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whats the deal with Brian May...I don't get it!


samzadgan

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Uhhhh...Journey? Bob Seger? Bad Company? Jefferson Starship? Rush?


C'mon...Pillsbury Pastry music? I'm not the biggest fan or anything (I don't own any of their singles or albums) but they were hardly that.
:rolleyes:



Other than Rush, none of that pretended to be more than big, dumb rock. Queen and Mr. Loaf added the whole "whiff of pretension" to the whole overblown and dumb aspect. Yes without musical sophistication, AC/DC without the subtlety. :lol:

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Consider me untrustworthy.


Now, I get that BM is a pretty decent guitarist - or was, twenty some odd years ago when he made records, but gawd, Queen is everthing bad about 70's rock rolled into one nasty candy ass cinabon. They gave legitimacy to the rise of punk.

 

 

You have to be joking.

 

Nobody - NOBODY - made music like they did.

 

Complex vocal harmonies, incredible guitar orchestration, downright proto-metal riffs and sappy tongue-in-cheek pop often times in the same song - 'Killer Queen' is a perfect example. The same band that wrote 'Ogre Battle' wrote 'You're My Best Friend' a year later. I can't think of another band outside of The Beatles that had the audacity and chops to pull off what they did - they came out with a fully realized and incredibly unique sound, and they did it consistently for longer than The Beatles did.

 

And if you ever were lucky enough to see them live (I was) they could pull it all off there too.

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You have to be joking.


Nobody - NOBODY - made music like they did.


Complex vocal harmonies, incredible guitar orchestration, downright proto-metal riffs and sappy tongue-in-cheek pop often times in the same song - 'Killer Queen' is a perfect example. The same band that wrote 'Ogre Battle' wrote 'You're My Best Friend' a year later. I can't think of another band outside of The Beatles that had the audacity and chops to pull off what they did - they came out with a fully realized and incredibly unique sound, and they did it consistently for longer than The Beatles did.


And if you ever were lucky enough to see them live (I was) they could pull it all off there too.



I'm a huge fan also :)

One of the few (arguably only) bands in history where all 4 members were virtuosos at their instruments, all 4 members could sing solid harmonies, all 4 members could write songs, and all 4 members wrote at least one internationally recognized hit song. I wouldn't say I loved everything they released, but I loved a lot of it... enough to say they are among my favorite bands of all time.

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Other than Rush, none of that pretended to be more than big, dumb rock. Queen and Mr. Loaf added the whole "whiff of pretension" to the whole overblown and dumb aspect. Yes without musical sophistication,
AC/DC without the subtlety
.
:lol:

 

I don't think you understand what subtlety is...or AC/DC for that matter.

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I heard B May used super light guitar strings... 8's or lighter.

 

I never got into the gothic vocals or the gayness, but as far as being on the top of the bands they are definitely on the list. Brian May is definitely a top notch player. Check out some of the lessons he gives on YouTube about his playing.

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Another thing to consider for Queen - yea they had a lot of bombast and pomp going on like a lot of bands in the 70's - but they were probably the only band that was in on the 'joke'. If you're laughing at how ridiculous it all is, you're laughing with them, not at them.

 

One of the big things with Queen is that they take all of the overblown aspects and focus it in with really great songwriting/production and hard hitting riffs, sick solos etc... and more often then not keep it pared down to 5 mins. They never wasted an entire side of an album on one song or anything, which is amazing considering how many bands took up entire sides of albums to make a song with less ideas than any one Queen song.

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Queen is pomp and bombast? ... are you talking about the music or the live show?

Live shows in the 70's and 80's were often actually about entertaining the audience.
Many current bands could take a hint.
Queen entertained like no other. And it was good.

The music?
Well, if overdubs are bombast, then so are Les Paul and Mary Ford.

If powerful vocals are bombast, then so are Iggy Pop, Mike Patton and Stevie Wonder

If bombast includes: signing on pitch, on time and laying down a groove so wide and deep you could slide a semi sideways thru the song, then let there be more bombast in this world.

Queen was a damn good band, marvelous in the recording studio, and wrote very memorable songs.

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Sweet?
:idk:

 

I'm a really big fan of The Sweet too. :phil: But if I had to pick one or the other, the nod would go to Queen. They have similar lineups - power trio plus front man...

