Queen (band)

In the late 1960s, guitarist Brian May and percussionist Roger Taylor were members of a semi-professional, London-based band called Smile, along with bassist/vocalist Tim Staffell.^[5] Freddie Mercury (then Freddie Bulsara) was Staffell's friend and room-mate at Ealing Art College and followed Smile's music closely.^[5] As the frontman and singer in other bands, such as Ibex in 1969 and Sour Milk Sea in 1970, Mercury was eager to share his artistic and musical ideas so that Smile could develop further. Staffell left Smile to join another band, Humpy Bong, and so Smile effectively disbanded.^[6] Mercury persuaded May and Taylor to continue, however, changing the band's name from "Smile" to "Queen" in the process.^[6]

I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid. It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations.

— Freddie Mercury

The band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit in with the band's chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and began to rehearse for the first album.^[7]

 

Queen is a monster. Gordon Fletcher, Rolling Stone 149 ^[8]

In 1973, Queen released their first album, a self-titled project. The album was received well by critics. Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone said "their debut album is superb"^[8] and The Chicago Hearald calling it an "above average debut"^[9]. The Herald. Chicago, IL. 1973-12-07</ref>. However, it drew little mainstream attention, as the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive", a Brian May composition, sold poorly. The album was influenced by the heavy metal and progressive rock of the day. Greg Prato of "allmusic" called it "one of the most underrated hard rock debuts of all time."^[10]

It wasn't until 1974 that the band gained mainstream attention and commercial success, when the album Queen II was released. The album reached number five on the British album charts, while the Freddie Mercury-written lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye", reached number ten in United Kingdom, giving the band its first hit. However, album sales in the United States were similar to its predecessor. The album is their heaviest and darkest release.^[11]

The band toured as support to Mott the Hoople in the United States during this period, and they began to gain notice for their energetic and engaging stage shows.

 

Later that same year the band recorded and released Sheer Heart Attack. Considered by many fans as the band's first true classic,^[12] the album reached number two on the British charts and sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States, giving the band its first taste of true commercial success. The album experimented with a wide variety of types of music including British Music Hall ("Killer Queen"), heavy metal ("Flick of the Wrist", "Now I'm Here", and "Stone Cold Crazy" - a song which Metallica would later cover and earn a Grammy for), hard rock ("Brighton Rock", "Tenement Funster"), ballads ("Lily Of The Valley" and "Dear Friends"), ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown"), and Caribbean ("Misfire"). It was at this point that Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies shown on their first two releases, into a more radio-friendly song-oriented vein.

The single "Killer Queen" also reached number two on the British charts, and was also their first U.S. hit, reaching number twelve on the Billboard chart. It combined camp, vaudeville British music hall with Brian May's guitar virtuosity. The album's second single, "Now I'm Here", a more traditional hard rock composition, was a number eleven hit in Britain.

 

In 1975 the band recorded and released their magnum opus, A Night at the Opera. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced.^[13] Like its predecessor the entire album featured incredible diversity in music styles and experimentation with stereo sound (for example, in "The Prophet's Song", an eight-minute epic, the middle section is simple phrases layered to create a full-choral sound). The album was a smash in Britain, and went three times platinum in the United States.

The album featured the huge worldwide hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody" the single was number one in the United Kingdom for nine weeks, and another five weeks in 1992 when it was re-released after the death of Mercury. It originally reached number nine in the U.S, and number two when re-released in 1992 after its appearance in Wayne's World. The song is Britain's third best selling single of all time. The album also featured "You're My Best Friend", which peaked at sixteen on the U.S. charts and went on to become a worldwide Top Ten hit.

At this time Jim Beach negotiated the band out of their Trident contract, leaving Queen without a manager. They had a number of options, one of which was Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant. He wanted the band to sign with Led Zeppelin's own production company, Swan Song Records. This was unacceptable to Queen so they contacted John Reid, Elton John's manager.

By 1976, Queen was back in the studio, where it recorded what may have been mistaken as a companion album to A Night at the Opera. Entitled A Day at the Races, it again borrowed the name of a Marx Brothers' movie and its cover was similar to that of A Night at the Opera, a variation on the same Queen Crest. Musically, the album was by both fans' and critics' standards a strong effort, and reached number one on the charts.

The major hit on the album was "Somebody to Love", a gospel-inspired song in which Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to make a 100-voice gospel choir. The song went to number thirteen on the U.S. singles chart and number two on the United Kingdom charts.

