Queen history of creation. Queen's most iconic songs. Discography. Studio albums and compilations

History of the group's creation

The group's main achievement was their performance at the Royal Albert Hall, where they met on the same stage with Joe Cocker and Phill Collins. Unexpectedly, Tim Staffell left the band, having received an offer from another group, and the musicians urgently had to look for a vocalist. Farrukh Bulsara, Tim's roommate, came to their aid. He often attended their rehearsals, but until that moment no one suspected that the guy could sing and had unique vocals.

Farrukh became not only an excellent soloist, but also a generator of creative ideas and the creator of a new concept for the group. He suggested calling the band “Queen”, changed his unpronounceable name to the sonorous pseudonym Freddie Mercury and developed a coat of arms logo. After a long search for a bass player, John Deacon joined the team, and the group lasted twenty years with this classic line-up.

The main stages of creativity

The musicians worked tirelessly and spent their nights (the only time free from other clients) creating new material. The result of two years of hard work was a contract with the Trident Studios label and the release of Queen's debut album in 1973, after which the group began to tour the country. Queen's first concert performances created a sensation among the British public, and Freddie's unique vocals and his eccentric behavior on stage invariably caused surprise and indescribable delight among the audience. Critics have noted the influence of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and The Who on their work.

In 1974, the second album “Queen II” was released, divided not into the traditional sides A and B, but into “white” and “black”. During the tour in support of it, the team visited the USA. Then the album “Sheer Heart Attack” went on sale. Although it did not bring the group worldwide fame, it was remembered for several hits, including the famous “Killer Queen”.

Queen – Killer Queen

But thanks to the next record, “A Night at the Opera,” which was released in 1975 with a multimillion-dollar circulation, the group became famous throughout the world. The album stayed in first position on the national chart for 9 weeks, which was a record at that time.

The composition “Bohemian Rhapsody”, consisting of six parts that are completely different in musical style, has captivated music lovers in all corners of the planet. In 2002, this composition was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the best song in history. A video clip was shot for it using a unique technology for superimposing frames and faces. It is believed that it was this music video that became the starting point for other artists to also begin to pay attention to creating videos for their songs.

Queen – Bohemian Rapsody

Many people believe that the video for “Bohemian Rapsody” is the first music video in history, but this is not true (even Queen themselves already had a video for “Killer Queen”). But Queen released the first ever collection of their videos, but much later, in 1981.

The group’s next album, “A Day at the Races,” was a logical continuation of the previous one and pleased listeners with the hits “We Are the Champions,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and “We Will Rock You,” although it could not eclipse the previous one in popularity. Subsequently, “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You” became the band’s calling cards: Queen performed them at the end of every concert.

Queen – Will Rock You

In the early 80s, Queen's musical style underwent some changes, which also affected the appearance of its lead singer. Mercury cut his long hair, grew a mustache and stopped appearing on stage in tight tights. At this time, the next collection “The Game” was released, which Freddie himself considered the best of the entire existence of the group. In support of it, the group went on a world tour, during which they gave more than seventy concerts.

Queen songs were included in the film Highlander with Christopher Lambert: the film's director knew the band and asked them to record the soundtrack. “It’s like magic,” MacLeod says in one scene. This is also the name of the album that includes the songs used in the film (“A Kind of Magic”).

Queen – Radio Ga-Ga

It was included on the 1984 album The Works, as was the song "I Want to Break Free". A storm of emotions was caused by the video of the same name, in which the musicians appeared before the audience in women's dresses.

Queen – I Want To Break Free

The following year was marked by a series of European concerts called the “Magic Tour”, which were attended by about a million people in total. Such excitement has not been observed since the days of the legendary Beatles, and the performance in Budapest was the first on the territory of a Warsaw Pact member country.

This tour was the last in the group's history. Soon rumors spread about Mercury's illness, which, unfortunately, turned out to be true. The group's latest black-and-white videos could no longer hide the devastating consequences of the deadly disease AIDS.

A real anthem to life and a kind of farewell to Freddie’s fans was the composition “The Show Must Go On” from the group’s next album “Innuendo” (1991). The title of the album was translated as “understatement”, “indirect hint”.

Queen – The Show Must Go On

In November of the same year, Mercury died (on the eve of his death he officially announced his illness). He bequeathed all proceeds from the re-release of Bohemian Rhapsody to the AIDS Foundation. Six months after Freddie’s death, a concert was organized with the participation of the world’s leading musicians, who thus honored his memory.

After the death of Freddie Mercury, the group did not break up, but actually ceased to exist. In 1995, the album “Made in Heaven” was released, created on the basis of recordings from 1991 and other creations that were not included in previous albums. This, for example, is the last song Freddie wrote, “Winter’s Tale,” and the last song with his vocals, “Mother Love.”

In the same year, guitarist John Deacon left the group, who believed that Queen could not exist without Freddie, and a year later, May and Taylor, having recruited new musicians, went on a European tour. About 350 thousand people gathered at their concert in Kharkov - the largest audience in the entire history of the group.

241 chord selections

Biography

Composition of the group

* Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) vocals, piano, guitar on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".
* Brian May (Brian May, 1947) guitars, harp, orchestral instruments, vocals.
* John Deacon (John Deacon, 1951) bass guitar, guitar, piano.
* Roger Taylor (Roger Taylor, 1949) drums, percussion, vocals.

Origin

The band's history begins in 1968 in the UK, when students Brian May and Tim Staffel formed the group "Smile". Brian posted a notice in the walls of his Imperial College. It stated that the band needed a drummer to play in the style of Mitch Mitchell and Ginger Baker (drummers for Jimi Hendrix and Cream, respectively). Dental student Roger Taylor responded. He then seemed to May and Staffel the best option, impressing them with the accuracy of the drum tuning. The main achievement of “Smile” was the opening act for Pink Floyd. However, due to intense studies and the lack of any management, the trio broke up in the spring of 1970: Tim Staffel left the group.

