Queen

Queen

Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon joining the following year. Queen rose to prominence during the 1970s and are one of Britain's most successful bands of the past three decades.

The band is noted for its musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies and incorporation of audience participation into their live performances. Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live music performance of all time in a BBC poll.

Queen had moderate success in the early 1970s, with the albums Queen and Queen II, but it was with the release of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and A Night at the Opera the following year that the band gained international success. All of the band's studio albums reached number one on numerous charts around the world. Since 1973, they have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums. According to OhmyNews, the band have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, including more than 32.5 million in the United States alone, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.

Following lead vocalist Freddie Mercury's death and bassist John Deacon's retirement in the 1990s, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor collaborated with Paul Rodgers, under the moniker Queen + Paul Rodgers.

History

Early days (1969-1973)

“ I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid. It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. ”

In 1969, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form a group. 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. They called the group Smile and served as a support act for bands such as Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Yes and the original Genesis. Smile were signed to Mercury Records in 1969, and had their first session in a recording studio in Trident Studios that year. Staffell was attending Ealing Art College with Farrokh Bulsara, later known as Freddie Mercury, and introduced him to the band. Bulsara soon became a keen fan. Staffell left in 1970 to join another 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 the first album.

In 1973, after a series of delays, Queen released their first album, a self-titled project 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".However, it drew little mainstream attention and the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive," a Brian May composition, sold poorly. Greg Prato of All Music Guide called it "one of the most underrated hard rock debuts of all time."

The album Queen II was released in 1974. The album reached number five on the British album charts, while 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 their heaviest and darkest release, with long complex instrumental passages, fantasy-themed lyrics and musical virtuosity. The band toured as support to Mott the Hoople in the United States during this period, and they began to gain notice for their energetic and engaging stage shows. However, album sales in the US were, like its predecessor, low.

Breakthrough era (1974–1979)

“ Our albums just tend to be collections of songs really, because we all write in the group, all four of us.”

Because of medical complications, May was absent when the band started work on the band's third album, Sheer Heart Attack, released in 1974. Considered by many fans as the band's first true classic,[15] the album reached number two in the United Kingdom,[16] sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States.[17] It gave the band their first real taste of commercial success. The album experimented with a wide variety of musical genres, including British Music Hall ("Killer Queen"), heavy metal ("Flick of the Wrist", "Brighton Rock", "Tenement Funster", "Now I'm Here", and "Stone Cold Crazy" – a song which Metallica would later cover and earn a Grammy for), ballads ("Lily Of The Valley" and "Dear Friends"), ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown") and Caribbean ("Misfire"). At this point Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-oriented style. Sheer Heart Attack introduced new sound and melody patterns that would be refined on their next album A Night at the Opera.

The single "Killer Queen" reached number two on the British charts, and became their first U.S. hit, reaching number twelve in the Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. It combines camp, vaudeville, British music hall with May's guitar virtuosity. The album's second single, "Now I'm Here", a more traditional hard rock composition, was a number eleven hit in Britain.

In 1975, the band left for a world tour with each member clad resplendently in Zandra Rhodes-created costumes and banks of lights and effects. They toured the US, headlining for the first time, and played in Canada for the first time in April with supporting act Kansas. Also at this time, the band's manager Jim Beach negotiated the band out of their Trident contract, leaving the band without a manager. They had a number of options, one of which was Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant. Grant wanted them to sign with Led Zeppelin's own production company, Swan Song Records. This was unacceptable to Queen, so instead they contacted Elton John's manager, John Reid, who accepted the position.[citation needed] In April 1975 the band toured Japan for the first time, causing a nationwide hysteria.

Later that year the band recorded and released A Night at the Opera. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced. Like its predecessor, the album features diverse musical styles and experimentation with stereo sound. 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 album was very successful in Britain, and went triple platinum in the United States. It is considered their magnum opus; in 2003, it was ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album also featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was number one in the United Kingdom for nine weeks, and is Britain's third-best-selling single of all time; it also reached number nine in the United States (a 1992 re-release reached number two). Bohemian Rhapsody has been voted, several times, the greatest song of all time. The second single from the album, "You're My Best Friend", peaked at sixteen in the United Statesand went on to become a worldwide Top Ten hit.