It was during this same year that Queen played one of their most famous gigs, a 1976 concert in Hyde Park, London. It set an attendance record, with 150,000 people confirmed to be in attendance. The actual number in attendance is thought to be closer to 180,000, and is usually stated as between 150,000 and 200,000. ^[14] By comparison, the 2005 London Live 8 concert, which featured numerous of the world's highest drawing acts (including The Who, U2, Madonna, Elton John, Robbie Williams and a reunited Pink Floyd) drew about 150,000.^[15]

 

In 1977 News of the World was released, an album that was critically panned at the time but has gained recognition as being one of the stand-out hard rock albums of the late '70s, as well as being one of the albums most influential in creating stadium rock. This album had many songs that were tailor-made to be performed live, including "We Will Rock You" and the famous rock ballad "We Are the Champions", both of which reached number four in the U.S., and both of which would become enduring, international sports anthems.

Roger Taylor released his first solo effort this year in the form of a single. The A-side was a cover of a song by The Parliaments "I Wanna Testify" and the B-side was a song by Taylor called "Turn On The TV".

 

In 1978 the band released Jazz, including the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race", which were also released as a double-A-side single. Although the word 'jazz' was not used in the strict sense of the term (see jazz), the album was targeted by critics for its collection of different styles, jazz not being one of them. Ironically, the well-known magazine Rolling Stone criticized it for being "dull", continuing to say "Queen hasn't the imagination to play jazz — Queen hasn't the imagination, for that matter, to play rock & roll".^[16] The album cover was inspired by a painting on the Berlin Wall, and none of the material can really be defined as jazz even to the casual listener. Important tracks of the album were "Dead on Time", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Let Me Entertain You", and "Mustapha", an Arabesque-sounding song by Mercury, combined with heavy rock guitar.

Fan response was lukewarm to Jazz and for the first time Queen's sales saw a bit of a dip. By this time, News of the World had gone quadruple platinum, while Jazz had merely gone platinum^{[citation needed]}.

In 1979 the band did not release a studio album and focused totally on a new album to come out in 1980. They did, however, release their very first live album. Entitled Live Killers, it went platinum twice in the U.S. They also released the very successful single, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a rockabilly song done in the style of Elvis Presley; the single made the top 10 in most countries and was the band's first number one single in the U.S.

 

Queen began the 1980s with the very successful album, The Game, which turned out to be their highest-selling effort (barring greatest hits collections). The album featured the single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", as well as the hit "Another One Bites the Dust", a track that was released in the summer of 1980. For years, it was rumored that Michael Jackson first suggested that it would make a great single. This was confirmed by May and Taylor on the radio show In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an episode to the making of The Game.

The album stayed number one for four weeks in the United States, and the album went four times platinum in that country. It was also the only song to ever top the Billboard rock, dance, and R&B charts simultaneously. The album also marked the first appearance of a synthesizer on a Queen album and included two popular ballads, "Play the Game" and "Save Me", the latter of which became a fan favourite and concert staple.

 

1980 also saw the release of the soundtrack Queen had recorded for Flash Gordon. The album sold poorly (although it reached number ten in the United Kingdom), but served as a showcase for the band in a different light.

1981 saw Queen become the first major rock band to play in South American stadiums. It broke the attendance world record for a single concert and venue, at the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, where 131,000 people attended the first night, followed by 251,000 attended over two days.^[17] Including five shows in Argentina, Queen played to a total audience of 479,000 people on their South American tour. On October 9, 17, and 18, 1981, Queen performed in front of more than 150,000 at Monterrey (Estadio Universitario) and Puebla (Estadio Zaragoza), Mexico; and were the first major rock band to play for Mexican audiences.

Also in 1981, Queen collaborated with another artist for the first time, David Bowie, on the single "Under Pressure". The collaboration itself was a spontaneous affair, when Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording.^[18] While the band was immediately pleased with the results, it wasn't until years later that Bowie began playing it during his concerts. Upon its release, the song was extremely successful, reaching #1 in Britain. The bass riff was later borrowed for Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit, "Ice Ice Baby", prompting a successful lawsuit over the use of the sample. "Under Pressure" was recently re-recorded together by The Used and My Chemical Romance for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Queen also released a widely successful compilation album (also its first), simply titled Greatest Hits, which showcased the group's rock highlights from 1974-1981. In this year, Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album, entitled Fun In Space.

