| John S Stuart 21.12.2004 17:23 |
I too love Queen - but don't you think this is a little too sycophantic? link Queen were the first to... • "Test" De Lane Lea Studios for sound quality, while as a new band. From this, we would see the song "The Night Comes Down." (1972) • Choose their own debut single (Keep Yourself Alive) - this would normally have been done by the record company, in this case, EMI, and Elektra Records. • Make a "pop" video (Bohemian Rhapsody, 1975, directed by Bruce Gowers) • Have 4 albums within the UK Top Twenty at the same time (Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera - 1975) • Have one song which would be re-released and return to #1 in the UK charts (Bohemian Rhapsody - 1975 and 1991) • Record God Save The Queen and include it as part of their live shows (usually at the end) • Have 50 naked girls riding on bicycles (1978, for the video of Bicycle Race. They rode around Wimbledon Stadium) • Get all the senior executives of two major record companies to attend the same party (Jazz Party, New Orleans, 1979) • First to introduce audience participation in a music video - We Are The Champions. • Queen were the first to forget the words to Imagine (John Lennon, 1980) Ironically, this song would beat Bohemian Rhapsody in a poll of the most popular song of the millenium ('Bo Rhap' came second!!) • To play a gig in Brazil (March 1981) • To play in the same stadium for 3 nights (Valez Sarfield, Buenos Aires, 28 February, 1 March and 8 March 1981) • To play a live gig in Argentina (April 1981, around the time of the Falklands War, between Britain and Argentina) • To release a proper collection of their promotional videos (Greatest Flix, part of the 10th Anniversary collection) • Queen were the only band to release a video from the Rock In Rio festival on video. • To play in Melbourne, Australia, without a lighting rig (it broke down!) • Played to the largest outdoor concert ever in Ireland - Slane Castle, 1986 • Broadcast a "simulcast" between Channel Four and the Independent Radio Network in the UK. • Play a large stadium date in the Eastern Bloc (Budapest) • Release a video single in the UK. • They were also the first to get a No. 1 Video Hit! • Queen were the first to install naked lift operators at The Roof Gardens, London. • They were the first to buy their own studio (Mountain Studios) • Hold a three-day fan convention. • Premier a full length concert feature film in the Eastern Bloc (Live In Budapest) • To play three sold-out concerts at "Forest Nationale" - Brussels. • Queen were the first to use a moving lighting rig in the UK. • Have a lead singer record an Operatic album (Barcelona, with Monserrat Caballé, 1987) • To get into the Guiness Book Of Records - as the highest-paid company directors! • Create a head with five eyes (cover of The Miracle, 1989) • They got the Walt Disney Company to provide animation for a music video (These Are The Days Of Our Lives) • Releasing a true "Greatest Hits" album (Greatest Hits) with genuine hits - every song made it into at least the UK top ten (Flash was the lowest there, at No. 10, with everything else above it) • Have their entire album catalogue released simultaneously on Compact Disc. Queen's achievements • To be listened to by Dino De Laurentis (as a result, they would write the soundtrack for the film Flash Gordon) • To be thought of by Russell Mulcahy to write music for the film Highlander. • The first British band to receive an American Billboard crossover award for Another One Bites The Dust. It was also the first song to cross-over at #1 into three different categories (Disco, Rock/Pop and R&B) • The first band to have a #1 hit for the decade of the 1980's, in the USA. • The first in the 1980's to have 2 Top Ten hits in the same week - #1 and #3 in the first week of January. |
| deleted user 21.12.2004 17:30 |
Some major ass-kissers, these fellows from QOL. Although I swear I did see a Queen entry in the Guiness Book of World Records a few years ago. |
| John S Stuart 21.12.2004 17:49 |
Sorry, but I just had to post the following: link John S Stuart: Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:46 pm I too love Queen - but I find this sort of mail sickening - it's a bit like the brain-washing that takes part at a Jehovah's Wintnessess convention. Why do I need this sort of "proof" to tell me what my ears have known for years? A very similar list could be drawn up for any popular artist. Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Elton John etc. It all depends how you decide to present your information. For example, promo films existed long before "Bohemian Rhapsody" (The Beatles "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" spring to mind). "Ah - but they were film not video " I hear you cry. Yeah - so what about the Beatles "All You Need Is Love" (which was video) - as well as the numerous BBC "Top Of The Pops" and "Old Grey Whistle Test" video promos which were erased, and for most number one hit singles - try Westlife. My point is - celebrate Queen via their music. To resort to statistics to demonstrate how musically adept they are - is a bit like the language employed by a dodgy second-hand car salesman to dump an old banger on some poor gullible customers lap. Shame on you! |
| LadyMoonshineDown 21.12.2004 19:34 |
*cough* Cheers |
| LadyMoonshineDown 21.12.2004 20:03 |
We love you too Alex. ;) Cheers |
| John S Stuart 21.12.2004 20:15 |
I know I am getting older - and that I am turning into one of those "Grumpy Old Men" - but why the need for any evangelical fanaticism? Apart from that there is the twisting of truth - "beating the bootleggers" and all that crap. I really would like to see a Beatles, or an Elvis v Queen head to head. I bet that would make very interesting reading. Don't get me wrong - I really like Queen (and this mail does not dis them - but questions the sheep-like Stepfords who need this sort of bible-bashing). My simple point is let the music speak for itself. Even Freddie was suspicious of measuring records in terms of sales alone. |
