Very hard for a band to achieve a huge anount of success when they have not played together for 15 years or more (live that is). I don't know what criteria you are using to determine who is "bigger" than anybody else, but Queen did achieve superstar status here and are still regarded as that. Look at recent tv awards where Queen do well consistantly. A lot of Queen music is still popular here and songs such as WWRY (I hear it 30 times a day watching football over the weekend) and Borap constantly inspire interest in the rest of the Queen catalog.
I also do not believe that Queens popularity suffered because of the "gay" look. There were a lot of bands that are very gay and did very well. One of Queens strengths has been their ability to constantly come up with fresh ideas, not always sucessfuly. The change in styles from the Game to songs like IWTBF just did not fit into what was popular here at the time. That's how it goes.
Queen sold more albums here that the Who, Zepplin, and perhaps more than the Stones. Do you consider them to be unapreciated?
It's about enjoying the music, not about who is top of the charts and selling more albums. It,s not sport, it's art. Different strokes for different folks.
One thing to consider. Do you expect anyone to even release an Eminem live dvd in 15-25 years, let alone anyone buy it? Who will remember? Staying power is one thing all the greats share in common.
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I live in Joppatowne, Maryland, and at the school I go to, Queen is quite popular, along with other classic rock acts like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, The Ramones, Guns N' Roses, and others. I'm 14 years old, Queen is one of the most popular older groups in my school, and nearly all of my friends and acquaintances either have the "Greatest Hits 1-2" boxed set, love 'em or at least like Queen somewhat.
So for me, it was sorta the opposite. <b><i>I</b></i> was the one who was wondering why Queen was so popular. I thought the only notable things Queen had ever done were "We Will Rock You," "We Are The Champions," and "Another One Bites the Dust." We did a lip-synch project in Drama last year.....we would get up onstage and lip-synch to a song we chose.....I did "I Feel Good" by James Brown...one kid did Bohemian Rhapsody and a girl in my class chose to do Killer Queen... And nearly everyone in my school, from "preps" to "punks" to "goths" like them. Only Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd rival them when it comes to popularity of an older group.
In fact, just last week, when we were rehearsing the plkay, the techies were playing Greatest Hits I over the sound system- even songs like "You're My Best Friend" and "Save Me" (which sounded really nice in the auditorium, I must add)
Everyone can sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody and Bicycle Race.
Songs that everyone knows;
Bohemian Rhapsody
Another One Bites The Dust
Killer Queen (easily everyone's favorite)
I Want to Break Free
We Are The Champions
Under Pressure
Fat-Bottomed Girls
Bicycle Race
We Will Rock You
The critics may not be too kind to Queen, but they are pretty popular over here, or at least, in all non-Southern areas. (I hear they're practically non-existant in the South- though woul you want them to be popular in the anti-gay, anti-Black, anti-Women, anti-Choice, poor, low-intelligence (proven) pro-Bush hillbilly hick capital of the world? They are neanderthals whose idea of good music is Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, and they honestly see Bush as a man of moral values and integrity, and a strong leader. They need to killed.)
Granted, no one really listens to the albums, however, with the exception of Pink Floyd, best-of compilations and greatest hits tend to be the main way my contemporaries listen to the older bands- which is pretty cool, considering they could not listen to them at all, when you think about it, so be greatful.
So for me, it was sorta the opposite. <b><i>I</b></i> was the one who was wondering why Queen was so popular. I thought the only notable things Queen had ever done were "We Will Rock You," "We Are The Champions," and "Another One Bites the Dust." We did a lip-synch project in Drama last year.....we would get up onstage and lip-synch to a song we chose.....I did "I Feel Good" by James Brown...one kid did Bohemian Rhapsody and a girl in my class chose to do Killer Queen... And nearly everyone in my school, from "preps" to "punks" to "goths" like them. Only Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd rival them when it comes to popularity of an older group.
In fact, just last week, when we were rehearsing the plkay, the techies were playing Greatest Hits I over the sound system- even songs like "You're My Best Friend" and "Save Me" (which sounded really nice in the auditorium, I must add)
Everyone can sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody and Bicycle Race.
Songs that everyone knows;
Bohemian Rhapsody
Another One Bites The Dust
Killer Queen (easily everyone's favorite)
I Want to Break Free
We Are The Champions
Under Pressure
Fat-Bottomed Girls
Bicycle Race
We Will Rock You
The critics may not be too kind to Queen, but they are pretty popular over here, or at least, in all non-Southern areas. (I hear they're practically non-existant in the South- though woul you want them to be popular in the anti-gay, anti-Black, anti-Women, anti-Choice, poor, low-intelligence (proven) pro-Bush hillbilly hick capital of the world? They are neanderthals whose idea of good music is Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, and they honestly see Bush as a man of moral values and integrity, and a strong leader. They need to killed.)
Granted, no one really listens to the albums, however, with the exception of Pink Floyd, best-of compilations and greatest hits tend to be the main way my contemporaries listen to the older bands- which is pretty cool, considering they could not listen to them at all, when you think about it, so be greatful.
