QUEEN

Rationale

Of all the bands that I have been listening to over the years Queen has something that makes it stand out. Every member was good at what he was doing but he was not the best in his field. However, when they came together as a band there was this chemistry between the four of them that made Queen one of the best bands of all time. They were like a puzzle, you only have to lose one piece and the magic is lost. Each of them contributed in his own way to the sound of Queen. It was their love for music that brought these totally different individuals together. When someone asks me what kind of music I listen to, I find it difficult to give an answer like pop, rock or disco so I just say Queen. Although Queen wrote songs that drew inspiration from many different genres of music like progressive rock, glam rock or pop rock, they also wrote songs that were inspired by genres that are not typically associated with rock, such as opera, gospel or folk. Before I started listening to Queen, I could not imagine that an artist could write a song that mixed pop, rock and opera. For me rock and opera are completely opposed genres. Despite the fact that the members of Queen have stopped recording new material for over 20 years, their music is still on the radio. I have always believed that good music never gets old and Queen is one of the bands that proved that more than once. There are a lot of young people today that listen to Queen and most of them were not even born or were far too young to remember when Freddie Mercury died. My Atestat Paper consists of an introduction to the subject, four main chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography. The first chapter is dedicated to the first four years of the bands career. It shows how they formed, their struggle to release Queens first two albums and how their music was received by the critics. The second chapter presents their career from 1974 up to the late 70s. The third chapter follows the band from 1980 to 1985 when they decided to explore other musical genres. The fourth chapter focuses on the last years of Queen as a four piece band. In conclusion, I believe that there will never be a band that could be compared to Queen. There are plenty of extraordinary musicians out there but none that can be compared to any of the members of Queen. Freddie Mercurys amazing vocal range, Brian Mays guitar skills, Roger Taylors drumming and John Deacons bass solos are all part of what Queen has become over the years and they cannot be replaced.

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Introduction

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar, guitars, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works, incorporating more diverse and innovative styles in their music. The epitome of pomp-rock in the Seventies and Eighties, Queen rocked radio and sports stadiums alike with booming, highly produced anthems like "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You." Onstage, the English quartet used elaborate sets smoke bombs, and flash pots none of which were quite as captivating as the band's lead singer, Freddie Mercury, whose preening and over-the-top vocals helped make Queen wildly popular. Queen's roots go back to 1967, when guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor joined singer Tim Staffell in a group called Smile. Staffell soon left to go solo, and the remaining two Smiles teamed up with Freddie Mercury (from a group called Wreckage) and later bassist John Deacon. They played very few gigs at the start, avoiding the club circuit and rehearsing for two years while they all remained in college. (May began work on a Ph.D. in astronomy; Taylor has a degree in biology; Deacon, a degree in electronics; and Mercury had one in illustration and design.) They began touring in 1973, when their debut album was released. After a second LP, the band made its U.S. tour debut, opening for Mott the Hoople. Queen's sound combined showy glam rock, heavy metal, and intricate vocal harmonies produced by multi-tracking Mercury's voice. May's guitar was also thickly overdubbed. Heavy-metal fans loved Queen (despite Freddie Mercury's onstage pseudo-dramatics, which had more to do with admitted influence Liza Minnelli than with Robert Plant), and the band's audience grew with its breakthrough LP, 1975's A Night at the Opera. It contained the six-minute masterpiece "Bohemian Rhapsody," which featured a campy, operatic section in which Mercury's voice was spread over dozens of tracks. "Bohemian Rhapsody" stayed at Number One in England for nine weeks, breaking the record Paul Anka had held since 1957 for his "Diana". The band has released a total of 18 number one albums, 18 number one singles, and 10 number one DVDs, and have sold over 150 million albums, with some estimates in excess of 300 million albums, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They have been honoured with seven Ivor Novello awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Famein2001.