By 1976, Queen were back in the studio, where they recorded A Day at the Races, what may be mistaken simply as a companion 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. Musically, the album was by both fans' and critics' standards a strong effort, and reached number one on the British charts. 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 two in the United Kingdom, and number thirteen on the U.S. singles chart. 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.

Also in 1976, 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 in the audience. Some put the number closer to 180,000, and is usually reported between 150,000 and 200,000.

News of the World was released a year later; although it was critically panned at the time, it has since gained recognition as one of the stand-out hard rock albums of the late 1970s, as well as a significant influence in creating stadium rock. It contained many songs tailor-made for live performance, including "We Will Rock You" and the rock ballad "We Are the Champions", both of which reached number four in the United States and became enduring international sports anthems. Deacon also wrote his first Hard Rock song "Spread Your Wings", for News of the World unlike in previous three albums, where he wrote pop songs. Roger Taylor released his first solo effort in 1976 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 Jazz, including the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race", which were also released as a double-A-side single. The word "jazz" was not used in a strict sense, and the album was noted by critics for its collection of different styles, jazz not being one of them.[citation needed] Rolling Stone criticized it for being "dull", saying "Queen hasn't the imagination to play jazz – Queen hasn't the imagination, for that matter, to play rock & roll".The album cover was inspired by a painting on the Berlin Wall.[citation needed] Important tracks of the album include "Dead on Time", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Let Me Entertain You", and "Mustapha", in which Arabesque music is combined with heavy rock guitar.

The band's first live album, Live Killers, was released in 1979; it went platinum twice in the United States. They also released the very successful single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a rockabilly song done in the style of Elvis Presley. The song made the top 10 in many countries, and was the band's first number one single in the United States.

New sound and synthesizers (1980–1989)

Queen began the 1980s with The Game, which became their highest-selling album ever.[citation needed] 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.[18] The album stayed number one for four weeks in the United States,[30] and sold over four million copies. It was also the only album 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.

1980 also saw the release of the soundtrack Queen had recorded for Flash Gordon. It sold poorly compared to the band's other albums, but reached number ten in the United Kingdom.

In 1981, Queen became the first major rock band to play in South American stadiums. The band broke the attendance world record for a single concert and venue, at the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, where 131,000 people attended on the first night, followed by 251,000 in attendance over the next two days.[31] Queen played to a total audience of 479,000 people on their South American tour, including five shows in Argentina. In October 1981, Queen performed for more than 150,000 fans at Monterrey (Estadio Universitario) and Puebla (Estadio Zaragoza), Mexico.

Also in 1981, Queen worked with David Bowie on the single "Under Pressure". The first-time collaboration with another artist was spontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording.[32] The band were immediately pleased with the results, but Bowie did not play the song live for several years.[citation needed] Upon its release, the song was extremely successful, reaching number one in Britain. The bass line was later used for Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit "Ice Ice Baby", prompting the threat of a lawsuit over the use of the sample. The lawsuit did not make it to court and was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Later that year, Queen released their first compilation album, entitled Greatest Hits, which showcased the group's highlights from 1974-1981. It was highly successful, and as of 2007, it is the United Kingdom's best selling album.[34] Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album in 1981, entitled Fun In Space.

In 1982 the band released the funk album Hot Space. 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 first and only time during the eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Queen left Elektra Records, their label in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and signed onto EMI/Capitol Records.

After working steadily for over ten years, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time, they recorded a new album, and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work. May released a mini-album entitled Star Fleet Project, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. A computer musician composer in Canada, Kevin Chamberlain, helped with vocals and background music for Freddie Mercury's solo project, which was later canceled due to creative differences.

In 1984, Queen released the album The Works, which included the successful singles "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free". Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the United States. "Radio Ga Ga" was the band's last original Stateside Top Forty hit until 1989's "I Want It All", which reached number three.

Queen embarked that year on a set of dates in Bophuthatswana, South Africa at the arena at Sun City.[35] Upon returning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played there during the height of apartheid and in violation of worldwide divestment efforts. The band stated that they were playing music for fans in that country, and stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences.

