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QueenThe Complete Guide

ContentsArticlesOverview 1

Queen 1Awards and nominations 26

Members 30Freddie Mercury 30Brian May 49John Deacon 63Roger Taylor 70

Discography 82Queen discography 82

Studio albums 96Queen 96Queen II 104Sheer Heart Attack 114A Night at the Opera 122A Day at the Races 132News of the World 138Jazz 146The Game 153Hot Space 159The Works 167A Kind of Magic 175The Miracle 184Innuendo 194Made in Heaven 206

Soundtrack album 218Flash Gordon 218

Live albums 223Live Killers 223

Live Magic 226At the Beeb 229Live at Wembly '86 231Queen on Fire Live at the Bowl 235Queen Rock Montreal 242

Compilation albums 246Greatest Hits 246Greatest Hits II 255Classic Queen 259The 12" Collection 261Queen Rocks 262Greatest Hits III 265Stone Cold Classics 270The AZ of Queen, Volume 1 271Absolute Greatest 272Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (19731976) 278Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (19771982) 280Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (19841995) 282

Box sets 284The Complete Works 284Box of Tricks 286Ultimate Queen 287The Crown Jewels 288The Platinum Collection 289The Singles Collection Volume 1 295The Singles Collection Volume 2 298The Singles Collection Volume 3 300The Singles Collection Volume 4 302

Singles 305"Keep Yourself Alive" 305"Liar" 309"Seven Seas of Rye" 311"Killer Queen" 313"Flick of the Wrist" 316"Now I'm Here" 318

"Bohemian Rhapsody" 320"You're My Best Friend" 333"Somebody to Love" 336"Tie Your Mother Down" 340"Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" 343"Long Away" 345"Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" 347"We Are the Champions" 349"We Will Rock You" 354"Spread Your Wings" 363"It's Late" 365"Bicycle Race" 367"Fat Bottomed Girls" 371"Don't Stop Me Now" 375"Mustapha" 378"Love of My Life" 380"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 382"Save Me" 387"Play the Game" 389"Another One Bites the Dust" 391"Need Your Loving Tonight" 397"Flash" 399"Under Pressure" 401"Body Language" 411"Las Palabras de Amor" 413"Calling All Girls" 415"Staying Power" 417"Back Chat" 419"Radio Ga Ga" 421"I Want to Break Free" 426"It's a Hard Life" 433"Hammer to Fall" 435"Thank God It's Christmas" 438"One Vision" 441"A Kind of Magic" 445"Princes of the Universe" 448"Friends Will Be Friends" 450"Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" 452

"Who Wants to Live Forever" 453"One Year of Love" 459"I Want It All" 460"Breakthru" 464"The Invisible Man" 467"Scandal" 469"The Miracle" 471"Innuendo" 473"I'm Going Slightly Mad" 477"Headlong" 479"I Can't Live With You" 482"The Show Must Go On" 485"These Are the Days of Our Lives" 490"Heaven for Everyone" 492"A Winter's Tale" 498"I Was Born to Love You" 499"Too Much Love Will Kill You" 502"Let Me Live" 504"You Don't Fool Me" 506"No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" 509

Songs 513List of songs by Queen 513"Clebrity" 522"Say It's Not True" 524"See What A Fool I've Been" 526"Stone Cold Crazy" 527

Videography 530Queen videography 530We Will Rock You 533The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert 537Greatest Video Hits 1 540Queen at Wembley 544Greatest Video Hits 2 548We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan 551

Tours 553

Queen live performances 553Sheer Heart Attack Tour 561A Night at the Opera Tour 562Summer Gigs 1976 566A Day at the Races Tour 568News of the World Tour 571Jazz Tour 574Crazy Tour 578The Game Tour 581Hot Space Tour 587The Works Tour 592Magic Tour 598

Related articles 601"Another One Rides the Bus" 601Jim Beach 603Deacy Amp 604Spike Edney 605"In My Defence" 607Larry Lurex 609Let the Cosmos Rock 610The Mercury Phoenix Trust 610Mountain Studios 611A Night at the Hip Hopera 613The Official International Queen Fan Club 617The Cross 618Queen + Paul Rodgers 623Queen Hyde Park 1976 629Queen I Tour 630Queen Live at Golders Green Hippodrome 631Queen at the Ballet 632John Reid 633David Richards 634SingStar Queen 635Smile 637The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody 640We Will Rock You 641The Cosmos Rocks 656

Five Live 663Live in Ukraine 668"You Are the Champion" 671Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour 672Rock the Cosmos Tour 678Concert for Kampuchea 682Super Live in Japan 685

ReferencesArticle Sources and Contributors 688Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 703

Article LicensesLicense 707

1Overview

Queen

Queen

Queen in concert, 1984.John Deacon (far left), Freddie Mercury (centre stage), Brian May (foreground), Roger Taylor (drums)

Background information

Origin London, England

Genres Rock

Years active 1971[1] present[2]

Labels Capitol, Parlophone, EMI, Hollywood, Island, Elektra

Associated acts Smile, The Cross, Queen + Paul Rodgers, David Bowie, Ibex, Mott the Hoople

Website [queenonline.com queenonline.com]

Members

Brian MayRoger Taylor

Past members

Freddie MercuryJohn Deacon

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals,piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar, guitars, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, but the band gradually ventured into more conventionaland radio-friendly works, incorporating more diverse and innovative styles in their music.Before joining Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had been playing together in a band named Smile with bassist Tim Staffell. Freddie Mercury (then known by his birth name of Farrokh/ Freddie Bulsara) was a fan of Smile, and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques after Staffell's departure in 1970. Mercury himself joined the band shortly thereafter, changed the name of the band to 'Queen', and adopted his familiar stage name. John Deacon was recruited prior to recording their eponymous debut album (1973). Queen enjoyed success in the UK with their debut and its follow-up, Queen II (1974), but it was the release of Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and A Night at the Opera (1975) that gained the band international success. The latter featured "Bohemian Rhapsody", which stayed at number one in the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks; it charted at number

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one in several other territories, and gave the band their first top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100. Their 1977album, News of the World, contained two of rock's most recognisable anthems, "We Will Rock You" and "We Arethe Champions". By the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world, and theirperformance at 1985's Live Aid is regarded as one of the greatest in rock history. In 1991, Mercury died ofbronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, and Deacon retired in 1997. Since then, May and Taylor haveinfrequently performed together, including a collaboration with Paul Rodgers under the name Queen + Paul Rodgerswhich ended in May 2009.The band has released a total of 18 number one albums, 18 number one singles, and 10 number one DVDs, and havesold over 150 million albums, with some estimates in excess of 300 million albums, making them one of the world'sbest-selling music artists. They have been honoured with seven Ivor Novello awards and were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

History

Early days (19681974)In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form aband. May placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type" drummer;Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. The group called themselves Smile.[3]