Chapter 1: Early Days

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1.1 Formation of Queen In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form a band. May placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type" drummer; Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. The group called themselves Smile. While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffell became friends with Farrokh Bulsara, a fellow student who had assumed the English name of Freddie. Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keen fan of Smile. In late 1970, after Staffell left to join the band Humpy Bong, the remaining Smile members, encouraged by Bulsara, changed their name to "Queen" and continued working together. The band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the band's chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and began to rehearse for their first album. They recorded four of their own songs, "Liar", "Keep Yourself Alive", "The Night Comes Down" and "Jesus", for a demo tape; no record companies were interested. 1.2 First Album In 1973, after a series of delays, Queen released their eponymous debut album, an effort influenced by the heavy metal and progressive rock of the day. The album was received well by critics; Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone said "their debut album is superb", and Chicago's Daily Herald called it an "above average debut". It drew little mainstream attention, and the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive", a Brian May composition, sold poorly. 1.3 Queen II The group's second LP, Queen II, was released in 1974, and features rock photographer Mick Rock's iconic image of the band on the cover. This image would be used as the basis for the 1975 "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video production. The album reached number five on the British album chart and became the first Queen album to chart in the UK. The Freddie Mercury-written lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye" reached number ten in the UK, giving the band their first hit. The album is the first real testament to the band's distinctive layered sound, and features long complex instrumental passages, fantasy-themed lyrics, and musical virtuosity. Aside from its only single,

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the album also included the song "The March of the Black Queen", a six-minute epic which lacks a chorus or song structure, bearing similarity to Queen's later work, "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Chapter 2: The 70s

2.1 Sheer Heart Attack Released in 1974, Sheer Heart Attack, their third album, reached number two in the United Kingdom, sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States. It gave the band their first real experience of international success, and was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The album experimented with a variety of musical genres, including British music hall, heavy metal, ballads, ragtime, and Caribbean. At this point, Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-orientated style. The single "Killer Queen" reached number two on the British charts, and became their first US hit, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It combines camp, vaudeville, and British music hall with May's guitar virtuosity. 2.2 Bohemian Rhapsody In late 1975, Queen recorded and released A Night at the Opera, taking its name from the popular Marx Brothers movie. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced. In "The Prophet's Song", an eight-minute epic, the middle section is a canon, with simple phrases layered to create a full-choral sound. The Mercury penned ballad, "Love of My Life", featured a harp and overdubbed vocal harmonies. The album was very successful in Britain, and went triple platinum in the United States the album featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was number one in the UK for nine weeks and is the third-bestselling single of all time in the UK. It is the only single ever to sell a million copies on two separate occasions, and became the Christmas number one twice in the UK, the only single ever to do so. The band decided to make a video to go with the single; the result is generally considered to have been the first "true" music video ever produced.

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2.3 A Day at the Races

By 1976, Queen were back in the studio recording A Day at the Races, which is often regarded as a sequel album to A Night at the Opera. 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. The major hit on the album was "Somebody to Love", a gospelinspired song in which Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to create a 100-voice gospel choir. The album also featured one of the band's heaviest songs, Brian May's "Tie Your Mother Down", which became a staple of their live shows. During the same year, Queen played one of their most famous gigs, a 1976 free concert in Hyde Park, London. It set an attendance record, with 150,000 people confirmed in the audience. 2.4 We Will Rock You The band's sixth studio album News of the World was released in 1977, which has gone four times platinum in the United States, and twice in the UK. The album contained many songs tailor-made for live performance, including two of rock's most recognisable anthems, "We Will Rock You" and the rock ballad "We Are the Champions", both of which became enduring international sports anthems, and the latter reached number four in the United States. 2.5 Jazz In 1978, the band released Jazz, which included the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" on a double-sided record. The album reached number two in the UK and number six on the Billboard 200 in the US. Another notable track from Jazz, "Don't Stop Me Now", provides another example of the band's exuberant vocal harmonies. In 1978, Queen toured the US and Canada, and spent much of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan. They released their first live album, Live Killers, in 1979.