But May and Taylor had no intention of giving up their music careers and shared their creative ambitions with Staffel's friend and classmate Freddie (Farukh) Bulsara. He often attended Smile performances, but May and Staffel had no idea that he could sing at all. Freddie had very clear plans for the band's performance and stage work. He came up with the name “Queen” for the new group, and took the pseudonym Freddie Mercury for himself. Now the group consisted of a vocalist-keyboardist, guitarist and drummer.

Initially, Roger Taylor's old acquaintance from the Cornish band "The Reaction" Mike Growse was invited to play the role of bass guitarist, who performed at the group's first two concerts (June 27 at the Truro City Hall, Truro and July 12 at Imperial College). He was subsequently replaced by the highly gifted bassist Barry Mitchell. But, tired of the music business, he left the band in early 1971. The band's next bassist, Doug Bogie, lasted only two shows. But in February 1971, at a London disco, Brian May and Roger Taylor met the already experienced bass player John Deacon, who had come to study in London from his hometown of Leicester. After passing the audition, John took the position of bassist of the group and became the four permanent member of the lineup, which lasted almost 21 years.

History of creativity

From 1971 to 1979 one can trace the influence of other groups. Every year it becomes less noticeable, but in the seventies it is still present. Freddie himself noted more than once that their group “grew up” on Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.

1973 Queen's first album of the same name (1973) included the Smile trio's song "Doing All Right". The basis of the disc was the song “Keep Yourself Alive” the first Queen single. The album was not very successful, but this was not a reason for frustration. This album was recorded over two years, at a time when the recording studio was free. The problem with the Queen album was aggravated by Brian's illness - he had hepatitis. And yet, you shouldn’t call this record a failure; it didn’t take off in the parades, but it wasn’t rejected either. Queen gives its first independent concerts in the UK, Germany and Luxembourg. Before that, they participated in the tour of other bands as an opening act.

1974 Queen II was a breakthrough and reached number 5 in the British charts, despite the fact that critical reviews were negative. The album was accused of being unfinished and lacking independence, but, surprisingly, this is precisely why Brian May considers it the best album of the group. "Sheer Heart Attack" reached number two in Britain. The album's best compositions ("Killer Queen", "Flick Of The Wrist") are among the band's best songs, and "Stone Cold Crazy" is considered a heavy metal classic (later included in the Metallica repertoire). The group participates in the Australian Sunbury Music Festival and gives its first concerts in Sweden and Finland.
Error. In 1974, Queen released two albums, the stylistically cohesive Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack. The text of the paragraph specifically describes Sheer Heart Attack. Also, unfortunately, no mention is made of Queen's triumphant concert tour in Japan.

1975 A Night At The Opera is considered Queen's greatest work. Many consider it one of the best albums in the history of rock music in general. This record turned out to be completely special - bright, melodic, with a noticeable participation of the piano - it revealed a completely different face of rock music. Nowadays, she personifies the style of the seventies. Some of the songs were written for keyboards, however, “Love Of My Life” was never performed in the album version again, and was played at concerts with Brian’s accompaniment on a 12-string semi-acoustic. The live version turned out to be better than the album version, but this roughness was still irrelevant at that moment.

And the most famous song on this album is “Bohemian Rhapsody”. It would seem that this long five-minute composition, which inexplicably combined the features of rock and pop music, opera and individual motifs of folklore, could not become popular at all, and certainly should not have soared to the top of the charts. A three-minute song was considered standard in those years, but Queen were not afraid to create this five-minute masterpiece, which a quarter of a century later in Britain would be called the song of the millennium. In addition to this, it is worth noting that the video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” is considered the world's first music video. Videos for music have been shot before, but this case is the first example of a conscious combination of a specially created image, effects and music. The video uses optical special effects that now seem primitive: filming through a hexagonal prism and duplicating the faces of the musicians. But it is worth recognizing that even today not all videos are created with such taste. “Youre My Best Friend” and “Love Of My Life” were filmed for the same album, the latter, by the way, in the same live version with a guitar. In support of the album, Queen gives concerts in the USA, Canada, Japan and, of course, at home.

1976 "A Day at the Races" again caused a storm of indignation among critics. Queen have been accused of being a futile attempt to repeat A Night At The Opera, and the influence of the previous album is really noticeable. Brian May said that all the songs were being prepared at the same time, just some were released in 1975, and others in 1976. In any case, there is nothing surprising in the similarity of two albums by the same group, especially since “A Day At The Races” took 1st place in the British charts, and “Somebody To Love” became Mercury’s favorite song. "Tie Your Mother Down" has been played at most concerts since then. In addition, videos were shot for "Somebody To Love" and "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy". These are still the same “seventies” in the work of the group, which in a year will dramatically change course. In addition, the group gives a grandiose free concert in Hyde Park, attracting about 170 thousand people, and arranges a tour of Scotland, the USA, Japan and even Australia.

1977 “News of the World” is probably the very record in which Queen’s eighties begin to be seen. This is no longer “A Day At The Races”, the new music is generally more aggressive, closer to hard rock. Still, some inconsistencies could not be avoided: the third song of the album clearly belongs in “Sheer Heart Attack”, and “Sleeping On The Side Walk” cannot in any way be classified as the group’s masterpieces. This disc brought the group two super hits “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions”, but otherwise was not so successful, reaching number four in Britain and third in the USA. The band returns with concerts in Sweden and tours North America and Europe.

1978 “Jazz” the group’s most scandalous album. He was accused of being somewhat “pop,” but the main reason for the flurry of criticism was the video for the song “Bicycle Race,” which was banned in the States as pornographic. The group was declared unspiritual and lost part of its audience. The composition “Fat Bottomed Girls” also partly contributed to this.

