Saturday, September 23, 2006

Number 805 - Queen



Number 805

Queen

"A Kind Of Magic"

(1986)
.
.
Genre:Rock
Queen would have to be one of Earth's greatest live acts ever. You only have to watch them on DVD performing at Wembly or Live Aid to see that.
"Few bands embodied the pure excess of the '70s like
Queen. Embracing the exaggerated pomp of prog rock and heavy metal, as well as vaudevillian music hall, the British quartet delved deeply into camp and bombast, creating a huge, mock-operatic sound with layered guitars and overdubbed vocals. Queen's music was a bizarre yet highly accessible fusion of the macho and the fey. For years, their albums boasted the motto "no synthesizers were used on this record," signaling their allegiance with the legions of post-Led Zeppelin hard rock bands. But vocalist Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant sense of camp to the band, pushing them toward kitschy humour and pseudo-classical arrangements, as epitomized on their best-known song, "Bohemian Rhapsody." Mercury, it must be said, was a flamboyant bisexual who managed to keep his sexuality in the closet until his death from AIDS in 1992. Nevertheless, his sexuality was apparent throughout Queen's music, from their very name to their veiled lyrics -- it was truly bizarre to hear gay anthems like "We Are the Champions" turn into celebrations of sports victories. That would have been impossible without Mercury, one of the most dynamic and charismatic frontmen in rock history. Through his legendary theatrical performances, Queen became one of the most popular bands in the world in the mid-'70s; in England, they remained second only to the Beatles in popularity and collectibility in the '90s. Despite their enormous popularity, Queen were never taken seriously by rock critics -- an infamous Rolling Stone review labeled their 1979 album Jazz as "fascist." In spite of such harsh criticism, the band's popularity rarely waned; even in the late '80s, the group retained a fanatical following except in America. In the States, their popularity peaked in the early '80s, just as they finished nearly a decade's worth of extraordinarily popular records. And while those records were never praised, they sold in enormous numbers, and traces of Queen's music could be heard in several generations of hard rock and metal bands in the next two decades, from Metallica to Smashing Pumpkins"
Hear that Mr Shackelton? Second only to the Beatles. (Mr Shackelton is our resident Beatles critic, he can be seen on TV on a show called "Rove Live" under an alias named Peter - he denies it)
I once said to Mr Shackelton "Have you heard the new song by The Cranberries Who Shot John Lennon" he replied "How could you miss" :p
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Not bloody likely) and the Album ranked at Number (Haroo?)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 63.7 out of 108
Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

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posted by crowbarred at 9:42 am

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