While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffell became friends with Farrokh Bulsara, a fellow student who hadassumed the English name of Freddie. Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keenfan of Smile. In late 1970, after Staffell left to join the band Humpy Bong, the remaining Smile members,encouraged by Bulsara, changed their name to "Queen" and continued working together.[4] When asked about thename, Bulsara explained, "I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it soundssplendid. It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts ofinterpretations. I was certainly aware of gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it."[4]

The band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the band's chemistry. It was not untilFebruary 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and began to rehearse for their first album. They recorded four oftheir own songs, "Liar", "Keep Yourself Alive", "The Night Comes Down" and "Jesus", for a demo tape; no recordcompanies were interested.[5] It was also around this time Freddie changed his surname to 'Mercury', inspired by theline "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me," in the song My Fairy King.[6]

Having attended art college, Mercury also designed Queen's logo, called the Queen crest, shortly before the releaseof the band's first album.[7] The logo combines the zodiac signs of all four members: two lions for Leo (Deacon andTaylor), a crab for Cancer (May), and two fairies for Virgo (Mercury).[7] The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, thecrab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are each sheltering below a lion.[7] Thereis also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix. The whole symbol bearsa passing resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, particularly with the lion supporters.[7] Theoriginal logo, as found on the reverse-side of the first album cover, was a simple line drawing but more intricatecolour versions were used on later sleeves.[7] [8]

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Queen II cover with Mick Rock photo laterrecreated for the Bohemian Rhapsody music

video

In 1973, after a series of delays, Queen released their eponymous debutalbum, an effort influenced by the heavy metal and progressive rock ofthe day.[9] The album was received well by critics; Gordon Fletcher ofRolling Stone said "their debut album is superb",[10] and Chicago's DailyHerald called it an "above average debut".[11] It drew little mainstreamattention, and the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive", a Brian Maycomposition, sold poorly. Retrospectively, "Keep Yourself Alive" is citedas the highlight of the album, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked it 31st inthe "100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time", describing it as "an entirealbum's worth of riffs crammed into a single song".[12] The album wascertified gold in the UK and the US.[13] [14]

The group's second LP, Queen II, was released in 1974, and features rockphotographer Mick Rock's iconic image of the band on the cover. Thisimage would be used as the basis for the 1975 "Bohemian Rhapsody"

music video production.[15] [16] The album reached number five on the British album chart and became the firstQueen album to chart in the UK.[13] The Freddie Mercury-written lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye" reached numberten in the UK, giving the band their first hit.[13] The album is the first real testament to the band's distinctive layeredsound, and features long complex instrumental passages, fantasy-themed lyrics, and musical virtuosity.[17] [18] Asidefrom its only single, the album also included the song "The March of the Black Queen", a six-minute epic whichlacks a chorus or song structure, bearing similarity to Queen's later work, "Bohemian Rhapsody". The Daily Vaultdescribed the number as "menacing".[19] Critical reaction was mixed; the Winnipeg Free Press describing the recordas a "monstrosity".[20] Allmusic has described the album as a favourite among the band's hardcore fans,[21] and it isthe first of three Queen albums to feature in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[22]

Sheer Heart Attack to A Night at the Opera (19741976)After the band's six-night stand at New York's Uris Theatre in May 1974, Brian May collapsed and was diagnosed ashaving hepatitis.[17] While recuperating, May was initially absent when the band started work on their third album,but he returned midway through the recording process.[23] Released in 1974, Sheer Heart Attack reached number twoin the United Kingdom,[24] sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States.[14] It gave the bandtheir first real experience of international success, and was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.[25] The albumexperimented with a variety of musical genres, including British music hall, heavy metal, ballads, ragtime, andCaribbean. At this point, Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases intoa more radio-friendly, song-orientated style.[26] [27] Sheer Heart Attack introduced new sound and melody patternsthat would be refined on their next album, A Night at the Opera.The single "Killer Queen" reached number two on the British charts,[13] and became their first US hit, reachingnumber 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.[28] It combines camp, vaudeville, and British music hall with May's guitarvirtuosity. The album's second single, "Now I'm Here", a more traditional hard rock composition, was a numbereleven hit in Britain, while the high speed rocker "Stone Cold Crazy" featuring May's uptempo riffs is a precursor tospeed metal.[23] [29] In recent years, the album has received acclaim from music publications: In 2006, Classic Rockranked it number 28 in "The 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever",[30] and in 2007, Mojo ranked it No.88 in "The100 Records That Changed the World".[31] It is also the second of three Queen albums to feature in the book 1001Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[22]

In 1975, the band left for a world tour with each member in Zandra Rhodes-created costumes and accompanied with banks of lights and effects. They toured the US as headliners, and played in Canada for the first time.[32] [33] While the band toured Japan in April, the band's manager, Jim Beach, successfully negotiated the band out of their Trident Studios contract. One of the options they considered was an offer from Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant. Grant

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wanted them to sign with Led Zeppelin's own production company, Swan Song Records. The band found thecontract unacceptable and instead contacted Elton John's manager, John Reid, who accepted the position.[34] In late1975, Queen recorded and released A Night at the Opera, taking its name from the popular Marx Brothers movie. Atthe time, it was the most expensive album ever produced.[35] Like its predecessor, the album features diverse musicalstyles and experimentation with stereo sound. In "The Prophet's Song", an eight-minute epic, the middle section is acanon, with simple phrases layered to create a full-choral sound. The Mercury penned ballad, "Love of My Life",featured a harp and overdubbed vocal harmonies.[36] The album was very successful in Britain,[13] and went tripleplatinum in the United States.[14] The British public voted it the 13th greatest album of all time in a 2004 Channel 4poll.[37] It has also ranked highly in international polls; in a worldwide Guinness poll, it was voted the 19th greatestof all time,[38] while an ABC poll saw the Australian public vote it the 28th greatest of all time.[39] A Night at theOpera has frequently appeared in "greatest albums" lists reflecting the opinions of critics. Among other accolades, itwas ranked number 16 in Q Magazine's "The 50 Best British Albums Ever" in 2004, and number 11 in RollingStone's "The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time" as featured in their Mexican edition in 2004.[40] It was also placed at#230 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003.[41] A Night at the Opera isthe third and final Queen album to be featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[22]

