarsem Singh, who had previously directed R.E.M.'s video for Losing My Religion (and would later work with Lady Gaga on the video for 911), Pepsi's high-concept ad imagined the three pop stars as gladiators forced to fight one another in a Roman coliseum for the perverted gratification of a capricious emperor, played by Spanish pop star Enrique Iglesias.
Before a single blow is cast, however, the warrior queens have a different idea, and throw down their weapons, deciding that rather than serving up violence for the emperor and the baying Roman public, they will instead serenade their audience with a fierce reworking of Queen's timeless anthem We Will Rock You, get the crowd on their side, and subsequently put their tormentor in a spot of lion-based bother.
