Queen shifted their music from genre to genre, but always kept it in the rock family. They started out playing progressive rock and also may have invented speed rock during this time. They then moved into a more hard rock and anthem sound with spins of classical music, opera, folk, and Spanish influence. They then tried a more disco sound with synthesizers and up-beat melodies. They ended their career in a more slow and abstract rock. Many recording studios they worked with would say that they had the most unorthodox way of recording they had ever seen in order to get the sound they wanted.

Queen had a unique sound in that they did not have a specific sound. Critics hated them for this because it was hard to categorize them. In the beginning of their career critics tried to connect them to and judge them against Led Zeppelin, but they moved past a sound where this made sense. This eclectic amount of sounds, lyrics and songs in general was due to the fact that every band member wrote songs that were added to albums, and on top of this they did not restrict their creativity, but always tried to appease fans. It was unique that every band member wrote songs in Queen, no other band at the time and very few since then have done this.

Freddie Mercury had a rare four-octave vocal range, Mercury's voice could escalate within a few short bars from a deep, dark growl all the way up to a bright, shining coloratura, he did this through various chromatic shades of tenor. This was almost unheard of before Freddie, most vocalists only have a range from 1.5 octaves to 2 octaves.

Queen has made some of the most memorable and iconic songs known today. One of which is Bohemian Rhapsody, an operatic rock anthem that is nearly 6 minutes long, the first of its kind. Being both opera and rock had not been done before this and was an innovation of Freddie mercury and Queen. It is now one of the most well known and parodied songs ever, and operatic harmonies and scales have since been used in music compositions outside of opera. I Want to Break Free is another hit that made history. In their music video for this song the members of queen all dressed up in drag (which was Roger Taylor's idea) and all seemed to live together as women in the video. This video was the first music video to be banned from MTV because they saw this as inappropriate and made people uncomfortable, but Queen did not give up on their artistic vision and message and instead allowed the video to be banned. It was later unbanned when it was pointed out as unjust. MTV also had a problem with Queen's song Radio Ga Ga because they interpreted the song as bashing television and telling people to listen to the radio, so this song was also banned from MTV for a time, until they changed their minds on this as well. Their songs We Are The Champions and We Will Rock You are also used daily as sports anthems at events.

Freddie Mercury was known for his audience interaction, we would do vocal exorcises with the audience to make them a part of the experience. This would captivate anyone watching and was seen as innovative and legendary by many other bands at the time.

Brian May (Queen's guitarist) built his own guitar that he uses for every show, he named it The Red Special. Since he made his own guitar he was able to create his own unique sound for it. The guitar used in all of Queen's songs for that reason has a unique sound, the guitar has been described as having a warmer tone and has less of a squeal than any other guitar.

Back To Start

Link to Written Description