I dont know I live in NYC, I got my close friend to listen to a bit of their music. She never heard of them before, but I had to tell her the popular songs. She kinda liked it, she was trying to follow the words. It's a one time thing anyway. Theres a high chance if I ask anyone if they know who Queen is they'll say, "who", but i'm sure there's a few people around here who know who they are and really appreciate them.
Queen sold more albums here that the Who, Zepplin, and perhaps more than the Stones. Do you consider them to be unapreciated?
Zeppelin sold more. Just combine the sales of LZ 4 and LZ 2 and they outsold Queen. LZ 4 sold 22 millions copies, LZ 2 sold like 12 million.
i live in new york also, and they seem to be in the middle with the good but not great bands. it's sick cos there so great, yea the stones and zep seem to be overplayed and Queen are a second thought, me and some friends were going back and with who was better Queen or led zep and most people laughed at me, so i guess queen arn't considered in the same league as zep or the who, stones, and Arosmith
Another culture, another traditions... I can't understand why football calls soccer there, so I have never even try to understand why Queen was underrated in the USA
I live in Washington, which is obviously in the States. And well....you are right. Queen is pretty underrated here (The whole country I mean). But that is because we have Rolling Stone Magazine to tell us that Madonna and Public Enemy are one of the 50 best artists of all time. Just goes to show you that not only does America have bad taste in politics, but a bad taste in music as well.
Cheers
Cheers
I live in the USA, and where I live Queen is underappreciated. I order most of my cds online and DVDS and stuff..
I live in the states, namely California. I just moved to Los Angeles from Oak Park (near Chicago) and I got pretty much the majority of our towns teenagers aware of Queen's greatness. I always hear about how my friends put Don't Stop Me Now on our high school's warm up cds. So they're big in Oak Park. That area is covered. But I've also met a lot of queen fans here, mostly casual though. I am playing parts of the new concert dvd for all my friends and they are loving it. Queen isn't as under-appreciated in the States as you might think. At least not where there are varieties of people.
Queen are the fifth best selling English act in the US after The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles!
Also, I am originally from Boston and Queen were huge in Boston! They always sold out The Boston Garden in 1982. I am slowly rebuilding the catalog as car repairs forced me to sell my CDs. The South is all country crap! Even Pink Floyd are unappreciated pre-1973 and they only talk about DSotM and The Wall. Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Division Bell and Meddle are my favorite Floyd albums. I loveed every Queen album save Queen II and AKoM. The former had three awful songs(Fairy Feller, Nevermore and Funny How Love Is) and the latter had one(Don't Lose Your Head).
At 60 years old, I have just "discovered" Queen. (I must have been half-dead in the 70's and 80's.) So, I am doing some major catching up buying books, videos, dvds, and cds (mostly off of eBay.) Can't get enough of them. In midwest Minnesota USA we have Best Buy stores. And whenever I buy yet another dvd and bring it to the check-out counter, the young person cashier (age in the early 20's) will say they just love Queen. One told me she knew every Queen song and all of the words to them! I checked out Flash Gordon from a video store, and that young clerk said he just loved Queen. I don't know how they know Queen, but they do.
i live in new york also, and they seem to be in the middle with the good but not great bands. it's sick cos there so great, yea the stones and zep seem to be overplayed and Queen are a second thought, me and some friends were going back and with who was better Queen or led zep and most people laughed at me, so i guess queen arn't considered in the same league as zep or the who, stones, and Arosmith
How did you feel when they laughed at you? That sucks. I guess they don't much about the band.
I'm from Troy Michigan and I'm a pretty big Queen fan. I don't think they're under appreciated, they're just too old. Queen doesn't sell records anymore and nothing Queen related has happened in the U2 since the early 1990's besides the release of We Will Rock You in Vegas, which is in a fact a huge hit!
Groups don't stay in the limelight more than a couple years in the states. At least anything new. And not much coverage is given to older groups like Queen that doesn't produce records anymore. U2 and Duran Duran are getting a lot of coverage just because they released new albums. And the only groups that are still around that aren't writing a ton of music are things like kiss, the stones, and zeppelin. And even then it's mainly just a cult fan following much like a Queen one
Whether they are huge or not I bet a good number of people can sing Bohemian Rapsody and I dont know a single person that hasn't heard WWRY or WATC. If you start to sing the opera part to bohemnian, everyone around you at least knows a line or two
Groups don't stay in the limelight more than a couple years in the states. At least anything new. And not much coverage is given to older groups like Queen that doesn't produce records anymore. U2 and Duran Duran are getting a lot of coverage just because they released new albums. And the only groups that are still around that aren't writing a ton of music are things like kiss, the stones, and zeppelin. And even then it's mainly just a cult fan following much like a Queen one
Whether they are huge or not I bet a good number of people can sing Bohemian Rapsody and I dont know a single person that hasn't heard WWRY or WATC. If you start to sing the opera part to bohemnian, everyone around you at least knows a line or two