 

In 1982 the band released the funk album Hot Space. The band stopped touring North America, as their success there had waned, although they would perform on American television for the first and only time during the eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Queen would also leave Elektra Records, their label in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and sign to EMI/Capitol Records for all of the free world.

After working solidly for over ten years, either touring or recording new material, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time, they recorded the album The Works, and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work which constantly led to rumors that the band was going to split, and which would persist throughout the rest of its career. May released a mini-album entitled Star Fleet Project, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen.

 

In 1984, Queen bridged the gap between hard rock and pop with the album The Works, which included the successful singles "Radio Ga Ga", "I Want to Break Free" (a song later to be used both as an anthem of the democracy movement in Brazil and later in commercials for the Coca-Cola C2 soda), and the heavy, hard-rock live favorites "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up". Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the United States. "Radio Ga Ga" would be the band's last original Stateside Top Forty hit until 1989's "I Want It All", which reached number three in the United States Mainstream Rock chart.

The music video for "I Want to Break Free" parodied Coronation Street, a British television soap opera, and was popular there, but as it showed the band in drag, was thought to work against them elsewhere where viewers did not get the joke. Many claimed that the video hurt the band's sales in the United States, in subsequent years.

Late in 1984, Queen embarked on a set of dates in Bophuthatswana, South Africa at the arena at Sun City.^[19] Upon returning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played there during the height of apartheid; in response, they maintained that they were just playing music for people who wanted to hear it, and stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences.

1985 started with two performances at the Rock in Rio festival. At two o'clock AM on January 12, Queen opened the festival playing in front of 325,000 people, breaking its previous world record.^[20] It also played on January 19 for a capacity-crowd of 325,000 fans to close the festival.

At Live Aid, held at Wembley on July 13, 1985, Queen's concert arena artistry reached its apex. In the eyes of critics and fans alike, the group stole the show at the worldwide extravaganza, performing some of their greatest hits and wowing audiences with their superb musicianship and showmanship.^[21]

Revitalized by the response to Live Aid and the resulting increase in record sales, Queen ended 1985 by releasing the single "One Vision", an up tempo guitar-based song credited, unusually for this period, to all four members of the band. It was used in the film Iron Eagle.

1985 also saw the release of Mercury's first solo album Mr. Bad Guy.

 

In early 1986 Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several songs written for the Russell Mulcahy film Highlander of the same year, as well as a few inspired by (but not used in) the film. This album was very successful, producing a string of hits including the title track "A Kind of Magic", "Friends Will Be Friends", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Princes Of The Universe".

Later that year, Queen went on a sold-out tour, known as "The Magic Tour", in support of A Kind of Magic, whose highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London and resulted in the live double album, Queen Live At Wembley Stadium, released both on CD and as a live concert film on VHS and later DVD. They could not book Wembley for a third night because it was already booked, but they managed to get Knebworth Park. It sold out within two hours and over 120,000 fans packed the park^[22] for what turned out to be Queen's final live performance with Mercury. Ultimately, the Magic Tour was the biggest tour Queen had ever played.^[23] A total of more than 1 million people saw the show, with 400,000 for the United Kingdom alone, which was the record at the time.^[19]

 

After working in various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caballé, Barcelona) the band released The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the direction of A Kind of Magic with a polished pop-rock sound mixed with a few heavy numbers and spawned the European hits "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "The Invisible Man", "Scandal", and "The Miracle". Queen announced that there would be no tour for this album, with Mercury declaring that he was the sole reason. He stated that he simply wanted to break the typical cycle of album/tour. Speculation returned of a possible breakup of the band in the near future, or that Mercury might be suffering from health problems.

The Miracle also began a change in direction of Queen's songwriting philosophy. Since the band's beginning, nearly all songs had been written by and credited to a single member, with each of the other members often adding minimal creative input, and instead helping the original writer to realize their vision for the song. Starting with The Miracle, the band's songwriting began to become more collaborative, and although many songs could be said to have been written largely by one member or another, they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group.