“Mustafa,” which was number one on the record, also turned out to be misunderstood. In fact, the lyrics themselves are written in Arabic and sound almost like back-vocals. There are conflicting opinions about this work: some consider it a pop dance phonogram, others find a secret deep meaning in it. It is difficult to find a middle ground, since it is obvious that both of them are going too far. “Let Me Entertain You” is closer to heavy metal, but fits perfectly into this album. “Dreamers Ball” looks out of place, although it is very beautiful in its own right. The shock track of the disc “Dont Stop Me Now” one of the best Queen songs written by Freddie Mercury. This is a charge of energy, which will then end up in the “Greatest Hits” collection. Videos were made for "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Bicycle Race" and "Dont Stop Me Now". The stylish album cover was inspired by a drawing on a Berlin wall that the musicians saw while traveling around the city. Despite the criticism, "Jazz" peaked at number two in Britain and number six in the US.

1979 saw the release of “Live Killers” the concert collection “Queen”, which included live versions of the group’s most famous songs. The new album is not being released, the musicians devote themselves to concerts. Meanwhile, Freddie takes to the stage for the first time with a guitar to perform “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” which will soon be included in “The Game”, but for now it is released as a single. But in a year everyone will see a completely different Queen, a group that will become the personification of rock music of the 80s and one of the most popular bands in the world to this day.

Since 1980, a new period in the work of Queen begins. Over the next 6 years, the group would develop their own style, completely different from what the musicians had demonstrated in the previous decade. The group gradually moved away from glam rock, and Mercury parted with his previous stage image: he cut his hair, grew a mustache, stopped performing in tights and acquired the appearance by which most people know him.

1980 The album “The Game” was released. He opened a new era not only in the group’s work, but in all rock music. Freddie considered it the band's best album. Finally the band abandoned all their preconceptions and recorded an album using a synthesizer. Prior to this, synthesizers were fundamentally rejected as an instrument that did not fit with the style and sound of the group, which was easily replaced by Brian’s “Red Special” guitar with its unique polyphonic sound. Compositions from this record were invariably played at every concert, and some of them are among the best created by Queen.

“Play The Game”, the title song of the disc, was accompanied by a somewhat unusual video. In the background there is a fire burning in it, from which musicians emerge - one of the first uses of graphics. Mercury played the live version of “Play The Game” on the piano. Deacon's song "Another One Bites the Dust" was particularly successful. This item belongs to a style that is unusual for Queen. It can be called disco-funk. “Another One Bites The Dust” is definitely one of the band's most successful songs, memorable with incredible bass lines and distinctive vocals. Freddie himself loved this song very much, and the entire album was developed taking into account its character. The idea paid off “The Game” was structured thematically, and was not just a collection of songs. At the same time, the group recorded music for the science-fiction film Flash Gordon. It was well received in the UK, but failed at the American box office. It should be noted that in “Flash Gordon” the band uses the synthesizer as the dominant instrument for the first time and does it very professionally.

1981 The “Greatest Hits” compilation is released. Together with David Bowie, the song “Under Pressure” is recorded, which is still being released as a single, but is already enjoying enormous success, reaching number one both in England and in a number of other countries.

1982 was marked by grandiose concert tours: Queen gave about 70 concerts in the UK, Western Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan). A new album, “Hot Space,” was released, the main hit of which was that same “Under Pressure.” British television is making a film about the concert, which will appear in 2004 under the title Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl.

1983 The group pauses briefly, all musicians work on solo projects.

1984 The Works album reached number two in the UK charts. The song “Radio Ga Ga” topped the charts in 19 (!) countries around the world. At the same time, the video clip filmed for the song “I Want To Break Free” was subjected to severe criticism for scenes with dressing in women's clothing, which, however, did not prevent the song itself from becoming the official anthem of the African National Congress. The band performs at the Golden Rose festival in Montreux, the recording can be seen on the DVD "Greatest Video Hits II".

1985 Queen participates in the Rock In Rio festival. This performance will later appear on DVD, as will the May 11 concert in Tokyo. On July 14, 1985, the group triumphantly performed at the large-scale charity concert Live Aid. 20 years later, this performance is recognized as the best sung live by a performer. After this concert, Brian May said that it was then that he felt real pride in his work. “Queen is the best band in the world today!” - said the guitarist.

1986 Queen wrote the soundtrack to the science fiction film Highlander and used it as the basis for their new album A Kind Of Magic. The album was a huge success, Queen became one of the most popular rock bands in the world. The musicians organized the “Magic Tour” - a series of concerts throughout Europe. The three biggest concerts in London, Knebworth and Budapest attracted 400,000 people, and the concert in Budapest was the first performance by a Western rock band in the history of Eastern Europe in general, and Hungary in particular. The tour itself attracted around a million people across Europe. Nothing like this has been seen by any rock band or rock singer since the Beatlemania of the 60s. "Magic Tour" will be the band's last concert tour. This year, rumors about Freddie's illness began. Freddie denied this, citing his healthy appearance.

1989 this year would be more correctly attributed to the nineties in the work of Queen. The album “The Miracle” is very different from all previous works. Freddie's voice changed a little, he shaved his mustache and began to dress more formally. Five singles are released along with the album. The release of the clips fuels rumors about Mercury's illness, which are now actively refuted by both the band's musicians and Freddie himself. The strange cover of “The Miracle” also became a cause for controversy, but, most likely, precisely because of the singer’s possible illness. The album's title track is the five-minute "The Miracle," but nothing makes you wonder about Queen's future like "Scandal."

In fact, the nineties for Queen began back in 1989, with the album “The Miracle”. Even an ignorant person can distinguish Freddie's voice on the last two albums. Perhaps this was due to the direct influence of the disease, but it is known for certain that in early 1990 Mercury quit smoking due to developing lung disease.

1990 no information appears about the group, all its members report that “everything is fine,” however, such a drastic change in lifestyle and image caused natural surprise and anxiety among fans. Queen won the Brit Awards and this would be Freddie's last public appearance. He did not make a speech, saying simply: “Thank you, goodnight.”

