Spotlight on Queen

By Gareth Ransome

There will never be another band like Queen. They've been described in many ways:
• the greatest live band in history
• producing the greatest single in history (Bohemian Rhapsody)
• pioneers: producing the first music promo video

Made up of four extremely talented musicians and songwriters, Queen pushed all the boundaries of what was possible in music; often unashamedly flamboyant, thanks to the incomparable Freddie Mercury, they were, nonetheless, trailblazers wit the utmost belief in everything that they accomplished.

In The Lap Of The Gods
An advert placed at Imperial College, London in 1968 asked for a "Mitch Mitchell / Ginger Baker" type drummer and out of the many hopefuls a young Roger Meadows Taylor joined the group "Smile" which consisted of Tim Staffell (Bass, vocals) and Brian Many (guitar) and it's from there that the Queen legend was conceived.
I've often wondered what would have happened if Smile became successful; would Smile have become the supergroup that Queen became? There were certain undeniable similarities to some of the music from each band (probably down to Brian's influence) -certain harmonies and instrumentation.... but it will forever be a "what if". Tim Staffell quit Smile and joined another band, and a friend of Tim joined in his place. The friends name? Farrokh Bulsara. It wasn't long before Bulsara changed his name; firstly from Farrokh to Freddie and
finally adopting the surname Mercury after a line from one his songs (My Fairy King).

Freddie became the pathfinder, a powerhouse with flamboyant ideas and a vision that was soon taken up by the rest of the band. It was Freddie who came up with the name "Queen" because of it's strong, regal and universal connotations - it was a name that had a lot of visual potential and it would soon be known across the entire planet.

But not initially.

Procession
After a rapid succession of bassists, John Deacon would become the missing element that created the powerhouse that Queen would become. After a series of delays, and frustrations Queen released their debut album, simply entitled Queen Released in 1973 to favourable reviews, Queen were likened initially to Led Zeppelin because of their hard rocking, heavy metal sound. Keep Yourself Alive and Liar were released as singles but to minimal effect.
Queen II was released the year after and reached no. 5 in the album charts. This was where Queen started to find their own sound. Seven Seas of Rhye reached no 10 in the singles chart and showed many people that this was a band to be reckoned with. Many of the songs (White Queen & March Of The Black Queen to name the two most obvious songs) would point the way to Queens future direction and pave the way to their biggest chart success)

Despite Brian being absent from the initial recording sessions for their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, due to illness Queen produced a much tighter, leaner sound. (rhythm tracks were laid down allowing Brian more freedom to overdub when he felt better) Sheer Heart Attack boasted two instant successes and concert favourites Now I'm Here, which includes a reference to their touring days with band Mott The Hoople, reached no 11; but it was Killer Queen about a high-class prostitute which garnered them their first no 2. Sheer Heart Attack also boasts a truly awesome guitar solo with Brighton Rock showing that Queen were truly becoming confident in their own musical shoes. With chart success only just around the corner, what could they possibly do to take things onto the next level?

Breakthrough
Night At The Opera  will always be overshadowed by the multi-part, bombastic, eclectic powerhouse that is Bohemian Rhapsody, which is a shame in some ways because the whole album is a testament to the genius of Queen. Yet it was because of Bohemian Rhapsody that Queen became the worldwide phenomena -it's difficult to say how much of this success can be attributed to the music video that accompanied it. This is by no means downplaying the importance of the song (because it has been, and always will be a favourite of mine) but this was the first time that anyone had seen a promo video like this. Bands like the Rolling Stones and The Beatles had produced similar video's specifically for Top Of The Pops, but this was the first time it had been done purely for promotional purposes in it's own right. It was the talk of the town for weeks afterwards. Bohemian Rhapsody spent a whopping 9 weeks at number one, and is now Britain's 3rd biggest-selling single of all time. Coupled with John Deacon's single "You're My Best Friend" which fast became a fan favourite, Night At The Opera firmly placed Queen on the Rock map of the world where they would stay for many years to come!