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Few bands embodied the pure excess of the '70s like Queen. Embracing the exaggerated pomp of prog rock and heavy metal, as well as
vaudevillian music hall, the British quartet delved deeply into camp and bombast, creating a huge, mock-operatic sound with layered guitars
and overdubbed vocals. Queen's music was a bizarre yet highly accessible fusion of the macho and the fey. For years, their albums boasted
the motto "no synthesizers were used on this record," signaling their allegiance with the legions of post-Led Zeppelin hard rock bands. But
vocalist Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant ...read more
Few bands embodied the pure excess of the '70s like Queen. Embracing the exaggerated pomp of prog rock and heavy metal, as well as
vaudevillian music hall, the British quartet delved deeply into camp and bombast, creating a huge, mock-operatic sound with layered guitars
and overdubbed vocals. Queen's music was a bizarre yet highly accessible fusion of the macho and the fey. For years, their albums boasted
the motto "no synthesizers were used on this record," signaling their allegiance with the legions of post-Led Zeppelin hard rock bands. But
vocalist Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant sense of camp to Queen, pushing them toward kitschy humor and pseudo-classical
arrangements, as epitomized on their best-known song, "Bohemian Rhapsody." Mercury, it must be said, was a flamboyant bisexual who
managed to keep his sexuality in the closet until his death from AIDS in 1991. Through his legendary theatrical performances, Queen
became one of the most popular bands in the world in the mid-'70s; in England, they remained second only to the Beatles in popularity and
collectibility in the '90s. Despite their enormous popularity, Queen were never taken seriously by rock critics -- an infamous Rolling Stone
review labeled their 1979 album Jazz as "fascist." In spite of such harsh criticism, the band's popularity rarely waned; even in the late '80s,
the group retained a fanatical following except in America. In the States, their popularity peaked in the early '80s, just as they finished
nearly a decade's worth of extraordinarily popular records. And while those records were never praised, they sold in enormous numbers, and
traces of Queen's music could be heard in several generations of hard rock and metal bands in the next two decades, from Metallica to
Smashing Pumpkins.
The origins of Queen lay in the hard rock psychedelic group Smile, which guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor joined in 1967.
Following the departure of Smile's lead vocalist, Tim Staffell, in 1971, May and Taylor formed a group with Freddie Mercury, the former lead
singer for Wreckage. Within a few months, bassist John Deacon joined them, and they began rehearsing. Over the next two years, as all four
members completed college, they simply rehearsed, playing just a handful of gigs. By 1973, they had begun to concentrate on their career,
releasing their debut album, Queen, that year and setting out on their first tour. Queen was more or less a straight metal album and failed to
receive much acclaim, but Queen II became an unexpected British breakthrough early in 1974. Before its release, the band played Top of
the Pops, performing "Seven Seas of Rhye." Both the song and the performance were smash successes, and the single rocketed into the Top
Ten, setting the stage for Queen II to reach number five. Following its release, the group embarked on its first American tour, supporting
Mott the Hoople. On the strength of their campily dramatic performances, the album climbed to number 43 in the States.
Queen released their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, before the end of 1974. The music hall meets Zeppelin "Killer Queen" climbed to
number two on the U.K. charts, taking the album to number two as well. Sheer Heart Attack made some inroads in America as well, setting
the stage for the breakthrough of 1975's A Night at the Opera. Queen labored long and hard over the record; according to many reports, it
was the most expensive rock record ever made at the time of its release. The first single from the record, "Bohemian Rhapsody," became
Queen's signature song, and with its bombastic, mock-operatic structure punctuated by heavy metal riffing, it encapsulates their music. It
also is the symbol for their musical excesses -- the song took three weeks to record, and there were so many vocal overdubs on the record
that it was possible to see through the tape at certain points. To support "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen shot one of the first conceptual
music videos, and the gamble paid off as the single spent nine weeks at number one in the England, breaking the record for the longest run
at number one. The song and A Night at the Opera were equally successful in America, as the album climbed into the Top Ten and quickly
went platinum.