The album also featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was number one in the UK for nine weeks[13]

and is the third-best-selling single of all time in the UK, surpassed only by Band Aid's "Do They Know It'sChristmas?" and Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997"making it the best selling commercial single in the UK. Italso reached number nine in the United States (a 1992 re-release reached number two on Billboard for fiveweeks).[28] It is the only single ever to sell a million copies on two separate occasions,[42] and became the Christmasnumber one twice in the UK, the only single ever to do so. Bohemian Rhapsody has been voted numerous times thegreatest song of all time.[43] [44] The band decided to make a video to go with the single; the result is generallyconsidered to have been the first "true" music video ever produced.[45] [46] Although other bands, including TheBeatles, had made short promotional films or videos of songs prior to this, generally, those were specifically made tobe aired on specific television shows. The second single from the album, "You're My Best Friend", the second songcomposed by John Deacon, and his first single, peaked at number sixteen in the United States[28] and went on tobecome a worldwide Top Ten hit.[42] The band's A Night at the Opera Tour began in November 1975, and coveredEurope, the United States, Japan, and Australia.[47]

A Day at the Races to Live Killers (19761979)By 1976, Queen were back in the studio recording A Day at the Races, which is often regarded as a sequel album toA Night at the Opera.[48] [49] It again borrowed the name of a Marx Brothers movie, and its cover was similar to thatof A Night at the Opera, a variation on the same Queen Crest.[50] The most recognizable of the Marx Brothers,Groucho Marx, invited Queen to visit him in his Los Angeles home in March 1977, and the band thanked him inperson, and performed "'39" a cappella.[51] Musically, A Day at the Races was by both fans' and critics' standards astrong effort, reaching number one in the UK and Japan, and number five in the US.[13] [50] The major hit on thealbum was "Somebody to Love", a gospel-inspired song in which Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked theirvoices to create a 100-voice gospel choir. The song went to number two in the United Kingdom,[13] and numberthirteen on the US singles chart.[28] The album also featured one of the band's heaviest songs, Brian May's "Tie YourMother Down", which became a staple of their live shows.[52] [53]

During the same year, Queen played one of their most famous gigs, a 1976 free concert in Hyde Park, London. It setan attendance record, with 150,000 people confirmed in the audience.[54] During the A Day at the Races Tour in1977, Queen performed sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, New York, in February, and Earls Court,London, in June.[16] [55]

The band's sixth studio album News of the World was released in 1977, which has gone four times platinum in the United States, and twice in the UK.[14] The album contained many songs tailor-made for live performance, including

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two of rock's most recognisable anthems, "We Will Rock You" and the rock ballad "We Are the Champions", bothof which became enduring international sports anthems, and the latter reached number four in the United States.[28][56] Queen commenced the News of the World Tour in October 1977, and Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Timescalled this concert tour the band's "most spectacularly staged and finely honed show yet".[57]

Queen in New Haven, Connecticut in 1978.

In 1978, the band released Jazz, which included the hit singles "FatBottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" on a double-sided record. Thealbum reached number two in the UK and number six on the Billboard200 in the US.[58] This album was "the target of a bizarre marketingcampaign, in which sixty-five naked women were perched atopbicycles rented from Halford's Cycles and sent racing aroundWimbledon Stadium."[59] The word "jazz" was not used in a strictsense, and the album was noted by critics for its collection of differentstyles, jazz not being one of them.[60] Rolling Stone Magazinecriticised it for being "dull", saying "Queen hasn't the imagination to play jazz Queen hasn't the imagination, forthat matter, to play rock & roll."[60] Reviews of the album in recent years have been more favourable.[61] Anothernotable track from Jazz, "Don't Stop Me Now", provides another example of the band's exuberant vocalharmonies.[62]

In 1978, Queen toured the US and Canada, and spent much of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan.[63] They releasedtheir first live album, Live Killers, in 1979; it went platinum twice in the United States.[64] Queen also released thevery successful single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a rockabilly inspired song done in the style of ElvisPresley.[65] [66] The song made the top 10 in many countries, topped the Australian ARIA Charts for sevenconsecutive weeks, and was the band's first number one single in the United States where it topped the Billboard Hot100 for four weeks.[28] [67] Having written the song on guitar and played rhythm on the record, Mercury playedrhythm guitar while performing the song live, which was the first time he ever played guitar in concert.[66] InDecember 1979, Queen played the opening night at the Concert for the People of Kampuchea in London, havingaccepted a request by the event's organiser Paul McCartney.[66]

The Game to The Works (19801984)

Queen concert in Drammen, Norway in 1982.

Queen began their 1980s career with The Game. It featured the singles"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust",both of which reached number one in the United States.[28] Afterattending a Queen concert in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson suggestedto Mercury backstage that "Another One Bites the Dust" be released asa single, and in October 1980 it spent three weeks at number one.[68]

The album topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks,[69] and sold overfour million copies in the US.[14] It was also the first appearance of asynthesiser on a Queen album. Heretofore, their albums featured adistinctive "No Synthesisers!" sleeve note. The note is widely assumed

to reflect an anti-synth, pro-"hard"-rock stance by the band,[70] but was later revealed by producer Roy ThomasBaker to be an attempt to clarify that those albums' multi-layered solos were created with guitars, not synths, asrecord company executives kept assuming at the time.[71] In September 1980, Queen performed three sold-out showsat Madison Square Garden.[16] In 1980, Queen also released the soundtrack they had recorded for Flash Gordon.[72]

In 1981, Queen traveled to South America as part of The Game Tour, and became the first major rock band to play in Latin American stadiums.[63] The tour included five shows in Argentina, one of which drew the largest single concert crowd in Argentine history with an audience of 300,000 in Buenos Aires[73] and two concerts at the Morumbi Stadium in So Paulo, Brazil, where they played to an audience of more than 131,000 people in the first

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night (then the largest paying audience for a single band anywhere in the world)[74] and more than 120,000 peoplethe following night.[75] In October of the same year, Queen performed for more than 150,000 fans on 9 October atMonterrey (Estadio Universitario) and 17 and 18 at Puebla (Estadio Zaragoza), Mexico.[76] On 24 and 25 November,Queen played two sell out nights at the Montreal Forum, Quebec, Canada.[77] One of Mercury's most notableperformances of The Game's final track, "Save Me", took place in Montreal, and the concert is recorded in the livealbum, Queen Rock Montreal.[78]

Queen worked with David Bowie on the single "Under Pressure". The first-time collaboration with another artist wasspontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording.[79] Upon its release, the songwas extremely successful, reaching number one in the UK and featuring at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songsof the '80s.[80]

Later in 1981, Queen released their first compilation album, entitled Greatest Hits, which showcased the group'shighlights from 19741981.[81] It is the best-selling album in UK Chart history, and has spent 450 weeks in the UKAlbum Chart.[82] [83] The album is certified eight times platinum in the United States, and has sold over 25 millioncopies worldwide.[14] [84] Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album in 1981, entitledFun in Space.

Queen live in Frankfurt on 26 September 1984.Compatible with his performance and

compositions, Freddie Mercury was also amulti-instrumentalist.

