The history of Queen
When we hear the word “queen”, we are thinking about majesties, glory, power and strong will. But that is also the name of one of the greatest ever British rock bands, with world wide fame and a huge number of fans. The band worked hard and their love for the music, fresh style and original songs, helped them to win the hearts of many people. They became popular for a short period of time and that gave them a good start in the music busyness and great perspectives for the future. The band loves their fans and when they perform live, they are giving all for them. Queen attracted the people with their honesty, natural and wild behavior and 100 % pure music.
The members of Queen are four: piano and vocals - Freddie Mercury; guitars, piano, vocals - Brian May; drums, percussion, vocals Roger Meddows – Taylor; bass guitar, rhythm guitar - John Deacon. They all have a great talent and were traveling for the same destination, but in different ways.
In their careers the members of Queen tested all kinds of musical instruments.
Roger Taylor also played on guitar, piano and keys. He improvised on the keys very well and came on with very non – standard ideas used in songs like “Radio Ga Ga”.
Freddie Mercury often played on royals and electric keybords. He was a top quality pianist and had briliant ideas. One of the songs that is completely composed, arranged and played by him is”Was It All Worth It”. He could play and on guitar and compose for drums.
John Deacon played on guitar but also could play on drums and keyboards, but not too complicated things.
Brian May was pianist, but also could play on guitar. He had done some drum parts in solo projects and gave the idea to record each chord of the song “Love Of My Life” in a different take and then with the help of the producer, mixed them to create the entire part.
Queen made 20 albums, 2 tribute albums, 16 compilations and many singles. All of them are very good and made with talent that no one had and of course hard work and big amount of energy.
In the years from 1968 to 1970, Brian May and Roger Taylor played with Tim Staffel in a band called Smile. In that period of time Freddie Mercury was a roommate with Staffel in Ealing Arts College and also shared some ideas with the members of Smile and the band made some progress. But Mercury wasn’t only giving ideas, he also singed for bands like Wreckage and Ibex. Later Tim Staffel quit Smile because he wasn’t satisfied with the progress of the band and moved to a band called “Humpy Bong”. Fredie Mercury decided to take his place in Smile. In 1971 after changing a number of bass players the band met John Deacon. After that they started to work and in 1973 under the name “Queen”, they released a debut album called “Queen” too. That first album made some progress in the charts but the band wasn’t satisfied. Later they released “Queen II”. This album satisfied the most devoted fans, but didn’t satisfy the expectations of the band. In 1974, when “Queen” released their third album called “Sheer Heart Attack”, finaly they made a huge progress in the charts of Europe, UK and U.S. The album went gold in U.S. and climbed to second position in UK. The key for that success is hidden in the different types of music in the album. From typical British sound to heavy metal, that album shows the talent of the band to mix styles and play well. Later Metallica made a cover from one of the songs in “Sheer Heart Attack” - “Stone Cold Crazy”, and won a Grammy for that. Another great hit from that album, reached second place in UK and eleventh in U.S. is called “Killer Queen”.
In 1975 Queen released “A Night at the Opera”. That album was more successful than “Sheer Heart Attack”. That album made big success in Britain and went three times platinum in the United States. “Bohemian Rhapsody” from this album became worldwide hit. Nine weeks this song was number one in the UK. In 1991, after Mercury died, the hit was re-released and stay at the top for another five weeks. The song, turn out to be one of the top five British best - selling singles. One of the other songs in the album, called “I'm In Love With My Car”, was used in Jaguar car commercials. “A Night at the Opera” is highly valued from fans and other artists. Again mixing different styles helped for the huge success of the album.
The band planed to release a second album in package with “A Night at the Opera”, called “A Day at The Races”, but that never happened.
In 1977 new album was ready and released. That album was defined as one of the most important for the stadium rock music. “News of the World” included hit songs like “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You”. They reached top five in the charts. This album inspired some of the modern bands now like “Nine Inc Nails” and “Queens of The Stone Age”.
In 1978 the band released “Jazz”. One of the paintings on the Berlin wall was the inspiration for the album cover. That album was a little different than the others. It included hits like “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Bicycle Race”, “Let Me Entertain You” and a song by Freddie Mercury, which combined “Arabian sounds”, and the sounds of “heavy rock guitar”, called “Mustapha”. The album was interesting but the fans were “lukewarm” to it. Queen noticed that and decided, that the band should work more focused, and devote more time for creating and releasing new albums. In the end of the 70s they released their first live album – “Live Killers”. It had a great success in the U.S. The album went twice platinum. They released and a single called “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, also with great success. That was the first song of the band, which reached the number one spot in the U.S. top singles.
In 1980 the rock band released the album “The Game”. Most of their albums had great success and this one was not an exception. That was the best selling album of the band. It included hit songs like “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Play the Game”, “Save Me” and a song which stayed, for four weeks, at number one in the U.S. - “Another One Bites The Dust”. The album went four times platinum in the United States.
