History of Queen
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This article covers the history of the rock band Queen.
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[edit] Pre-Queen (1968–1970)
Brian May and Roger Taylor were playing in a semi-professional band called Smile with Tim Staffell. Freddie Mercury (then Freddie Bulsara) was Staffell's roommate at Ealing Arts College and followed Smile's music closely. As the singer in other bands, such as Ibex in 1969 and Sour Milk Sea in 1970, Mercury was eager to share his ideas so Smile could develop. Staffell left Smile to join another band, Humpy Bong, and Smile split up. Mercury persuaded May and Taylor to continue, however, changing the band's name from "Smile" to "Queen" in the process. The band had a number of bass players during this period who ultimately didn't fit in with the band's dynamics. It was not until February 1971 that they found John Deacon and began to rehearse for the first album, Queen.
[edit] Finding their sound (1970–1974)
| Queen is a monster. Gordon Fletcher, Rolling Stone 149 [1] |
Queen originally started life as a band heavily influenced by many touchstones associated with progressive rock - most notably long compositions in varying time signatures, complex orchestration, and fantasy-themed lyrics. Their first two albums in particular show this tendency.
In 1973, Queen released their first album, a self-titled project. It drew little mainstream attention, as the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive", a Brian May composition, sold poorly. However, Greg Prato of "allmusic" called it "one of the most underrated hard rock debuts of all time."[2]
It wasn't until 1974 that the band gained any mainstream attention or commercial success, when the album Queen II was released. Queen II reached number 5 on the British album charts, while the Freddie Mercury-written lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye", reached number 10 in Great Britain, giving the band its first hit.
The band toured as support to Mott the Hoople (referred to in the "Now I'm Here" lyric "Down in the city, just Hoople and me") during this period, when it first began to gain notice for its energetic and hugely engaging stage shows.
Later that same year, Sheer Heart Attack was released. The album sold well in the United Kingdom and 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 different types of music; from British Music Hall to heavy metal ("Now I'm Here", and "Stone Cold Crazy" - a song which Metallica would later cover and earn a Grammy for), to ballads ("Lily Of The Valley"), ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown"), and even 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" was a British number 2 hit which reached as high as number 11 on the U.S. charts. 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 11 hit in Britain.
[edit] Worldwide success (1975–1979)
In 1975, A Night At The Opera was recorded and released. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced.[3] Considered by many fans and critics alike to be its greatest effort, A Night at the Opera featured the huge worldwide hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Bohemian Rhapsody" was number one in the UK for nine weeks, and another five weeks in 1992 when it was re-released after the death of Mercury. It originally reached number 9 in the U.S, and number 2 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 14 on the U.S. charts and went on to become a worldwide Top 10 hit.
The entire album featured incredible diversity in music styles and experimentation with stereo sound (for example, in "The Prophet's Song", an 8-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.
By 1976, Queen was back in the studio, where it recorded what may have been mistakenly perceived 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, although the album was by both fans' and critics' standards a strong effort, it was unable to eclipse its predecessor and did not sell quite as well.
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 13 on the U.S. singles chart and number 2 on the UK 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. [4] By comparison, the 2005 London Live 8 concert, which featured numerous of the world's highest drawing acts (including The Who, U2, Madonna, Coldplay, Elton John, Robbie Williams and a reunited Pink Floyd) drew about 150,000.
1977 saw the release of News Of The World, an album that was critically panned at the time but has gained recognition over time 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 4 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 the Jazz album, including the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race", which were also released as a double-A-side single. Although successful, 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".[5] 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. All band members, especially Taylor, noted frustration and disappointment with the album, and as a result, took a break from the breakneck schedule of one or more albums a year, and focused during the year of 1979 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.
[edit] New sound and the introduction of synthesizers (1980–1989)
Queen began the 1980s with the hugely 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 monster 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 #1 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 No. 10 in the UK), 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 2 days.[6] 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. 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. At the time, Vanilla Ice claimed that the two bass lines were different when in fact, save for one note, they are identical[citation needed]. "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 1974-1980. In this year, Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album, entitled Fun In Space.