1991 The last year of Queen's actual existence. Shortly before Mercury's death, the album “Innuendo” (“Indirect Hint”) was released. Many consider it one of Queen's most outstanding works. The album opens with a song called “Innuendo”. In its composition, it is reminiscent of “Bohemian Rhapsody” - the same six minutes instead of the standard three, a combination of different musical styles.

For the second song, “Im Going Slightly Mad,” a gloomy black and white video clip was shot, full of not indirect, but quite transparent hints about Freddie’s upcoming death. However, the most famous song of the album, without a doubt, is the last “The Show Must Go On”, in which the lyrical hero wonders about the meaning of existence and expresses hope for gaining physical and mental freedom after death. Its chorus says:

Show must go on.
My heart is breaking inside
Maybe my makeup is peeling off
But my smile remains with you.

"The Show Must Go On" is definitely one of Queen's best songs. But without knowing the history of the group, it is impossible to understand how much effort Freddie took to record it. Mercury's voice does not betray his illness. It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to perform such a song knowing that death is imminent. Written by Brian May, it seems to have been created especially for Freddie.

Before his death, Mercury ordered that all proceeds from the re-release of the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” be donated to the Terrence Higgins AIDS charity. He died on November 24, 1991.

1992 On April 20, a concert in memory of Freddie Mercury took place at London's Wembley Stadium, organized by the remaining musicians of the group. That day, all those whom Freddie considered his friends and with whom he worked personally took the stage: Joe Elliott, George Michael, Axl Rose, Elton John, Robert Plant, David Bowie, Seal Samuel, Roger Dartley, Any Lennox, Lisa Stansfield and Mercury's favorite actress Liza Minnelli. Spike Edney, who played keyboards for many of Queen's concerts, called the concert "Fred Aid", recalling Queen's phenomenal performance at 1985's Live Aid. It was a concert in memory of Freddie Mercury, but, in fact, it was a farewell to the Queen group.

1995 The last studio album of the group “Queen” was released, entitled “Made in Heaven”, composed of session recordings of the group in the spring of 1991, performed in the Mountain studio, two re-arranged compositions by Freddie from his solo album Mr. Bad Guy (“Made In Heaven”, “I Was Born To Love You”), one composition by Roger Taylor’s group “The Cross” (“Heaven For Everyone”) and some previously unreleased compositions. It is noteworthy that “A Winters Tale” was the last composition written by Mercury, and “Mother Love” was the last recording of Freddie’s vocals.

Our days

John Deacon said it best about this time: “There is no point in continuing. Freddie cannot be replaced." After 1995, he stopped his music career, appearing only once on stage in 1997. However, Brian and Roger continue to perform with other artists.

After Mercury's terrible death, Queen's soloists at individual concerts and recordings were George Michael, Robbie Williams and the band Five. However, the most successful was the union of musicians with the representative of British blues rock, Paul Rodgers. The project is called “Queen + Paul Rogers. Return of the Champions." The musicians go on tour, perform traditional Queen songs and gather decent audiences.

In 2006, Brian May announced that he would be recording a new studio album with Paul Rodgers. It also became known that a new tour of the group would be organized in 2008.

One phrase describes this group. “This is one of those cases where 2 very talented people meet 2 geniuses.” This phrase perfectly characterizes the British rock band Queen. Queen group is rightfully considered one of the standards of rock. Their influence on music and society is comparable to The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Queen group appeared in the mid-1960s, when students Brian May and Tim Staffel decided to create a musical group named after Orwell's book "1984". Soon Roger Taylor responded to their ad for a drummer, becoming the third member of 1984. A few years later the group renames itself Smile.

Around the same time, the group members met Farukh Bulsara, who attended their rehearsals and was interested in their work. Throughout the year, their musical paths are on parallel lines. But at the beginning of 1970, Staffel left the group and then Taylor and May invited Farukh to try out for the role of vocalist, which Tim had previously played.

The Queen group, Freddie Mercury and the path to fame

It was one of the most important decisions in the history of rock music in the seventies. Soon the group changes its name to Queen, and Farukh changes his name to a stage name that has become famous throughout the world -. This is how the famous link appeared: Queen - Freddie Mercury. For a long time, the Queen group could not get a competent bass player into their ranks, and only a few months later John Deacon joined them on a permanent basis.

John became the very last link on the path to worldwide fame and recognition of Queen. Freddie Mercury comes up with a logo for the band that combines the Zodiac signs of all Queen members.

In 1973, after two years of recording, their first album with the prosaic name “Queen” appeared on store shelves. At that time Queen group not only actively tours the UK and neighboring countries in support of the debut album. But he is also actively recording new material. In 1974, they released two albums at once, which came close to the top of the UK charts. At the same time, the group’s first truly famous hit, “Killer Queen,” was recorded.

Queen: global success

But real success was ahead. In 1975, Queen's 4th album, A night at the Opera, was released. It instantly went platinum and topped the charts. When recording this album, which became, perhaps, the crowning achievement of his career Queen, each of its participants contributed part of the material. For example, Roger Taylor wrote the song I"m in love with my car, John Deacon wrote one of his best songs - You"re my best friend.

But the main work was done by Brian and Freddie - both wrote 5 songs. Brian came up with an arrangement of the British anthem, which was subsequently played at the end of Queen's performance, and Mercury also came up with one of the band's main hits, Bohemian Rhapsody, which became the band's calling card and elevated it to the level of popularity of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

Following this, he conducts successful tours, winning the sympathy of audiences in distant Japan. The following albums continued to strengthen the group's position on the music scene, and hits poured in like a cornucopia. It was during these years that two anthems were recorded, performed at many events to this day. The first of them - ““ has become a frequent guest at rock concerts, and without ““ at least one celebration of sports champions is rarely complete.

In 1978, the band's most scandalous album was released. Many of the songs were incomprehensible to critics, and the video for Bicycle Race was even banned from being shown on TV due to its pornographic nature, since it featured several dozen naked girls on bicycles.

