Queen's place in rock history.

My favourite Beatles song is a bit of a throw away effort from the Help! album (a hideously underrated album) called 'You're Going to Lose that Girl', I love the way its an answer and reply vocal, something the Beatles should have done a lot more of.

And for what its worth I think Katy Perry is a brilliant pop artist, her songs are brilliantly crafted pieces of modern writing, she has a genuinely fantastic voice (I have the Firework multitrack, that lady can sing!), she aint too shabby on the eye either ;-)

it's strange that you say that. because for all of the criticism of their "style" round here. as much as i like and love their later more creative period, i have to say my favourite beatles song - by a long way is also one of their most simplistic - and definitely one for my own funeral song choices:
In My Life

fantastically complete song - in every way - musical perfection. possibly (IMO) the finest song ever written.

I love 'In My Life' the Beatles song I can't stand is 'Nowhere Man'... horrible...

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]Jefffabiano wrote:[/b]

Ok sorry for all I said turns out one of my favorite versions of a song was a Beatles version so sorry[/QUOTE]

nice one. and if YOU give em a proper chance you'll find more. i'll give you some examples:

listen to "while my guitar gently weeps" "something" paperback writer" "rain" and more from the last four/five albums - honestly Jeff, you will love some of it, even if it's a small amount.
and for a killer bit of craft...there's a section on "abbey road" - where Lennon was hooked on other things and usually absent from the studio, Harrison hated being in the same room as McCartney and Ringo was off skiing...it's affectionately called the "abbey road medley" (there are actually two sections to it) because every track is approx 1min30 or so of unfinished songs that Macca and GM spliced together into one fantastic piece of recorded work - long before the times of digital editing and 24-track tape machines.
please give this piece of loving genius a try - i hope you won't be disappointed.[/QUOTE]



You got me again I have heard "something" but the elvis version

I think that some bands/acts legacies will last for a hell of a long time. The Beatles of course are way up there. I think Queen are also. If there is just one song among an handful that will last in the public arena and known by Joe Public in most countries on the planet it will be Bohemian Rhapsody. It will still be listened to centuries from now, unless something kinda bad happens to the planet ;)

Also whoever gave the sales figures for The Beatles and Queen were way out BTW. The Beatles haven't sold anywhere near 1 billion records in total worldwide (singles and albums) - I saw a breakdown done by someone who has spent years researching sales data and their worldwide album sales are around 360- 370 million with around 170 million sold in the US. Queen have sold around 180 million albums worldwide. As their sales in the US are only around 42-45 million they aren't THAT far behind when you look at their sales outside North America compared to The Beatles.

A lot of these 'billion records sold' claims are either inflated by the record companies or have been collated by people including all the singles, EPs, albums and in some cases counting every track on an album as a separate album!

[QUOTE] [b]Sheldon wrote:[/b]

If you ask people anywhere in the world to name 5 or 10 songs by the Stones and by Queen, I'm pretty sure Queen will win by a far marging. . [/QUOTE]


Whoa there...........I don't know about that! Let's see, I'd say a lot of people can name Satisfaction, Jumpin Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Brown Sugar, Paint It Black, Sympathy For The Devil, Start Me Up..........

180 million? When Freddie died those numbers were around 150 million, I doubt they only sold 30 million since then. However, we will never know for sure. Whoever did that research will never find out the real numbers as most of those albums aren't properly tracked anyway - oh, and yes, those Beatles figures are insanely overrated. I've seen people claiming that they sold 3 billions. Yes, 3 billions. All I know is that Queen are probably up there with the Stones and Zeppelin as far as album sales go which would be around 300m according to most sources.

Queen's place in rock story... that's a tough one. Freddie has become one of the most recognizable faces of the past century. They've made like two or three memes of his legendary Wembley pictures and they're everywhere. In fact here in Brazil there's this guy who dresses as a Silver Freddie. Yes, Silver Freddie. He was a part of arguably the biggest comedy show of our country. For those wondering how he looks like, here's his "homage" to Freddie's 65th b'day, lol [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a9_KsXpH1I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a9_KsXpH1I[/url]

Mercury could 0be up there with Presley and Jackson as the most recognizable singers of our time. Brian May is a legend in his own right alongside Angus, Jimi, Eddie and Jimmy. Roger and John are heralded as some of the best drummers/bassists of their era, and rightly so.

Queen helped Purple and Led define Hard Rock music... the piano ballads, the strong rockers, they've recorded some of the most known Hard Rock songs that inspired countless artists. Bohemian Rhapsody is probably up there with Stairway to Heaven as the biggest Hard Rock songs of all time and We Will Rock You, well, it used to scare me when I was a little kid. I heard this chorus when I was young and it freaked me out. It wasn't until I was a teenager and pretty much every kid in my class did the We Will Rock You stomp/clap thing in our desks that I got to know the song. Several drum solos I've heard over the past years would have parts of We Will Rock You thrown in. We are the Champions... nearly every person (Not really, but I just wanna make my point) that's champion at something (Anything, really) would sing bits of the song, not to mention those that made it their anthem. School teams, professional teams, TV ads, etc. Love of my Life... well, every Rock in Rio edition there's a emotional homage to Queen. Not only they stole the show at Live Aid in 1985, they stole the show at RIR as well. 350k people were singing Love of My Life with Queen... [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlG5ghOxJ34 ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlG5ghOxJ34[/url]

So yes, they're one of the most known artists of our time. They inspired a lot of known and aspiring artists, just like the Stones, Beatles and Led. Maybe not as much as them, but some of their songs and melodies, as well as Freddie, are probably second to none.