In 1982, the band released the album Hot Space, a departure from theirtrademark seventies sound, this time being a mixture of rock, pop rock,dance, funk, and R&B.[85] Most of the album was recorded in Munichduring the most turbulent period in the band's history, and Taylor andMay lamented the new sound, with both being very critical of theinfluence Mercury's personal manager Paul Prenter had on thesinger.[86] May was also scathing of Prenter, who was Mercury'smanager from the early 1980s to 1984, for being dismissive of theimportance of radio stations, such as the US networks, and their vitalconnection between the artist and the community, and for denyingthem access to Mercury.[87] The band stopped touring North Americaafter their Hot Space Tour, as their success there had waned, althoughthey would perform on American television for the only time duringthe eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Queen left ElektraRecords, their label in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, andNew Zealand, and signed onto EMI/Capitol Records.

After working steadily for over ten years, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983.[88]

During this time, they recorded a new album at the Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles and Musicland Studios,Munich, and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work. May released a mini-album entitledStar Fleet Project, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen.[89]

In February 1984, Queen released their eleventh studio album, The Works, which included the successful singles"Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer to Fall" and "I Want to Break Free".[90] [91] Despite these hit singles, the album failed todo well in the United States, while in the UK it went triple platinum and remained in the album chart for twoyears.[92]

That year, Queen began The Works Tour, the first tour to feature keyboardist Spike Edney as an extra live musician.The tour featured nine sold-out dates in Bophuthatswana, South Africa, at the arena in Sun City.[93] [94] Uponreturning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played there during the height of apartheid and inviolation of worldwide divestment efforts. The band responded to the critics by stating that they were playing musicfor fans in that country, and they also stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences.[95]

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Live Aid and later years (19851990)In January 1985, the band headlined two nights of the first Rock in Rio festival at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and playedin front of over 300,000 people each night.[96] The Boston Globe described it as a "mesmerising performance".[97] Aselection of highlights of both nights was released on VHS with the title Queen: Live in Rio, and was later broadcaston MTV in the US.[97] [98] In April and May 1985, Queen completed the Works Tour with sold-out shows inAustralia and Japan.[99]

"Queen were absolutely the best band of the day... they just went and smashed one hit after another... it was the perfect stage forFreddie: the whole world"

Bob Geldof, on Queen's performance at Live Aid.[100]

At Live Aid, held at Wembley on 13 July 1985, in front of the biggest-ever TV audience of 1.9billion, Queenperformed some of their greatest hits, during which the sold-out stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang,and swayed in unison.[101] [102] The show's organiser, Bob Geldof, other musicians such as Elton John and DaveGrohl, and various music journalists commented that Queen stole the show.[101] [103] [104] [105] An industry poll in2005 named it the greatest rock performance of all time.[103] The band, now revitalised by the response to Live Aidand the ensuing increase in record sales, ended 1985 by releasing the single "One Vision", which was the first timesince "Stone Cold Crazy" that all four bandmembers received a writing credit for the one song.[106] [107] Also, alimited-edition boxed set containing all Queen albums to date was released under the title of The Complete Works.The package included previously unreleased material, most notably Queen's non-album single of Christmas 1984,titled "Thank God It's Christmas".[108]

In early 1986, Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several reworkings of songs written for theRussell Mulcahy film Highlander. The album was very successful, producing a string of hits, including the titletrack, "A Kind of Magic". Also charting from the album were "Friends Will Be Friends", "Who Wants to LiveForever?" (featuring an orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen), and the de facto theme from Highlander, "Princesof the Universe".[109]

In summer of 1986, Queen went on their final tour with Freddie Mercury.[110] [111] A sold-out tour in support of AKind of Magic, once again they hired Spike Edney, leading to him being dubbed the unofficial fifth member.[112][113] The Magic Tour's highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London and resulted in the live double album, Queenat Wembley, released on CD and as a live concert DVD, which has gone five times platinum in the US and fourtimes platinum in the UK.[14] [114] Queen could not book Wembley for a third night, but they did play at KnebworthPark. The show sold out within two hours and over 120,000 fans packed the park for what was Queen's final liveperformance with Mercury.[115] During the tour, Queen performed a concert at Slane Castle, Ireland, infront of anaudience of 95,000, which broke the venue's attendance record.[116] The band also played behind the Iron Curtainwhen they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in Budapest, in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held inEastern Europe.[117] More than one million people saw Queen on the tour400,000 in the United Kingdom alone, arecord at the time.[94]

After working on various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caball,Barcelona), the band released The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the direction of A Kind of Magic, using apop-rock sound mixed with a few heavy numbers. It spawned the European hits "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "TheInvisible Man", "Scandal", and "The Miracle".[118]

The Miracle also began a change in direction of Queen's songwriting philosophy. Since the band's beginning, nearlyall songs had been written by and credited to a single member, with other members adding minimally. With TheMiracle, the band's songwriting became more collaborative, and they vowed to credit the final product only to Queenas a group.[119]

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Mercury: illness, death, and tribute (19881992)"There was all that time when we knew Freddie was on the way out, we kept our heads down"

Brian May[120]

After fans noticed Mercury's increasingly gaunt appearance in 1988, rumours began to spread that Mercury wassuffering from AIDS. Mercury flatly denied this, insisting he was merely "exhausted" and too busy to provideinterviews.[121] The band decided to continue making albums, starting with The Miracle in 1989 and continuing withInnuendo in 1991. Despite his deteriorating health, the lead singer continued to contribute. For the last two albumsmade while Mercury was still alive, the band credited all songs to Queen, rather than specific members of the group,freeing them of internal conflict and differences. In 1990, Mercury made his final public appearance when he joinedthe rest of Queen to collect the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.[122] [123] Innuendo wasreleased in early 1991 with an eponymous number 1 UK hit[124] and three other charting singles, "I'm Going SlightlyMad", "Headlong", and "The Show Must Go On".[125] Mercury was increasingly ill and could barely walk when theband recorded "The Show Must Go On" in 1990, that May had concerns as to whether he was physically capable ofsinging it.[126] Recalling Mercury's successful performance May states; "he went in and killed it, completelylacerated that vocal".[126] The band's second greatest hits compilation, Greatest Hits II, followed in October of thesame year, which is the eighth best-selling album of all time in the UK, and has sold 16 million copiesworldwide.[127] [128] [129]

On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement made on his deathbed, Mercury confirmed that he had AIDS.[130]

Within 24 hours of the statement, he died of bronchial pneumonia, which was brought on as a complication ofAIDS.[131] His funeral service on 27 November in Kensal Green, West London was private, and held in accordancewith the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.[132] [133] "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single shortlyafter Mercury's death, with "These Are the Days of Our Lives" as the double A-side. The music video for "These Arethe Days of Our Lives" contain Mercury's final scenes in front of the camera.[134] The single went to number one inthe UK, remaining there for five weeks the only recording to top the Christmas chart twice and the only one to benumber one in four different years (1975, 1976, 1991, and 1992).[135] Initial proceeds from the single approximately 1,000,000 were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.[136]