Queen: the 80s and a change in image

If at the beginning of their career the group wore flashy concert outfits, looking in the style of Slade, then by the beginning of the eighties the musicians decided to grow up. Queen ditched the bright clothes and everyone except Brian cut their hair shorter.

In the 80s, the group's creativity continued to develop at the intersection of many styles. As before, the group used a mixture of classic rock, jazz, punk, heavy metal and rhythm and blues in their work.

In 1980, she used a synthesizer for the first time to record an album. That same year, she recorded the soundtrack for the film Flash Gordon.

In 1984, Queen released a scandalous video for the song I want to break free, where all members of the group were presented in women's clothing.

In 1986, the album “A kind of magic” was released, based on the soundtrack (for the TV series “Highlander”). The tour in support of it became the most successful in the history of the group. That same year, Queen became the first rock band to perform in a concert in the Soviet bloc countries - in Hungary. This tour was the last for the original lineup of the group.

Queen: Freddie Mercury's illness and the breakup of the group

After 1987, rumors about Freddie Mercury's illness began to spread in the press. Until 1991, the group managed to release two albums, which were promoted thanks to singles and video clips in which Mercury's progressive illness was clearly visible. The inevitable happened on November 24, 1991, when Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. His death caused a real boom in the fight against this terrible disease.

The group’s activities did not stop after that - in 1992 a concert was held in memory of Freddie, with the participation of world pop stars, including Metallica, David Bowie and others. In 1995, a posthumous album was released, consisting of recordings with Freddie made before his death, as well as solo compositions of the band members. Shortly after his death, John Deacon also left Queen, citing the fact that without Freddie Mercury there is no point in continuing to perform.

But Taylor and May continued to perform: in 2008, the musicians released an album together with new vocalist Paul Rodgers, with whom they performed successfully for several years. After this, the group continued to perform, inviting various performers as vocalists, participating in many events, and even performing at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012.

Queen's first full-length concert on video was released in September 1984. We Will Rock You was filmed at the band's two shows in 1981 in Montreal. Throughout September, no fewer than 9 Queen albums were in the top 200 in the UK.

1985 was the year of the Rock in Rio festival. It was billed as the biggest rock festival of all time worldwide and was headlined by Queen. The entire festival was filmed and broadcast by South American television, but only Queen received permission to release their concert on video - Live In Rio was released in May 1985. The band gave their very first concert in New Zealand on April 13, 1985 at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland. Upon arrival, the group was greeted by a crowd of anti-apartheid protesters. To see Queen in concert, Tony Hadley, lead singer of Spandau Ballet, flew in from Australia, where his band was touring, and was honored to join Queen for the encore performance.

Freddie's solo album Mr Bad Guy is out April 29 - the group performed in Australia at this time. The concert in Melbourne had to be played without any lighting installation at all, as the computer system that controlled the light failed. After an Australian tour peppered with problems, not the least of which was incessant rain, the band headed to Japan. Their concert at the Olympic Pool in Tokyo was filmed by NHK for broadcast on Japanese television.

June 13, 1985 has gone down in history as the day of the Live Aid concert. The whole world watched with bated breath the performances at London's Wembley Stadium and in Philadelphia. Queen were one of the many popular bands to present their 20-minute set. The whole world was watching them - and the public and the press unanimously recognized that Queen were the highlight of the program. This event was a turning point in the history of Queen.

Shortly before this, they decided to take a break and rest from each other, but this day brought them together again, charging them with new strength and enthusiasm. The first result of this new burst of inspiration was the song One Vision. Russell Mulcahy approached Queen with a request to write music for the film - a fairy tale about an immortal Scotsman nicknamed Highlander. In an interview, Mulcahy said that Queen was the first band he thought of when thinking about the film's score.

In March 1986, John formed the band The Immortals to record several musical compositions for the film Biggles. They recorded only one song - No Turning Back, and the group broke up.

Queen released their 14th album on June 2 A Kind Of Magic with music for the film "Highlander". The album entered the British charts at number one and stayed in the top five for 13 weeks in a row.

On June 7, the Queen machine started working again - the Magic Tour of Europe began. The first concert in the UK was in Newcastle, at the football stadium in St. James's Park. The band and impresario Harvey Goldsmith donated all proceeds from the concert to the International Children's Fund. On July 11, the Royal Tornado, as Freddie dubbed it, reached London. Two sold-out concerts took place at Wembley Stadium. During one of the concerts, four huge inflatable figures, made in the shape of characters from the album A Kind Of Magic, were launched directly from the audience and soared into the night sky. The second performance was filmed by Tyne Tees - again directed by Gavin Taylor - for later broadcast on television.

When the concert was finally shown, it was the first time simultaneous radio and television broadcast had been carried out by the Independent British Radio Network and Channel 4. Since then, this experiment has not been repeated - perhaps due to the fact that for this, every independent radio station in the UK must be equipped with a satellite “dish” in order to catch sound via satellite.

Queen made history again on July 27 (it seems like this has become a habit for the band!) when they performed in Budapest at the Hepstadion stadium. It was the first time a rock band of this magnitude performed in the Eastern Bloc countries, and all tickets were sold out long before the start. The concert was filmed by the Hungarian State Film Agency MAFILM with the assistance of Queen Films. To carry out such filming, we had to use all the 35 mm video cameras available in the country!

On August 9, the band flew in a specially painted "Magic Helicopter" to Knebworth Park in Herdfordshire for the final show of the Magic Tour. This was the largest concert of the entire tour - more than 120 thousand people attended it. It caused the biggest traffic jam in history as everyone tried to get there on time. More than a million people attended Queen concerts during these tours - in the UK alone their number exceeded 400 thousand.

In 1986, EMI released the complete Queen albums on CD - the first time such a collection of one artist had been released at one time. Queen's 15th album was released in December - this was their second live album. Live Magic reached number 3 in the UK charts. On December 13 in Budapest at 9 am the premiere of the film Live In Budapest took place - as a result, at all 9 sessions that day the hall was crowded. And then for a week there were 7 sessions every day.

