When I first heard "Keep on Believing" by Grand Prix, I thought it was a new Queen single - combination of the guitar lead-up to the chorus, the anthemic chorus, and the guy actually sounds like Freddie (but only in the chorus).
Also I think the guitar solo to "Cosmos Rocking" sounds like the "go,go,..go johny , go, go" section from Chuck Berry's "Johny B Goode"
I think thats largely due to the style of the song - its just straightforward rock n roll - a 3 chord affair exactly like Johnny B Goode and other songs of that era and Brian plays a solo in keeping with that style.
Its nigh on impossible to play a song like that and NOT sound like Johnny B Goode - listen most of Chuck Berry's other songs to confirm this, hehe!
An Extremely Nice Chap wrote:
You might have heard some songs of which you think they sound like a lot like a certain Queen song. I don't mean: It sounds like Queen (like for instance all of Valensia's stuff, Muse, etc). I'm neither talking about covers or songs with a sample of a Queen song, but for instance songs like these:
- Fallin' by Alicia Keys; the piano playing starting at 22 sec is close to the piano on We Are The Champions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=712cMG7DYY0&feature
You don't necessarily have to agree with these examples, but maybe you can come up with some more?
I remember hearing that Fallin' was based on some classical piece and I guess that Freddie could have used the same source. He did after all steal the beginning of It's A Hard Life from the opera Pagliacci.
A moderately famous band from Northern Ireland were influenced by, and sounded a bit like Queen. They were called Cruella de Ville and, according to Wiki, guitarist Colin Muinzer "modelled his guitar playing on Brian May of Queen. When EMI signed the band, Queen heard Colum perform "Gypsy Girl" solo, and he reported that May really liked it." Queen's Let Me Entertain You features the lyrics "I'll Cruella de Vil You!", so it may be the band took their name from that, or, of course, from the original Disney source. Gypsy Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwdba7AUQ1E