by Christa Martin

Created on: January 10, 2011

To suggest that someone review Queen as a band would be akin to asking a magazine writer to offer up a rating on Shakespeare's complete works. It has already been established that Queen is still one of the most influential rock bands ever to have formed, and graced with the three-octave range of Freddy Mercury's distinctive voice, Queen offers a benchmark to musicians who have been in the game for years, as well as up-and-comers. 

Not only did Queen play classic rock hits such as "We Will Rock You" and countless others, they also explored and mixed other genres of music into their albums. A Night At The Opera offers up tracks from at least four different genres. There are the hard rock songs like "Death on Two Legs" and "I'm in Love With My Car", a folky number called "'39" on which Brian May sings, there is the hauntingly operatic ballad,  "Love of My Life", and a couple of numbers which mimic the Dixieland jazz style, such as "Good Company" and "Seaside Rendezvous", which was incidentally created with only the voices of Mercury and Taylor (drummer).

By far the most well-known and classic example of Queen's work is "Bohemian Rhapsody" also found on the album, which was released in 1975, and made it to number one on the UK Singles Chart, where it stayed for nine weeks. It then made a reappearance in the charts in 1992, eighteen years later, when it was included in the soundtrack to the movie "Wayne's World".  

Queen and, in particular, Freddy Mercury, also broke ground in terms of sexuality. In a society where homosexuality was a dirty secret, Queen and Mercury challenged the repressive nature of the mainstream media. Hits like "I Want to Break Free" and "Killer Queen" offered a light-hearted yet sincere attempt to introduce the world to alternative sexuality and encouraged the topic to be brought out in the open without hitting their audience over the head with gay rights arguments. Despite the fact that not all members of Queen were gay, their hilarious attempt at female impersonation on the music video for "I Want to Break Free" was an open door for debate and discussion on the subject of gender roles and stereotyping, and should be recognised as one of the important turning points for the Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transsexual (GLBT) rights movement.

Freddy Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon epitomised the type of synergy and harmony a professional band should have, working together to create the most impressive list of hits the world has been privileged to have heard. Some would argue that The Beatles are the most influential and successful band in the history of music. However, The Beatles split up during their career by choice, due to differing wants and needs. Queen remained a band and released music even after the death of their front man and avatar, Freddy Mercury, and honoured him in their subsequent solo careers. Queen were professional, skilled musicians who almost certainly had their disagreements, but never let it get in the way of the music. Their originality and ingenuity is something to inspire future generations of musicians, and their contribution to music as a personal, emotional and spiritual experience can never be reviewed, but should be celebrated and venerated by all who truly appreciate the art and skill of making music.

References:

Wikipedia - A Night At The Opera

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_at_the_Opera_(Q ueen_album)

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