Not too far from where I live, there’s a disused petrol station under a bypass that’s been turned into a Chinese restaurant. It’s always busy and very popular and everyone knows about it. Inside, the owners also run an antiques shop, and its rammed full of chintzy, gaudy ornaments and decorations and shiny things. The thing is, the food at this place is fucking awful. The shiny decorations and all the tat distracts you from the fact that it’s actually really bad. 10 minutes down the road there’s a town full of really good places to eat, none of them have the distracting stuff, but they’re a million times better. Every time we drive past this Chinese and the car park’s full I think ‘why don’t people just go a bit further and get something good’ and it baffles me. That Chinese restaurant, that’s Queen that is. My first 1/5 and that’s just for the song Spread Your Wings, which is passable and because there’s no 0 option.
Imagine a band that played South Africa for a huge payday at the height of apartheid.
Imagine a band writing a song about Live Aid and not donating the revenue from it.
Imagine a band turning a charity single into a double-a side so that they could least get half the revenue.
Imagine.
They’re a 2. They’re a perfectly fine fun-time band, I wouldn’t storm out the room if one of their songs came on. But I have no desire to listen to them. I don’t actively hate any of their songs, but at the same time, I don’t actually “like” any of their songs. They’re just there.
Have never quite understood the mad fandom that surrounds them.
Freddie was a good front-man. I will never watch that Bohemian Rhapsody film.
Only know the singles. A few cracking ones (I Want To Break Free, Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody), some are ok, some are absolute wank (Don’t Stop Me Now).
Let’s be honest, the bass line in Under Pressure is better used in Ice, Ice Baby.
I like Queen. I like camp and ridiculousness. I like that tonnes of people like them and I like bands that mix pop melodies with something weird. I think their best song is their Christmas song.
I never listen to them or particularly like many of their songs but they’re still good and 4/5. I guess Freddie Mercury 4/5 the rest of Queen 1/5 or something.