Queen's popularity was stimulated in the United States when "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in the 1992comedy film Wayne's World.[137] Its inclusion helped the song reach number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for fiveweeks in 1992 (it remained in the Hot 100 for over 40 weeks),[137] and won the band an MTV Award at the 1992MTV Video Music Awards.[138] The compilation album Classic Queen also reached number four on the Billboard200, and is certified three times platinum in the US.[14] [137] Wayne's World footage was used to make a new musicvideo for "Bohemian Rhapsody", with which the band and management were delighted.[139]

On 20 April 1992, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held at London's Wembley Stadium to a 72,000-strongcrowd.[140] Performers, including Def Leppard, Robert Plant, Guns N' Roses, Elton John, David Bowie, GeorgeMichael, Annie Lennox, Extreme, and Metallica performed various Queen songs along with the three remainingQueen members. The concert is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert",[141]

as it was televised to over 1.2billion viewers worldwide,[94] and raised over 20,000,000 for AIDS charities.[136]

Queen 9

Made in Heaven to 46664 Concert (19952003)

Statue of Freddie Mercury overlooking LakeGeneva in Montreux, Switzerland.

Queen's last album featuring Mercury, titled Made in Heaven, wasfinally released in 1995, four years after his death. It was constructedfrom Mercury's final recordings in 1991, featuring tracks such as "TooMuch Love Will Kill You" and "Heaven for Everyone", plus materialleft over from their previous studio albums. In addition, re-workedmaterial from May, Taylor, and Mercury's solo albums were included.Both stages of recording, before and after Mercury's death, werecompleted at the band's studio in Montreux, Switzerland.[142] Thealbum reached No. 1 on the UK charts immediately following itsrelease, and has sold 20 million copies worldwide.[143] [144] On 25November 1996, a statue of Mercury was unveiled in Montreuxoverlooking Lake Geneva, almost five years to the day since hisdeath.[142] [145]

"You guys should go out and play again. It must be like having a Ferrari in the garage waiting for a driver"

Elton John, on Queen being without a lead singer since the death of Freddie Mercury.[146]

In 1997, Queen returned to the studio to record "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". It was released as abonus track on the Queen Rocks compilation album later that year. The song was later released as a single, reachingnumber 13 in the UK chart.[147] In January 1997, Queen performed "The Show Must Go On" live with Elton Johnand the Berjart Ballet in Paris on a night in which Freddie Mercury was remembered, and it marked the lastperformance and public appearance of John Deacon, who chose to retire.[148] The Paris concert was only the secondtime Queen had played live since Mercury's death, and prompted Elton John to urge them to perform again.[146]

Brian May and Roger Taylor performed together at several award ceremonies and charity concerts, sharing vocalswith various guest singers. During this time, they were billed as Queen + followed by the name of the guest singer.In 1998, the duo appeared at Luciano Pavarotti's benefit concert with Brian performing "Too Much Love Will KillYou" with Pavarotti, later playing "Radio Ga Ga", "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" withZucchero. They again attended and performed in 2003. Several of the guest singers recorded new versions ofQueen's hits under the Queen + name, such as Robbie Williams providing vocals for "We Are the Champions" forthe soundtrack of A Knight's Tale (2001).[149]

Queen's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,located at 6358 Hollywood Blvd.

In 1999, a Greatest Hits III album was released. This featured, amongothers, "Queen + Wyclef Jean" on a rap version of "Another One Bitesthe Dust". A live version of "Somebody to Love" by George Michaeland a live version of "The Show Must Go On" with Elton John werealso featured in the album.[150] By this point, Queen's vast amount ofrecord sales made them the second best selling artist in the UK of alltime, behind The Beatles.[144] In 2002, Queen were awarded the2,207th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located at 6358Hollywood Blvd.[151] [152] On 29 November 2003, May and Taylorperformed at the 46664 Concert hosted by Nelson Mandela at GreenPoint Stadium, Cape Town, in order to raise awareness of the spread ofHIV/AIDS in South Africa.[153] May and Taylor spent time atMandela's home, discussing how Africa's problems might be approached, and two years later the band was madeambassadors for the 46664 cause.[153]

Queen 10

Queen + Paul Rodgers (20042009)

Queen performing with Paul Rodgers during their2005 tour

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reuniteand return to touring in 2005 with Paul Rodgers (founder and formerlead singer of Free and Bad Company). Brian May's website also statedthat Rodgers would be 'featured with' Queen as 'Queen + PaulRodgers', not replacing Mercury. The retired John Deacon would notbe participating.[154] In November 2004, Queen were among theinaugural inductees into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and the awardceremony was the first event at which Rodgers joined May and Tayloras vocalist.[153] [155]

Between 2005 and 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers embarked on a worldtour, which was the first time Queen toured since their last tour with

Freddie Mercury in 1986.[156] The band's drummer Roger Taylor commented; "We never thought we would touragain, Paul [Rodgers] came along by chance and we seemed to have a chemistry. Paul is just such a great singer.He's not trying to be Freddie."[156] The first leg was in Europe, the second in Japan, and the third in the US in2006.[157] Queen received the inaugural VH1 Rock Honors at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas,Nevada, on 25 May 2006.[157] The Foo Fighters paid homage to the band in performing "Tie Your Mother Down" toopen the ceremony before being joined on stage by May, Taylor, and Paul Rodgers, who played a selection of Queenhits.[158]

Queen + Paul Rodgers concert in Kharkiv'sFreedom Square, Ukraine, 12 September 2008.

On 15 August 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website and fanclub that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their firststudio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secretlocation".[159] Queen + Paul Rodgers performed at the Nelson Mandela90th Birthday Tribute held in Hyde Park, London on 27 June 2008, tocommemorate Mandela's ninetieth birthday, and again promoteawareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.[160] The first Queen + PaulRodgers album, titled The Cosmos Rocks, was released in Europe on12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008.[143]

Following the release of the album, the band again went on a tourthrough Europe, opening on Kharkiv's Freedom Square in front of350,000 Ukrainian fans.[161] The 12 September concert in Ukraine waslater released on DVD.[161] The tour then moved to Russia, and the band performed two sold-out shows at theMoscow Arena.[162] Having completed the first leg of its extensive European tour, which saw the band play 15sold-out dates across nine countries, the UK leg of the tour sold out within 90 minutes of going on sale and includedthree London dates, the first of which was The O2 Arena on 13 October.