In the same year the band released another album – a soundtrack to the movie “Flash Gordon”. This album hadn’t a great success, but showed the rock band in a different light.
In 1981 made a single called “Under Pressure” with another rock legend – David Bowie. The single reached number one in Britain and went one of the great hits of both the band and Bowie. The group released and a greatest hits album.
The success of “Another One Bites The Dust”, influinced on the work of Queen. The new songs of Queen featured hip – hop and funky motives. As a result, in 1982 they released the album “Hot Space”. The opinion of the fans and the critics for this album was very negative. They considered it as the worst album of the band. The only songs that worth something for the people were “Under Pressure”, with Bowie and “Body Language”, which made some kind of success only in the U.S.
In 1984 Queen released “The Woks”. This album successfully combined rock and pop. It had great success and produced hits like “Radio Ga – Ga”, “I Want to Break Free”, “Hammer to Fall” and “Tear It Up”. But the video of the song “I Want to Break Free” made success only in Britain. In the other countries the people didn’t get the joke with a famous British opera and that had a negative effect on, the image and sales of, the band. After that the members of the band were working solo for a while until 1985 when they were invited to perform live on a benefit concert called “Live Aid”. There Queen performed some of the greatest hits that they produced and stole the show. Everybody was impressed of the energy, quality and devotion that came from Queen on that concert. After that the band returned the respect of the people.
In the end of 1985 they released a single called “One Vision”, used in a movie called “Iron Eagle”.
The album “A Kind of Magic” came in 1986. It had several songs written for the movie “Highlander”. A very successful album containing hits like “A Kind of Magic”, “Who Wants to Live Forever?” and “Friends Will Be Friends”.
In the same year “Queen” made a tour called “The Magic Tour”. The best of that tour was on the Wembley Stadium in London. In front of 89,000 people Freddie disproof that the band is breaking up with the words, that they will be together until “we fucking well die, I’m sure!” and that delighted the fans very much. The result of all that was a live double album called “Queen Live At Webley Stadium”, released on CD, VHS and later on DVD. That album became one of the highly valued from fans and critics. On this tour “Queen” performed together for the last time. The band wanted to stay for a third night at Wembley but it was already reserved. So they move to Knebworth Park and sold 120,000 tickets for two hours. The fans were ready for everything just to see Queen for a last time live.
In 1988 after the members of the band worked on a solo projects they released a record called “The Miracle”. It was a pop-rock album like a previous record from Queen – “A King of Magic”. “The Miracle” featured hits like “Invisible man”, “The Miracle” and “Breakthru’”
In 1991 Freddie Mercury had to comment the hearsay that he had AIDS. That was true, but he denied and continued to work. Queen released an album called “Innuendo”. Despite the bad health of Freddie he continued his work. Songs from this album like “The Show Must Go On” and “These Are The Days Of Our Lives” became big hits.
The condition of Freddie Mercury was getting worse. And on November 23, 1991 in a prepared statement on his deathbed, he admitted that he had AIDS. After 24 hours Freddie Mercury left our world at the age of 45. He was lay to rest in a private funeral and buried under the principles of the “Zoroastrian” religious faith of his family.
On April 20, 1992, the people showed their worship to the great musician with “The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert” at the Webley Stadium. Very famous musicians like Annie Lennox, Guns n' Roses, Def Leppard, Elton John, George Michael, David Bowie, Metallica, and Liza Minnelli take part in that concert. They performed live, with the other three members of Queen, the greatest hits of the band. That concert had one billion TV viewers and became one of the most successful live concerts in history.
The band actually never broke a part and continued their work. They took some of the last recordings and takes of Freddie Mercury and work to create new songs and album with them. Some of the sessions were made 10 days before the death of Mercury. The new album was ready. In 1995 “Made In Heaven” came out. It featured original materials and sessions of the band also those made just before the death of Freddie Mercury.
Brian May and Roger Taylor often take part in projects for raising money for AIDS research and charity. They also made some projects with various artists, something that John Deacon supports. But he didn’t hide his criticism for the covers of the songs made with Five and Robbie Williams – “We Will Rock You”, 2000 and “We Are The Champions”, 2001.
In 1997 a new tribute album is released – “Dragon Attack”. This album includes artist like Yngwie Malmsteen, Lemmy Kilmister, Glenn Hughes, Carmine Appice and John Petrucci and it is created by Billy Sherwood.
In 2004 Queen announced that they will return to touring in 2005 and will take Paul Rodgers as a frontman, but he will not replace Freddie Mercury in the band. He will sing featuring Queen. Deacon who is officially retired would not take part in these events.
On August, 9, 2005 they released a tribute album to the band called “Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen”. This album featured many of the modern bands and artists like Sum 41, Los Lobos, Joss Stone, Nickelback, Jason Mraz, Gavin DeGraw, The Flaming Lips, Eleven and Rooney.
