Queen - can someone please explain?

I am just going to lay this out there... I don't get why Queen is so popular.

Sure, I get the fact that there is no accounting for differences in taste, but when it comes to Queen (Freddie Mercury et. al.) there seems to be a near Universal reverence for the band. While I can appreciate that they have some catchy songs, I just don't understand the hype.

Please explain...

 

Because they were awesome?

Great songs, great shows, quality rock and roll played loud. They were just awesome, and they're great songs able to cross 90%+ of the spectrum of musical tastes and preferences, at least a little.

 

You see?

This is just what I am talking about.

I don't get it.

 

View: http://youtu.be/k-ARuoSFflc


We Will Rock You
Another One Bites The Dust

They had some good songs that still hold up to the test of time. And people have made a lot of cool videos off of their big song.


View: http://youtu.be/fqymcJRSbxI?t=29s



View: http://youtu.be/IlxozJh2JNo

 

Personally, I like the theatrical flair they had. I like that every member contributed to the song writing. I like that they could be a little ridiculous, that they could rock your face off, or make you cry with a ballad.

 

They always struck me as very, European (and that's not code for gay). Being European just doesn't seem like something that should, well, work in the USA.

Speaking of gay, I suppose we could unpack that, but I think we will find Liberace staring at us from inside that particular trunk (i.e. different times).

 

I think much of the appeal was that they (or Freddie M) were performers, not just musicians.

The Beatles were great musicians. Lennon/McCartney wrote great rock/pop songs and they did some cutting edge stuff on their studio albums but they were not dynamic live performers.

Freddie was a performer and as others noted, they had an unexpected range to their music, particularly when performing live where the music often drifted from the studio versions.

I put the Grateful Dead in a similar category. I was a Deadhead, but unless you saw them live, you might not get the appeal.

 

Never cared for Queen, probably never will. Never understood their mainstream appeal, either.

However, I love Freddie Mercury in this:

 

I loved Queen as a kid. But it was the '70s. And I was a kid.
I don't think anyone ever really needs to hear any of those songs again.
Except maybe for the aforementioned Fat Bottomed Girls and Killer Queen.

This would be another great thread.
Epic bands that really weren't all that great.
#1 Led Zeppelin

 

wasnt Freddie from zanibar, Tanzania?

i dont mind freddie. a few of his songs i love because theyre so pop culture-ish. But the only time i really think about their songs is when it comes on the radio and i start playing air guitar in the car

 

Charlie I'm disappointed. I thought you liked good music.

Their most famous songs are possibly over-exposed, but can't you hear how much control Freddie has? He also sings very high compared to most men, which makes for a unique sound. Brian May revolutionized guitar solos. How do you feel about camp? But if you don't like it, you don't like it. Explaining reasons why someone is good won't make you like them (and anyone who reads off a checklist of why something is good...I don't trust your taste: your ears and heart should lead then maybe your brain can follow... maybe).

Now that the remedial class is done posting links of that obscure gem Bohemian Rhapsody, here are a few cuts you may not have heard before:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq6OoPB5FIM



View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnGaEk0rZdU



View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3UQQrR1L2Q



View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1fgm6L3mq4

 

I never watched much Saturday night live. But when I did, I thought most of the bands sounded pretty crappy on their stage. Then I saw an episode where queen performed. Their short performance was a completely different experience. They were professionals.

They could be bombastic and silly without overdoing it. Songs like bicycle race or princes of the universe.

And Freddie mercury was a performer. Watching an old concert of theirs, he is eventually stripped down to a layer of sweat, white jeans, and a mustache. And he still owned the stage.

As far as led zeppelin, I will successfully defend their early work. Up through album four. After that, they had the occasional good song. Like Achilles last stand.

 

Thanks for this, @arkana. You expressed how I feel about them and Freddie in particular. I was exactly of their time. Back then, we listened to FM radio and entire albums would be played on Saturday night, allowing us exposure to a much broader swath of what a band offered instead of them being reduced to ear-friendly greatest hits packages.

On top of that, I do believe Freddie's demise as a famous/talented rock star in his prime was a resounding wake-up call that AIDS was killing people--all kinds of people. His death generated headlines about AIDS (though he was reluctant at the time of his death to have it exposed) that was historically a game changing moment in AIDS awareness and the need for prevention and at a minimum, extra caution. If he hadn't been who he was, it wouldn't have had that impact. And he was who he was because of his enormous talent. He was a performer with a capital "P". He had few peers and to this day, there have been few talents of Freddy Mercury's caliber.

 

I hate to say it, but I think that the reality talent shows are having a larger impact on music than actual artists these days and Queen seem to be a reoccurring theme on these shows.

 

You see, I get the performance element and I get the musicality... I don't particularly appreciate it but chacun son goût. I hate prog rock too...

To me, it is in-spite of these elements that Queen has been so huge... I would totally understand if Queen were just a European band that achieved a level of success. What I don't understand is how their particular brand of flamboyant camp and musicality ever succeeded in America. It's remarkable.

American music, on the rock side of things, tends to be more... muscular, less show tune-y.

I am very aware that this could devolve into a rant about Queen being Gay... I want to be clear, that's not what I am on about, though I recognize there are elements of that discourse that coat this discussion like a rainbow slick of oil.

Ultimately, I see Queen as big hunk of cheese. That they are cheese is okay. My ultimate issue is that they don't come across as American Cheese.

 

I think you express yourself well, @Charlatan. Really well.
All I can say and I'm not a HUGE fan is that when a senior in high school the long-haired guys in the concert choir with me were so enamoured of Queen that when we got to chose just one song of our own choice to perform, it was... wait for it...Bohemian Rhapsody. I know the alto parts to that songs so well.

 

So you are looking to stabilize your theory of what succeeds in America?