 

Brian Connolly was a good singer. Freddie Mercury is a legendary one.

Steve Priest is a good bass player. So is John Deacon. This would actually be tough to call IMO.

Andy Scott is a good guitarist, but again, Brian May is a legendary one.

Mick Tucker vs Roger Taylor is another tough call IMO. Tucker was much better than he was generally given credit for.

 

Sweet had quite a run of powerpop singles gems, but it was mostly material that was written for them by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Queen wrote their own stuff from the get-go. Similar approaches to the high harmony vocals though... in fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Sweet, who first hit in the UK in '71, was somehow influential to Queen in that respect, although I have no evidence to support that hypothesis.

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You're on the internet dude. don't try to think rationally about why you don't like something. Just talk condescending to everybody about it, and later that night stroke your dick while wimpering "meh, meh, meh, meh, I don't get it, meh meh meh, this similar but less popular artist is better, meh meh meh"

 

 

Lol. Cheers!

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I'm not a Queen fan but I actually thought Brian May outperformed most of the other 'legends'!

 

That seems to be his job lately.

 

As for Queen v The Seventies, they were far less self-important than other 70s one name bands. Ego through the roof, yes, but it was always treated as silly pop music played with enthusiasm and talent. Most of those other "lamestream" rock bands played everything straight and didn't have Queen's ginormous chops to justify their bombast. At the least, they were in a different category.

 

And the punks hated... (drum roll) The Eagles and Pink Floyd. One of the dudes in the Sex Pistols had a Floyd shirt that he added the words "I hate" to, above the logo. He wore it to the try out, and it may have even helped him get the gig.

 

Meanwhile, the punks loved Syd. Because he's cool and Waters Floyd isn't. :p

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Brian May is a dude who took time off from school to be in Queen, and then went back to finish his PhD in AstroPhysics later on.
Maybe his guitar playing would have been more impressive if he finished school first?


the dude's got sick licks, rad riffs, and avoided much of the indulgence that bores prog rock. Queen wrote lots of fun songs, and were totally tongue in cheek about everything they did. I particularly like his guitar tones in solos.

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These "I don't like _____ band" threads are ridiculous. If you're not into classic rock, chances are you aren't going to like a band that's considered classic right am I right? I personally am not a big fan of rap, so doesn't it go without saying that I'm not going to be into Snoop Dog? OP I'm assuming you're into metal by your rig right? Well {censored} I'm guessing Queen just isn't the type of music you like in the first place well is it...

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You have to be joking.


Nobody - NOBODY - made music like they did.


Complex vocal harmonies, incredible guitar orchestration, downright proto-metal riffs and sappy tongue-in-cheek pop often times in the same song - 'Killer Queen' is a perfect example. The same band that wrote 'Ogre Battle' wrote 'You're My Best Friend' a year later. I can't think of another band outside of The Beatles that had the audacity and chops to pull off what they did - they came out with a fully realized and incredibly unique sound, and they did it consistently for longer than The Beatles did.


And if you ever were lucky enough to see them live (I was) they could pull it all off there too.

 

 

THIS.

 

Queen is arguably the most creative and unique Rock band of all time. And Brian May was at the epicenter of all of it. Hs tastefulness and complete control over his sound was and still is a thing to behold. The man is awesome.

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These "I don't like _____ band" threads are ridiculous. If you're not into classic rock, chances are you aren't going to like a band that's considered classic right am I right? I personally am not a big fan of rap, so doesn't it go without saying that I'm not going to be into Snoop Dog? OP I'm assuming you're into metal by your rig right? Well {censored} I'm guessing Queen just isn't the type of music you like in the first place well is it...

 

 

Well, this turned out to be a bad idea...it was just a question; and i also asked for Queen fans to direct towards the right songs to check out...but instead i get boxed into a corner for oblivious to good music and being a metal head...for the record, i may lean on the metal side, but i also listen to Blues, Rock, Prog Rock and Persian Folk music...and no Slash or Zakk are not my favorite guitarists, that list would include Andres Segovia, Wes Montgomery, SRV, Albert King, Mikael Akerfeldt, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Peter Green and bunch of others that i cant recall right now.

 

for the guys who posted clips of queen, thanks, i will check them out.

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