History Music / QueenBand

* BerserkButton: Brian and Roger's commentary for ''Queen Rock Montreal'' reveals that, at this point, Freddie was emphatically ''not'' pleased about making a concert film, didn't really get on with the director and thought the cameramen were getting in the way. Since the plan was to take footage from both nights' shows, he [[BoredOnBoard tried to make a mess of that by wearing trousers on one night and shorts on the second]].

* TheRedStapler: ''{{Good Omens}}'' features a running gag about CDs turning into "The Best of Queen" if they're left in a car long enough, name dropping several songs along the way. At the time, there wasn't a Queen album that had every song listed, but fans of the book made such an uproar that one was created.

*** YMMV, "Delilah" is one of the few Queen songs that this troper can't stand.

*** He did, however, once openly admit that Bohemian Rhapsody's lyrics have no real meaning to them. Another One Bites The Dust would be another example of a Queen song with (presumably) no real lyrical meaning.

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM Under Pressure]]", the vastly famous collaboration between Queen and DavidBowie. The bass riff was later sampled by VanillaIce.

* EverythingsBuiltWithLEGO: Lego versions of Queen in Lego RockBand. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome It is the awesomest thing in the history of awesome]].

* CriticalDissonance: Their popularity with the music press was inversely proportionate to their popularity with their audiences. By the onset of the 1980s, they could have legitimately claimed to be the biggest band in the world, but at the same time ''Rolling Stone'' was denouncing them as "the world's first fascist rock band".

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: The cover art for their ''News of the World'' album, drawn by Frank Kelly Freas, shows the band's lifeless bodies tumbling from the hand of a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds wide-eyed giant robot]] that does not seem to understand why its new playthings have stopped moving.

* NeverLiveItDown: For a while, it was their decision to perform at Sun City. Mostly that's forgotten, but it caused a massive uproar at the time.

* VillainProtagonist: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Put Out The Fire" & "Tie Your Mother Down" all qualify to some extent. "Tie Your Mother Down" seems harmless enough, locking the girl's father out of the house and tying down her mother is one thing, but the line "take your little brother swimming with a brick" pushes it over the line into this.

All members of the band were songwriters, approaching [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly wildly different styles]], from straight-up HardRock, GlamRock, ProgressiveRock, HeavyMetal, disco[=/=]{{Funk}}, pop, rockabilly, NewWave and SynthPop, going all the way between 1 and 7 on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness. While all bandmembers shared an eclectic approach to songwriting and a tendency for experiments, generally speaking:

* The other band members have observed that Deacon was less influenced by bands like LedZeppelin or TheWho than the rest of them and had preferred {{Music/Soul}} and American {{Funk}} music in his youth. As a result a lot of his songs have a kind of Motown pop style ("You're My Best Friend", "Misfire") or a funky, bass-driven sound ("Another One Bites the Dust"). He also wrote several ballads, including "Spread Your Wings", "You and I" and "Friends Will Be Friends" (the last one in collaboration with Freddie, with whom he also co-wrote "The Miracle").

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4_Z84-rRE Flash]]" (ThemeTune to the 1980 ''FlashGordon'' movie) with samples of [[BrianBlessed BRIAN BLESSED]]. FLASH! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH-AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

* 1980 - ''FlashGordon'' (official soundtrack to the film)

* "[[http://www.mtvmusic.com/queen/videos/18187/bohemian_rhapsody.jhtml Bohemian Rhapsody]]". Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality... Most recognized for it's mock operatic middle section, the song stayed at the top of the charts for 9 weeks and was to some extent Queen's breakthrough single. It also resurrected Queen's damaged popularity in America when it was featured in ''Wayne's World''.

* BadassMustache: Freddie Mercury.

* VillainProtagonist: "Bohemian Rhapsody".

