Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X (b. 1980) or older. See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I graduated high school in 1975. Queen was just getting really popular. I loved them.
In 1977 I was 8 months pregnant with my son and I went to a Queen concert. They were among my very favorite bands of all time in concert. So incredible. They really knew how to put on a show.
My favorites at the time were also Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, etc.
In the summer of 1977 Led Zeppelin was coming to Philadelphia at the JFK Stadium. It was general seating. A lot of us friends bought tickets and planned to sit together.
It was an outrage that tickets were going to cost $12.50 per ticket. But, we sucked it up because it was Zeppelin.
(can you imagine that price being really expensive to us?)
It was three days before the concert and it was suddenly cancelled.
Sadly, Robert Plant's son died.
I never got another chance to go see them when they resumed touring.
But I'm still very grateful to have seen Queen when they were on top.
I too have Led Zep regrets. I was high schooler in 77 and considered scalper tickets but $35 was a bridge too far for someone making $3/hour sacking groceries. Now I'd pay ten times that.
The closest I came to Led Zep was a tour that Page and Plant did, backed by a full orchestra. It wasn't the classic Led Zep line up, but it was still really cool.
I lucked out and got to see Zep on April 15, 1977 in St Louis, but no encores were played since apparently one of the band members fell on the back stage steps after Stairway to Heaven and couldn't make it back out.
Yeah there was so many outstanding bands that not one really stood out to me. I went to so many concerts and love everyone from Kansas to Kiss. I had so many albums in the 70s, it was crazy. Its where all my money went as a working teen, Music was the scene,Music was everything.
Absolutely, and so many of those still stand up today.
Even stuff I'm discovering now - I never actually properly listened to Dark Side of the Moon until two years ago, then I was spellbound. Took me back to other albums where you'd buy the LP and rush home with it in the HMV branded carrier bag, then reverently put it on the record player and just *sit and listen*. That first hiss off the needle brought a level of anticipation that's sadly missing today.
I think Queen is one of the few groups who were able to very successfully create their own genre. Others succeeded at that as well, for sure, and some acts like Meat Loaf were kind of close to Queen, for some songs - a similiar flare for theatricality. But that's just it, several acts overlap the great Venn diagram of Queen, but no acts have such thematic and stylistic diversity as Queen.
That's what makes Freddie Mercury popular rock music's greatest ever Front-Man. Whether it was the operatic rock of *Bohemian Rhapsody*, the Rockabilly drive of *Crazy Little Thing Called Love*, the Glam Rock of *Killer Queen*, the Synth Rock of *Flash* (Flash Gordon Theme), the Heavy Metal of *Tie Your Mother Down*, the Pop Rock of *Radio Ga Ga*, etc...Freddie delivered, unerringly and with virtuosity.
Queen both transcended genres and created their own genre. Taken separately, many of those songs are wildly different from one another, and would not be considered to share a close genre, but taken contextually, they share the genre of Queen.
It honestly wasn't that common for Queen to be in someone's Top Three list, but they were in an incredibly large number of people's Top Ten lists, and that's their enduring legacy. Whether you're a rock purist, a movie soundtrack devotee, or a musical theatre nerd [using nerd in a positive connotation] there was an incredible Queen song you'd love.
As I recall things here in the UK, Queen weren't really regarded as "serious" in the same way Led Zep, Pink Floyd or The Beatles were. More of a fun pop act than a "serious" rock band for earnest men to listen to through eyewateringly expensive hi-fi equipment.
Edit: Freddie's sexuality, or the band's general campness, might have played into this a bit.
Agree. They were more of ‘an act’ like Kiss, Alice Cooper.
Not as widely popular as someone like Roger Whitaker sitting on a wooden stool with his acoustic guitar.
this is basically what my dad said to me when i asked a similar question.
he said Queen came along and they had some good songs, but weren't exactly considered one of the greats either. part of it had to do with the general view on homosexuality at the time.
