The 1970s were very special years for both our country and the world. Many music groups that we listen to with pleasure even today emerged in this period. Especially the world-famous names, who started the rock frenzy and gave concerts to stadiums full of people, started to release their first songs in these years. Today we will introduce you to one of the most important rock bands, Queen.
The band, which has a very unique soloist like Freddie Mercury, left us many legendary pieces over the years they played together. Let’s get to know this legendary band, whose albums have sold millions all over the world.
How was the Queen group formed?
Queen group consists of 4 names. These names are Brian May, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Smile, which included Brian May and Roger Taylor, broke up in the late 1960s. After that, Freddie Mercury, who would be one of the most unique singers in the world, joined these two names, although it was not known at that time, and the Queen group was established. Bass guitarist John Deacon joined the band a year later, and the first step of a successful journey was completed.
Queen group entered the music market
The team, which reached the key number of 4 players, released their first 45 in 1973 with the name “Keep Yourself Alive”. The group, which released their first album “Queen I” right after this song, entered the music charts for the first time in 1974 with the song “Seven Seas of Rhye”. Continuing to release albums back to back, the group Queen made their name known for the first time with the single “Killer Queen” released from their 3rd album “Sheer Heart Attack” and rose to the 2nd place in the music charts.
The real success came with Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975
Perhaps the most famous of Queen’s signature songs, Bohemian Rhapsody is . The album “A Night at the Opera”, which also includes this song, was released in 1975 and the song stayed at number one in the British charts for 9 weeks. The group, which also achieved success in the international arena, had progressed more symphonically and focused on vocals in the last album they released.
Switching to a softer music compared to their previous albums, the band made Bohemian Rhapsody with this album, perhaps with a blend that no one had dared before. i published. Even today, Bohemian Rhapsody, which is described as “the best song in rock history” according to countless people, would open the doors for the Queen group to the fullest. In fact, this song was not liked by the producers before its release. At that time, for a song to be a hit, its duration had to not exceed 3 minutes, and this song was exactly 6 minutes.
A worldwide band: Queen
A Night at the Opera album introduced the band Queen to the whole world. People actually started to listen to their previous albums, which included very successful tracks. After the 4th album, the group also underwent a change. There were more symphonic compositions now. This was criticized by some because Queen’s attitude was interpreted as a compromise for popularity. However, the group continued to make music suitable for modern consumption and remained recognizable over the years.
Queen was a complete concert group
One of the most important factors behind Queen’s successful journey was that the group had an amazing concert show. A perfect soloist in terms of sound and energy, Freddie Mercury entertained people at concerts and drew the audience into the song. People who wanted to listen to this special group flocked to their concerts, and there was almost a stampede. After that, the group started giving stadium concerts around the world.
Albums and legendary songs continued
In 1976, the group appeared before fans with the album “A Day at the Races”. In this album, the rock sound was replaced by more symphonic and soft tones. The next album, “News of the World”, released in 1977, added the blues style to the work. In this album, there were also two songs that come to mind when it comes to rock music today. These were the songs “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions”.
Queen’s secret was that it appealed to all segments
Behind Queen’s success, it was crammed into a single space. there is an effort to make music in many different genres. In 1978, they created their own style and released the “Jazz” album. In the album, there was a song called “Mustapha” with eastern rhythms, as well as songs in the genre of hard rock and, of course, songs with jazz melodies.
We’ve got a real Queen band in the 1980s
1979′ Queen, who also released a live album, “Live Killers,” was going to concentrate on concerts for a while. Having released their eighth studio album, “The Game,” in 1980, the group released 8 studio albums and one live album in 7 years. While this situation was welcomed by the audience, it also brought some fears. Like many other bands, was Queen consuming what she had on hand? We can summarize this situation as follows. Unlike other bands, Queen did not make a single genre of music, they embraced almost all world music. This allowed the material in their hands to be very large.
When the dates show 1981, a “Greatest Hits” album was released on the band’s 10th anniversary. This album included 17 songs made in previous years and identified with the band Queen. This album was met with great interest all over the world.
When we came to 1982, the Queen group appeared before the fans with their album “Hot Space”. This album, which contains the pop rhythms of the 80s that has not yet settled, received serious criticism from those who listened to Queen in the 70s. In fact, the group even took an attitude because of this album. Although it was criticized by some people, the fact that the 80s tended to this field in the following years showed us how far-sighted Freddie Mercury and Queen are in terms of music. Queen, a group that is constantly trying new styles and succeeding in them, actually won the love and respect of everyone in some way.
Those amazing concerts we wish we were in one
After the Hot Space album The band went on a long world tour. Already offering unique concert shows with Freddie Mercury, the band was always trying to be better. Trying out new light shows in her concerts, Queen always gave importance to visuality.
Queen is back with a poprock album “The Works”
Queen’s pop rock album The Works, released in 1984, was an album that showed that the band was still the best after years. There were songs such as “Radio Ga Ga”, “I Want To Break Free”, “Hammer To Fall” in the album, and these songs added new styles to the group. After this successful album, Queen group started to focus on concerts again.
The band members retreated to their corner for a while after the concerts. Focusing on solo work, the Queen members were giving media signs of disbandment. The Queen members, who only appeared on a few TV shows, made a disbanded appearance apart from that. This serious problem was to be resolved with the magnificent Queen performance at Live Aid, the biggest concert in the entire history of the world.
The legendary Live Aid concert where Freddie Mercury became iconic
When the dates showed July 13, 1985, Live Aid, the biggest music organization in the world, took place. This organization, which took place in two different stadiums and aimed to collect donations against the hunger in Ethiopia, lasted exactly 16 hours and the famous singers of the period took the stage for 20 minutes.
Freddie Mercury gave a legendary performance in this special organization watched by almost 2 billion people in front of television. Performing his favorite songs with a magnificent show in 20 minutes, which is much shorter than a normal concert, Freddie Mercury showed the whole world that Queen is a special group with this show. A 2005 poll named Queen’s Live Aid concert the greatest “rock performance” of all time. In addition, in the 16-hour concert with numerous artists, the section with Queen was the section that collected the most donations.
Live Aid Queen concert, which is a magnificent 20 minutes in every detail, is very close to the real thing in the Bohemian Rhapsody movie about the life of Freddie Mercury and Queen. has been revived.
We are nearing the end: Freddie Mercury’s last tour
In 1986 they released their second live album “Live Magic” and then their 11th studio album “A Kind”. The band, which released “of Magic”, went on a tour afterwards. This tour was Freddie Mercury’s last tour. In this period, when it was started to talk about the decline of Mercury’s stage performance, rumors began to appear that the world-famous soloist was infected with HIV. Freddie Mercury denied these rumors in an interview at the time.
The last album, some of which will become more meaningful after a while: Innuendo
Concert due to Freddie Mercury’s illness The band released their album “The Miracle” in 1989. Two years after this album, on February 5, 1991, the band’s last Queen album, “Innuendo”, was released while Freddie Mercury was alive. The songs in the album such as “Show Must Go On”, “I’m Going Slightly Mad”, “Bijou”, “Innuendo” made a great impression.
A more emotional album than other Queen albums, Innuendo is a much more emotional album for the fans who don’t know the full story, although some things are talked about at the moment. it would be meaningful. Freddie Mercury, who was very ill during this album and it was even discussed whether he could record or not, was able to complete the album despite all the difficulties.
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