In 1985, the band played two performances at the Rock in Rio festival. On January 12, Queen began their performance as headliners of the festival's opening day, playing in front of 325,000 people, breaking the previous world record.[36] They also played on January 19 for a capacity-crowd of 325,000 fans. Mercury also released his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, in April. At Live Aid, held at Wembley on July 13, 1985, Queen performed some of their greatest hits in what has been considered their best performance to date.

Revitalized by the response to Live Aid and the resulting increase in record sales, Queen ended 1985 by releasing the single "One Vision". The song was used in the film Iron Eagle.

In early 1986, Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several 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", which contains the key lyrics 'There can be only one', a reference to the movie's plot; "Friends Will Be Friends", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Princes of the Universe". However, like The Works, it sold poorly in the United States.[citation needed]

Later that year, Queen went on a sold-out tour (the band's largest) in support of A Kind of Magic. The tour's highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London and resulted in the live double album, Queen Live At Wembley Stadium, released on CD and as a live concert film. They could not book Wembley for a third night because it was already booked, 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 to be Queen's final live performance with Mercury.[38] More than 1 million people saw the show – 400,000 in the United Kingdom alone, a record at the time.

After working on 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, 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". Queen announced that there would be no tour for this album, with Mercury declaring that he was the sole reason, wishing to break the typical cycle of album/tour.[citation needed] Speculation returned of a possible breakup of the band in the near future, or that Mercury might be suffering from health problems.[citation needed]

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, however, the band's songwriting became more collaborative, and they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group.[citation needed]

Mercury's death and final albums (1990–1997)

“ There was all that time when we knew Freddie was on the way out, we kept our heads down. ”

—Brian May

Rumours began to spread in the tabloid press and elsewhere in 1988 that Mercury was suffering from AIDS. Although the rumours were true, Mercury flatly denied them at the time.[citation needed] However, the band decided to continue making albums free of internal conflict and differences, starting with The Miracle and continuing with 1991's Innuendo. Although his health was deteriorating, Mercury continued to contribute, working in a creative fervor.[citation needed] The band released their second Greatest Hits compilation, Greatest Hits II, in October 1991.

On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement made on his deathbed, Mercury finally confirmed that he had AIDS. Within twenty-four hours of the announcement, Mercury died. His funeral services were private, held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single shortly after Mercury's death, with "These Are the Days of Our Lives" as the B-side. Initial proceeds from the single – approximately £1,000,000 – were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.[39]

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. Performers included Lisa Stansfield, Elton John, David Bowie, Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin), Tony Iommi, Annie Lennox, Guns N' Roses, Extreme, Roger Daltrey, Def Leppard, George Michael, Mick Ronson, Zucchero, Metallica and Liza Minnelli. Spinal Tap, along with the three remaining members of Queen, performed many of Queen's major hits. It was a successful concert that was televised to over 1 billion viewers worldwide.[35] The concert is listed in The Guinness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert."[40] It raised over £20,000,000 for AIDS charities.[39] Queen's popularity increased once again in the United States after "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in the comedy film Wayne's World, helping the song reach number two for five weeks in the United States charts in 1992. The song was made into a Wayne's World music video, with which the band and management were delighted.

The band also terminated their Capitol Records contract and signed a deal with Hollywood Records as their new U.S label.

Queen never actually disbanded, although their last album of original material, titled Made in Heaven, was released in 1995, four years after 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. John Deacon's last involvement with the band was in 1997, when the band recorded the track "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". 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.

"Queen + …" projects

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"; a live version of "Somebody to Love" by George Michael; and a 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, including "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".

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.

Queen + Paul Rodgers

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be 'featured with' Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired Deacon would not be participating;[6] 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 began working with May on solo efforts in the early '90s.

A live double CD album, Return of the Champions, was released on September 19, 2005. It featured Paul Rodgers and was recorded live in May 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England. A DVD from the concert was also released.

In March 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers set out to tour the United States and Canada. This tour, apart from the two United States dates from the first Queen + Paul Rodgers tour, marks Queen's first full-on United States tour since Hot Space in 1982.[clarify] Queen + Paul Rodgers debuted their first new song, a collaboration called "Take Love", while on the United States tour. On April 28, 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers released a second live DVD, Super Live in Japan; the show was filmed at Saitama Super Arena on October 27, 2005.