[163] The last leg of the tour took place inSouth America, and included a sold-out concert at the Estadio Jos Amalfitani, Buenos Aires.[162]

Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up without animosity on 12 May 2009.[164] Rodgers stated: "Myarrangement with [Queen] was similar to my arrangement with Jimmy [Page] in The Firm in that it was never meantto be a permanent arrangement".[164] Rodgers did not rule out the possibility of working with Queen again.[165] [166]

Queen 11

Departure from EMI, 40th Anniversary (2009present)On 20 May 2009, May and Taylor performed "We Are the Champions" live on the season finale of American Idolwith winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert providing a vocal duet.[167] In mid-2009, after the split ofQueen + Paul Rodgers, the Queen online website announced a new Greatest Hits compilation named AbsoluteGreatest. The album was released on 16 November and peaked at number 3 in the official UK Chart.[168] The albumcontains 20 of Queen's biggest hits spanning their entire career and was released in four different formats: singledisc, double disc (with commentary), double disc with feature book, and a vinyl record. Prior to its release, acompetition was run by Queen online to guess the track listing as a promotion for the album.[169]

On 30 October 2009, May wrote a fanclub letter on his website stating that Queen had no intentions to tour in 2010but that there was a possibility of a performance.[170] He was quoted as saying, "The greatest debate, though, isalways about when we will next play together as Queen. At the moment, in spite of the many rumours that are outthere, we do not have plans to tour in 2010. The good news, though, is that Roger and I have a much closer mutualunderstanding these daysprivately and professionally ... and all ideas are carefully considered. Music is never faraway from us. As I write, there is an important one-off performance on offer, in the USA, and it remains to bedecided whether we will take up this particular challenge. Every day, doors seem to open, and every day, we interact,perhaps more than ever before, with the world outside. It is a time of exciting transition in Rock music and in 'TheBusiness'. It's good that the pulse still beats".[170] On 15 November 2009, May and Taylor performed "BohemianRhapsody" live on the British TV show The X Factor alongside the finalists.[171]

"Many of you will have read bits and pieces on the internet about Queen changing record companies and so I wanted to confirm toyou that the band have signed a new contract with Universal Music...we would like to thank the EMI team for all their hard workover the years, the many successes and the fond memories, and of course we look forward to continuing to work with EMI MusicPublishing who take care of our songwriting affairs. Next year we start working with our new record company to celebrate Queen's40th anniversary and we will be announcing full details of the plans over the next 3 months. As Brian has already said Queen's nextmoves will involve 'studio work, computers and live work"

Jim Beach, Queen's Manager, on the change of record label.[172]

On 7 May 2010, May and Taylor announced that they were quitting their record label, EMI, after almost 40years.[173] On 20 August 2010, Queen's manager Jim Beach put out a Newsletter stating that the band had signed anew contract with Universal Music.[172] During an interview for Hardtalk on the BBC on 22 September, Mayconfirmed that the band's new deal was with Island Records, a subsidiary of Universal.[174] [175] For the first timesince the late 1980s, Queen's catalogue will have the same distributor worldwide, as their US home, HollywoodRecords, is currently distributed by Universal (for a time in the late 1980s, Queen was on EMI-owned CapitolRecords in the US).On 14 March 2011, which marked the band's 40th anniversary, Queen's first five albums were re-released in the UKand some other territories as remastered deluxe editions (the US versions were released on 17 May).[176] The secondfive albums of Queen's back catalogue were released worldwide on 27 June, with the exception of the US andCanada (27 September).[177] [178] The final five are scheduled for release in the UK on 5 September.[179]

In May 2011, Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell noted that Queen are currently scouting their once former andcurrent live bassist Chris Chaney to join the band. Farrell stated: "I have to keep Chris away from Queen, who wanthim and they're not gonna get him unless we're not doing anything. Then they can have him."[180] In the same month,Paul Rodgers stated he may tour with Queen again in the near future.[181] At the 2011 Broadcast Music, Incorporated(BMI) Awards held in London on 4 October, Queen received the BMI Icon Award in recognition for their airplaysuccess in the US.[182] [183] At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards on 6 November, Queen received the GlobalIcon Award, which Katy Perry presented to Brian May.[184] Queen closed the awards ceremony, with Adam Lamberton vocals, performing "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".[184]

In October 2011, it was announced that Queen will be recording a new album featuring lost demos of Mercury on vocals.[185] Brian May confirmed that he and Taylor are working their way through the band's old material to

Queen 12

compile a selection of unreleased songs for the forthcoming album.[185] May also revealed that a series of duets thatMercury recorded with Michael Jackson are to be released in 2012.[186]

Artistry

Musical style

Brian May playing his custom made RedSpecial in 1975.

The band drew artistic influence from many other British rock acts at thetime, such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, BlackSabbath, Slade, Deep Purple and David Bowie.[187] Queen composedmusic that drew inspiration from many different genres of music, oftenwith a tongue-in-cheek attitude.[188] The genres they have been associatedwith include progressive rock,[187] heavy metal,[187] glam rock,[187] hardrock,[187] pop rock,[187] dance/disco,[189] blues rock and psychedelicrock.[190] Queen also wrote songs that were inspired by genres that are nottypically associated with rock, such as ragtime, opera, gospel, vaudeville,and folk.

In 1963, the teenage Brian May and his father custom-built his signatureguitar Red Special, which was purposely designed to feedback.[191] [192]

Sonic experimentation figured heavily in Queen's songs. A distinctivecharacteristic of Queen's music are the vocal harmonies which are usuallycomposed of the voices of May, Mercury, and Taylor best heard on thestudio albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Some of theground work for the development of this sound can be attributed to their former producer Roy Thomas Baker, andtheir engineer Mike Stone.[193] [194] Besides vocal harmonies, Queen were also known for multi-tracking voices toimitate the sound of a large choir through overdubs. For instance, according to Brian May, there are over 180 vocaloverdubs in "Bohemian Rhapsody".[195] Many Queen songs were also written with audience participation in mind,such as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".[196] [197]

InfluenceQueen have been recognised as having made significant contributions to such genres as hard rock,[198] and heavymetal,[199] amongst others. Hence, the band has been cited as an influence by many other musicians. Moreover, liketheir music, the bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen are diverse and span differentgenerations, countries, and genres.Some of the musicians that have cited the band as an influence include Anthrax,[200] Nirvana,[201] Def Leppard,[202]

Dream Theater,[203] Extreme,[204] Trivium,[205] Foo Fighters,[206] Franz Ferdinand,[207] George Michael,[208] GreenDay,[209] Guns N' Roses,[210] Iron Maiden,[211] [212] Journey,[213] Kansas,[214] Katy Perry,[215] Keane,[216] LadyGaga,[217] Manic Street Preachers,[218] Meat Loaf,[219] Metallica,[220] Mika,[221] Muse,[222] My ChemicalRomance,[223] Panic at the Disco,[224] Queensrche,[225] Radiohead,[226] Robbie Williams,[227] Trent Reznor,[228]

Steve Vai,[229] Sum 41,[230] Styx,[231] The Flaming Lips,[232] The Killers, and The Smashing Pumpkins.[233] [234]

Queen have been cited as a major influence on the "neo-classical metal" genre by Swedish guitarist YngwieMalmsteen.[235] Metallica recorded a cover version of "Stone Cold Crazy", which first appeared on the Rubiyt:Elektra's 40th Anniversary album in 1990, and won their first Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1991.In the early 70s, Queen helped spur the heavy metal genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence;[199][211] the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in addition, they fused the music genre with a punk rock sensibility andan increasing emphasis on speed.

