Queen burst onto the scene in 1973 with their self-titled debut album. The album cover basically sums it all up - the Ren. Faire font signifies a fondness for the Tolkien-inspired fantastical lyrics so popular with hard rock bands and shut-ins at the time; the spotlight on a lone singer highlights the grandiose self importance of Freddie Mercury and his posture is as overly dramatic as a high school drama club escapee; the band name suggests regality but also bees, poker, chess and cross dressing. It's actually a perfect name for a band that is as tough as a greaser with a D.A. and a leather jacket one moment and effeminate and campy the next. The fact that a rock opera has never been written using this band's music is something that continues to stun and puzzle me.Queen's ability to play both sides of the fence is evident in the opening 1-2 punch of "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Doing All Right" both of which made my custom best of. "Keep Yourself Alive" is a hard charging rocker in the vein of Heart or early Rush with pomp rock vocals verging on show tune silliness at times but then they follow it up immediately with a forgotten soft rock gem that wouldn't be out of place in the Bee Gees canon. It's a fantastic way to step out into the limelight. Apparently it didn't do so well for the band but that's to be expected for an album that vacillates between the proto-Motorhead "Modern Times Rock & Roll" and the Godspell castoff that is "Jesus." An intriguing album for sure and one that certainly pointed towards their later greatness but it also sets a tone for the uneven albums they put out year after year.
Weirdest song - "My Fairy King"
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Check out this gem from Wikipedia about 'The Fairy King':
"Before writing this song Mercury was known as Freddie Bulsara, and this song is said to have inspired him to change his surname. Its lyrics contain a verse with the words "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me." Brian May has said that after the line was written, Freddie claimed he was singing about his mother. Subsequently, Freddie Bulsara took the stage name Freddie Mercury. This was another attempt to separate his stage persona (extroverted monster, as Mercury himself once described it) from his personal persona (introverted, kind man). Due to the connections with Mercury's name, this song is somewhat of a favourite amongst fans."
these posts are great but how come no zip file containing your Custom Best Of?!?!?!
oh and I will post about that BTS show I promise...
jjosh, i just figured out how to embed imeem songs and even that doesn't work every time as I'm a bit handicapped when it comes to computer thingies - how would i go about creating and posting the zip file? also, would it run me afoul of copyright issues or in this day and age are those concerns inexistent?
thanks for the fascinating freddie mercury fact mothra. "My Fairy King" didn't even make my compilation but now after listening to it several more times since this post began, i am kicking myself.
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