History Trivia / QueenBand

* ''Trivia/{{Queen|Album}}''

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The band's Creator/ElektraRecords backlog went out of print in North America in 1984 thanks to Queen taking the material with them when they made a ChannelHop to Creator/CapitolRecords. The albums wouldn't be reissued in the region until Creator/HollywoodRecords' expanded remasters in 1991. This had the knock-on effect of forcing Elektra to withdraw their CD releases of ''Music/{{News of the World|Queen}}'', ''Music/{{The Game|Queen}}'', and ''Greatest Hits'' just one year after they came out in 1983. Because of their rarity and their better regard among audiophiles compared to later CD releases, the Elektra discs are highly coveted among collectors.

* TropeNamers:
** BohemianParody
** ThunderboltsAndLightning
** WhoWantsToLiveForever

* CashCowFranchise: The band at least takes great pains to advertise their shows as "Queen + <singer>" to make it clear that neither Paul Rodgers nor Music/AdamLambert are replacements for the dear departed Freddie Mercury. Reportedly Freddie Mercury said that if anyone could/should replace him as frontman, he would want it to be Paul Rodgers.

* PromotedFanboy: In 1968, Tim Staffell and a friend formed the band ''Smile''. Another friend of his (and fellow Ealing Art College student), Farrokh ("Freddie") Bulsara, became one of the band's greatest fans, soon pestering the band with suggestions for their shows and repeatedly stating his wish to become a rock star himself. When Staffell left the band, ''Smile'' was about to disband. Bulsara stepped in and, changing his name to Mercury, persuaded the remaining ''Smile'' members to 1) continue, 2) allow him to join as lead singer, and 3) change the band's name to Music/{{Queen}}.

** Music/DavidBowie recorded backing vocals for "Cool Cat", but ended up dissatisfied with the results and asked the band to remove them. As this happened just days before ''Music/HotSpace''[='s=] planned release date, Queen had to undergo a bit of ScheduleSlip to comply with Bowie's request. This early version of "Cool Cat" would become a popular bootleg among Queen fans and Bowie fans alike after it was discovered on a Creator/ElektraRecords test pressing of ''Hot Space''.

* BuryYourArt: [[Music/LedZeppelin Robert Plant]]'s performance of "Music/{{Innuendo}}" was one of several segments from the Music/FreddieMercury Tribute Concert that were omitted from the VHS and UsefulNotes/LaserDisc releases due to time constraints. When the band sought to restore these songs for the UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} release, Plant himself asked them to leave "Innuendo" out thanks to his dissatisfaction with his performance.

* NamesTheSame: Music/DuranDuran also has a drummer called Roger Taylor. To avoid confusion, Queen's Taylor can be addressed by his full name, Roger ''Meddows'' Taylor.
** There is a separate Brian May, an Australian who composes [[Film/MadMax film scores]].
** In 2018, Brian May co-authored a book on photography with one Professor Roger Taylor.

* BuryYourArt: [[Music/LedZeppelin Robert Plant]]'s performance of "Music/{{Innuendo}}" was one of several segments from the Music/FreddieMercury Tribute Concert that were omitted from the VHS and UsefulNotes/LaserDisc releases due to time constraints. When the band sought to restore these songs for the UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} release, Plant himself asked the band to leave "Innuendo" out thanks to his dissatisfaction with his performance.

* BuryYourArt: [[Music/LedZeppelin Robert Plant]] hated his take on "Innuendo" at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, so it's omitted on home releases.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
** Robert Plant [[OldShame hated his take on "Innuendo"]] at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, so it's omitted on home releases.
** The Creator/ElektraRecords [=CDs=] of ''Music/{{News of the World|Queen}}'', ''Music/{{The Game|Queen}}'', and ''Greatest Hits'' went out of print just one year after they came out in 1983, owed to the band making a Stateside ChannelHop to Creator/CapitolRecords and taking their backlog with them. Because of their rarity, the discs are highly coveted among collectors.

** When the 1991 Creator/HollywoodRecords remasters made for the US market were released outside of North America a few years later as the "Digital Master Series", the bonus tracks were omitted and the packaging simply reused that of the original Creator/{{EMI}} and Creator/ParlophoneRecords [=CDs=] rather than featuring the new designs.

** In 1998, the band marked the 25th anniversary of [[Music/QueenAlbum their first album]] with the BoxedSet ''The Crown Jewels'', featuring their first eight albums in mini-LP sleeves.