Queen always produced music on a very high level. They were a big sensation, because they were different from the other rock bands. Queen made some of the greatest hits in the music history and gave the audience variety of music. They inspired many people and contributed for the growth of the music. Queen are idols for the most modern bands and artist.
Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Guns n' Roses, Def Leppard, Trent Reznor, Robbie Williams, George Michael, Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, The Darkness, Franz Ferdinand, and Joan Osborne are just some of the names that modern music is producing. All of them are influenced by Queen and their unique music and performances and all of them appreciate the band very much.
Queen also made a number of soundtracks for films like “Highlander”, “Flash Gordon”, “Iron Eagle”, “Loaded Weapon”, “Small Soldiers”, “Super Size Me”, “A Knight's Tale” and “The Girl Next Door”. The band didn’t just influenced on the rock music, they influenced and on the movie soundtrack music. We can say that Queen are the beginning of a new era in the music and changed our world forever with songs with very deep meaning and unique rhythms.
In the last years, two of the members of Queen started to reproduce the music of the rock band. Brian May and Roger Taylor changed the format of the music from old – fashioned records and tapes to a modern CDs and DVDs with a quality surround sound. This increased the attention on Queen and many fans were delighted because this brought them a new type of experience. They also released video collections with concerts and interviews. Still many fans and collectors try to keep in touch with Brian May and Roger Taylor and are asking about new releases and unpublished materials.
One of the things that Queen were famous with - their extraordinary live performances. For two nights over 150,000 people visited the concert at Wembley Stadium. This means one thing - the live performances of Queen were something special and everybody wanted a peace of the indescribable experience that each one fan felt. Combination of lights, big effects, fireworks even acting and pure energy that were coming from the scene of Queen could literally “blow” you away. At that time Queen presented to the fans something unseen. On the other concerts of rock bands the artist just played on their instruments and that is all. No lights, no effects, no fireworks and especially no singing with the band. On a live performance of Queen you could feel the energy of the music and become one peace with the band. You could sing with them and fully enjoy the songs and the feelings that they were bringing. Actually songs like “We Are The Champions”, “We Will Rock You” and “Radio Ga Ga” were made with the idea of involving the crowd. Queen made many memorable tours but one moment will be remembered forever. The moment at Wembley Stadium, 1986 in which Freddie Mercury announced in front of the audience “There's been a lot of rumours lately about a certain band called Queen... the rumours are that we're gonna split up. What do you think?” Audience: “No!” Freddie: “Forget those rumours, we're gonna stay together 'till we fucking well die, I'm sure!”. But after their big success Queen suddenly stopped touring. “According to Jim Hutton's book, “Mercury and Me”, Freddie Mercury was diagnosed HIV positive the following year (1987), which probably explains why they went quiet after such a successful tour. (Jim Hutton was Mercury's final partner, together from the mid-80s until his death.)”
Queen, one of the best ever rock bands, with a big number of albums, singles and hits. With fans from allover the world, ready for everything for them. With a big secure place in the history of music and eternal fame. They couldn’t ask for more. This is the dream of all the musicians, artist and bands in the world. Queen were fighting for that dream with all the powers that they could use and at the end they get the award. Of course every battle takes victims and that case wasn’t an exception. But could you imagine the world without Queen and their energetic and ecstatic music, without songs like “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You”? I bet that you couldn’t.
After many years of hard work, Queen and Freddie Mercury finally achieved immortality, which is one of the biggest dreams of the human kind.
