You don’t think about basketball without thinking of Michael Jordan. You don’t think about computers without thinking of Macs. And you don’t think about rock music without thinking about Queen.
For college students, the first encounter with Queen probably came in the form of a rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody” performed by Wayne and Garth in the 90s film “Wayne’s World”. For other fans an infatuation with Queen may have developed back in the 70s after hearing the song “Killer Queen”. For younger generations the introduction came in the form of “Killer Queen” through the Guitar Hero franchise, which featured it in one of its games. But, no matter what era you lived in when you first heard them, Queen is timeless.
If it wasn’t for the AIDS related death of lead-singer Freddie Mercury, it’s very possible that Queen would still be creating incredible music and would be at the top of the music pyramid with the likes of Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen. To this day, the remaining members of the band, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, continue to tour, teaming with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company to keep the legacy of the band going.
But even if the tours ended, Queen would never go away. The band has attained legendary status thanks to everlasting songs like “I Want It All”, “Somebody to Love,” “We Are the Champions”, “Under Pressure”, “Another One Bites the Dust” and the power harnessed by the stage presence of their fearless leader, Freddie Mercury.
Anyone who has ever seen the dominance with which Mercury held a microphone stand or the way he galloped around the stage like a Triple-Crown-winning thoroughbred probably agrees that even if Queen isn’t the greatest rock band of all time, it did possess the greatest front-man that rock music has ever witnessed.
Perhaps the greatest of the 14 albums that the band released is 1975’s “A Night at the Opera”. Released on the heels of “Sheer Heart Attack”, the album catapulted Queen into the commercial spotlight and proved to everyone that the band was for real and that their talent stretched further than anyone could have imagined.
The album spans several genres and styles from the harder, faster tempo of “Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…),” which Mercury famously wrote as a way of expressing his feelings of distaste toward his ex-manager, to the saloon-ditty sound of “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon”, which had Freddie singing into a tin can during recording to get the hollow, megaphone sound of the track. There is also the Roger Taylor penned ode to his automobile “I’m In Love with my Car” and Brian May’s trip to the cosmos, which manifested itself as skiffle in the song “‘39.”
The album also includes the emotionally-charged and painfully honest lyrics of “Love of my Life” as well as powerhouse songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “You’re my Best Friend.”
“A Night at the Opera” now serves as the remains of what was once, perhaps, the greatest 4-piece band to ever step foot on stage. However, it is not only a reminder of something that possesses sentimental value to the listener, but is also a reminder of the incredible contribution that this band made to today’s music. The layered track process, which the band used to record many of these songs, was a ground-breaking technique that many bands currently use. Their influence can be traced to popular bands like Muse, The Killers, and Mika.
Queen is a name synonymous with greatness and they will live on forever. Long live the Queen!