[QUOTE] [b]Bruno P. wrote:[/b] Mercury could be up there with Presley and Jackson as the most recognizable singers of our time. Brian May is a legend in his own right alongside Angus, Jimi, Eddie and Jimmy. Roger and John are heralded as some of the best drummers/bassists of their era, and rightly so. [/QUOTE]Mercury - definitely, May - at a pinch - he's in the top ten in some lists, but in others doesn't make top 20, as for Taylor & Deacon - very seldom are they mentioned outside of queen fandom/circles.

[QUOTE] [b]Bruno P. wrote:[/b] Queen helped Purple and Led define Hard Rock music... the piano ballads, the strong rockers, they've recorded some of the most known Hard Rock songs that inspired countless artists. Bohemian Rhapsody is probably up there with Stairway to Heaven as the biggest Hard Rock songs of all time.
So yes, they're one of the most known artists of our time. They inspired a lot of known and aspiring artists, just like the Stones, Beatles and Led. Maybe not as much as them, but some of their songs and melodies, as well as Freddie, are probably second to none.[/QUOTE]i get your point entirely, but they didn't help define Hard Rock Music - Zep/Purple & Sabbs had already had three GOLD album sellers in the US and four HUGE UK selling albums BEFORE queen's first album even hit the shelves. as a music genre it was already well defined and established. it didn't require any help per se.

Best or most influential? I don't think there's an answer. Alot of musicians back in the day would cite The Beatles as they were doing things in the studio that hadn't been done before. Now there's so much music, so many different genres its impossible.

I find Queen live performance a lot better than studio albums. A very versatile band that could turn a 'bad' album (hot space) into a fantastic live sound. The Hot Space tour is one of my favorites. Queen could even make other bands' music sound a lot better: Freddie singing Imagine compared with Lennon, sends Lennon back to music school. I am not sure how Stones or Beatles compare live vis a vis their studio albums, as I do not follow them, but it would be nice to hear your opinion.

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]
]Mercury - definitely, May - at a pinch - he's in the top ten in some lists, but in others doesn't make top 20, as for Taylor & Deacon - very seldom are they mentioned outside of queen fandom/circles.

[/QUOTE]


http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/10/20-underrated-bass-guitarists-in-popular-music.html


Saw this recently..........they called John the 13th most underrated bass player! Kinda cool........

[QUOTE] [b]The King Of Rhye wrote:[/b][QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]]Mercury - definitely, May - at a pinch - he's in the top ten in some lists, but in others doesn't make top 20, as for Taylor & Deacon - very seldom are they mentioned outside of queen fandom/circles.[/QUOTE]
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/10/20-underrated-bass-guitarists-in-popular-music.html
Saw this recently..........they called John the 13th most underrated bass player! Kinda cool........
[/QUOTE]
and underlines my point so well. "underrated" is an even better way of saying "seldom mentioned"

I totally get what you're saying, but look at this reaction on May as this says it all... the crowd reaction as well as Dave Grohl's reaction @ 6:25 are totally awesome. May's a legend to all those musicians in the 80's and 90's that came after him and this is what made him legendary alongside those names I mentioned earlier, not popular appeal - he's got plenty, but definitely not as much as Page or Van Halen or Hendrix.
As for Deacon and Taylor, well, they're one of the most influential players of the 70's, but again not as well known as Jones or Bonham.

Hard Rock as a music genre was already defined and established, I didn't say they helped to create it, but Queen definitely helped to define it even further. They explored genres that even Zeppelin would never have thought and brought all those influences to Hard Rock. I have to say that several Hard Rock/Rock musicians from the 80's, 90's and even late 70's already told us that and were influencied by Queen or its musicians in some way, shape or form, not only musically but in terms of live shows, marketing, visually, etc. So of course Queen helped to give Hard Rock its huge pop appeal they had in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

I would look for some quotes but we all know how several musicians list Queen (and especially Freddie) as one of their influences.

[QUOTE] [b]Bruno P. wrote:[/b]
As for Deacon and Taylor, well, they're one of the most influential players of the 70's, but again not as well known as Jones or Bonham..[/QUOTE]
or Moon/Entwhistle, or McCartney/Starr or Baker/Bruce or butler/ward or mcvie/fleetwood or lee/peart or waters/mason...and that's just as "beat combos"...when you break it down into just drummers or bassists - then neither would make any top20 poll (unless run by a queen fansite :-) )

I don't know if all of those names are bigger than John and Roger, at least when we're talking about Hard Rock, but yes, they're not the biggest names from Queen. Those would be Freddie (arguably the greatest singer & frontman ever - countless publications, magazines, fans & musicians named him the very best) and Brian (constantly picked as one of the most influential guitarists of the 70's), easily. Queen as a band has a bigger impact than those names, unless we're talking about Freddie. (Is he as big as Queen, the band? Can't say for sure...)