In 1986, 1,774,991 albums were sold in the UK alone. On February 3, 1987, Freddie released a cover version of an old Platters song, The Great Pretender. In the video for this song, Freddie recreated many scenes from his and the band's videos. Together with Peter Straker and Roger Taylor, they put on wigs and women's dresses and portrayed singers as backup singers. The clip turned out to be very expensive.

Freddie always idolized the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe, and in March 1986 he met her in her homeland, Barcelona. When Montserrat agreed to record an album with him, it was an amazing collaboration. Freddie dedicated a song about Barcelona to Montserrat, and recording of the album began. They first performed together in May 1987 in Ibiza, when the famous K-Club hosted a festival dedicated to the 1992 Olympics. They performed "Barcelona".

In August 1987, Roger began looking for musicians and formed the group The Cross. He wanted to have a band with whom he could record songs, and most importantly, tour when Queen had periods of calm that were getting longer.

In September 1987, the single Barcelona was released in Spain, and within 3 hours 10 thousand copies were sold. The Spanish Olympic Committee wanted to make the song the anthem of the upcoming 1992 Olympic Games, but then changed their decision, which caused huge discontent among fans.

Throughout the Magic Tour of Europe, Queen was accompanied by the Austrian director-producing duo - Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, filming them on stage, behind the scenes, on vacation, while playing - in general, on tour. Then the Austrians delved into the archives for a long time, selecting excerpts from concerts, interviews and clips. They themselves interviewed the band, their friends and fans, as well as other “stars”. Finally, in November 1987, a documentary trilogy called The Magic Years was released. The trilogy received numerous awards, including the famous Silver Screen in the USA (at the world's largest film and television festival) and the IMMC award at the Golden Rose television festival in Montreux. Also in 1987, Queen received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

In January 1988, Queen went into the studio again to record their next album. On January 25, The Cross's debut album, Shove It, was released. The Cross embarked on their first European tour, performing at clubs and universities in the UK and clubs in Germany.

On October 8, Freddie and Montserrat performed in Barcelona at the grand La Nit festival to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flag from Seoul. Freddie and Montserrat closed the festival. They performed 3 songs from their upcoming album - Barcelona, ​​The Golden Boy and How Can I Go On.

The album Barcelona - a duet between Freddie and Montserrat - was released on October 10, 1988. The presentation evening was traditionally extravagant, and it took place in the Crash Bar in the Covent Garden opera house - a very suitable place for such an event.

On December 4, The Cross played a concert at Hammersmith Palace exclusively for fan club members. The guests on stage were Brian and John.

On July 13, 1973, Queen's first album was released under the EMI label. Most of the songs were written by band members - Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor.

Queen's songs have long been considered rock classics, and the group has become a legend of world music. Queen have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums and numerous compilation albums. Eighteen of the group's albums took first place on the charts in different countries. Oueen's concert performances were also recognized as one of the brightest and most significant in the history of rock. Let's remember the most iconic Queen songs.

Bohemian Rhapsody, a song from the album A Night at the Opera, was written by Freddie Mercury in 1975. The song has an unusual musical form. It can be divided into six parts of different styles, which are not divided into verses and choruses and represent separate musical styles: opera and ballad, a cappella singing and heavy metal.

Queen usually came up with a lot of things in the studio, but this whole composition was completely ready in Mercury's head. He wrote out the whole sequence on post-it notes he got from his father at work and laid them out on the piano to show the group. (From an interview with Brian May for Q magazine)

At the time of the record's release, this song was the most expensive in the history of recording: it took three weeks of rehearsals for the entire group, more than three weeks of recording and editing in five different studios.

The operatic part of the composition is performed by only three people, members of Queen: Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, whose voices just cover the necessary vocal range from May’s rather low notes to Taylor’s high ones. To create the effect of a large choir, their voices are duplicated and edited many times, so that the final recording consists of 180 different pieces. In 1975, only analog 24-track equipment was available to them, so mixing was carried out sequentially in several stages, in some places the number of stages reached eight. The tape wore out to such an extent that it was impossible to see through it, requiring additional copies to be made. The whole process took three weeks, the musicians sang 10-12 hours a day.

No one knows for sure what the meaning of the words of this song is or whether there is one at all. Freddie Mercury, the author of Bohemian Rhapsody, never explained this to anyone. Brian May believes that the text contains some personal experiences. Although radio host Kenny Everett says Mercury once called the lyrics "rhyming nonsense."

This song reached the top of the British charts twice: in 1975 (when the single was released, it stayed there for nine weeks) and in 1991 (when Freddie Mercury died, a re-release of “Bohemian Rhapsody” was released along with the song These Are the Days of Our Lives ). This is the first and only time so far that a song in the same version has been in first place twice (both times on Christmas Day).

We Will Rock You (translated from English as “We will rock you”) is a song from the album News of the World.

This song was written by May after a concert at Bingley Hall, in the English city of Birmingham. That evening, the audience unexpectedly actively sang along to every Queen song, which was completely unplanned and left the musicians confused: the band always wanted to be listened to and listened to very carefully. But that evening, May and Mercury, discussing what had happened, realized that it was no longer possible to fight this and we must somehow accept the fact that at a concert the audience takes the same part in the show as the group. And give the people something to sing. The evening after the concert, Mercury wrote We Are the Champions, and May woke up the next morning with the rhythm in his head.

The song is known for its catchy rhythm - two kicks and one hand clap. This accompaniment opens the song and lasts until the very end. The song is also unique in that it features only one musical instrument - an electric guitar. May comes in after the third verse during the second repetition of "We will, we will rock you". The song was originally supposed to have the lyrics "We will beat you", but Mercury said it sounded stupid and changed the lyrics.

