Queen

Queen embodied the lavish extravagance that defined album-focused rock throughout the 1970s by fusing heavy metal’s raw power with progressive rock’s theatrical scale and tempering the blend through irreverent wit. This unusual combination demonstrated remarkable flexibility, encompassing the theatrical mock-opera of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the expansive arena anthem “Somebody to Love,” the driving rocker “Fat Bottomed Girls,” the retro-flavored “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and the dance-oriented excursion “Another One Bites the Dust.” Their stylistic breadth underscored an unusually democratic approach: the only classic-rock ensemble in which every member composed at least one signature hit. Even so, vocalist Freddie Mercury remained the dominant presence both while alive and posthumously. A commanding singer drawn to theatricality, he radiated outsized magnetism and sardonic wit, establishing himself among his era’s most magnetic rock performers. The group’s sustained dominance began with 1975’s A Night at the Opera and extended through 1980’s The Game, a five-year span that yielded numerous enduring hits. Although commercial peaks diminished during the 1980s, international appeal persisted until Mercury’s death in 1991. Afterward, the original catalog attracted fresh listeners, aided by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor’s oversight of archival projects and continued performances featuring either Paul Rodgers or Adam Lambert in Mercury’s role. The 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, in which Rami Malek delivered an Oscar-winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury, further reinforced the band’s visibility.

Queen originated in the hard-rock psychedelic outfit Smile, which May and Taylor entered in 1967. After Smile’s lead singer Tim Staffell departed in 1971, May and Taylor recruited Freddie Mercury, previously frontman of Wreckage. Bassist John Deacon completed the lineup within months, and the quartet commenced rehearsals. For the subsequent two years, while all four finished their university studies, they concentrated almost exclusively on practice and played only a few concerts. By 1973 they turned fully professional, issuing their self-titled debut album that year and launching an initial tour. Produced by the band alongside Roy Thomas Baker and John Anthony, Queen essentially delivered straightforward heavy metal and drew favorable parallels to Led Zeppelin.

Breakthrough arrived unexpectedly in Britain with the 1974 sophomore release Queen II. Prior to the album’s appearance the group performed “Seven Seas of Rhye” on Top of the Pops; both the song and the broadcast proved immediate successes, propelling the single into the Top Ten and lifting Queen II to number five. The band then undertook its first American tour supporting Mott the Hoople, and the flamboyantly dramatic stage shows helped the album reach number 43 stateside.

Their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, appeared before the close of 1974. The music-hall-inflected “Killer Queen” peaked at number two on the U.K. chart, carrying the album to the same position. Modest American gains followed, preparing the ground for the commercial explosion of 1975’s A Night at the Opera. The band devoted exceptional time and resources to the project; contemporary accounts described it as the costliest rock album yet produced. Lead single “Bohemian Rhapsody” quickly became Queen’s defining track, its bombastic, mock-operatic architecture punctuated by heavy-metal riffs embodying the group’s ambitious, genre-blending aesthetic. To promote the single they created one of the earliest conceptual music videos, a risk that succeeded when the record held the U.K. summit for nine weeks, surpassing the previous longevity record. Comparable success greeted both the song and the album in the United States, where A Night at the Opera entered the Top Ten and achieved platinum certification.

Once established as superstars, Queen maintained a brisk release schedule. In summer 1976 they staged a free Hyde Park concert that set new attendance marks, then issued the hit “Somebody to Love” months later. A Day at the Races followed, essentially a streamlined counterpart to A Night at the Opera that topped the U.K. chart and reached number five in America. Over the next five years the group accumulated additional hits on both sides of the Atlantic, with every album entering the Top Ten and earning gold or platinum certification. News of the World, buoyed by the double-A-sided Top Five single “We Are the Champions” / “We Will Rock You,” reached the Top Ten in 1977. Jazz nearly matched that performance the following year, propelled by the international success of “Fat Bottomed Girls” / “Bicycle Race.”