On August 15, 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing a new studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location".

When Bohemian Rhapsody was revealed as Radio 1's most played song ever at the end of JK and Joel's last Chart Show before leaving, Roger Taylor told them via a phonelink to the studio that the band are currently halfway through the new album. It will be released sometime in 2008, with a tour to follow.

Live performances

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Queen's live performances were consistently at the forefront of rock shows from bands of their generation.[clarify] The band amassed a diverse catalogue of songs and made use of massive sound systems, lighting rigs, pyrotechnics, and various extravagant costumes to help create entertaining theatrical events. As lead vocalist, Mercury was able to immerse himself in the audience's adulation and thrived off their excitement. Queen also helped provide an impetus for regarding stadiums and large arenas as rock concert venues. The band's reputation for impressive live performances led to a number of concerts being released on both album and video. Bootleg copies of Queen concerts are traded on websites and through fanzines.

In the digital realm

In conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game Queen: The Eye in 1998, to commercial and critical failure. The music itself — tracks from Queen's vast catalogue, in many cases remixed into new instrumental versions — was by and large well received, but the game experience was hampered by poor game play. Adding to the problem was an extremely long development time, resulting in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release.

Under the supervision of May and Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been underway involving Queen's lengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their 1986 Wembley concert (titled Live At Wembley Stadium) and 1982 Milton Keynes concert (Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl), and two Greatest Video Hits (Volumes 1 and 2, spanning the 1970s and 1980s) have seen the band's music remixed into 5.1 and DTS surround sound. So far, only two of the bands albums, A Night at the Opera and The Game, have been fully remixed into high-resolution multichannel surround on DVD-Audio. A Night at the Opera was re-released with some revised 5.1 mixes and accompanying videos in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album's original release (CD+DVD-Video set).

In the fighting game series Guilty Gear, there is a character named for each member of Queen.

In film and television

Queen contributed music directly to the movies Flash Gordon (1980, directed by Mike Hodges) and Highlander (the original 1986 film, directed by Russell Mulcahy). The theme song, "Princes of the Universe", was also used in the Highlander TV series (1992–1998).

In the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single in 1992 after appearing in Wayne's World. The single subsequently reached number two on the US Billboard chart (with "The Show Must Go On" as the first track on the single) and helped rekindle the band's popularity in North America.

Several films have featured their songs performed by other artists. A cover of "Somebody to Love" by Anne Hathaway featured in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. In 2006, Brittany Murphy also recorded a cover of the same song for the 2006 movie Happy Feet. In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the movie musical Moulin Rouge!. The closing credits of A Knight's Tale released in 2001 has a version of "We Are the Champions" performed by Robbie Williams and Queen.

Many other films have featured their songs or sections of their songs. These include:

* FM

* Iron Eagle

* Kicking & Screaming

* Moulin Rouge

* National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon

* The Break-up

* Small Soldiers

* Son in Law

* Encino Man

* Stepmom

* High Fidelity

* Super Size Me

* The Girl Next Door

* Mr. Wrong

* Revenge of the Nerds

* Wayne's World

* The Mighty Ducks

* How High

* Happy Feet

* Chicken Little

* Cheaper By The Dozen 2

* Grosse Pointe Blank

* Blackball

* Shaun of the Dead

* Blades of Glory

* A Knight's Tale

* Mickey Blue Eyes

* I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

* Ella Enchanted

* The Heartbreak Kid

Keeping in the tradition (since Season five) of naming each season's episodes after songs from a famous 1970s era rock band (Led Zeppelin for the fifth season, The Who for the sixth and The Rolling Stones for the seventh), the eighth and final season of That '70s Show consisted of episodes named after Queen songs. "Bohemian Rhapsody" served as the season premiere.

On April 11, 2006 Queen appeared on the American singing contest television show American Idol. Each contestant 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, one which made the group's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite.

Al Murray's Happy Hour has a Queen theme, as it uses "Don't Stop Me Now" for the introduction and features guest performers along with host Al Murray singing different Queen songs each episode. The remainder of Queen did appear at the end of a series of the show.

