Queen
Formed in 1971, Queen are a British rock band with songs such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Somebody to Love’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ etc, to their credit.
Queen consisted of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.
Queen released their first album ‘QUEEN’ in 1973. They also did a major tour and in 1974, ‘QUEEN II’ was released. In the same year 1974, they released ‘SHEER HEART ATTACK’ which became a big hit all over.
One could say they really hit the jackpot with their next album ‘A NIGHT AT THE OPERA’ which had the single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. This song became an instant craze and stayed at the No. 1 position on the UK Charts for nine weeks. It was the only single that sold a million copies on two different occasions.
Another all-time super hit Queen song is ‘We Will Rock You’ from the album ‘News Of The World’. The album also had the song ‘We Are The Champions’ and both these songs became mantras in the music world and gaming spheres world over. Elektra records, USA, got their maiden 2 million-selling single release with these!
Queen’s success story was only just beginning to roll. They took the music world on a wild, phenomenal ride for years, releasing hit-after-hit albums and giving magnificent live performances all over the world.
Tragedy struck on 24th November 1991. Freddie Mercury passed away. He had been suffering from AIDS, a fact he announced to the world a day before his death. He was 45 years when he died, a loss the world will never be able to forget. A year after in 1992 Freddie Mercury was posthumously honored with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to British Music’ award.
The surviving Queen members continued performing, donating the huge amounts that poured in to AIDS charity trusts and foundations.
Queen has influenced a number of the present day mega rock and metal bands. Some of them are Guns N’ Roses, Radiohead, Def Leppard, Green Day, etc.
Queen made it so big that there were soon digital games based on them. In 1998, Electronic Arts (EA) and Queen released the PC game ‘Queen: The Eye’ and though this initial attempt pretty much flopped, it was start. Many of their songs are featured on Sony’s PS2 AND PS3 games.
Queen had a music style that was inspired by many genres, bringing out the most prominent features of each: Rock, Metal, Disco, etc.
Queen Albums:
- Queen – 1973
- Queen II – 1974
- Sheer Heart Attack – 1974
- A Night At The Opera – 1975
- A Day At The Races – 1976
- News Of The World – 1977
- Jazz – 1978
- Live Killers – 1979
- The Game – 1980
- Flash – 1980
- Hot Space – 1982
- The Works – 1984
- A Kind Of Magic – 1986
- The Miracle – 1989
- Innuendo – 1991
- Made In Heaven – 1995
Every time Queen performed live, it was as if they were struck with power from another dimension altogether. They achieved the status of Demi-Gods with their guitars and black-leather jackets.
The lyrics to one of their most popular songs ‘We Will Rock You’ goes:
Buddy you’re a boy make a big noise
Playin’ in the streets gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on your face,
You big disgrace
Kickin’ your can all over the place
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you
Queen didn’t just sing about rocking the world. They did. And boy, did they rock us off our feet.
- Kavya Kumar
Tags: brian may, british rock band, elektra records, john deacon, music, queen, queen ii, rock and metal bands, rock band, roger taylor, somebody to love, we will rock you
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