 

Beginning in the late 1980s, rumours started spreading in the tabloid press and elsewhere that Mercury was suffering from AIDS. Although the rumours turned out to be true, Mercury flatly denied them at the time. However, the band decided to keep making albums free of conflict and differences; starting with The Miracle and continuing with 1991's Innuendo. Although his health was deteriorating, Mercury continued to contribute, working in a creative fervour. Highlights of Innuendo were the epic title track, the hard-rocking powerhouse "Headlong", the quirky, synthesizer-heavy, pop-styled "I'm Going Slightly Mad", and the reflective anthems "The Show Must Go On" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives".

On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement made on his deathbed, Mercury finally confirmed that he had AIDS. Within twenty-four hours of the announcement, Mercury died at the age of forty-five. His funeral services were private, held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was re-released shortly after Mercury's death. It topped the UK charts and stayed at number one for five weeks. The initial proceeds from the single - around £1,000,000^[24] - were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust^[24].

On 20 April 1992, the public shared in the mourning of Mercury's passing at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, held at London's Wembley Stadium in Mercury's honor. Musicians including Robert Plant, Annie Lennox, Guns N' Roses, Extreme, Roger Daltrey, Def Leppard, Elton John, George Michael, David Bowie, Metallica and Liza Minnelli, along with the three lasting members of Queen, performed many of Queen's major hits. It was an successful concert that was televised to over 1 billion viewers worldwide^[19]. The concert is in The Guinness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert."^[25] It raised over £20,000,000 for AIDS charities.^[24]

Queen's popularity increased once again in the United States after "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in the comedy film Wayne's World, helping the song reach number two for five weeks in the United States charts in 1992.

Queen never actually disbanded, although its last album of original material (not including compilations) was released in 1995, titled Made in Heaven, released four years after Mercury's death. It was constructed from Mercury's final recording sessions in 1991, plus material left over from their previous studio albums; in addition, re-worked material from Mercury's solo album Mr. Bad Guy and a track originally featured on the first album of Taylor's side-project, The Cross, were included. May and Taylor have often been involved in projects related to raising money for AIDS research and promoting its support. John Deacon's last involvement with the band was in 1997, when he recorded the track "No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)" with the other two members. It was the last original song recorded by all three remaining members of Queen, and it was released as a bonus track on the Queen Rocks compilation album later that year.

Several Queen + projects were developed in the following years, a few of them mere remixes with no artistic involvement from the band. In 1999, a Greatest Hits III album was released. This album featured, among others, "Queen + Wyclef Jean" on a rap version of "Another One Bites The Dust", the live version of "Somebody to Love" by George Michael, and the live version of "The Show Must Go On", performed live in 1997 with Elton John.

Brian May and Roger Taylor performed together as Queen on several occasions (award ceremonies, charity concerts, and the like), sharing vocals with various guest singers. They also recorded several covers of Queen's hits (We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions) with new singers.

In 2003, four new songs were recorded by Queen for Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign against AIDS. The studio versions of Invincible Hope (Queen + Nelson Mandela, feat. Treana Morris), 46664 - The Call, Say It's Not True, and Amandla (Anastacia, Dave Stewart and Queen) have not yet been released on album.

At the end of 2004, it was announced that Queen would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). It was also stated, including on Brian May's own website, that Rodgers would be 'featured with' Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The officially retired Deacon ^[26] would not be participating; Danny Miranda of Blue Öyster Cult replaced him on bass. Other members of the tour included keyboardist Spike Edney, who played guitar and keyboards in Queen live shows since 1984, and additional guitarist Jamie Moses, who had worked with Brian May on solo efforts since the early '90s.

On September 19 2005, a live double CD album was released, Return of the Champions, featuring Paul Rodgers and recorded live in May 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England. A DVD from the same concert was released a few weeks later.

In March 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers set out to tour the United States and Canada. This tour, apart from the two United States dates from the first Queen + Paul Rodgers tour, marks Queen's first full-on United States tour since Hot Space in 1982. Queen + Paul Rodgers debuted their first new song, a collaboration called "Take Love", while on the United States tour.

On April 28 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers released a second live DVD from their collaboration, Super Live in Japan; the show was filmed at Saitama Super Arena on October 27 2005 - one of six Japan dates scheduled.

