At the start of the first Lockdown I prepared daily playlists for my colleagues to listen to. They proved to be pretty popular and my friends would often send me requests to cover their favourite bands.
It’s no secret that Queen is probably Leslie’s favourite band…….EVER! So as a gesture of friendship to my little Belgian bun I put together a playlist of songs picked by her.
But……..
Who and what is Queen?
Queen formed in 1971 and in 1973 signed their first recording contract for EMI. That year they released their first album, Queen. The same year saw their first major UK tour, and in 1974 they released Queen II as well as making their first UK headlining tour. They made their first US tour, and in November released Sheer Heart Attack which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
1975 saw their new release, A Night At The Opera, and – significantly – the single Bohemian Rhapsody. At 5’ 55” it should have been too long for successful radio play but it became one of the greatest singles of all time, staying at No. 1 in the UK chart for nine weeks. The video, directed by Bruce Gowers, is credited with being the first genuine promotional video. The song has regularly featured in all major pop polls and was recently named again as the best single of all time. The success of A Night At The Opera was equally stunning, giving the band their first platinum album.
In 1976 they toured the US and Japan and by spring all four of their, at that time, albums resided in the UK Top Twenty. Later that year they released A Day At The Races, and gave a free concert in Hyde Park to an estimated crowd of 200,000 fans. The album was a huge success, advance orders alone amounting to over 500,000. The following year saw two major US tours, the band’s sixth album, News Of The World and the legendary double A side single, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
1978’s Jazz, included another huge hit single in Bicycle Race and Queen toured the US and Canada. They spent much of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan, as well as releasing their first live album, Live Killers. They were also approached to write the score for a forthcoming feature film, Flash Gordon. Before that they released The Game in 1980 which went five times platinum in Canada alone! Another One Bites The Dust became the band’s biggest selling American single. Later that year the soundtrack for Flash Gordon was released and by the end of the year total sales of Queen albums had reached 45,000,000.
In 1981 they toured the Far East and were the first band to make a stadium tour of South America. They played to 131,000 people in Sao Paolo, the largest paying audience for any band anywhere in the world. Greatest Hits, Greatest Flix and Greatest Pix were released simultaneously later in the year and Greatest Hits has rarely been out of the UK album charts since. Greatest Flix was the first collection of promo-videos released commercially by any band. Next year saw the release of the band’s twelfth album, Hot Space whilst they were in the middle of a European tour.
1984 saw The Works and the single Radio Ga Ga became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in 19 countries. Another huge hit was I Want To Break Free, featuring one of their most famous videos, as the band all dressed in drag. In 1985 they were the headlining act at Rock in Rio, the biggest festival to be held anywhere in the world. They again made history that year with the show-stealing performance at Live Aid from Wembley Stadium, which proved to be a turning point for the band, One Vision being the first post Live Aid release.
1986 saw their 14th album, A Kind Of Magic, which was the soundtrack to the Russel Mulcahy film, Highlander. The title track became another worldwide smash and the album entered the UK charts at No. 1. Later in the year the 2nd live album, Live Magic, went into the charts at No. 3. Between 1988 and 1991 Queen released three more albums, The Miracle in 1989 and in 1991 Innuendo and Greatest Hits II. All three entered the UK charts at No. 1, as did the single Innuendo.
On 23rd November 1991 Freddie Mercury announced to the world that he had AIDS and the next day he died peacefully at his home, surrounded by family and friends. He remains the most high profile loss from the disease in the entertainment world and the news shocked fans throughout the world. As a tribute Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives was released as a double A-sided single to raise funds for the Terence Higgins Trust. It entered the UK chart at No. 1, where it stayed for five weeks, raising over £1,000,000 for the charity and Queen became the first band to have the same single top the UK charts twice. In December of that year Queen had 10 albums in the UK Top 100. In 1992 Freddie was awarded posthumously the BRIT’s “Outstanding Contribution to British Music” and Days Of Our Lives won Best Single. On 20th April many of the world’s top stars joined Brian, Roger and John on stage at Wembley for an emotional tribute to Freddie.
They have played gigs since Freddie’s death with singers such as Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert but it was never the same. How could it be? Freddie Mercury was a legend, a true star and is much missed to this day.
This is Leslie’s list along with her thoughts on why she likes the tracks so much.
Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy – The first song that started my obsession after I watched the Top of the Pops performance.
Tie Your Mother Down – So powerful.
Millionaire Waltz – Perfect example of what Queen does best: combination of genres.
Action This Day – I just want to jump around when listening to it.
Innuendo – Last Queen album, very sick Freddie but God! it’s such a wonderful song. Gives you the chills.
Fat Bottomed Girls and Bicycle Race – Heard too many times but my favourites live.
Let Me Live – released after Freddie’s death, Gospel-ish with Brian, Roger and Freddie singing.
Too Much Love Will Kill You – Never fails to make me cry as every word speaks to me.
I Was Born To Love You – A Freddie solo released on Made in Heaven and it makes you happy.
My Melancholy Blues – My dad’s favourite and Freddie at his best.
Death On Two Legs – If you’re angry, that’s the perfect song. Freddie was apparently spitting with rage while singing it and you can really hear it! One of my dad’s favourite as well. From the first album he got me and one of the best – A Night At The Opera.
The Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke – From their second album which I’m sure you love! I absolutely do Leslie……..Keith.
Seven Seas of Rhye – DUH! DUH! indeed……a total masterpiece.
Lily of the Valley – Beautiful Ballad, my shower song.
Bring Back That Leroy Brown – 1920s vibes again.
In The Lap of the Gods…Revisited – An absolute crowd pleaser just like Love of My Life – sing along type.
And of course Bohemian Rhapsody. I wouldn’t put it on of my own accord but it is a masterpiece and the story behind it is fabulous. It shows also their flexibility and ingenuity in mixing genres which I adore.
Thank you Leslie. I really enjoyed going through those songs. I know everyone else would have enjoyed revisiting them too.
Read and Listen with Keith 
I have just found out that the Flamenco guitar on Innuendo was played by none other than Steve Howe. I might have to do a piece about Steve as his musical history is quite extraordinary.
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