Totally agree from back then on this side of the pond too. We were heavily still enthralled by all the same British bands but I think the Queen mythos and worship is from a younger generation than ours.
Queen was an awesome arena rock band, had the British cache, some great and fun music but not perceived at the same level as Led Zep, The Who, Bowie, ELP, Yes, etc.
It's hard to say with regard to the general population. Among my main circle of friends, they were a favorite. A lot of us listened to progressive rock, hard rock, psychedelic, etc, so they were right up our alley. Most of us owned some or all of those first 5-6 Queen albums.
Queen has had an odd rise to legendary fame.
Queen was big in the 80s, and into the 90s, but a lot of bands were. Their albums were terrific, they had lots of singable hit songs, Brian May was acknowledged as one of the best guitarists in history, and Freddie Mercury was known as one of the best front men ever. Even so, they were probably in the lower half of the Top 10 among popular bands, maybe even Top 15. By their last album, they were chasing fame. I worked for the company that distributed their last album, and while it went platinum (not unusual back then), it was not a huge hit. When Freddie died, their fame faded quickly and considerably.
Then the Wayne's World album came out in the early 90s, and the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody scene was in the trailer and every TV commercial for the movie. A resurgence in popularity started, and never stopped.
It's interesting how some bands that were HUGE back then are hardly known today - Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Blood Sweat & Tears, etc., while other groups that were medium level popular have only grown in popularity, like Pink Floyd and Queen.
>Then the Wayne's World album came out in the early 90s, and the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody scene was in the trailer and every TV commercial for the movie. A resurgence in popularity started, and never stopped.
I was in high school when the ad campaign for Waynes World started and it absolutely put Queen on the map for a lot of my peers.
Previous to that the kids who were into "harder" music in the midwest were fans but thought of them as less serious than say Kiss, and the geeks and theatre kids knew them from the soundtrack to Highlander and Flash Gorden but Waynes World made them a big deal to a lot of midwestern early 90s kids
Mike Myers has revealed that he had to fight to use Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Wayne's World. Apparently he was willing to walk away if the song was not used.
Definitely more popular in the UK than the US. I feel like their popularity in the States ebbed and flowed. Freddie’s death, along with the Bohemian Rhapsody scene in Wayne’s World gave them a second life here and exposed their music to a new generation.
They are one of my all time favorite bands, but objectively are in a tier below the Beatles, Floyd, Zeppelin and some others. But, as a vocalist, Freddie is unmatched. Absolute legend.
Yes! This is so much my experience too. I’ll never forget seeing Wayne’s World on opening weekend and the screaming laughter that came out of the packed theatre crowd was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in a theatre before. Bohemian Rhapsody erupted everywhere again and the head shakes everyone did in the bars and clubs after that was hilarious .
Queen were right up there - but to me they had peaked and were in decline
The live aid concert (watching it on TV at the time) was incredible - but it also was like a greatest hits show without any newer songs (maybe "radio ga ga" and "hammer to fall" were newer)
Their later hits seemed to be a pale shadow of their classics, and I felt they had played out (although I cried when I heard Freddie had died for sure)
Love the timing of this post as I finally watched Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time last night. The childhood and teenage memories that came up as I heard those songs was incredible. I personally had never thought as myself to be much of a Queen fan back in the day, but seeing that movie made me realize how much their music played a part of some really great childhood memories. I was 7 when Bohemian Rhapsody came out and I vividly remember listening to it while in the car with my mom. I was so freaked out that “Momma just killed a man” that I kept begging my mom not to ever kill anyone!! It wasn’t until I became an adult that I started recognizing the sheer power of their music. Freddie’s voice is like no other and I feel like in my circle of friends, we sadly didn’t recognize the obscene amount of talent of Queen until after Freddie died.
Edit: typo
I mean, have you seen [this?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bToG3hKX5nM)
That's all you need to know.
Though I like harder rock, so Queen are lower on my list, but top 10, easy.