Following A Night at the Opera, Queen were established as superstars, and they quickly took advantage of all their status had to offer. Their
parties and indulgence quickly became legend in the rock world, yet they continued to work at a rapid rate. In the summer of 1976, they
performed a free concert at London's Hyde Park that broke attendance records, and they released the hit single "Somebody to Love" a few
months later. It was followed by A Day at the Races, which was essentially a scaled-down version of A Night at the Opera that reached
number one in the U.K. and number five in the U.S. They continued to pile up hit singles in both Britain and America over the next five years,
as each of their albums went into the Top Ten, always going gold and usually platinum in the process. Because Queen embraced such mass
success and adoration, they were scorned by the rock press, especially when they came to represent all of the worst tendencies of the old
guard in the wake of punk. Nevertheless, the public continued to buy Queen records. Featuring the Top Five double-A-sided single "We Are
the Champions"/"We Will Rock You," News of the World became a Top Ten hit in 1977. The following year, Jazz nearly replicated that
success, with the single "Fat Bottomed Girls"/"Bicycle Race" becoming an international hit despite the massive bad publicity surrounding
their media stunt of staging a nude female bicycle race.
Queen were at the height of their popularity as they entered the '80s, releasing The Game, their most diverse album to date, in 1980. On
the strength of two number one singles -- the campy rockabilly "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the disco-fied "Another One Bites the
Dust" -- The Game became the group's first American number one album. However, the bottom fell out of the group's popularity, particularly
in the U.S., shortly afterward. Their largely instrumental soundtrack to Flash Gordon was coldly received later in 1980. With the help of
David Bowie, Queen were able to successfully compete with new wave with the 1981 hit single "Under Pressure" -- their first U.K. number
one since "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- which was included both on their 1981 Greatest Hits and 1982's Hot Space. Instead of proving the
group's vitality, "Under Pressure" was a last gasp. Hot Space was only a moderate hit, and the more rock-oriented The Works (1984) also
was a minor hit, with only "Radio Ga Ga" receiving much attention. Shortly afterward, they left Elektra and signed with Capitol.
Faced with their decreased popularity in the U.S. and waning popularity in Britain, Queen began touring foreign markets, cultivating a large,
dedicated fan base in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, continents that most rock groups ignored. In 1985, they returned to popularity in
Britain in the wake of their showstopping performance at Live Aid. The following year, they released A Kind of Magic to strong European
sales, but they failed to make headway in the States. The same fate befell 1989's The Miracle, yet 1991's Innuendo was greeted more
favorably, going gold and peaking at number 30 in the U.S. Nevertheless, it still was a far bigger success in Europe, entering the U.K. charts
at number one.
By 1991, Queen had drastically scaled back their activity, causing many rumors to circulate about Freddie Mercury's health. On November
23, he issued a statement confirming that he was stricken with AIDS; he died the next day. The following spring, the remaining members of
Queen held a memorial concert at Wembley Stadium that was broadcast to an international audience of more than one billion. Featuring such
guest artists as David Bowie, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Def Leppard, and Guns N' Roses, the concert raised millions for the Mercury
Phoenix Trust, which was established for AIDS awareness. The concert coincided with a revival of interest in "Bohemian Rhapsody," which
climbed to number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K. in the wake of its appearance in the Mike Myers comedy Wayne's World.
Following Mercury's death, the remaining members of Queen were fairly quiet. Brian May released his second solo album, Back to the Light,
in 1993, ten years after the release of his first record. Roger Taylor cut a few records with the Cross, which he had been playing with since
1987, while Deacon essentially retired. The three reunited in 1994 to record backing tapes for vocal tracks Mercury recorded on his
deathbed. The resulting album, Made in Heaven, was released in 1995 to mixed reviews and strong sales, particularly in Europe. Crown
Jewels, a box set repackaging their first eight LPs, followed in 1998. Archival live recordings, DVDs, and compilations kept appearing
through the new millennium. The Queen name was revived in 2005, but this time with "+ Paul Rodgers" appended to it. Rodgers, the former
lead singer of Free and Bad Company, joined Brian May and Roger Taylor (John Deacon remained retired) for several live shows, one of which
was documented on 2005's Return of the Champions, a double-disc release issued by the Hollywood label. International touring continued,
as did a new studio album featuring Rodgers' vocals. Released under the "Queen + Paul Rodgers" tag, The Cosmos Rocks appeared in
September 2008, followed by an American release one month later. Reception was decidedly mixed. « hide |
Similar Bands: The Who, David Bowie, Elton John, Meat Loaf, Muse
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