Discography of Queen
Albums Compilations
Queen (1973) #23 UK
Queen II (1974) #5 UK
Sheer Heart Attack (1974) #2 UK #11 US #1 Japan
A Night at the Opera (1975) #1 UK #4 US
A Day at the Races (1976) #1 UK #5 US
News of the World (1977) #4 UK #3 US #3 Japan
Jazz (1978) #2 UK #6 US
Live Killers (1979) #3 UK #16 US
The Game (1980) #1 UK #1 US
Flash Gordon (1980)
Hot Space (1982)
The Works (1984) #1 UK
A Kind of Magic (1986) #1 UK
Live Magic (1986) #3 UK
The Miracle (1989) #1 UK
Innuendo (1991) #1 UK
Live at Wembley '86 (1992) #2 UK
Made in Heaven (1995) #1 UK
Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl (2004) #20 UK
Return of the Champions (2005) #12 UK
The Best Of Queen (1976) (A variation of "Queen's Greatest Hits" from Poland and Korea)
Greatest Hits [Elektra] (1981) #1 UK (11x Platinium), #14 US (1x Platinium)
The Complete Works (1985) - all albums from 1973-1985 plus bonus material
Queen at the Beeb (1989) #67 UK
Greatest Hits, Vol. II (1991) #1 in UK, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Hungary, Switzerland, Brazil, Denmark, Portugal, New Zealand
Classic Queen (1992) #4 US (US release only)
Greatest Hits [Hollywood] (1992)
Greatest Hits [Parlophone] (1994)
Greatest Hits, Vols. 1-2 (1994) #37 UK
At the BBC (1995)
Queen Rocks (1997) #7 UK
The Crown Jewels (1998)
Greatest Hits III (1999) #5 UK
Platinum Collection, Vols. 1-3 (2000) #2 UK, #48 US
Greatest Hits: We Will Rock You Edition (2004) #42 US (US release only)
Queen Jewels Released on 2004.01.28. Japan. http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/queen/info/news_0005.htm
Tribute albums Singles
Dragon Attack - A Tribute to Queen (1997) - tribute album
Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen (August 9, 2005) - tribute album
Keep Yourself Alive/Son And Daughter (1973) - Didn't chart UK, #89 US (Cashbox)
Seven Seas Of Rhye/See What A Fool I've Been (1974) #10 UK
Killer Queen/Flick Of The Wrist (1974) #2 UK, #12 US
Now I'm Here/Lily Of The Valley (1975) #11 UK
Bohemian Rhapsody/I'm In Love With My Car (1975) #1 UK, #9 US
You're My Best Friend/'39 (1976) #7 UK, #16 US
Somebody To Love/White Man (1976) #2 UK, #13 US
Tie Your Mother Down/You And I (1977) #31 UK, #49 US
Good Old Fashioned Loverboy/Death On Two Legs/Tenement Funster/White Queen (1977) #17 UK
We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You (1977) #2 UK, #4 US
Spread Your Wings/Sheer Heart Attack (1978) #34 UK
"It's Late/Sheer Heart Attack" (1978) #72 US
"Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls" (1978) #11 UK, #24 US
Don't Stop Me Now/In Only Seven Days
(1979) #9 UK, #86 US
Love Of My Life(LIVE)/Now I'm Here(LIVE) (1979) #63 UK
Crazy Little Thing Called Love/We Will Rock You(LIVE) (1979) #2 UK, #1 US
Save Me/Let Me Entertain You(LIVE)
(1980) #11 UK
Play The Game/A Human Body (1980) #14 UK, #42
Another One Bites The Dust/Dragon Attack (1980) #7 UK, #1 US, #2 Black Singles (US), #2 Club Play Singles (US)
Need Your Loving Tonight/Rock It (1980) #44 US
Flash (1980) #10 UK, #42 US
Under Pressur" (with David Bowie - 1980) #1 UK, #29 US, #7 (US Rock Chart)
Body Language (1982) #25 UK, #11 US, #30 Black Singles (US), #62 Club Play Singles (US)
Las Palabras De Amor (1982) #17 UK
Calling All Girls (1982) #60 US, #40 (US Rock Chart)
Backchat (1982) #40 UK
Put Out The Fire (1982) #7 (US Rock Chart)
Life Is Real (1982) #57 (US Rock Chart) Radio Ga Ga (1984) #2 UK, #16 US
I Want To Break Free (1984) #3 UK, #45 US
It's A Hard Life (1984) #6 UK, #72 US
Hammer To Fall (1984) #13 UK
Thank God It's Christmas (1984) #21 UK
One Vision (1985) #7 UK, #61 US, #19 (US Rock Chart)
A Kind Of Magic (1986) #3 UK, #42 US
Friends Will Be Friends (1986) #14 UK
Who Wants To Live Forever (1986) #24 UK
I Want It All (1989) #3 UK, #50 US, #3 (US Rock Chart)
Breakthru' (1989) #7 UK
The Invisible Man (1989) #12 UK
Scandal (1989) #25 UK
The Miracle (1989) #21 UK
Innuendo (1991) #1 UK, #17 (US Rock Chart)
I'm Going Slightly Mad (1991) #22 UK
Headlong (1991) #14 UK, #3 (US Rock Chart)
I Can't Live With You (1991) #28 (US Rock Chart)
The Show Must Go On (1991) #16 UK, #2 US
Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives (1991) #1 UK
Bohemian Rhapsody (1992) #2 US
Hammer To Fall (1992) #35 (US Rock Chart)
Five Live (EP) (with George Michael and Lisa Stansfield - 1993) #1 UK
Heaven For Everyone (1995) #2 UK
A Winter's Tale (1995) #6 UK
Too Much Love Will Kill You (1996) #15 UK
Let Me Live (1996) #9 UK
You Don't Fool Me - The Remixes (1996) #17 UK
No-One But You/Tie Your Mother Down (1998) #13 UK
Another One Bites The Dust (with Wyclef Jean featuring Pras and Free - 1998) #5 UK
Under Pressure '99 (with David Bowie - 1999) #14 UK
We Will Rock You (with 5ive - 2000) #1 UK
Flash (with Vanguard - 2003) #15 UK
Reaching Out / Tie Your Mother Down / Fat Bottomed Girls (Queen + Paul Rodgers - 2005)
(Information used from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band)#History#History)
When we hear the word “queen”, we are thinking about majesties, glory, power and strong will. But that is also the name of one of the greatest ever British rock bands, with world wide fame and a huge number of fans. The band worked hard and their love for the music, fresh style and original songs, helped them to win the hearts of many people. They became popular for a short period of time and that gave them a good start in the music busyness and great perspectives for the future. The band loves their fans and when they perform live, they are giving all for them. Queen attracted the people with their honesty, natural and wild behavior and 100 % pure music.