On August 15 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website that Queen + Paul Rodgers will begin producing a new studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a heretofore 'secret location'.^[27]

Queen's live performances were consistently at the forefront of rock shows from bands of their generation. The band amassed a diverse catalogue of songs and made use of massive sound systems, lighting rigs, pyrotechnics, and various extravagant costumes to help enrich their shows into entertaining, theatrical events. As both lead vocalist and frontman, Mercury was able to immerse himself in the audience's adulation and thrived off their excitement. Queen were also amongst a handful of bands that provided the initial impetus for stadiums and large arenas becoming regarded as serious rock concert venues. Their reputation for putting on an impressive live performance led to a number of concerts being released on both album and video and, later, on CD and DVD while a significant number of bootleg copies of Queen concerts have appeared.

In conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game Queen: The Eye in 1998, to commercial and critical failure. The music itself — tracks from Queen's vast catalogue, in many cases remixed into new instrumental versions — was by and large well received, but the game experience was hampered by poor game play. Adding to the problem was an extremely long development time, resulting in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release.

Under the supervision of May and Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been underway involving Queen's lengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their 1986 Wembley concert (titled Live At Wembley Stadium) and 1982 Milton Keynes concert (Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl), and two Greatest Video Hits (Volumes 1 and 2, spanning the 1970s and 1980s) have seen the band's music remixed into 5.1 and DTS Surround Sound. So far, two of Queen's most acclaimed albums, A Night At The Opera and The Game, have been fully remixed into high-resolution multichannel surround on DVD-Audio. May has said he would like to see the entire Queen catalogue reproduced in this format, as it is closer to what the band envisaged for their work years ago. A new 5.1 mix of A Night At The Opera, including the first surround versions of " (QA NIGHT AT THE OPERA)" and " (QA NIGHT AT THE OPERA)", was created in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album's original release (CD+DVD set).

Queen contributed music directly to the movies Flash Gordon (1980, directed by Mike Hodges) and Highlander (the original 1986 film, directed by Russell Mulcahy). The theme song, "Princes of the Universe", was also used in the Highlander TV series (1992–1998).

"Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single in 1991 after appearing in Wayne's World. The single subsequently reached number two on the United States Billboard chart (with "The Show Must Go On" as the first track on the single) and helped rekindle the band's popularity in North America.

Several films have featured their songs performed by other artists. A cover of "Somebody to Love" by Anne Hathaway featured in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. In 2006, Brittany Murphy also recorded a cover of the same song for the 2006 movie Happy Feet. In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the movie musical Moulin Rouge!. The closing credits of A Knight's Tale released in 2001 has a version of "We Are The Champions" performed by Robbie Williams.

Many other films have featured their songs in their original form. These include FM, Iron Eagle, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon, The Break-up, Small Soldiers, Son in Law, Encino Man, Stepmom, High Fidelity, Super Size Me, The Girl Next Door, Revenge of the Nerds, The Mighty Ducks, How High, Chicken Little, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, Grosse Pointe Blank, Blackball, and Shaun of the Dead.

Keeping in the tradition (since Season five) of naming each season's episodes after songs from a famous 1970s era rock band (Led Zeppelin for the fifth season, The Who for the sixth and The Rolling Stones for the seventh), the eighth and final season of That '70s Show consisted of episodes named after Queen songs. "Bohemian Rhapsody" served as the season premiere.^[28]

On April 11, 2006 Queen appeared on the American singing contest television show American Idol. Each of the contestants was required to sing a Queen song during that week of the competition. Songs which appeared on the show included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Show Must Go On", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Innuendo". Brian May later criticized the show for editing specific scenes^[29], one which made the group's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite.

 

In 2002, a musical or "rock theatrical" based on the songs of Queen, entitled We Will Rock You, opened at the Dominion Theatre on London's West End. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and produced by Robert De Niro^[30]. It has since been staged in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane, Australia; Cologne, Germany; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; South Africa, Las Vegas, Nevada and Zurich, Switzerland.

The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at the Dominion Theatre, but due to public demand, the show has now been extended indefinitely. We Will Rock You has become the longest running musical ever to run at this prime London theatre, overtaking the previous record holder, the Grease musical.^[31]

The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. As part of the Jubilee celebrations Brian May performed a guitar solo of "God Save the Queen"^[32], as featured on Queen's A Night at the Opera, from the roof of Buckingham Palace. The recording of this performance was used as video for the same song on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Night at the Opera.

Sean Bovim created "Queen at the Ballet", a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which uses Queen's music as a soundtrack for the show’s dancers, who interpret the stories behind tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga" and "Killer Queen."

