Being somebody who only became aware of Queen when i was old enough to understand good music which was late 80's i was wondering for those who knew Queen in the 70's when did you first become aware of them and what did you think of the general press view about them at the time
I became aware of them thanks to shows like Top Of The Pops when they showed Seven Seas and Killer Queen. But funnily enough, they werent my first fave band - that was Status Quo. And then along came ANATO and all that changed.....
As for the press, I didnt pay that much attention to them. I still dont to be honest. I used to read what they said about the Queen members, the albums and singles but inevitably it wouldnt a great deal of difference. I liked them and that was all that mattered to me.
Back in the 70's the English music press loved struggling up and coming bands but despised them if they made it into the bigtime. Probably the same today. I no longer read that crap.
I didn't get into Queen until the '90s, but I learned quickly that the music press was not to be used a serious guide to quality music. It seemed they gushed on the easy winners, like The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, but despised anyone who came after a genre was established.
My admiration for Queen increased in short order when it was clear that they succeeded in spite of negative press.
There will always be gaps between what it is good (or great) and what is popular and what those "in the know" know.
Early '74 they started appearing in pop magazines like Music Star, so I became aware of them then. I used to enjoy some of the early interviews especially with Fred being interviewed by Julie Webb in the NME. These were often very funny.
After punk the NME's stance on the band became savage... Rosie Horide of course was a big champion of the band in Disc from very early on. She did some great features on the band, including their first tour of Japan. When SSOR was released I remembered seeing an article in Melody Maker which ran, 'Queen: Britain's Biggest Unknowns', so I went thru all my stack of music papers then and found it: I started collecting reviews and stuff from then on.
Melody Maker however, did run that huge double-page spread where they were trying to expose Queen and Merlin as 'hype' bands - that story featured at a crucial time early on in 1974. I remember reading interviews a week after this story ran where the band were fuming but I never saw the article until this last year when I bought that particular edition of MM. Even I raised an eyebrow when reading it... no wonder they were pissed off. MM was basically suspicious of them because they'd had huge backing and not risen from years of touring pubs.
After punk happened they got more general negative press of course but they never really had a good time with the British music press... A lot of reviews I read of live shows that I went to, well, you wonder if we both attended the same gig.
I dont really care what the press think, as it seems that they will criticize and put people down no matter how successful you are
For me Queen are one of the best artists in music history, they have a wonderful musical legacy and they have had huge influence on lots of acts in recent past
their music will live on for a very long time
I remember when i first saw Queen.
You see,i saw them as the support act to Mott The Hoople.At that point Queen were just releasing Queen II.So i ended up getting that and the first album the next day.Since then i have never looked back.
I can remember getting all thier albums from Sheer Heart Attack onwards on the very first day they were released.How Stepford is that XD
Just wondering
These days when celebs are seen taking drugs they are crucified in the press for it, was it like that back in the 70's? or was it just accepted as the norm???