* CreatorBreakdown: The entire ''Innuendo'' album is widely considered to be Freddie saying his goodbyes. Two of the songs are farewells to his beloved cats.
** "These Are the Days of Our Lives", "I'm Going Slightly Mad", and "The Show Must Go On" were recorded not long before Music/FreddieMercury's death of AIDS—all released on an album named ''Innuendo''.
** "The Show Must Go On" was done in a very interesting way. While the other bandmembers were ambivalent, doubting that Mercury could hit the high notes of the song in his condition, Freddie downed a measure of vodka, said "I'll [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] do it, darling!" and nailed the vocal line in one take with no problems. [[DyingMomentOfAwesome Quite a note to go out on, really]].
*** It also bears mentioning that the song was written by Music/BrianMay, most likely his way of coping with his friend and workmate's inevitable death. Freddie is having a Creator Breakdown singing Brian's Creator Breakdown.

** In the UK, Queen originally released their music through EMI/Parlophone, but they kept their masters and signed a more lucrative deal with Creator/IslandRecords in 2011. Thus, when Universal merged with EMI and had to divest Parlophone to Warner, their music stayed with Island, with 'new' releases being handled by Virgin EMI Records.
** In the US and Canada, Queen signed to Creator/ElektraRecords and WEA and released their music under those labels until 1984's ''The Works'', when they moved to Creator/CapitolRecords (an EMI subsidiary), taking the rights to their backlog with them, as a result of the Warner Home Video Rental Drive and Elektra's wariness towards ''Music/HotSpace''. That deal would go on until 1991, when the band signed a new deal with Disney's Creator/HollywoodRecords (which just so happened to be distributed by Elektra until 1995, when Polygram, and later Universal, took over), taking their back catalog with them. Now, Universal distributes Queen's music worldwide.

** The Creator/ElektraRecords [=CDs=] of ''News of the World'', ''Queen's Greatest Hits'', and ''The Game'' went out of print after Queen switched to Creator/CapitolRecords for U.S. distribution in 1984—just one year after the CD format was introduced outside of Japan. However, Queen didn't release any re-releases of their albums prior to ''The Works'' on any format in America between this and their signing on to Hollywood Records in 1991, and while Hollywood did finally start giving Queen's entire backlog reissues in America from that point onward, they've all been remasters of varying quality. As a result, an American buyer's only hope of getting any of Queen's pre-1984 work on a flat-transfer release is to search out the long-out-of-print Elektra pressings, and even then the vast majority of albums not released on CD before 1991 require [[NoExportForYou import copies]] for that particular format.

** The band were tapped to score the film adaptation of ''Literature/TheHotelNewHampshire'', but backed out partway through to focus more on ''Music/TheWorks''. One song written for the film, "Keep Passing Through Open Windows", would be repurposed for the album.

* ChristmasRushed: A failed example. ''Innuendo'' was supposed to be available for Christmas 1990, but was delayed because of Freddie Mercury's health. It was eventually released in February of 1991, nine months before Mercury's death.

* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Although the controversy is now forgotten today, one of the things that harmed the band's American standing in the mid-1980s was their decision to play nine concerts at the Sun City resort in South Africa, breaking a cultural boycott that was implemented because of the country's racist policies. These shows proved to be consequential for the band: They were fined by the British Musicians Union, blacklisted by the United Nations and lost considerable face with critics and the general public in both Europe and America. The band told the press that they were promised that they'd be playing to an integrated crowd, although this was something that the organizers often told big-name acts to lure them to play there, and it's entirely possible that they were duped (plus Mercury's familiarity with racism in British society as a result of his Parsi heritage corroborates the idea that the band were just naïve about the issue). Although the controversy eventually subsided in Europe, particularly after their iconic performance at UsefulNotes/LiveAid just a few months later, the Sun City shows damaged their reputation in America. They did not return to widespread popularity in the US until just before Mercury died.

** While most flat-transfer [=CDs=] of the band's discography weren't available in the US, the opposite situation occurred with the 1991 remasters put out by Creator/HollywoodRecords, which were exclusive to the region. Outside of America, Creator/ParlophoneRecords continued repressing the original [=CDs=] from the '80s before the band made a ChannelHop to Creator/IslandRecords for the 2011 remasters. Consequently, many of the bonus tracks on the 1991 remasters (including new remixes of several songs) were only officially available to American buyers.