http://www.bandonthe.net/blog/category/bands/ Blog categories... http://www.bandonthe.net/dreamsight/blog/queen/ Even to this day, few bands can embody the eccentricities and excesses of the group Queen. The popular rock band of the 70s and 80s weaved their disti...
You will have a hard time if you try to tie them down to one genre for they cover a wide range of sounds ranging from what appears to be taken from a cabaret to the outlandishly heavy metal. But then again, everything was done in good time and one can easily see through all these performances of this wild and sometimes raucous English quartet as sheepishly extravagant. Indeed, there was a different kind of appeal and magnetic presence every time they took the center stage.

Musically, the group has stamped their mark on several genres. In fact, their signature performance is usually a collage of distinctive sounds. At one time, you would see them take over the scene with progressive hard rock and then easily transition to pop and straight rock in other engagements. Thus, you cannot really say they were a pure metal group or straight out pop, although their earlier releases tend to bend towards metal and hard rock. It was quite obvious that during the early years of Queen, their performances and music were strongly influenced by metal acts like Blind Guardian, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen and Metallica.

If we just take a closer look at the musical landscape, we will surely see that there were only a limited number of acts that have duplicated the excesses of the 1970s the way Queen did. The British quartet did score big points doing pomposity and showiness and at the same time creating pseudo-operatic sound and shrieking vocals. The music of Queen sometimes borders the bizarre, and Freddie Mercury can be charmingly flamboyant amid the shrieks and shouts of the boisterous crowd. The conservatives may find them a bit too hot to handle at times. Still, we would surely give them credit for their seemingly effortless transition through several genres.

Since the release of their debut album, Queen consciously veered away from cuts that relied on synthesizers, and this is clearly noticeable in their albums. This indicates their commitment to take on a common path which they shared with other post-Led Zeppelin rock groups. Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant twist to the performance of Queen, and his entry led to the transition to what was considered to be pseudo-classical performances and the kitschy character that ultimately became the tag of the English quartet.

It is because of the on-stage antics and theatrical stunts of Freddie Mercury that Queen scaled new heights and became a force to reckon with in the top of the charts and the concert scene. Surprisingly, the group was never taken seriously by music experts and critics. In fact, a review on Rolling Stone then even derisively tagged them as fascists. In spite of the apparent lack of respect and appreciation by mainstream rock critics, Queen achieved stellar status and global recognition. In fact, they were running second to the Beatles in terms of collectability and popularity during the 1990s. Queen was able to sustain their hold to fame and popularity up to the 1980s.

They reached the pinnacle of their success and fame in the US during the 1990s, at a time when they had just wrapped up their decade-long streak of chart-busting projects. Indeed, it was a belated recognition by the US audience of the groupGs talent and achievement. And while the group never got much recognition and praise from music critics in the US, their albums were big hits, and they had a strong influence on the musical styles of metal and hard rock bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and Metallica.

With the apparent decline in their popularity in the UK and US, the group stomped the concert scene and went on a string of performances in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. This heralded what was considered to be their big comeback to center stage. This happened during the time when most performers rarely perform in these parts of the globe. Queen made a rousing return to Britain after their show-stopping performances outside of the US and UK. However, their success was short-lived. Their 1986 album release, A Kind of Magic, failed to duplicate the successes of earlier projects. While it made a good showing in Europe, it failed to make major headway in the US. The 1989 release of The Miracle suffered the same fate as that of A Kind of Magic.

Queens 1991 album, Innuendo, may now be considered as their last hurrah. It made a relatively good showing in both the UK and US music charts. It went gold and climbed to 30th spot in the US music chart, while going all the way to the top spot in the UK music chart. After the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991, the group was never the same again.
M.A.H.]]> http://www.bandonthe.net/dreamsight/blog/queen/ Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:00:10 +0000 Dreamsight