Chapter 3: Change of Style

3.1 The Game Queen began their 1980s career with The Game. It featured the singles "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust", both of which reached number one in the United States. It was also the first appearance of a synthesiser on a Queen album. In 1980, Queen also released the soundtrack they had recorded for Flash Gordon. In 1981, Queen travelled to South America as part of The Game Tour, and became the first major rock band to play in Latin American stadiums. On 24 and 25 November, Queen played two sell out nights at the Montreal Forum, Quebec, Canada. Queen worked with David Bowie on the single "Under Pressure". The first-time

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collaboration with another artist was spontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording. 3.2 Hot Space Later in 1981, Queen released their first compilation album, titled Greatest Hits, which showcased the group's highlights from 19741981. In 1982, the band released the album Hot Space, a departure from their trademark seventies sound, this time being a mixture of rock, pop rock, dance, funk, and R&B. The band stopped touring North America after their Hot Space Tour, as their success there had waned, although they would perform on American television for the only time during the eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live. 3.3 The Works After working steadily for over ten years, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983. In February 1984, Queen released their eleventh studio album, The Works, which included the successful singles "Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer to Fall" and "I Want to Break Free". Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the United States, while in the UK it went triple platinum and remained in the album chart for two years. That year, Queen began The Works Tour, the first tour to feature keyboardist Spike Edney as an extra live musician.

Chapter 4: Live Aid and Later Years

4.1 Live Aid In January 1985, the band headlined two nights of the first Rock in Rio festival at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and played in front of over 300,000 people each night. The Boston Globe described it as a "mesmerising performance". A selection of highlights of both nights was released on VHS with the title Queen: Live in Rio, and was later broadcast on MTV in the US. At Live Aid, held at Wembley on 13 July 1985, in front of the biggest-ever TV audience of 1.9 billion, Queen performed some of their greatest hits, during which the sold-out stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang, and swayed in unison. An industry poll in 2005 named it the greatest rock performance of all time. 4.2 A Kind of Magic

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In early 1986, Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several reworkings of songs written for the Russell Mulcahy film Highlander. The album was very successful, producing a string of hits, including the title track, "A Kind of Magic". Also charting from the album were "Friends Will Be Friends", "Who Wants to Live Forever?", and the de facto theme from Highlander, "Princes of the Universe". In summer of 1986, Queen went on their final tour with Freddie Mercury. The Magic Tour's highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London. Queen could not book Wembley for a third night, but they did play at Knebworth Park. The show sold out within two hours and over 120,000 fans packed the park for what was Queen's final live performance with Mercury. The band also played behind the Iron Curtain when they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in Budapest, in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in Eastern Europe. 4.3 The Miracle After working on various solo projects during 1988 the band released The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the direction of A Kind of Magic, using a pop-rock sound mixed with a few heavy numbers. It spawned the European hits "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "The Invisible Man", "Scandal", and "The Miracle". 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 other members adding minimally. With The Miracle, the band's songwriting became more collaborative, and they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group. 4.4 The Show Must Go On Innuendo was released in early 1991 with an eponymous number 1 UK hit and three other charting singles, "I'm Going Slightly Mad", "Headlong", and "The Show Must Go On". Mercury was increasingly ill and could barely walk when the band recorded "The Show Must Go On" in 1990, that May had concerns as to whether he was physically capable of singing it. The band's second greatest hits compilation, Greatest Hits II, followed in October of the same year, which is the eighth best-selling album of all time in the UK, and has sold 16 million copies worldwide. 4.5 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