The members of Queen are four: piano and vocals - Freddie Mercury; guitars, piano, vocals - Brian May; drums, percussion, vocals Roger Meddows – Taylor; bass guitar, rhythm guitar - John Deacon. They all have a great talent and were traveling for the same destination, but in different ways.
In their careers the members of Queen tested all kinds of musical instruments.
Roger Taylor also played on guitar, piano and keys. He improvised on the keys very well and came on with very non – standard ideas used in songs like “Radio Ga Ga”.
Freddie Mercury often played on royals and electric keybords. He was a top quality pianist and had briliant ideas. One of the songs that is completely composed, arranged and played by him is”Was It All Worth It”. He could play and on guitar and compose for drums.
John Deacon played on guitar but also could play on drums and keyboards, but not too complicated things.
Brian May was pianist, but also could play on guitar. He had done some drum parts in solo projects and gave the idea to record each chord of the song “Love Of My Life” in a different take and then with the help of the producer, mixed them to create the entire part.
Queen made 20 albums, 2 tribute albums, 16 compilations and many singles. All of them are very good and made with talent that no one had and of course hard work and big amount of energy.
In the years from 1968 to 1970, Brian May and Roger Taylor played with Tim Staffel in a band called Smile. In that period of time Freddie Mercury was a roommate with Staffel in Ealing Arts College and also shared some ideas with the members of Smile and the band made some progress. But Mercury wasn’t only giving ideas, he also singed for bands like Wreckage and Ibex. Later Tim Staffel quit Smile because he wasn’t satisfied with the progress of the band and moved to a band called “Humpy Bong”. Fredie Mercury decided to take his place in Smile. In 1971 after changing a number of bass players the band met John Deacon. After that they started to work and in 1973 under the name “Queen”, they released a debut album called “Queen” too. That first album made some progress in the charts but the band wasn’t satisfied. Later they released “Queen II”. This album satisfied the most devoted fans, but didn’t satisfy the expectations of the band. In 1974, when “Queen” released their third album called “Sheer Heart Attack”, finaly they made a huge progress in the charts of Europe, UK and U.S. The album went gold in U.S. and climbed to second position in UK. The key for that success is hidden in the different types of music in the album. From typical British sound to heavy metal, that album shows the talent of the band to mix styles and play well. Later Metallica made a cover from one of the songs in “Sheer Heart Attack” - “Stone Cold Crazy”, and won a Grammy for that. Another great hit from that album, reached second place in UK and eleventh in U.S. is called “Killer Queen”.
In 1975 Queen released “A Night at the Opera”. That album was more successful than “Sheer Heart Attack”. That album made big success in Britain and went three times platinum in the United States. “Bohemian Rhapsody” from this album became worldwide hit. Nine weeks this song was number one in the UK. In 1991, after Mercury died, the hit was re-released and stay at the top for another five weeks. The song, turn out to be one of the top five British best - selling singles. One of the other songs in the album, called “I'm In Love With My Car”, was used in Jaguar car commercials. “A Night at the Opera” is highly valued from fans and other artists. Again mixing different styles helped for the huge success of the album.
The band planed to release a second album in package with “A Night at the Opera”, called “A Day at The Races”, but that never happened.
In 1977 new album was ready and released. That album was defined as one of the most important for the stadium rock music. “News of the World” included hit songs like “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You”. They reached top five in the charts. This album inspired some of the modern bands now like “Nine Inc Nails” and “Queens of The Stone Age”.
In 1978 the band released “Jazz”. One of the paintings on the Berlin wall was the inspiration for the album cover. That album was a little different than the others. It included hits like “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Bicycle Race”, “Let Me Entertain You” and a song by Freddie Mercury, which combined “Arabian sounds”, and the sounds of “heavy rock guitar”, called “Mustapha”. The album was interesting but the fans were “lukewarm” to it. Queen noticed that and decided, that the band should work more focused, and devote more time for creating and releasing new albums. In the end of the 70s they released their first live album – “Live Killers”. It had a great success in the U.S. The album went twice platinum. They released and a single called “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, also with great success. That was the first song of the band, which reached the number one spot in the U.S. top singles.
In 1980 the rock band released the album “The Game”. Most of their albums had great success and this one was not an exception. That was the best selling album of the band. It included hit songs like “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Play the Game”, “Save Me” and a song which stayed, for four weeks, at number one in the U.S. - “Another One Bites The Dust”. The album went four times platinum in the United States.