Queen 13

LegacyIn 2002, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted "the UK's favourite hit of all time"[236] in a poll conducted by theGuinness World Records British Hit Singles Book, and in 2004 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall ofFame.[237] Acclaimed for their stadium rock, in 2005 an industry poll ranked Queen's performance at Live Aid in1985 as the best live act in history.[26] [196] [238] In 2007, they were also voted the greatest British band in history byBBC Radio 2 listeners.[239]

As of 2005, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,322weeks(twenty-six years) on the UK Album Charts, more time than any other musical act.[81] [83] Also in 2005, with therelease of their live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the mostaggregate time spent on the British record charts.[240]

In 2006, the Greatest Hits album was the all-time best-selling album in UK Chart history, with sales upwards of5,407,587copies, over 604,295 more copies than its nearest competitor, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely HeartsClub Band.[82] Their Greatest Hits II album is the eighth best seller, with sales upwards of 3,746,404 copies.[127][241]

The band has released a total of eighteen number one albums, eighteen number one singles, and ten number oneDVDs worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. Queen have sold over 150 millionalbums, with some estimates in excess of 300million albums worldwide,[196] [242] [243] [244] including 32.5million inthe United States alone as of 2004.[245] Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the band is also theonly group in which every member has composed more than one chart-topping single, and all four members ofQueen were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.[246] [247] In 2009, "We Will Rock You" and "WeAre the Champions" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,[248] [249] and the latter was voted the world'sfavourite song in a global music poll.[250]

Queen are one of the most bootlegged bands ever, according to Nick Weymouth, who manages the band's officialwebsite.[251] A 2001 survey discovered the existence of 12,225 websites dedicated to Queen bootlegs, the highestnumber for any band.[252] Bootleg recordings have contributed to the band's popularity in certain countries whereWestern music is censored, such as Iran.[253] In a project called Queen: The Top 100 Bootlegs, many of these havebeen made officially available to download for a nominal fee from Queen's website, with profits going to theMercury Phoenix Trust.[251] Rolling Stone ranked Queen at number 52 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of AllTime",[254] while ranking Mercury the 18th greatest singer,[126] and May the 39th greatest guitarist.[255] Queen werenamed 13th on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list,[256] and in 2010 were ranked 17th on VH1's 100Greatest Artists of All Time list.[257]

Queen 14

In other media

Musical theatre

Statue of Mercury at the West End'sDominion Theatre where Queen andBen Elton's musical We Will RockYou has been performed since May

2002.

In May 2002, a musical or "rock theatrical" based on the songs of Queen, titledWe Will Rock You, opened at the Dominion Theatre on London's West End.[196]

The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton incollaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and produced by Robert DeNiro. It has since been staged in many cities around the world.[196] Following theLas Vegas premiere on 8 September 2004, Queen were inducted into theHollywood RockWalk in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.[258]

The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday, 7 October2006, at the Dominion Theatre, but due to public demand, the show has nowbeen extended indefinitely. We Will Rock You has become the longest runningmusical ever to run at this prime London theatre, overtaking the previous recordholder, the Grease musical.[259] Brian May has confirmed that they areconsidering writing a sequel to the musical.[260] The musical toured around theUK in 2009, playing at Manchester Palace Theatre, Sunderland Empire,Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Hippodrome, and Edinburgh Playhouse.

The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.As part of the Jubilee celebrations, Brian May performed a guitar solo of "GodSave the Queen",[261] as featured on Queen's A Night at the Opera, from the roof of Buckingham Palace. Therecording of this performance was used as video for the same song on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Nightat the Opera.[262] [263]

Sean Bovim created "Queen at the Ballet", a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which uses Queen's music as a soundtrackfor the show's dancers, who interpret the stories behind tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga", and"Killer Queen".[264]

Queen's music also appears in the Off-Broadway production Power Balladz, most notably the song "We Are theChampions", with the show's two performers believing the song was "the apex of artistic achievement in itsday".[265]

Digital realmIn conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game Queen: The eYe in 1998.[266] The musicitselftracks from Queen's vast catalogue, in many cases remixed into new instrumental versionswas by and largewell received, but the game experience was hampered by poor game play. Adding to the problem was an extremelylong development time, resulting in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release.[267]

Under the supervision of May and Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been under way involving Queen'slengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their 1986 Wembley concert (titled Live At Wembley Stadium),1982 Milton Keynes concert (Queen on Fire Live at the Bowl), and two Greatest Video Hits (Volumes 1 and 2,spanning the 1970s and 1980s) have seen the band's music remixed into 5.1 and DTS surround sound. So far, onlytwo of the band's albums, A Night at the Opera and The Game, have been fully remixed into high-resolutionmultichannel surround on DVD-Audio. A Night at the Opera was re-released with some revised 5.1 mixes andaccompanying videos in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album's original release (CD+DVD-Video set). In2007, a Blu-ray edition of Queen's previously released concerts, Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid, was released,marking their first project in 1080p HD.[268]

Queen 15

Queen have been featured multiple times in the Guitar Hero franchise: a cover of "Killer Queen" in the originalGuitar Hero, "We Are The Champions", "Fat Bottomed Girls," and the Paul Rodgers collaboration "C-lebrity" in atrack pack for Guitar Hero World Tour, "Under Pressure" with David Bowie in Guitar Hero 5,[269] "I Want It All" inGuitar Hero: Van Halen,[270] "Stone Cold Crazy" in Guitar Hero: Metallica,[271] and "Bohemian Rhapsody" inGuitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.[272] On 13 October 2009, Brian May revealed there was "talk" going on "behind thescenes" about a dedicated Queen Rock Band game.[273]

Queen have also been featured multiple times in the Rock Band franchise: a track pack of 10 songs which arecompatible with Rock Band, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band 3 (three of those are also compatible with Lego RockBand). Their hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in Rock Band 3 with full harmony and keys support. The bandalso appeared in the video game Lego Rock Band as playable Lego avatars.[274]

In March 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment released a Queen branded version of the company's karaokefranchise, SingStar. The game, which is available on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, is titled SingStar Queen andhas 25 songs on the PS3 and 20 on the PS2.[275] "We Will Rock You" and other songs by Queen also appear in DJHero.[276]