Queen composed music that drew inspiration from many different sub-genres of rock music, often with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Among the genres they have been associated with are:

• Arena rock^[33]
• Glam rock^[33]
• Hard rock^[33]
• Heavy metal^[34]
• Progressive rock^[34]
• Psychedelic rock^[35]

Sonic experimentation figured heavily in Queen's songs. A distinctive characteristic of Queen's music are the vocal harmonies which are usually comprised of the voices of May, Mercury and Taylor best heard on the studio albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races.^[36] Besides vocal harmonies, Queen were also known for multi-tracking voices to imitate the sound of a large choir through overdubs. According to Brian May, there are over 180 vocal overdubs in "Bohemian Rhapsody"^[37].

Many Queen songs were written with audience participation in mind, such as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions"^[38].

Initially dismissed by the majority of music critics, especially those in the United States, Queen have more recently been recognized as having made significant contributions to such genres as arena rock^[3], glam rock^[3], hard rock^[39], heavy metal^[3], pop rock, and progressive rock^[3], amongst others. Hence the band has been cited as a influence by many other artists and performers. Like its music, the collection of bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen, or a member of Queen, is diverse and span different generations and countries.

Some of the artists that have cited the band as an influence include: Ben Folds Five^[40], Def Leppard^[41], Extreme^[42], Guns N' Roses^[43], Kansas^[44], Metallica^[45], Mika^[46], The Smashing Pumpkins^[47][48], Styx^[49], Blind Guardian^[50] and Sweet^[51].

Michael Jackson was a friend of Mercury's in the early 1980s and cited the Hot Space album as a driving influence behind the making of his 1982 album Thriller on which Mercury was originally scheduled to appear.^[52].

Queen have also been cited as a major influence on the "neo-classical metal" genre by Swedish-American guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen.

"Stone Cold Crazy", from 1974's Sheer Heart Attack album, is often cited as an early precursor of the speed- or thrash metal subgenre.^[53] Metallica recorded a cover version of the song, which first appeared on the "Rubaiyat — Electra's 40th Anniversary" album in 1990, and won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1991.

As of 2005, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,422 weeks or twenty-seven years on the United Kingdom album charts; more time than any other musical act including The Beatles and Elvis Presley.^[54] Also in 2005, with the release of their live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts.^[55]

In 2006, the Greatest Hits album was found to be Ireland and United Kingdom's all-time best selling album, with sales upwards of 5,407,587 copies, over 604,295 more copies than its nearest competitor The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Also their Greatest Hits II album came in seventh with sales upwards of 3,631,321 copies.^[56]

In January 2007, their Greatest Hits I & II was the #1 most downloaded album on iTunes in North America.^[57]

One of rock's most successful and influential acts, The band have released a total of eighteen number one albums, eighteen number one singles, and ten number one DVDs worldwide making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They have sold over 300 million records worldwide^[3][58] including 35.5 million albums in the United States alone as of 2004.^[4]

The band are also the only band in which every member has composed more than one chart-topping single.^[59]

• 2001 - The band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.^[60]
• 2002 - The band is given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[61]
• 2003 - The band became the first and remain the only band to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[62]
• 2004 - The band is inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.^[63]
• 2004 - "Bohemian Rhapsody" is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[64]
• 2004 - The band is inducted into the RockWalk of Fame (at Guitar Center on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard)^[65]
• 2006 - The band is the first inductee into the VH1 Rock Honors.^[66]

• 1975 - The band is named 'Band of the Year' by Melody Maker.^[67]
• 1975 - Mercury is awarded an Ivor Novello award for "Killer Queen."^[68]
• 1976 - Mercury is awarded an Ivor Novello award for "Bohemian Rhapsody."^[68]
• 1977 - The band is awarded a Brit Award for the 'Best Single Of The Last 25 Years' for "Bohemian Rhapsody."^[69]
• 1981 - The band is awarded an American Music Award for 'Favorite Pop/Rock Single' ("Another One Bites The Dust") and are nominated for 'Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group.'^[67]
• 1990 - The band is awarded a Brit Award for 'Outstanding contributions to British music.'^[68]
• 1992 - The band is awarded a Brit Award for "These Are the Days of Our Lives" single.^[70]
• 1992 - Mercury is awarded a Brit Award for 'Outstanding contributions to British music.'^[70]
• 1997 - May is awarded an Ivor Novello for "Too Much Love Will Kill You"^[71].