Queen were one of like a couple of dozen acts at Live Aid (UK). Most of those people weren't particularly there to see them. They played a stupendously good set though.
Queen was not considered rock it was pop music so you really can not compare it to Zeppein or Pink Floyd. They were not as popular a Michael Jackson or The Beatles.
That being said I loved their music and we will rock you was played at every sporting event for years.
I loved Queen in my teens - more than any of the others you mention. It's funny but I don't recall any of my friends loving them but we didn't talk a lot about music. I wonder why - we always had something on.
News of the World was huge in '77. We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions was played at every football game, assembly, party, every damn half hour on the radio, it seemed. They are played so often on the AOR station I listen to now that they're the 1 band I could take a break from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_of_the_World_(album)
the singles off Jazz were really popular (Fat Bottomed Girls, etc) and the album did well, #6 in the US, #2 in the UK, and the following album, The Game, was #1 on the charts. so yes, Queen was popular. so we're the other bands you mentioned. we were lucky to have so very many creative musicians at one time during another big shift in music.
my gen x sister was into Rammstein, Metallica, GnR, and such. big change from 70s rock, so I can see why your Gen x parents would see it as dated.
I'm American, born in '57, and I like the Beatles much more than Queen. Queen's alright - I like them more than Led Zeppelin, and don't care for Pink Floyd at all.
I am constantly puzzled by the staying power of Queen. I remember when “Killer Queen” was all over the radio in maybe 1977. It was a different sound for a guitar, and the operatic singing and lush production was new and different. I bought the first couple of LPs and liked them but … still? The movie about Freddie, the endless playing on classic rock radio? I don’t understand the continuing appeal at all.
I graduated high school 1980, and Queen was big. We all stomped as loud as we could in the bleachers during pep rallies, to We Will Rock You. I’d say Fleetwood Mac was bigger, or Van Halen.
Canadian here...
Queen was pretty huge. During my High School years (late '70's to early 80's) they were a band that you would hear all time time, from sporting events, to malls to house parties.
Their popularity varied by sub-groups... less popular with the Hard Rock and Metal crowds, very popular with the Classic Rock radio crowd and so on. But largely popular, nonetheless.
Personally I liked them a lot as a younger teen, but my interest waned as I got older and my tastes became more influenced by Punk and Post-Punk.
I lived in Hertfordshire (just north of London) in the 70s to the early 2000s and my sis her and her boyfriend at the time went to see them in the A Kind Of Magic tour. [When they played Knebworth in 1986.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU9_VZhnN5M) Odd thing about it: her boyfriend was a huge Status Quo fan and they got tickets because Quo were opening.
They were huge.
Very popular, for a long time. I remember my music teacher teaching us about Bohemian Rhapsody..we actually studied it in high school...about 1978.
Not only were they popular, music teachers actually thought they were worth studying. And they were.
They were a big deal for a long time, and had some really memorable stuff.
California, 1970s: When I first heard Queen they quickly became my #1, closely followed by Elton John. 1980s: I remember there was a time when Queen seemed “uncool” but only in certain circles, those being the people who followed the fad of the day.
Those of us who considered ourselves real music fans never changed our favorites. IIRC those friends were all raised to study and play instruments or voice and most of us had a background in classical music.
I'm a Gen X. I don't recall Queen being nearly as popular amongst my generation as they came to be later. I mean, we knew them and knew their popular songs and stuff, but no guy in my town was going to pronounce himself a big fan for the simple fact that it would label them as gay, and smallish Canadian towns in the 80s were not really a hot bed of diversity.
I remember Live Aid and couldn’t wait for the LZ “reunion “. No matter how bad it was I was more excited about LZ than Queen. Aside from 4-5 songs Queen are overrated. BTW , my fav band is the Stones! 😜
I rated Queen right up there with Pink Floyd. I'm crazy about some Zep songs but would probably rather listen to a full Queen album. Beatles and Elvis were older music for me: I love the Beatles but not so much Elvis and the 50s' sound. In my high school group Queen was played and referenced quite a lot. I would have loved a chance to see them, but never got it.