Inspired by the overwhelming international success of "Another One Bites The Dust", Queen decided that they should focus their next album on disco and funk; the result was the 1982 album Hot Space. Regarded by some die-hard fans as being one of the band's weakest efforts[citation needed], the album was especially disappointing to the hard-rock faithful who had followed Queen from its early years[citation needed], as none of the eleven songs were particularly hard rock-oriented. Also, 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 US, 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. Brian 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 very 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 favourites "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up". Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the US. "Radio Ga Ga" would be the band's last original Stateside Top 40 hit until 1989's "I Want It All", which reached #3 in the US 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. [7] 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 2 AM on January 12, Queen opened the festival playing in front of 325,000 people, breaking its previous world record.[8] 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.[9]
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 final 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, which for many fans and critics has become Queen's ultimate live document, released both on CD and as a live concert film on VHS and later DVD.
On this tour, the members of Queen performed for the last time together. 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 2 hours, and over 125,000 fans packed the park for what turned out to be Queen's final live performance. Ultimately, the Magic Tour was the biggest tour Queen had ever played. A total of more than 1 million people saw the show, with 400,000 for the UK alone, which was the record at the time.
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 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 more ominously, 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.
[edit] Mercury's death and the final albums (1990–1997)
Beginning in the late 1980s, rumours started spreading in the tabloid press and elsewhere that Freddie Mercury was suffering from AIDS. Although they turned out to be true, Mercury flatly denied these rumours. 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 was courageous in handling his contributions, 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, Freddie Mercury finally acknowledged he had AIDS. Within 24 hours of the announcement, Mercury was dead at the age of 45. His funeral services were private, held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.
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 extremely successful concert that was viewed by tens of millions worldwide. The concert is in The Guinness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert". It raised £19 960 000 for AIDS charities.
Queen never actually disbanded, although its last album of original material (not including compilations) was released in 1995, titled Made in Heaven, put out four years after Freddie 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.
[edit] "Queen + …" projects (1998–)
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.
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[citation needed], one which made the group's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite.
On May 25, 2006, Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and KISS were the inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas. The ceremony aired on VH1 six days later. The Foo Fighters performed "Tie Your Mother Down" as a tribute to Queen, with May and Taylor joining the performance mid-way through. Later, Queen + Paul Rodgers played "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions", "Under Pressure", and "The Show Must Go On", accompanied by Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters on drums.
[edit] Queen + Paul Rodgers
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, Bad Company, and The Firm). 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 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.
The tour has left the fan base profoundly divided (especially because of the controversial use of the name 'Queen'),[citation needed] but it has seduced most journalists and reviewers - something of a novelty for a group that has traditionally faced harsh criticisms from the press.
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 US and Canada. This tour, apart from the two US dates from the first Queen + Paul Rodgers tour, marks Queen's first full-on USA tour since Hot Space in 1982. Queen + Paul Rodgers debuted their first new song, a collaboration called "Take Love", while on the US 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'.[10]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Rolling Stone - Issue 149 - 12-06-1973
- ^ allmusic. Queen. Retrieved on 2006-06-12.
- ^ Acoustic Sounds. A Night at the Opera.
- ^ Queenzone. Biography 1976. Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
- ^ Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone Magazine. Review of "Jazz".
- ^ QueenConcerts.com. Concert details.
- ^ HotShotDigital. Freddie Mercury Biography. Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
- ^ QueenConcerts.com. Rock in Rio concert.
- ^ BBC News. Queen win greatest live gig pool. Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
- ^ USA Convention Story and Queen and Paul Rodgers Heading Towards a Studio Assignation.
| Queen |
| John Deacon | Brian May | Freddie Mercury | Roger Taylor History | Live performances | Songs |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Queen | Queen II | Sheer Heart Attack | A Night at the Opera | A Day at the Races | News of the World | Jazz | The Game | Flash Gordon | Hot Space | The Works | A Kind of Magic | The Miracle | Innuendo | Made in Heaven |
| Live albums: Live Killers | Live Magic | Live at Wembley '86 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions |
| Compilation albums: Greatest Hits | At the Beeb | Greatest Hits II | Classic Queen | Queen Rocks | Greatest Hits III | Stone Cold Classics |
| DVDs: We Will Rock You | The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert | Greatest Video Hits 1 | Live at Wembley Stadium | Greatest Video Hits 2 | We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions | Super Live in Japan |
| Related Articles |
| Ibex | Larry Lurex | Smile | The Cross | Queen + Paul Rodgers | We Will Rock You Musical |