In the same year the band released another album – a soundtrack to the movie “Flash Gordon”. This album hadn’t a great success, but showed the rock band in a different light.
In 1981 made a single called “Under Pressure” with another rock legend – David Bowie. The single reached number one in Britain and went one of the great hits of both the band and Bowie. The group released and a greatest hits album.
The success of “Another One Bites The Dust”, influinced on the work of Queen. The new songs of Queen featured hip – hop and funky motives. As a result, in 1982 they released the album “Hot Space”. The opinion of the fans and the critics for this album was very negative. They considered it as the worst album of the band. The only songs that worth something for the people were “Under Pressure”, with Bowie and “Body Language”, which made some kind of success only in the U.S.
In 1984 Queen released “The Woks”. This album successfully combined rock and pop. It had great success and produced hits like “Radio Ga – Ga”, “I Want to Break Free”, “Hammer to Fall” and “Tear It Up”. But the video of the song “I Want to Break Free” made success only in Britain. In the other countries the people didn’t get the joke with a famous British opera and that had a negative effect on, the image and sales of, the band. After that the members of the band were working solo for a while until 1985 when they were invited to perform live on a benefit concert called “Live Aid”. There Queen performed some of the greatest hits that they produced and stole the show. Everybody was impressed of the energy, quality and devotion that came from Queen on that concert. After that the band returned the respect of the people.
In the end of 1985 they released a single called “One Vision”, used in a movie called “Iron Eagle”.
The album “A Kind of Magic” came in 1986. It had several songs written for the movie “Highlander”. A very successful album containing hits like “A Kind of Magic”, “Who Wants to Live Forever?” and “Friends Will Be Friends”.
In the same year “Queen” made a tour called “The Magic Tour”. The best of that tour was on the Wembley Stadium in London. In front of 89,000 people Freddie disproof that the band is breaking up with the words, that they will be together until “we fucking well die, I’m sure!” and that delighted the fans very much. The result of all that was a live double album called “Queen Live At Webley Stadium”, released on CD, VHS and later on DVD. That album became one of the highly valued from fans and critics. On this tour “Queen” performed together for the last time. The band wanted to stay for a third night at Wembley but it was already reserved. So they move to Knebworth Park and sold 120,000 tickets for two hours. The fans were ready for everything just to see Queen for a last time live.
In 1988 after the members of the band worked on a solo projects they released a record called “The Miracle”. It was a pop-rock album like a previous record from Queen – “A King of Magic”. “The Miracle” featured hits like “Invisible man”, “The Miracle” and “Breakthru’”
In 1991 Freddie Mercury had to comment the hearsay that he had AIDS. That was true, but he denied and continued to work. Queen released an album called “Innuendo”. Despite the bad health of Freddie he continued his work. Songs from this album like “The Show Must Go On” and “These Are The Days Of Our Lives” became big hits.
The condition of Freddie Mercury was getting worse. And on November 23, 1991 in a prepared statement on his deathbed, he admitted that he had AIDS. After 24 hours Freddie Mercury left our world at the age of 45. He was lay to rest in a private funeral and buried under the principles of the “Zoroastrian” religious faith of his family.
On April 20, 1992, the people showed their worship to the great musician with “The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert” at the Webley Stadium. Very famous musicians like Annie Lennox, Guns n' Roses, Def Leppard, Elton John, George Michael, David Bowie, Metallica, and Liza Minnelli take part in that concert. They performed live, with the other three members of Queen, the greatest hits of the band. That concert had one billion TV viewers and became one of the most successful live concerts in history.
The band actually never broke a part and continued their work. They took some of the last recordings and takes of Freddie Mercury and work to create new songs and album with them. Some of the sessions were made 10 days before the death of Mercury. The new album was ready. In 1995 “Made In Heaven” came out. It featured original materials and sessions of the band also those made just before the death of Freddie Mercury.
Brian May and Roger Taylor often take part in projects for raising money for AIDS research and charity. They also made some projects with various artists, something that John Deacon supports. But he didn’t hide his criticism for the covers of the songs made with Five and Robbie Williams – “We Will Rock You”, 2000 and “We Are The Champions”, 2001.
In 1997 a new tribute album is released – “Dragon Attack”. This album includes artist like Yngwie Malmsteen, Lemmy Kilmister, Glenn Hughes, Carmine Appice and John Petrucci and it is created by Billy Sherwood.
In 2004 Queen announced that they will return to touring in 2005 and will take Paul Rodgers as a frontman, but he will not replace Freddie Mercury in the band. He will sing featuring Queen. Deacon who is officially retired would not take part in these events.
On August, 9, 2005 they released a tribute album to the band called “Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen”. This album featured many of the modern bands and artists like Sum 41, Los Lobos, Joss Stone, Nickelback, Jason Mraz, Gavin DeGraw, The Flaming Lips, Eleven and Rooney.