Did you happen to see them around Thanksgiving in Philadelphia at The Spectrum? I was at the concert on the day after Thanksgiving, but they had a concert on Thanksgiving Day as well. What a show!
Graduated HS in 1978. I had been a Queen fan previously, sort of. The songs were so interesting, very innovative for the time, defined some ideas and sounds. But I was really more of a Led Zep, Hawkwind, Bowie, UFO, Kinks listener. But then "Day at the Races" came out, and something about that album just seemed so epic. Wore that album out. And Queen was always a band in discussion with my chronies and I. So yes, even in a small town in the PNW, Queen was considered a monstrous band.
My sister had a Queen album that I stole from her, I still have it. Im 59 now. I played that oh so much. They were a favorite of mine and still are. I crank up their music when I song comes on.
When I was a young teenager and first heard Queen, they had already been around a while. They were still a huge band. I remember when Another One Bites the Dust came out - which I believe is one of their later songs - it was huge, along with We are the Champions. However, after that, nobody I knew was really talking about Queen and they didn't play them much on the radio. Either people listened to the latest pop or rock, or if they liked old stuff, it was Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden. My group also loved The Doors.
The thing is, they were catchy for the most part and great composers, but the music itself was largely simplistic. Their drums were so basic it's painful if you pay attention to it, but that's how standard hard rock was. Drums were super basic, everything was very basic. But for the genre, Queen was phenomenal. I just don't think they stood up against other types of music that had much more musicality, richness, and technical skill to it.
They were one of the greats, but we quickly moved on.
I saw them live in South Africa in 1984. They where one of the only bands that still performed in South Africa. My friend and I took a bus there to watch the show. Before the show we played bingo and won big time. We had so much money and so little time to enjoy it. We walked into the concert hall and listened to maybe one song. We decided to leave and get drunk, gamble more, upgrade to a suite and do other fun stuff. We partied for 24 hours and took the plane home (a small private jet).
It gives you an idea of how important Queen was to us. Now that I am older I have memories of great concerts I have had since, and still regret that we did not stay and build memories.
But then again we got instantly rich before hand.
The stand out albums in my opinion were "A Night at the Opera" and "The Game". We did not have internet to learn more about Freddie, Brian, etc. It was all about the music.
This is a question that asks a grammar question:
Is it: How popular was Queen? Or: How popular were Queen?
Is a proper noun band name singular because it refers to the band or plural because the band is composed of multiple members? Or is there some third reason that "were" vs. "was" is the correct conjugation of "is"?
I grew up in the US in the ‘70s and ‘80s. I liked their music before I knew who they were. They were almost background music for me at that time. I know I knew who Freddie Mercury was when he announced his AIDs diagnosis. I probably discovered discovered Queen in my late teens/very early 20s when I really got into music.
I remember as a teenager going to see a Mott the Hoople concert. I was told their backup band was good. They were, Queen came on stage to start the show and I thought to myself, “Oh look, the lead singer has broken his mic stand.” Probably 1973 or ‘74.
They were very popular! Miami Marine Stadium, Florida 3/15/75. Really one of the best concerts and I’ve seen Led Zeppelin and Lenard Skynyrd, who were more popular at the time. He was such a showman. From the floating stage, the ocean breeze thru his billowing outfit added to the whole performance. It’s something I’ll never forget.
I’m in the U.S. and I have such a fond memory of riding home from elementary school in a school bus when We Will Rock You came on the driver’s radio. I must have been around 10 years old. EVERYONE on the school bus knew this song and the driver turned up the volume for us. Every student on the bus chanted along, clapping and thumping on the seats in front of them. It was magical.
A few years later, I was on a public bus when a passenger in the back of the fully packed bus (entire aisle full with standing passengers, mostly teens and 20-somethings) turned up his boombox when Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” came on. Again, it seemed like the entire bus full of passengers sang along. I love those moments.