• 1976 - Sounds Readers' Poll Awards^[72]
  • Best Band
  • Best Album (A Night at the Opera)
  • Best Single ("Bohemian Rhapsody")
• 1999 - The band is voted the second greatest band in music history.^[73]
• 2005 - The band's performance at Live Aid is voted two times by a large selection of musicians and critics to be the greatest live show of all time.^[74]
• 2007 - The band is voted the 'Best British Band Of All Time.'^[75]

[Brighton Rock] was the first thing I heard them play. Roy Thomas Baker had produced [Nazareth's] second album, and told us to look out for Queen. When I got home I went to Boots in the local high street and bought a cassette of Sheer Heart Attack. After sitting in the car and playing both sides I was stunned, and had to be moved by a traffic warden.

— Pete Agnew (Nazareth)^[76]

At the time of Innuendo's release, it blew all the extreme metal forms I was listening to out of the water. I guess I'll be representing the whole extreme metal genre by saying that Queen's music is highly influential for oddities, too.

— Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth)^[76]

All I've got on my iPod is every single Queen song and every single [Judas] Priest song. Queen were an incredible heavy metal band. I saw them on their first ever tour, at Birmingham Town Hall. They just blew me away.

— Rob Halford (Judas Priest)^[76]

When I was with Kansas, we toured with Queen on there first visit to the States and became good friends. They profoundly influenced us.

— Kerry Livgren^[76]

You could tell those guys were fucking brainy, the degrees and A-levels come flooding out on [Bohemian Rhapsody]; its arrangement and melody are so incredible.

— Gary Moore^[76]

[When] Mountain toured with Queen on one of there earliest visits to the States. They knocked my fiancee and I out every night.

— Leslie West (Mountain)^[76]

When Queen rocked out they easily rivalled [Led] Zeppelin, [Black] Sabbath, and [Deep] Purple.

— Richard Barbieri (Porcupine Tree)^[76]

Queen did such incredible hard rock stuff, though there was so much else to them.

— Geoff Tate (Queensryche)^[76]

Queen created some of the best stadium rock anthems of our time.

— Mick Box (Uriah Heep)^[76]

The Queen logo, also known as the Queen Crest, was designed by Mercury (who had a diploma in Illustration and Graphic Design from Ealing Art College in London) shortly before the release of their first album. The logo features the zodiac signs of all four members: two lions for Leo (Deacon and Taylor), a crab for Cancer (May), and two fairies for Virgo (Mercury)^[70]. The lions are embracing a stylized letter Q, the crab is resting atop the Q with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are sheltering below each lion respectively. There is also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix.

See discography for more information, including the countries in which each single has reached number one.

• "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975)
• "Somebody to Love" (1976)
• "We Are the Champions" / "We Will Rock You" (1977)
• "Love of My Life" (live) (1979)
• "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (1979)
• "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980)
• "Flash" (1980)
• "Under Pressure" (with David Bowie) (1981)
• "Las Palabras de Amor" (1982)
• "Radio Ga Ga" (1984)
• "I Want to Break Free" (1984)
• "Innuendo" (1991)
• "I'm Going Slightly Mad" (1991)
• "Bohemian Rhapsody" / "These Are the Days of Our Lives" (1991)
• "Five Live" (EP with George Michael and Lisa Stansfield) (1993)
• "Heaven for Everyone" (1995)
• "You Don't Fool Me" (1995)
• "We Will Rock You" (with 5ive) (2000)

• Greg Brooks. Queen Live: A Concert Documentary. London: Omnibus Press, 1995/2005. ISBN 1-84449-660-0
• Ken Dean, Chris Charlesworth. Queen - The New Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press, 1991. ISBN 0711928282
• Nigel Goodall, Peter Lewry. The Ultimate Queen. London: Simon & Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0684868377
• Jacky Gunn, Jim Jenkins. Queen: As It Began. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1992. ISBN 0283060522
• Mark Hodkinson. Queen - The Early Years. London: Music Sales Limited, 2005. ISBN 1-84449-012-2
• Peter Hogan. The Complete Guide to the Music of Queen. London: Omnibus Press, 1994. ISBN 0711935262
• Mick Michael. Queen, In Their Own Words. London: Omnibus Press, 1992. ISBN 0711930147

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Queen.

• Official Queen web site
• Official Brian May web site
• Official Queen + Paul Rodgers web site
• Official International Queen Fan Club
• Queen Archives - interviews, reviews, articles
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