Queen always produced music on a very high level. They were a big sensation, because they were different from the other rock bands. Queen made some of the greatest hits in the music history and gave the audience variety of music. They inspired many people and contributed for the growth of the music. Queen are idols for the most modern bands and artist.
Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Guns n' Roses, Def Leppard, Trent Reznor, Robbie Williams, George Michael, Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, The Darkness, Franz Ferdinand, and Joan Osborne are just some of the names that modern music is producing. All of them are influenced by Queen and their unique music and performances and all of them appreciate the band very much.
Queen also made a number of soundtracks for films like “Highlander”, “Flash Gordon”, “Iron Eagle”, “Loaded Weapon”, “Small Soldiers”, “Super Size Me”, “A Knight's Tale” and “The Girl Next Door”. The band didn’t just influenced on the rock music, they influenced and on the movie soundtrack music. We can say that Queen are the beginning of a new era in the music and changed our world forever with songs with very deep meaning and unique rhythms.
In the last years, two of the members of Queen started to reproduce the music of the rock band. Brian May and Roger Taylor changed the format of the music from old – fashioned records and tapes to a modern CDs and DVDs with a quality surround sound. This increased the attention on Queen and many fans were delighted because this brought them a new type of experience. They also released video collections with concerts and interviews. Still many fans and collectors try to keep in touch with Brian May and Roger Taylor and are asking about new releases and unpublished materials.
One of the things that Queen were famous with - their extraordinary live performances. For two nights over 150,000 people visited the concert at Wembley Stadium. This means one thing - the live performances of Queen were something special and everybody wanted a peace of the indescribable experience that each one fan felt. Combination of lights, big effects, fireworks even acting and pure energy that were coming from the scene of Queen could literally “blow” you away. At that time Queen presented to the fans something unseen. On the other concerts of rock bands the artist just played on their instruments and that is all. No lights, no effects, no fireworks and especially no singing with the band. On a live performance of Queen you could feel the energy of the music and become one peace with the band. You could sing with them and fully enjoy the songs and the feelings that they were bringing. Actually songs like “We Are The Champions”, “We Will Rock You” and “Radio Ga Ga” were made with the idea of involving the crowd. Queen made many memorable tours but one moment will be remembered forever. The moment at Wembley Stadium, 1986 in which Freddie Mercury announced in front of the audience “There's been a lot of rumours lately about a certain band called Queen... the rumours are that we're gonna split up. What do you think?” Audience: “No!” Freddie: “Forget those rumours, we're gonna stay together 'till we fucking well die, I'm sure!”. But after their big success Queen suddenly stopped touring. “According to Jim Hutton's book, “Mercury and Me”, Freddie Mercury was diagnosed HIV positive the following year (1987), which probably explains why they went quiet after such a successful tour. (Jim Hutton was Mercury's final partner, together from the mid-80s until his death.)”
Queen, one of the best ever rock bands, with a big number of albums, singles and hits. With fans from allover the world, ready for everything for them. With a big secure place in the history of music and eternal fame. They couldn’t ask for more. This is the dream of all the musicians, artist and bands in the world. Queen were fighting for that dream with all the powers that they could use and at the end they get the award. Of course every battle takes victims and that case wasn’t an exception. But could you imagine the world without Queen and their energetic and ecstatic music, without songs like “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You”? I bet that you couldn’t.
After many years of hard work, Queen and Freddie Mercury finally achieved immortality, which is one of the biggest dreams of the human kind.