| Spud 21.12.2004 20:35 |
I was about to add some sarcy remark!! but it seems I've been beaten to it by serious ones!! |
| YourValentine 22.12.2004 04:10 |
Some of these "achievements" are really funny - for example to get these executives to a party - a real memorable achievement. Not to forget - Queen are the only band whose guitar player owns 247 pairs of clogs - whose bass player never showed up for recording sessions and was still credited 1/4 on "Innuendo" - whose guitar player played record breaking 78 times the same song with Musical casts all over the world within 2 years - whose DVD Live at Milton Keynes is the most stolen item in Austrian record shops - whose guitar player and drummer not only filmed a commercial, they also filmed the commercial for the commercial |
| bellydancer 22.12.2004 06:15 |
I for one think its great that their has been a resurgence in their popularity as they were a great band. However, it gets me that all of a sudden the younger generation seem to "own" Queen just because they find them interesting all of a sudden. Being a mother of two teenagers, I'm constantly telling them when they think they are hearing a brand new song that guess what, that was released originally in the 60's, 70's or 80's and then go and prove it by pulling out a CD (or god forbid an LP!) and play it for them. Quite frankly, it gives me the s*&ts that younger people think they are the only ones who know what music is!! |
| Sebastian 22.12.2004 09:26 |
I remember speaking about something related to this the other day: we (rock listeners, composers and/or performers) complain about the fact that rock music tends to be under-rated by other kinds of musicians. I mean a classical pianist more often than not respects jazz, but it's common that they put down rock as music for mediocres. We complain about that, but we're the first in falsifying it as well and that's just pathetic. Some of those first are not even worth discussing, some slightly are: Bo Rhap being twice #1: Sorry but this is a Queen third, actually sharing that position with Bangles's Eternal Flame, which was also #1 twice (1989 and the Attomic Kitten cover in '01). But both songs were defeated by With A Little help From My Friends, the only one to be #1 in three decades (60s with the Joe cocker version, which I hate, 80s by WWW, and earlier this year by Sam & Mark), and Unchained Melody ('90 and '95 by Righteous Brothers, '02 by Gareth). Brazil and Argentina were founded in the 16th century and obviously many people played gigs there before 1981. Ok if they meant rock acts, two examples from the top off my head: Air Supply, Earth Wind And Fire. Some people argue that they didn't have the same success (which for a start is wrong), but we're not discussing success, only fact: they were first. Also Santana GH songs are not all to 10s. Bicycle topped at 11 and all in all I think only five or six ofthe GH are top tens (Bo Rhap, Killer, Seven Seas, Somebody, Best Friend, Don't Stop Me, Flash, Rockyou/Champions, AOBTD, Crazy). Btw Eagles's GH is pure hits (in the US but still counts) AOB as the first #1 of the 80s is so incorrect. Attendance - just absurd Traffic - just worse UK top ten - maybe yes. Now that's a real achievement |
| Serry... 22.12.2004 09:45 |
"Myths and legends of old British band Queen" - a long fairy tale by some of Queen fans... |
| Sebastian 22.12.2004 12:00 |
And then there's of course Bo Rhap video... I think I'll never understand it. The usual chain is: ... there were other videos before (e.g. Waterloo, btw many Abba fans claim that to be the first vdieo). To that argument people often answer "but those were just the band miming". I mean, any difference between "the band miming" and Bo Rhap? As far as I know, no. Perhaps they meant that Bo Rhap is recorded in two sets instead of only one. If so, SOS is still a pre-Bo Rhap video. If they mean success (like in the South American gigs) it's pointless because a first is a first no matter its fame. For that extent we would say that Queen's first album is A Night At The Opera, or Fred's first composition is Seven Seas Of Rhye. no, in fact, the first composition ever was Bryan Adam's Everything I Do. Yes there were others before but none of them was in the top of the UK charts for a trimester so they don't count :) |
| deleted user 22.12.2004 12:02 |
John S Stuart wrote: Am I the only one who wants to reach out for the sick bag?No :P I didn't read all that... just the first 5 lines and then I gave up! |
| deleted user 22.12.2004 12:14 |
Seb, the importance Bohemian Rhapsody-vid (which makes it new and different from all promos that were shot before) lies in its outstanding reception. It caused a huge a lot of public attention, far more so than earlier video clips. Everyone was talking about it. It contributed enormously to the success of the single and pretty much triggered a development in the music industry that made the promo video an indispensable tool of marketing. That's what makes it so important. |
| GonnaUseMyPrisoners 23.12.2004 01:16 |
Too sycophantic? Abso-syco-lutely! |
| English Bowman 23.12.2004 10:27 |
"Bo Rhap being twice #1: Sorry but this is a Queen third, actually sharing that position with Bangles's Eternal Flame, which was also #1 twice (1989 and the Attomic Kitten cover in '01). But both songs were defeated by With A Little help From My Friends, the only one to be #1 in three decades (60s with the Joe cocker version, which I hate, 80s by WWW, and earlier this year by Sam & Mark), and Unchained Melody ('90 and '95 by Righteous Brothers, '02 by Gareth)." Bo Rap was the 1st single to go to No.1 twice for the same artist, in it's original form, covers and re-recordings don't count. It is also the only single to be no 1 in 4 seperate years (again for one version) It is also the only single to be Christmas no.1 twice for the same artist. Dan |
| Sebastian 23.12.2004 12:07 |
If so then yes. |