We Are the Champions. The song was included on the album News of the World (1977). Written by Freddie Mercury. It was released as a single with another famous composition on the B side - We Will Rock You - and became the sports anthem of millions of fans around the world. Queen often performed them as the final performance of their concerts.

The vocal part has very high notes. At concerts, Freddie Mercury often ceded the most difficult parts to Roger Taylor, who had a high, raspy voice.

The video clip for the song is a performance of the band in a concert format, but it is not a live recording of the song. The group invited their fans to act as spectators, marking the first time in the music industry that a group invited their fans to create a music video. After filming, the musicians played a small concert for their fans as a reward.

In this video, the image of the group continued to change. The long hair of bassist Deacon and drummer Taylor has disappeared. They are dressed much more simply than before - in dark shirts. May's style remains the same. Mercury is wearing a black and white leotard. This is the last video clip where Mercury appears in tights, not counting clips that use old videos.

Radio Ga Ga. The original version of the song was called Radio Ca-Ca, not Radio Ga Ga. In fact, this phrase was uttered by Roger Taylor's little child. Taylor wrote the song as material for his solo album, but the rest of the band saw the potential hit and added lyrics and instrumental parts. In particular, changing the name to Ga Ga.

Ga Ga - in English, a picture of the sounds of babies trying to speak (like the Russian "agu"). Gaga is also used to mean “crazy / madly in love (with something)”, and as an epithet for a person who behaves like a baby or an old man who has lost his mind.

The video for the song uses footage from the legendary German science fiction film Metropolis (1927). More precisely, one of the attempts to restore the lost film, which was undertaken by Giorgio Moroder. His version featured Mercury's song Love Kills, and in return the band received this footage. But the broadcast rights had to be purchased from communist Germany.

In the video you can see a scene where the band is flying on a fantastic machine against the backdrop of shots of skyscrapers from Metropolis: the author of the song, Roger Taylor, controls the machine by pulling the lever.

When this song hit the charts, each member of the group Queen had at least one song that hit the top ten.

I Want to Break Free is a song from the album The Works. Written by John Deacon in 1983, inspired by male views of the women's liberal movement. The song is largely famous for its video clip, for which all the band's musicians dressed up in women's clothing, parodying the UK's longest-running TV series, Coronation Street.

At concerts when this song was performed, Freddie often appeared in the costume from the song's video clip - in a fluffy wig, in a pink blouse and with fake breasts. Gradually, as the song progressed, he got rid of these things. However, this stage image in some countries was not to the taste of the public. At a concert in Rio de Janeiro, the audience threw stones at the band when the singer appeared in this form, and he had to immediately take off everything unnecessary.

There are three versions of the song: the album version is 3 minutes 20 seconds long and was only released on The Works album.

The second version of the single lasts 4 minutes 21 seconds. It differs from the album by having an intro and a longer synthesizer solo.

The third, longer version lasts 7 minutes 16 seconds. It differs from the single by a longer introduction, which includes the second part of the solo, and a longer ending, extended to 6:04. At the end of this part, first the electric guitar stops playing, then the bass guitar. After 6:04, other songs from the band's album The Works are played.

The video clip for the song is one of the group's most famous videos. Filming took place on March 22 and May 4, 1984, and 100 thousand British pounds were spent on them. In the video, Mercury portrays a housewife who wants to "break free" from her life, May also appears as a housewife, but in the video his role is calmer compared to the singer's. Deacon appeared as a conservative elderly woman, and Taylor appeared as a schoolgirl who, like Mercury in the video, wants a different life. This idea came from Taylor. He commented that the group had made serious, epic videos before, and now they wanted to joke around a little and show that they could laugh at themselves.

In the middle of the video clip, Mercury appears as Nijinsky's faun. He performs some choreographic pieces with the London Royal Ballet. Especially for these scenes, Mercury put on a spotted tights, shaved off his famous mustache and gave himself pointed ears.

Video choreographer Wayne Eagling later said: “During filming, Mercury worked like a professional of the highest standard. Freddie had long ago had the image of Nijinsky's faun playing the pipe in his head. Filming took a lot of energy, especially the episode where he rolled over the dancers. But he liked the filming process itself. It was very easy to work with him, and he treated everything with great responsibility. Freddie was a brilliant professional."

The clip was banned from showing on the American channel MTV, but was well received in the UK.

Who Wants to Live Forever is a song from the album A Kind of Magic. Written by Brian May.

The song was written for the movie "Highlander" starring Christopher Lambert. The film's director, Russell Mulcahy, later admitted that he dreamed of collaborating with Queen and could not imagine who else could cope with such a task. Before getting started, everyone in the group watched a 45-minute version of Highlander. Brian May was inspired by the scene in which Lambert's Connor MacLeod holds his dying wife in his arms. On the way home, he sketched out a future song, which was eventually performed in this episode of Highlander, and even later was included in some parts of the Highlander series, which tells about the life of Duncan MacLeod, brother of Connor MacLeod.

The song was recorded with the participation of the Michael Kamen Symphony Orchestra, who also worked on the music for Highlander. In Highlander, Freddie Mercury sings the entire song, and on the A Kind of Magic record, the first verse and a few more lines are sung by Brian May.

A distinctive feature of the song is that a symphony orchestra takes part in it. And the fact that all the musicians play instruments other than their own - for example, John Deacon plays his part on the double bass, Roger Taylor on symphonic drums, and Brian May on the organ.

There are two video clips for the song. The first was filmed in a warehouse in London's East End. The National Philharmonic Orchestra and forty choristers were involved, and hundreds of candles burned in the room.

The second clip included various scenes from the movie Highlander.

The Miracle (English: “Miracle”). The song was released in November 1989, the author of the music and lyrics is Freddie Mercury. In the video, several boys play the roles of band musicians. The boy in the role of Freddie Mercury performs in various of his images: in a yellow leather jacket from the Magic Tour performances; in the image from the Live Aid concert; in a leather suit, cap and black opaque glasses; in a checkered leotard - a look from the 70s. Mercury himself and the entire group appear at the end of the video.