Queen entered the 1980s at peak popularity, releasing their most stylistically varied album to date, The Game, in 1980. Powered by two number-one singles—the rockabilly-tinged “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and the disco-infused “Another One Bites the Dust”—The Game became the band’s first U.S. chart-topper. Later that year they delivered the largely instrumental Flash Gordon soundtrack. With David Bowie’s assistance they countered new-wave trends via the 1981 single “Under Pressure,” their first U.K. number one since “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which appeared on both 1981’s Greatest Hits and 1982’s Hot Space. Although Hot Space achieved only moderate success, it cleared the path for the more guitar-driven The Works, released in 1984 and supported by the singles “Radio Ga Ga,” “Hammer to Fall,” and “I Want to Break Free.” Shortly afterward Queen departed Elektra for Capitol.

Throughout this period the band cultivated substantial audiences in Latin America, Asia, and Africa through extensive touring. Their show-stopping 1985 Live Aid appearance restored British prominence, and 1986’s A Kind of Magic capitalized on renewed European interest, debuting at number one in the U.K. and lingering on the chart for more than sixty weeks while generating the singles “A Kind of Magic,” “One Vision,” “Friends Will Be Friends,” and “Who Wants to Live Forever.” The Miracle, issued in 1989, likewise entered the U.K. summit and reached the U.S. Top 30.

The fourteenth studio album, 1991’s Innuendo, earned gold certification and peaked at number 30 in America while entering the U.K. chart at number one. Yet Queen had already curtailed activity, prompting speculation about Mercury’s health. On 23 November the singer publicly confirmed an AIDS diagnosis; he succumbed the following day to bronchial pneumonia. The remaining members organized a memorial concert at Wembley Stadium the next spring, broadcast worldwide to more than one billion viewers. Performances by David Bowie, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Def Leppard, and Guns N’ Roses helped raise millions for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, established to promote AIDS awareness. The event coincided with a resurgence of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which climbed to number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K. after featuring in the Mike Myers comedy Wayne’s World.

In the years after Mercury’s death the surviving members kept a relatively low profile. May issued his second solo album, Back to the Light, in 1993, a decade after his debut. Taylor recorded several projects with the Cross, active since 1987, while Deacon largely withdrew from music. The three reconvened in 1994 to add instrumental tracks to Mercury’s final vocal recordings; the resulting Made in Heaven appeared in 1995 and sold strongly, especially in Europe. Crown Jewels, an eight-album box set, followed in 1998, and further archival live releases, DVDs, and compilations continued into the new century.

The Queen name returned in 2005, now styled “Queen + Paul Rodgers.” Rodgers, formerly of Free and Bad Company, joined May and Taylor—John Deacon having remained retired—for multiple concerts, one documented on the 2005 double album Return of the Champions issued by Hollywood Records. International touring persisted, culminating in the September 2008 studio album The Cosmos Rocks, released under the “Queen + Paul Rodgers” banner and issued in America the following month. Critical response proved mixed. Rodgers exited in 2009, after which the compilation Absolute Greatest appeared.

Subsequent television appearances included a 2009 American Idol finale performance alongside Adam Lambert. In 2010 Queen left EMI for Island, transferring their catalog to Universal. A fresh series of reissues arrived in 2011, accompanied by a Lambert collaboration at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Lambert soon became a regular collaborator, supporting major concerts and broadcasts in 2012 and 2013 and a full tour in 2014. That year also saw the compilation Queen Forever, highlighted by newly reworked versions of three earlier songs, one featuring Mercury duetting with Michael Jackson. The archival live set A Night at the Odeon, capturing the band’s 1975 Christmas Eve concert at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, surfaced in 2015.

Live activity with Lambert continued through the following years. In 2018 the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek as Mercury, premiered; Queen supplied both classic recordings and new live and reworked tracks for its soundtrack. The film achieved worldwide commercial success and secured four Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Malek.

The live collection Live Around the World, documenting Lambert performances, arrived in October 2020. The next major undertaking was an expansive collector’s edition of The Miracle, expanded into a five-disc set that included additional Blu-rays, DVDs, and LPs containing previously unreleased material such as the Mercury-sung “Face It Alone,” issued as a single ahead of the October 2022 release. The band maintained a schedule of occasional tours with Lambert, performing across North America in 2023 and Japan in early 2024.