Queen: a British rock band that formed in 1970 with Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) who drew their musical inspiration from many diverse styles of music such as progressive rock, hard rock, blues, and disco. They were able to fuse their musical style with ragtime, vaudeville, folk and opera music which was never associated with rock n’ roll and they became well renowned for their vocal harmonies, especially a technique called “multi-tracking” used to imitate a large choir through overdubs.

Queen’s Legacy

In 2002 their hit single Bohemian Rhapsody was voted as the UK’s favourite hit of all time. In 2005 an industry poll voted Queen’s performance at Live Aid in 1995 as the best live act in history. In 2006 Queen’s Greatest Hits was the all-time best selling album in the UK chart history selling over 5 million units. The BBC claims that Queen has sold over 300 million records worldwide. Wow.

In my opinion, Queen are rock n’ roll chameleons. Their fusion or use of different genres of music has prompted many other artists to cite Queen as a major influence in their own compositions. Prime examples being: Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Robbie Williams, and Katie Perry to name a few and to show the contrast. I haven’t seen any other band shift through so many musical genres so effortlessly as Queen, they can transform and adapt flawlessly.

To simply put it, Queen is music. It flows through them, it is part of them and they are part of it. These four distinct talented individuals meld together creating the unique style and sound that is Queen.

If you have never had the pleasure of listening to a Queen album, I have provided a list as to what I believe are some of their best work. As always, if anyone has a list, please do send it in to us.

• A Night at the Opera (1975)

• A Day at the Races (1976)

• News of the World (1977)

• Jazz (1978)

• The Game (1980)

• The Works (1984)

• The Miracle (1989)

• Innuendo (1991)