Queen

Link to Spotify playlist: Mus115 - 12. Queen

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Queen is a band that is difficult to categorize. They could be in Art Rock, possibly Progressive, Mainstream, or any of several other styles. Many people were introduced to Queen from their legendary Live Aid performance in 1985. Freddy Mercury (originally named: Farrokh Bulsara, born in Zanzibar) had complete control of the stage from the moment they entered, and had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand (see 8:25 - 9:01 in the above linked video). Stunning live performance, probably one of the best ever recorded. Which is a good thing, because it's estimated that in addition to the 70,000 - 100,000 people in the stadium, there were approximately 1.5 - 1.9 billion people in 40 countries watched it live. Yes, between 30% and 40% of the entire world's population was watching. Hard to overstate how big Live Aid was at the time.

But of course, Queen did not start in the 1980s. They formed in London in 1970. Freddy joined an already existing band called "Smile", with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Long story short, the band had lost their lead singer and bassist, and they were replaced by Freddy and John Deacon, respectively.

The band was looking for a new name, and Freddy was the one who insisted on Queen. Their first album, Queen (1973) had songs that already felt stale to the band, and didn't do terrifically well. Queen II (1974) had a more lavish sound, and the follow up album Sheer Heart Attack (also 1974) produced what was the first real hit that still is recognizable today:

• Killer Queen

But it was the next album, A Night At the Opera (1975) that was the vehicle for the real Queen experience, where they really explored their musical versatility:

• Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

And then, of course, their signature song, with theatre, rock, opera, and all sorts of other influences, all tied together with some brilliant musical transitions:

• Bohemian Rhapsody - Already a big hit, this sing along scene in the movie Wayne's World - brought the song to a new generation.

An Austrian brass group, Mnozil Brass, gained fame from their interpretation of this song (replete with a polka section!):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlHLMGaJ6tg

Follow on albums produced the following hits:

• We Will Rock You (which became a bit of a sports anthem, and made an appearance in the 1980s sitcom Cheers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvns30-6Lz0

• We Are the Champions (also a victory anthem in sports, for somewhat obvious reasons).
• Don't Stop Me Now - ridiculously peppy and upbeat
• Another One Bites The Dust - minimalist
• Under Pressure - which also featured David Bowie.

This was later illegally copied for a hit called "Ice Ice Baby", by "rapper" Vanilla Ice. You can see his ridiculous justification that even he doesn't believe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAA__AW3I1M

Basically, Vanilla Ice's excuse was that they added an extra 8th note to the bass line.

Even with all that, I've edited the queen list down to a total of 8 songs. If I could, I would put about 15 in this list. As a music theory geek and a performing musician, when I listen to most songs, I usually have one or two things that I think "it's missing this" or "I'd change that" or "this could have been better", or "I just don't have the patience to listen to this otherwise good song all the way through". But for Queen, in my mind, all of their big hits were just perfect gems of songs, with a whole style or era encapsulated inside. This is a band that became the biggest in the world for a while, and influenced everybody who came up after.

Other songs to look at: You're My Best Friend, Somebody to Love, Fat Bottomed Girls, Bicycle Race, Sheer Heart Attack (pre-punk), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Radio Ga Ga, I Want to Break Free (80's style), Hammer to Fall.