Queen - Facebook Meme Updated

Oh Manny. You made this one too easy for me. I remember after Friday night Air Cadets that we would meet at one of our buddy's houses for pizza and The Midnight Special. It was one of those shows that showed the latest groups playing their music LIVE. No autotune - just real live music played by real live musicians.



I remember Queen because I knew the group well. They did Bohemian Rhapsody on the show and they filmed it like a music video. In fact for many of us it was the first music video that we ever saw. I was amazed by that performance. It sounded just like on the record. Freddy Mercury was the real deal. Their theatricality was a sign of things to come. MTV was just around the corner and Queen was one of the groups that would take advantage of the new medium of rock video.

Queen's music was so much more accessible for me than many of their contemporaries like Led Zeppelin. I didn't have to force myself to like Queen's music. It was so well put together and interesting that they kinda had me at 'hello'.

When I first started getting into albums I got given the first Queen album to listen to by a buddy who wanted to use it as the background music for the radio show we were creating. I immediately got my own copy then Queen 2 which is as close to a soundtrack to Lord of the Rings that you would find for the time. It plays like a concept album from Middle Earth. The harmonies and orchestrations are more than beautiful. Nothing sounds like that homemade guitar of Brain May.

I learned how to sing and harmonize listening to old country with my Dad and that gave me the ability to hit most of the notes that Freddy could when I was in my prime. His range and ability to not just sing a song but form an emotion is unmatched in the rock era.  Name me someone who was a better singer - just pure ability - than Freddy Mercury. Songs like 'Who Wants To Live Forever' from the soundtrack to Highlander - which was performed when Freddy was dying of AIDS, is one of the most haunting and beautiful tributes to life ever put to music.

 

Queen Jazz has a song on it called Mustafa which is like the Muslim call to prayer. We would use that song at Cadet Camp in the morning to get up and dressed and out the parade square in four minutes.

Our parents allowed us to get a record album ever two weeks. I once traded my sister her choices so I could get Day at the Races and Night at the Opera at the same time. Of course, both albums were named after Marx Brother's movies.

 

 

Do you remember the album's themselves? They opened up to show the lyrics and who played what and the group always insisted that they used no synthesizers until, of course, The Game, which had some of their biggest 80s hits but was a real disappointment to fans like me. I hate Crazy Little Thing Called Love as much as I hate Achy Breaky Heart.

The soundtrack to the movie Flash Gordon brought redemption back to the group in my eyes. It was the perfect 80s combination of flash and excess. Both the movie and the music screamed that fact.

Radio Ga Ga came out when I was in college and was developing a love for the old films like Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS. The video had clips from the silent German expressionist classic. Both the song and the film had a big impact on me.



Finally I will leave you with my favorite post-Freddy moment with the band. It was at the tribute concert help for Freddy at Wembly stadium. George Michaels (yes, THAT George Michaels) did a version of 'Somebody to Love' that I know Freddy was smiling down upon from whatever heaven you believe in. Magical.



Composition: Vocal, piano, guitar: Freddie Mercury, Guitars: Brian May, Bass-guitar, rhythm-guitar: John Deacon, Percussions: Roger Taylor.

 

Queen always had interesting album covers too.

You can see the entire selection by following the link below.

http://albumcovergallery.blogspot.ca/2011/05/queen-complete-studio-album-covers.html