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On 24 November 1991 Freddie Mercury died of bronchial pneumonia, which was brought on as a complication of AIDS. The music video for "These Are the Days of Our Lives" contains Mercury's final scenes in front of the camera. Queen's popularity was stimulated in the United States when "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in the 1992 comedy film Wayne's World. On 20 April 1992, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held at London's Wembley Stadium to a 72,000-strong crowd. The concert is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert. 4.6 Made In Heaven Queen's last album featuring Mercury, titled Made in Heaven, was finally released in 1995, four years after his death. It was constructed from Mercury's final recordings in 1991, featuring tracks such as "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and "Heaven for Everyone", plus material left over from their previous studio albums. In addition, re-worked material from May, Taylor, and Mercury's solo albums were included. In 1997, Queen returned to the studio to record "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". It was released as a bonus track on the Queen Rocks compilation album later that year. The song was later released as a single, reaching number 13 in the UK chart. In January 1997, Queen performed "The Show Must Go On" live with Elton John and the Bejart Ballet in Paris on a night in which Freddie Mercury was remembered, and it marked the last performance and public appearance of John Deacon, who chose to retire.

Conclusion

There have been many bands that have graced the stage, but none could be compared to the grace and power of Queen. Queen is one of the few bands in the world that managed to sound the same both in the studio and on stage. Writing my Atestat Paper, gathering and organizing the information I needed enabled me to learn more about the history of one of the greatest bands in the world. Their music has changed peoples lives in ways I could not have imagined before.

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They are not known only as music legends but also as supporters of a number of organizations that fight AIDS. Ever since their lead singer died due to bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS, the three surviving members have spent their time and resources in order to make the world aware of this disease. Though it is very common today for celebrities to support such causes, the three took it one step further and even founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust an organization that fights AIDS worldwide. This is one of the thing that I will always admire at Queen, instead of just talking about how hard is to lose a close friend they have been trying to prevent similar events. Queens songs were not written for a certain category of people, their music appealed across an immensely broad spectrum of society, which is extremely rare. Each of their songs is unique and fantastic in a different way. Unlike other bands every member of Queen has written at least one song that was released as a single. Each of them wrote totally different songs due to their different social backgrounds. Queen members were not the typical rock stars someone would expect to meet. Each of them graduated university before joining the band, Brian May has a PhD in Astrophysics, Roger Taylor has a degree in Biology, Freddie Mercury has an Art degree and John Deacon has an Engineering degree. The skills they acquired at university proved to be useful in their career. Deacon build a guitar amp that contributed to achieving the unique Queen sound and Mercury designed the Queen logo. Queen has truly been a historical gift and I urge anyone who has never listened to take the time to listen to every album. The lyrics will inspire and move you, and sometimes even bring you to tears, but no matter whether you heed my advice or not, Queen will live forever.

Bibliography

1. Queenonline.com 2. www.queenzone.com
3. VH1100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" Vh1

4. Jackson, Laura (2002). Queen: The Definitive Biography 5. Folkard, Claire; Vidal, Oriol (2004). Guinness World Records 2005 6. Phil Sutcliffe, Peter Hince, Reinhold Mack (2009) Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock Voyageur Press, 2009

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7. Whitburn, Joel (2006). The Billboard Albums 8. Buckley, Peter (2003) The rough guide to rock 9. Brooks, Greg (1995). Queen Live: A Concert Documentary. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-4814-3. 10. Dawson, Mike (2008). Freddie & Me. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-08193-1. 11. Dean, Ken; Charlesworth, Chris (1991). Queen: The New Visual Documentary. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-2828-2. 12. Goodall, Nigel; Lewry, Peter (1998). The Ultimate Queen. London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-82149-8. 13. Gunn, Jacky; Jenkins, Jim (1992). Queen: As It Began. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 978-0-330-33259-0. 14. Hodkinson, Mark (2005). Queen: The Early Years. London: Music Sales Limited. ISBN 978-0-7119-6012-1. 15. Hogan, Peter (1994). The Complete Guide to the Music of Queen. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-3526-6. 16. Jackson, Laura (2002). Queen: The Definitive Biography. London: Piatkus. ISBN 978-07499-2317-4. 17. Michael, Mick (1992). Queen, In Their Own Words. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-07119-3014-8. 18. Nester, Daniel (2003). God Save My Queen: A Tribute. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press. ISBN 978-1-887128-27-8.

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