"I Was Born to Love You" was used as the theme song of the Japanese drama Pride on Fuji Television in 2004, starring Takuya Kimura and Yūko Takeuchi. The show's soundtrack also contained other songs by Queen, including "We Will Rock You, "We Are the Champions" and "Bohemian Rhapsody".

A cover version of "I Was Born to Love You" is also featured in the fourth level of the Nintendo DS video game Elite Beat Agents as well as in an episode in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.

The band made tentative plans to provide material for use in " The Hotel New Hampshire" but this project was abandoned although "Keep Passing The Open Windows" (which is an important catch-phrase line in the movie) did survive.

In musical theatre

In 2002, a musical or "rock theatrical" based on the songs of Queen, titled We Will Rock You, opened at the Dominion Theatre on London's West End. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and produced by Robert De Niro. It has since been staged in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane, Australia; Cologne, Germany; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; South Africa, Las Vegas United States; Zurich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; Moscow, Russia; Varberg, Sweden and Toronto, Canada.

The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at the Dominion Theatre, but due to public demand, the show has now been extended indefinitely. We Will Rock You has become the longest running musical ever to run at this prime London theatre, overtaking the previous record holder, the Grease musical.

The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. As part of the Jubilee celebrations Brian May performed a guitar solo of "God Save the Queen",as featured on Queen's A Night at the Opera, from the roof of Buckingham Palace. The recording of this performance was used as video for the same song on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Night at the Opera.

Sean Bovim created "Queen at the Ballet", a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which uses Queen's music as a soundtrack for the show’s dancers, who interpret the stories behind tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga" and "Killer Queen."

Sound and style

Queen composed music that drew inspiration from many different genres of music, often with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Among the genres they have been associated with are: arena rock, dance/disco, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, pop rock, progressive rockand psychedelic rock. Queen also wrote songs that were inspired by genres that are not or barely associated with rock, such as country, ragtime, opera, gospel, vaudeville and folk. They also experimented with rock-genres such as punk rockand speed metal[citation needed], amongst others.

Sonic experimentation figured heavily in Queen's songs. A distinctive characteristic of Queen's music are the vocal harmonies which are usually comprised of the voices of May, Mercury and Taylor best heard on the studio albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Some of the ground work for the development of this sound can be attributed to their former producer Roy Thomas Baker as well as their engineer Mike Stone. Besides vocal harmonies, Queen were also known for multi-tracking voices to imitate the sound of a large choir through overdubs. According to Brian May, there are over 180 vocal overdubs in "Bohemian Rhapsody".[52] Many Queen songs were also written with audience participation in mind, such as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".

Influence on other musicians

Initially dismissed by the majority of music critics, especially those in the United States, Queen have more recently been recognized as having made significant contributions to such genres as arena rock, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, pop rock and progressive rock, amongst others. Hence the band has been cited as an influence by many other musicians. Moreover, like their music, the collection of bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen, is diverse and span different generations, countries and genres.

Metallica recorded a cover version of the song, which first appeared on the "Rubaiyat — Electra's 40th Anniversary" album in 1990, and won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1991. In the early '70s, Queen helped spur the heavy metal genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; the New Wave of British Heavy Metal followed in a similar vein, fusing the music with a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed.

Historical success

As of 2005, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,322 weeks or twenty-seven years on the United Kingdom album charts; more time than any other musical act including The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Also in 2005, with the release of their live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts.

In 2006, the Greatest Hits album was found to be the United Kingdom's all-time best selling album, with sales upwards of 5,407,587 copies, over 604,295 more copies than its nearest competitor, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their Greatest Hits II album came in seventh with sales upwards of 3,631,321 copies.[79] In January 2007, their Greatest Hits I & II was the #1 most downloaded album on iTunes in North America.

One of rock's most successful and influential acts, the band have released a total of eighteen number one albums, eighteen number one singles, and ten number one DVDs worldwide making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They have sold over 300 million albums[4] and 180 million singles[citation needed] worldwide including 32.5 million albums in the United States alone as of 2004.[5] The band are also the only group in which every member has composed more than one chart-topping single.