Film and televisionQueen contributed music directly to the movies Flash Gordon (1980, directed by Mike Hodges) and Highlander (theoriginal 1986 film, directed by Russell Mulcahy). The songs, "A Kind of Magic", "One Year of Love", "Who Wantsto Live Forever", "Hammer to Fall", and the theme "Princes of the Universe" can be heard in the latter film. It wasalso used in the Highlander TV series (19921998).[277] In the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-releasedas a single in 1992 after appearing in the comedy film Wayne's World.[137] The single subsequently reached numbertwo on the Billboard Hot 100 (with "The Show Must Go On" as the first track on the single) and helped rekindle theband's popularity in North America.[137] [278]

Several films have featured their songs performed by other artists. A version of "Somebody to Love" was done byAnne Hathaway in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted.[279] In 2006, Brittany Murphy also recorded a cover of the samesong for the 2006 movie Happy Feet.[280] In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by JimBroadbent and Nicole Kidman in the movie musical Moulin Rouge!.[281] The closing credits of A Knight's Tale,released in 2001, has a version of "We Are the Champions" performed by Robbie Williams and Queen; theintroduction to the same movie features We Will Rock You played by the medieval audience. "We Are theChampions" also features in The Mighty Ducks trilogy, Chicken Little (2005), and the 2008 film What Happens inVegas. In 1992, the film Gladiator featured snippets of "We Will Rock You" performed by Warrant whereas theirfull version was released as a single. In 2004, "Don't Stop Me Now" was featured in the bar fight scene in the cultmovie Shaun of the Dead, and "You're My Best Friend" played during the end credits, as well as during the 2006Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy The Break-Up.[282]

In May 2004, the Japanese live-action version of Sailor Moon, called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, during Act 29,"Minako's Rival, Mio Kuroki, is a Transfer Student?", used "I Was Born To Love You" in a volleyball game scenefeaturing the show's hero Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon. "I Was Born to Love You" was used as the theme song of theJapanese television drama Pride on Fuji Television in 2004, starring Takuya Kimura and Yko Takeuchi. Theshow's soundtrack also contained other songs by Queen, including "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions",and "Bohemian Rhapsody".[283]

Since featuring in Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997, "Under Pressure" has appeared in a number of comedies, such as 40Days and 40 Nights in 2002 and Ben Stiller's 2007 film The Heartbreak Kid.[284]

"Don't Stop Me Now" has featured in the BBC television show Top Gear, and in 2005 the song was voted as "The Greatest Driving Song Ever" by the shows viewers.[285] The song was also featured in Fox's cartoon series American Dad! during the first season episode "Roger 'n' Me" on Fox on 23 April 2006. This was the first of three appearances of Queen songs, the second being "Another One Bites the Dust" in 42-Year-Old Virgin and "Bicycle Race" in Jack's

Queen 16

Back.[286]

Keeping in the tradition (since Season Five) of naming each season's episodes after songs from a famous 1970s erarock band (Led Zeppelin for the fifth season, The Who for the sixth, and The Rolling Stones for the seventh), theeighth and final season of That '70s Show consisted of episodes named after Queen songs. "Bohemian Rhapsody"served as the season premiere.[287]

Fox television show The Simpsons has made storylines which have featured Queen songs such as "We Will RockYou", "We Are the Champions" (both sung by Homer), and "You're My Best Friend".[288] "We Are the Champions"has also featured in South Park episode "Stanley's Cup", season 5 of The Sopranos (Tony's ringtone), and the firstseason of Malcolm in the Middle.[289]

On 11 April 2006, Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared on the American singing contest television show AmericanIdol. Each contestant was required to sing a Queen song during that week of the competition. Songs which appearedon the show included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Show Must Go On", "Who Wants to LiveForever", and "Innuendo". Brian May later criticised the show for editing specific scenes,[290] one of which made thegroup's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite. Taylor and May again appearedon the American Idol Season 8 finale in May 2009, performing "We Are the Champions" with finalists AdamLambert and Kris Allen.[167]

In the autumn of 2009, the Fox television show Glee featured the fictional high school's show choir singing"Somebody to Love" as their second act performance in the episode The Rhodes Not Taken. The performance wasincluded on the show's Volume One soundtrack CD, and is available as a single via digital download.[291] In June2010, the choir performed "Another One Bites the Dust" in the episode Funk.[292]

On 15 November 2009, Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared on the singing contest television show X Factor inthe UK.[171] Brian May announced in a BBC interview that Sacha Baron Cohen had been chosen to play Mercury ina film.[293] TIME commented with approval on his singing ability and visual similarity to Mercury.[294] The motionpicture is being written by Peter Morgan, who had been nominated for Oscars for his screenplays The Queen andFrost/Nixon. The film, which is being co-produced by Robert De Niro's TriBeCa Productions, will focus on Queen'sformative years and the period leading up to the celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. Filming is dueto begin sometime in 2011.[295]

Band membersCurrent members

Brian May guitars, keyboards, vocals (1970present) Roger Taylor drums, percussion, vocals (1970present)Former members

Freddie Mercury lead vocals, piano, guitar (19701991) John Deacon bass guitar (19711997)

Queen 17

Discography Queen (1973) Queen II (1974) Sheer Heart Attack (1974) A Night at the Opera (1975) A Day at the Races (1976) News of the World (1977) Jazz (1978) Live Killers (1979) The Game (1980) Flash Gordon (1980) Hot Space (1982) The Works (1984) A Kind of Magic (1986) Live Magic (1986) The Miracle (1989) Innuendo (1991) Made in Heaven (1995)

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2 June 2010.[2] "QOL F.A.Q." (http:/ / www. queenonline. com/ en/ the-band/ faqs/ ). Queen Online. . "Are Queen still active as a band? Very much so."[3] "Pre-Queen Smile!" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20040530091352/ http:/ / www. queenfans. com/ articles/ prequeen2. shtml).

Web.archive.org. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. queenfans. com/ articles/ prequeen2. shtml) on 30 May 2004. . Retrieved 20December 2010.

[4] "Queen Biography 1970" (http:/ / queenzone. com/ queenzone/ bio_view. aspx?q=2). Queen Zone. .[5] Queen Biography 1971 (http:/ / queenzone. com/ queenzone/ bio_view. aspx?q=3). Queen Zone. .[6] "My Fairy King" (http:/ / www. queenpedia. com/ index. php?title=My_Fairy_King). Queenpedia. .[7] "Queen Logo" (http:/ / www. famouslogos. us/ queen-logo). Famouslogos.us. . Retrieved 28 January 2011.[8] "Queen Crest (Original)" (http:/ / www. brandsoftheworld. com/ logo/ queen-crest-original). . Retrieved 7 June 2011.[9] Buckley, Peter (2003) The rough guide to rock p.422. Rough Guides, 2003[10] Fletcher, Gordon (6 December 1973). "Queen" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20090217000626/ http:/ / www. rollingstone. com/ artists/

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