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM Don't Stop Me Now]]", like the song above, is best known for being an important element of the pub scene in ''ShaunOfTheDead''. It is also one of [[[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTo-wFfIXKo the best songs to be synced in Mario]] EVER. Tonight, I'm going to have myself a real good time. I feel aliiiiii-iiiiiii-iiiiiii-iiiiiiiive. Voted the greatest driving song ever by the viewers of ''TopGear''.

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM Don't Stop Me Now]]", like the song above, is best known for being an important element of the pub scene in ''ShaunOfTheDead''. Tonight, I'm going to have myself a real good time. I feel aliiiiii-iiiiiii-iiiiiii-iiiiiiiive. Voted the greatest driving song ever by the viewers of ''TopGear''.

* "[[http://www.mtvmusic.com/queen/videos/18187/bohemian_rhapsody.jhtml Bohemian Rhapsody]]" Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality...

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk We Will Rock You]]" (Weeeee will, weeee will rock you! <STOMP STOMP CLAP> <STOMP STOMP CLAP>)and "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sogKUx_q7ig We Are The Champions]]"(WEEEEEEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS.) (Dual A-side, commonly played one after another on the radio)

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jtpf8N5IDE Who Wants To Live Forever]]", used, among others, for ''{{Highlander}}''. Not to mention [[WhoWantsToLiveForever it is]] a TropeNamer.

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMz-wi50ACU Killer Queen]]"
* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEI4U5KyAS0 Radio Ga Ga]]", which gave its name to [[LadyGaga a certain pop singer]] in 2009.
* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE Another One Bites The Dust]]": Their best-selling single.

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM Under Pressure]]", the vastly famous collaboration between Queen and DavidBowie.

* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiot1P3-Hng I Was Born To Love You]]''

* 1980 - ''The Game''

* ClothesMakeTheLegend: Freddie's white slacks and yellow jacket.

* CreatorBacklash: The aforementioned "It's a Hard Life" video? May isn't a big fan of it and Taylor outright hates it, calling it "the worst music video ever" on the ''Greatest Hits 2'' commentary. They've both admitted loving the song, though.

*** Whatever his current sentiments, rumour has it that Brian wanted nothing to do with the song initially when it was being recorded, and it took a bit of convincing on Freddie's part to get him to throw in a guitar solo. Which explains why, outside the solo, there's hardly any guitar on it
** Freddie was not pleased with the sound of the Wurlitzer electric piano, which John insisted on playing on "You're My Best Friend". Freddie preferred the sound of the acoustic piano. He still loved the song itself, though

* EightiesHair: John Deacon's afro (seen in the "Radio Ga Ga" video) has to count.

*** Critics at the time had always equated Queen with fascism, due to the hold Freddie had over the audience coming as one, and due to the critics' dismissal of the kind of arena rock Queen did so well. WordOfGod mentions that One Vision (wel, apart from the "[[RuleOfFunny fried chicken]]" line) is about MartinLutherKingJr.

* PopStarComposer: Queen wrote songs for ''The Highlander'', ''Flash Gordon the Movie'', and a new edition of ''Metropolis''.

* ReclusiveArtist: Freddie was one to a certain extent. In contrast to his famously outgoing stage persona, he was quite introverted when he wasn't performing, giving few interviews in comparison to Brian and Roger and mostly keeping to himself (it wasn't publicly revealed that he had AIDS, much less that he was dying, until a day before his death). Since 1997, John has retreated from the music business and public view completely.
* RefugeInAudacity: "Fat Bottomed Girls". And the promotional stunts of the era, [[MsFanservice with 50 naked women riding bicycles]]. And to top it off, the outrageous (and outrageously expensive), [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll cocaine-fueled]] promotional party they held in New Orleans to promote the ''Jazz'' album.

* {{Glam Rock}}: one of the longest lasting bands from this genre, along with {{David Bowie}} and roxy Music they epitomized the artsy side of the genre, although they were much heavier and operatic.

** [[OrIsIt Or Is It?]]