Freddie Mercury and Queen

[Benji]

Well, everyone loves a bit of Queen, there's no denying their excellence and the influence they have really, whether you like them or not (if not you're inhuman), they made damn catchy and technically sound music.

So, with today being sixty years since the birth of Freddie, I thought I'd sit down and ask, what are your first memories of Queen?

I can remember when I was about five or six, I always used to put on my dads old vinyls and CD's and listen to them for hours, the one main one was a Queen album along with Paul Weller. To this day I won't forget the day my dad sat down with me and taught me all about his favourite memories of Queen. Over the years I've grown more appreciative of them but they tend to not get a lot of play from me because I'm too busy obsessing over my favourite new bands of the moment.

But I'll always remember that they are basically the reason I'm into music. Clichéd as it sounds, they're the most important band in the world for me.

[GoGo Yubari]

Uhm, well. Probably "We Are the Champions" or "We Will Rock You" being used in a movie somewhere. My first memories of Queen are really, unfortunately dull.

[MDK]

I have very early memories because my Nan was a huge fan of them back in the day. We used to watch Queen Greatest Flix/Hits/Whatever it is called.

[YI]

Caviar and cigarettes, well versed in etiquette.

BEST...LYRIC...EVER.

Queen are fucking immense. I have few Queen related memories though.

Edited September 5, 2006 by Mr. Kurt McKenna

[stokeriño]

Freddie's even been immortalised in anime form:

Hail Freddie! >_>

[Benji]

Anyone just realise a vague similarity facially between Freddie and Hagar from Final Fight? >_>

[Guest This is classic Ringy]

My first memory was my dad driving like a lunatic and "Can't Stop Me Now" coming on the radio and I was like "what's that?" and he said "some fag".

To this day, I never forget that moment.

[Liam]

I'm waiting for a Dragsy "over-rated" post

But, to me, Queen are awesome. Songs like Killer Queen, The Show Must Go On, Crazy Little Thing Called Love...just excellent stuff.

[Number of the Breast]

Queen kick bum. First real memories would be "Flash! AaaaaAAAAaaah!" and seeing the "I Want To Break Free" video and asking my mum how she didn't know he was gay.

[stokeriño]

"Flash! AaaaaAAAAaaah!"

The simple fact that, in my experience, very rarely will someone be able to say "Flash" without someone else adding "AaaaAAAaah" on the end goes to show something.

Not quite sure what, but something.

[Kaney]

Wayne and Garth rocking out to Bohemian Rhapsody. All other answers are null and void.

[Guest shibbycath]

queen are really really great.

my favourite queen memory is from gr. 7 when we had to make a music video as a school project. so me and a few friends decided to do 'bicycle race' as our music video. it was just us riding bikes around acting ridiculous, crashing into things. we got a C-, but it was so much fun.

[Tarheels.]

"Flash! AaaaaAAAAaaah!"

The simple fact that, in my experience, very rarely will someone be able to say "Flash" without someone else adding "AaaaAAAaah" on the end goes to show something.

Not quite sure what, but something.

[Liam]

Having looked at my g/f's Queen Greatest Hits, I forgot exactly how many awesome songs they actually DID do.

I'm gonna nick it off her..>_>

[TMM]

My first memory of Queen is just sitting watching the concert at Wembley Stadium in 1986 which my dad went to. I just remember being....young, dunno how young and sitting there using video cases as a drumset.

Same as what Benji said, they're easily the most important band ever to me.

[YI]

Having looked at my g/f's Queen Greatest Hits, I forgot exactly how many awesome songs they actually DID do.

I'm gonna nick it off her..>_>

[Cactus 3:16]

You can't beat a bit of Bo Rhap.

The weird thing with Queen is that people always say how great they were at Live Aid, but when you compare it to their other performances, they wern't actually as good.

I went to see Brian May, Rodger Taylor and Paul Rogers about a year ago. There version of Bohemian Rhapsody was done in a cool way. They played the music and Freddie sung the first bit, then Paul Rodgers did the end bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npYnWWlBZTI

It's strange someone else singing it. But it wasn't too bad.

EDIT: Freddie sung at the very end mind. They changed the lyrics from "Nothing really matters" to "Nothing really mattered to me".

Edited September 7, 2006 by Cactus 3:16

[The Quasi Juice]

I remember as a little boy I wasn't really into music yet (because I couldn't understand a word that they were saying) but when I started to understand English more and more my dad bought a Queen collection CD. I listened to it and loved it and that made Queen my favorite band of all time and they made me appreciate music way more. I love Freddie Mercury's voice, it's just so awesome. Thanks for that link Cactus, especially the opening bit was beautiful with Mercury.

[figos]

My oldest memory is going trough my dad's greatest hits cd's, since I was only 3 when Freddie died :\ They're my favourite band and there will never be another artist who can match Mercury's Voice and songwriting brilliance IMO.

[VerbalPuke]

I can't exactly remember my first experience with Queen but it was probably hearing Under Pressure with David Bowie. My old man is a huge fan of Bowie so I remember hearing this song quite a bit. Of course there are the usual suspects like Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions, and We Will Rock You.

My favorite songs are definitely Stone Cold Crazy (that's fucking rocking) and Bicycle Race.

"I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE!" (best Queen lyrics...ever.)