For The Miracle video, smaller copies of the original Queen costumes were made, and shortly before filming, a costume rehearsal with lights was held for the producer and cameramen. It was also the first time the rest of the musicians saw Freddie's vision finally materialized.

When the boys first appeared on the set from the dressing room, the effect exceeded all expectations. They didn't even have to start moving to the music, they were already true clones of Brian, Roger, Freddie and John! Brian suffered a culture shock, and Freddie exclaimed: “Damn it, I shouldn’t have told the press that The Miracle tour would not happen! We will send THEM on tour instead of us!” The boys, timid at first, very soon got the hang of it and withstood the rather grueling rehearsals and three days of filming with flying colors. On the very first day, the final episode was filmed, in which the presence of musicians was required. Ross McCall, Freddie’s “double”, had a unique opportunity to adopt the features of Mercury’s stage choreography under his direct supervision! This gave Ross confidence in the next two days when filming more complex episodes, where he was already a full-fledged soloist along with his “colleagues”. Ross subsequently admitted that after such a deep immersion in the character, he still felt like half Freddie Mercury for a long time.

Innuendo (English: "Insinuation", "Hint") is a song written by the entire Queen group, although most of it was composed by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor. The song is six and a half minutes long, one of Queen's longest songs.

The video clip made for the song is one of the most famous and original videos in music history.

Video segments from the clips were stylized as animation: Freddie Mercury was drawn in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, Brian May - Victorian engravings, Roger Taylor was stylized as the work of Jackson Pollock, and John Deacon - as the work of Pablo Picasso.

Also, when creating the video, plasticine men, unique dolls, terrible footage of war, a plane crash, an epidemic, a locust invasion and an atomic explosion were used in contrast with the progressive and original drawings of Jeanne Isodore, Spanish dances, and the dancing of plasticine men.

The song has a folk element to it, with a Spanish guitar part in the middle of the song played by Yes guitarist Steve Howe. According to Brian May, "Spanish influences are suggested from the very beginning of the song; these little riffs, kind of like boleros.”

Innuendo became the band's third song to reach number one in the UK chart after Bohemian Rhapsody and Under Pressure.

I'm Going Slightly Mad is the second recording from the 1991 album Innuendo. Written by Freddie Mercury.

The video was filmed in February 1991, by which time Mercury's health had seriously deteriorated. The video - like all the other Innuendo album videos made by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher of DoRo Production - shows the band members dressed unusually and acting very strangely.

This clip was shot in black and white (the only bright elements are the jester's cap on John Deacon's head and the colorful fabric thrown up by Mercury); the video's lighting effects and Mercury's ridiculous character, heavily made up and wearing a wig, helped disguise Freddie's sickly appearance.

At the American Film & Video Festival held in Chicago in 1991, the video clip “I’m Going Slightly Mad” took third place, and another Queen video, Innuendo, took first place at the same festival.

These Are the Days of Our Lives is a Queen song from the album Innuendo. "This is the best thing I wrote for Queen" - Roger Taylor, 1994. The song was originally released as a US single with Bijou on the B-side on September 5, 1991 (on Freddie Mercury's 45th birthday). It was later re-released with "Bohemian Rhapsody" on side A on December 9, 1991, 15 days after Freddie Mercury's death. Before his death, Mercury ordered all proceeds from this reissue to be donated to the Terrence Higgins AIDS charity.

The video was first shot on color film. But, after reviewing the video, the group decided not to show it in color, so that the fans of the group would not see what Freddie Mercury was like back then. His face was so haggard that without makeup Freddie was unrecognizable.

The original version of the video was shot on black and white film. The clip has no plot - Freddie just sings in front of the camera. The image of the musicians changed: Freddie Mercury was dressed in a black shirt and a multi-colored vest with drawings of cats, worn untucked, and wide pants that hid his extreme thinness, Roger Taylor - in the same clothes, and Brian May and John Deacon - in trousers and a white shirt.

The last words of the video became the singer’s message to his fans: “I still love you” (“I still love you [you]”). A second later, Freddie leaves the frame, never to return.

The Show Must Go On May specially wrote this song for Freddie, since he was one of the few who knew about his illness. From an interview with Brian May on CNN, January 9, 2000: “The Show Must Go On is a collaboration, it's a Queen song, because in the end we decided to give everything a Queen credit. But you know, I consider this song to be my child, because most of the time Freddie sat here, and it was a wonderful feeling, because at that time Freddie could not or did not want to express himself through poetry, except for a few cases. And he knew about this idea. He knew it was a way to express everything we felt about him. When I sang the main part for Freddie - and I mostly had to sing in falsetto, because I couldn’t sing that high - I asked him: is everything okay? He drinks vodka, goes into the studio and does everything just perfectly. And I think it's one of the best vocals Freddie ever did, the original version of The Show Must Go On."

This song is perceived as an autobiographical song of Freddie Mercury, his farewell to the public, despite the fact that the music and lyrics belong mainly to the pen of Brian May, who wrote this song for Freddie. “We experienced something that is difficult to talk about. But in the language of music, everything worked out for us” - Brian May.

By the time the single was released, Mercury's health had deteriorated so much that he could no longer take part in the filming of the video, so instead of new filming, it was decided to use the existing material. The video sequence is not a chaotic collection of films, but a complete and independent clip from chronicles, concerts, interviews and other Queen videos released from 1980 to 1991.

Brian May said that there was an unwritten rule in the group: do not discuss the meaning of its lyrics with the author of the song. Because something personal was sometimes embedded in the text and it was considered indecent to meddle with it: the musicians believed that the author of the song knew what he was doing. That's why May never asked Mercury what all those strange words in Bohemian Rhapsody meant. And only at the time of writing The Show Must Go On, Mercury sat down with May, and May invited him to participate in the creation of the text. According to May, they discussed "absolutely every word and what they wanted to say."