Discography of Queen
Albums Compilations
Queen (1973) #23 UK
Queen II (1974) #5 UK
Sheer Heart Attack (1974) #2 UK #11 US #1 Japan
A Night at the Opera (1975) #1 UK #4 US
A Day at the Races (1976) #1 UK #5 US
News of the World (1977) #4 UK #3 US #3 Japan
Jazz (1978) #2 UK #6 US
Live Killers (1979) #3 UK #16 US
The Game (1980) #1 UK #1 US
Flash Gordon (1980)
Hot Space (1982)
The Works (1984) #1 UK
A Kind of Magic (1986) #1 UK
Live Magic (1986) #3 UK
The Miracle (1989) #1 UK
Innuendo (1991) #1 UK
Live at Wembley '86 (1992) #2 UK
Made in Heaven (1995) #1 UK
Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl (2004) #20 UK
Return of the Champions (2005) #12 UK
The Best Of Queen (1976) (A variation of "Queen's Greatest Hits" from Poland and Korea)
Greatest Hits [Elektra] (1981) #1 UK (11x Platinium), #14 US (1x Platinium)
The Complete Works (1985) - all albums from 1973-1985 plus bonus material
Queen at the Beeb (1989) #67 UK
Greatest Hits, Vol. II (1991) #1 in UK, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Hungary, Switzerland, Brazil, Denmark, Portugal, New Zealand
Classic Queen (1992) #4 US (US release only)
Greatest Hits [Hollywood] (1992)
Greatest Hits [Parlophone] (1994)
Greatest Hits, Vols. 1-2 (1994) #37 UK
At the BBC (1995)
Queen Rocks (1997) #7 UK
The Crown Jewels (1998)
Greatest Hits III (1999) #5 UK
Platinum Collection, Vols. 1-3 (2000) #2 UK, #48 US
Greatest Hits: We Will Rock You Edition (2004) #42 US (US release only)
Queen Jewels Released on 2004.01.28. Japan. http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/queen/info/news_0005.htm
Tribute albums Singles
Dragon Attack - A Tribute to Queen (1997) - tribute album
Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen (August 9, 2005) - tribute album
Keep Yourself Alive/Son And Daughter (1973) - Didn't chart UK, #89 US (Cashbox)
Seven Seas Of Rhye/See What A Fool I've Been (1974) #10 UK
Killer Queen/Flick Of The Wrist (1974) #2 UK, #12 US
Now I'm Here/Lily Of The Valley (1975) #11 UK
Bohemian Rhapsody/I'm In Love With My Car (1975) #1 UK, #9 US
You're My Best Friend/'39 (1976) #7 UK, #16 US
Somebody To Love/White Man (1976) #2 UK, #13 US
Tie Your Mother Down/You And I (1977) #31 UK, #49 US
Good Old Fashioned Loverboy/Death On Two Legs/Tenement Funster/White Queen (1977) #17 UK
We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You (1977) #2 UK, #4 US
Spread Your Wings/Sheer Heart Attack (1978) #34 UK
"It's Late/Sheer Heart Attack" (1978) #72 US
"Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls" (1978) #11 UK, #24 US
Don't Stop Me Now/In Only Seven Days
(1979) #9 UK, #86 US
Love Of My Life(LIVE)/Now I'm Here(LIVE) (1979) #63 UK
Crazy Little Thing Called Love/We Will Rock You(LIVE) (1979) #2 UK, #1 US
Save Me/Let Me Entertain You(LIVE)
(1980) #11 UK
Play The Game/A Human Body (1980) #14 UK, #42
Another One Bites The Dust/Dragon Attack (1980) #7 UK, #1 US, #2 Black Singles (US), #2 Club Play Singles (US)
Need Your Loving Tonight/Rock It (1980) #44 US
Flash (1980) #10 UK, #42 US
Under Pressur" (with David Bowie - 1980) #1 UK, #29 US, #7 (US Rock Chart)
Body Language (1982) #25 UK, #11 US, #30 Black Singles (US), #62 Club Play Singles (US)
Las Palabras De Amor (1982) #17 UK
Calling All Girls (1982) #60 US, #40 (US Rock Chart)
Backchat (1982) #40 UK
Put Out The Fire (1982) #7 (US Rock Chart)
Life Is Real (1982) #57 (US Rock Chart) Radio Ga Ga (1984) #2 UK, #16 US
I Want To Break Free (1984) #3 UK, #45 US
It's A Hard Life (1984) #6 UK, #72 US
Hammer To Fall (1984) #13 UK
Thank God It's Christmas (1984) #21 UK
One Vision (1985) #7 UK, #61 US, #19 (US Rock Chart)
A Kind Of Magic (1986) #3 UK, #42 US
Friends Will Be Friends (1986) #14 UK
Who Wants To Live Forever (1986) #24 UK
I Want It All (1989) #3 UK, #50 US, #3 (US Rock Chart)
Breakthru' (1989) #7 UK
The Invisible Man (1989) #12 UK
Scandal (1989) #25 UK
The Miracle (1989) #21 UK
Innuendo (1991) #1 UK, #17 (US Rock Chart)
I'm Going Slightly Mad (1991) #22 UK
Headlong (1991) #14 UK, #3 (US Rock Chart)
I Can't Live With You (1991) #28 (US Rock Chart)
The Show Must Go On (1991) #16 UK, #2 US
Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives (1991) #1 UK
Bohemian Rhapsody (1992) #2 US
Hammer To Fall (1992) #35 (US Rock Chart)
Five Live (EP) (with George Michael and Lisa Stansfield - 1993) #1 UK
Heaven For Everyone (1995) #2 UK
A Winter's Tale (1995) #6 UK
Too Much Love Will Kill You (1996) #15 UK
Let Me Live (1996) #9 UK
You Don't Fool Me - The Remixes (1996) #17 UK
No-One But You/Tie Your Mother Down (1998) #13 UK
Another One Bites The Dust (with Wyclef Jean featuring Pras and Free - 1998) #5 UK
Under Pressure '99 (with David Bowie - 1999) #14 UK
We Will Rock You (with 5ive - 2000) #1 UK
Flash (with Vanguard - 2003) #15 UK
Reaching Out / Tie Your Mother Down / Fat Bottomed Girls (Queen + Paul Rodgers - 2005)
(Information used from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band)#History#History)
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