Queen

At the start of the ‘70s, Farrokh Bulsara was already known as Freddie in the classrooms of Ealing Technical College & School of Art, though he hadn’t yet fully embraced his new surname. He took up ‘Mercury’ when he finally joined the group “Smile”, having been a huge fan of the band. He convinced the two main members, Brian May (vocals and guitar) and Roger Taylor (vocals and drums), to rename the group “Queen”, just a short time before the arrival of drummer John Deacon. The four men were united by a passion for rock’n’roll, though they quickly developed ambitions beyond the usual pub gigs. May commented “I saw The Who and Jimi Hendrix, and I was taken aback because they were so extravagant! They had a dangerous feel about them, the music was so loud, the show was dazzling… You never really knew what to expect. We wanted to give people those emotions that we’d felt as kids. Before we even started playing, we had a very clear goal. And we had a taste for risk. That's why we put a lot in our shows, with huge sets and huge light shows... And that's also why we liked to make a lot of noise!"

Roger Taylor won’t be the last to remind us that Queen as a group transcended the individual talent of its members. All of them, Mercury included, tried their luck with solo careers, but none succeeded in outshining the group: “We were a real group, and you can’t say that for a lot of bands. Normally, there’s a leader who does everything and overshadows the others… Freddie would always insist “I’m not the only member of the band.” Even with such a great singer and composer, we were an equal band and everybody contributed enormously. It was one of the secrets to Queen’s success. We were a close-knit team where everyone was important. Everyone composed, everyone played several instruments, we could even take over from each other on the keyboards or guitars while working on a song..."

Brian May admitted that Queen’s risk-taking made it difficult starting out and it was only with a “last chance” album that they finally found success: "I’m proud of all the albums we ever recorded. But I have a particular fondness for A Night at the Opera, which kicked off a successful period for the group. We were finally able to benefit from all the means to express ourselves. They started giving us time and a lot of money, while we were almost broke when we had started recording the album. We’d racked up some huge debts. We signed with a new manager, John Reed, and he told us what we’d always dreamt of hearing: "I'll take care of all your financial problems, but you’d better record the best album you've ever made. An album that’ll change the world!" We felt free from then on, and this album is like a painting that contains all the colours we wanted to include."