I've been trying to remember the order I got Queen albums in. I remember the first few - spanning from about '83 onwards. Gets a bit hazy as I borrowed copies off friends quite early on but didn't actually own them until later. I think the rest were all owned well ahead of the time Innuendo came out - which I didn't buy on release as I wasn't too interested by then. All on cassette unless noted.
GH1 (Dad's LP)
Queen 1 (Tape copy)
NOTW (WHSmiths)
AKOM (7")
Live Magic (Christmas '86 pressie)
Live Killers (Woolworths on summer holiday)
Jazz
A Night At The Opera (LP) (Same WHSmiths)
The Great Pretender (7") (Carrefour)
Queen II
SHA
I Want It All (cassingle)
The Miracle
Rare Live (VHS)
The Invisible Man (cassingle)
(around this time an Our Price bargain ooops shop opened with loads of cheap overstock... I filled by boots with loads of missing ones. Can't remember the order - although including my first CD - a sleeveless Live Magic)
The Works (Christmas '89 Pressie - the last of my memorable 'first' Queen periods)
Interested to hear yours, if you can remember!
Hi I lurk much and post rarely but this post made me think... I don't remember them all but here goes
GH
The Works and all subsequent albums on release
I borrowed (and taped... but please remember that home taping is killing music kids and you just shouldn't do it..)all the earlier albums from the local library for the princely sum of 50p, riding my bike there and back and only being able to borrow one LP a week. I remember particularly borrowing NOTW and being blown away by Its Late. Live Killers, being a double, cost me a whole English pound so was probably the last one to be borrowed. But it had the biggest impact on me because it made me understand that this band was not just a studio band but a real live in your face live outfit. (Embarrassingly my first ever concert was Haircut 100 in Bracknell Sports Centre) It was then that I determined I would see them live - Saturday at Wembley (still have the t shirt!) and to be fair I still love to hear the live recordings whether official releases or not.
My very very first CD was ADATR and I recall how different the start sounded compared to the (slightly battered) vinyl copy I had.
Eventually, and in no memorable order, I got all the vinyls and all the CDs. My Queen and Queen II vinyls were actually reissues on the fame label (probably bought at bargain basement prices in Woolies) but over the years I managed to find original copies, as well as an original Jazz with the poster insert.
It's a testament to my love of the band and all they gave to me as a teenager in the 80s that I only kept my Queen and solo vinyls. I got rid of all other vinyl and don't even have a record player for them now!
Thanks for digging out these remininiscences.
Jeez I'm old now. Those days of discovery were magical, and in my memory, always sunny
This is roughly the order in which I was exposed to Queen.
1975 Bo Rap single
1980 Don't stop Me Now single
Then I borrowed albums from my brothers: NOTW, DATR, ANATO
And from friends: Queen 1, Livekillers, Flash
And then I started buying albums starting with The Game, Sheer Heart Attack and Jazz.
The first albums I bought that hadn't been released before were Greatest Hits and then Hot Space.
I remember us having the sleeve of the Flash Gordon album but no vinyl. So I studied the song titles and info way before I heard the album.
I must have missed off the Game. That was an early one for me. FFS.
Show Must Go On (CD-single) end of 1991
Greatest Hit 1 (1992)
Greatest Hits 2 (1992 or 1993)
Living on My Own cd single (1992)
Freddie Mercury Album (full album and the one with the Malouf mix of Great Pretender, cant recall the album name)
Queen1 Queen2 SHA NATO DATR NOTW, Live Killers, The Game, Flash, Works, Magic, Miracle, Innuendo (all cd's, all albums) - bought on one and the same day somewhere in 1993-1994
MIH (CD, White Vinyl) , Heaven of Everyone double cd-single, Let me Live cd-single, You dont Fool Me cd single, A Winter's tale cd-single (I think I didnt buy TMLWKY)
Queen Live at Wembley (double CD) somewhere in 1995
and then anything else in between (Brian May Back to the Light, Another World, Roger Taylor Happiness (+vinyl 12" coloured), Bootlegs of any kind (mostly cd's), Freddie Mercury Collection, Barcelona etc.
From 2004 to mid 2017 I haven't bought a single Queen or Queen related product of any kind .... nothing nada .... I recently bought a pick-up player and only this year I bought a few items on vinyl only (Barcelona, Mr Bad Guy, Live Magic, The Complete Works Box set) - but these were all 2nd hand from Ebay.
Live Magic - bought it in Asda's.
Then Greatest Hits - I borrowed from the library.
I can't remember how it went after that, but the first video I bought was Live in Budapest.
Amazing.
Thinking about my purchase order, I'd forgotten that the first versions of most songs I heard were live and when I heard the studio versions I was a bit disappointed. TYMD, Let Me EY and Death OTL especially. I got over the latter two, but TYMD I still think lacks the excitement of the Live Magic version - and the edit makes it less fatty. Funny old world innit.
The first Queen stuff I ever had was a cassette copy of GH.
The first original cassettes I bought were Wembley '86, Queen I, ADATR, Jazz.
The first CD I bought was Queen II.
Classic Queen (Tape, new)
A Day At The Races (LP, used)
The Game (LP, used)
The Works (LP, used)
Queen II (Tape, xmas gift)
Sheer Heart Attack (Tape, new)
Made In Heaven (Tape, new)
Queen I (CD, new)
Hot Space (Tape, new)
The Game (CD, new)
A Kind Of Magic (CD, new)
Jazz (CD, new)
after that - purchases came rather quick...can't remember
In order - born in 1970 - so should make more sense!
7” - Flash after hearing it on the radio.
NOTW vinyl from WHSmiths the next weekend
Then the rest of the albums & singles (vinyl) up to and including Flash OST as soon as I could with pocket money etc.
First CD was The Works.
Then everything else on release day..
The first Queen albums I bought were ANATO and then Live Killers, on tape.
When I switched to CDs, the first I ever bought were Queen I and then Queen II. I intended to buy all the Queen albums in the order they were released but I ditched the idea soon enough. I guess I then bought The Miracle, since it was available at the Columbia Record Club, of which my mother was a member.
The first Queen VHS I bought were either WWRY (the 60 AND the 90 minutes cut!), or GH. Or all three at once.
The first Queen LP I bought was GH II. New LPs were pretty hard to come by in those days (mid 90s) in my neck of the woods, so I was really excited when I saw it!
It's funny, by the time I switched to CDs Queen were totally old hat. I only started buying their CDs when the Hollywood version of the albums came down in price on import and that was the 2000s.
I still listen to the tapes. Nostalgia.