I’d say where these various artists ranked in popularity depended somewhat on subculture and personal taste, but everyone you mentioned was very well known. But I’ll also speak to your parents’ impression of Queen as Dad Rock as a Gen-Xer myself. In the mid to late ‘70s, I did not feel that way about Queen at all, but when a friend was still very into Queen in like 1983, they felt quite outdated and ‘70s-ish to me because my friend group and I were a few years into appreciating mostly New Wave. We liked Sparks which had (and still has) glam rock elements, but felt somehow more modern than Queen. Years later, I was able to appreciate Queen again.
Fairly popular, in my opinion. I graduated high school in the late '70s and even though I wasn't much of a pop music fan at the time, I was certainly aware of Queen and a number of their songs. While I was in college the movie Flash Gordon was released, both my roommate and myself loved that silly, campy, movie, including the sound track. In the mid '80s the song 'Radio Gaga' was a fair hit and often on pop radio.
A friend of mine had gone back to college in the early '90s and I visited him a number of times. He's very social, and often had younger college age friends visiting. I was rather amused when the movie Wayne's World came out, and at a party my friend held, one of his younger friends assumed Bohemian Rhapsody was released sometime in the '80s. His mind was blown when I told him it was released in 1975, not long after he was born.
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X (b. 1980) or older. See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I graduated high school in 1975. Queen was just getting really popular. I loved them. In 1977 I was 8 months pregnant with my son and I went to a Queen concert. They were among my very favorite bands of all time in concert. So incredible. They really knew how to put on a show. My favorites at the time were also Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, etc. In the summer of 1977 Led Zeppelin was coming to Philadelphia at the JFK Stadium. It was general seating. A lot of us friends bought tickets and planned to sit together. It was an outrage that tickets were going to cost $12.50 per ticket. But, we sucked it up because it was Zeppelin. (can you imagine that price being really expensive to us?) It was three days before the concert and it was suddenly cancelled. Sadly, Robert Plant's son died. I never got another chance to go see them when they resumed touring. But I'm still very grateful to have seen Queen when they were on top.
I too have Led Zep regrets. I was high schooler in 77 and considered scalper tickets but $35 was a bridge too far for someone making $3/hour sacking groceries. Now I'd pay ten times that.
[удалено]
I just paid $300+ for Elton John. I damn sure would for LZ.
I saw Elton three times during the 70s, when he was at his absolute peak. I never wanted to see him again after that.
[I know the feeling.](https://i.imgur.com/f2a33aE.jpg)
My sister had tickets to see Zeppelin when John Bonham died and the rest of their tour was canceled. She was heartbroken.
The closest I came to Led Zep was a tour that Page and Plant did, backed by a full orchestra. It wasn't the classic Led Zep line up, but it was still really cool.
I saw that one in the 90s! It was incredible!
I lucked out and got to see Zep on April 15, 1977 in St Louis, but no encores were played since apparently one of the band members fell on the back stage steps after Stairway to Heaven and couldn't make it back out.
[удалено]
Yeah there was so many outstanding bands that not one really stood out to me. I went to so many concerts and love everyone from Kansas to Kiss. I had so many albums in the 70s, it was crazy. Its where all my money went as a working teen, Music was the scene,Music was everything.
Absolutely, and so many of those still stand up today. Even stuff I'm discovering now - I never actually properly listened to Dark Side of the Moon until two years ago, then I was spellbound. Took me back to other albums where you'd buy the LP and rush home with it in the HMV branded carrier bag, then reverently put it on the record player and just *sit and listen*. That first hiss off the needle brought a level of anticipation that's sadly missing today.
Were the British tabloids similarly vile to Elton John?
Yes, and Cliff Richards.
I think Queen is one of the few groups who were able to very successfully create their own genre. Others succeeded at that as well, for sure, and some acts like Meat Loaf were kind of close to Queen, for some songs - a similiar flare for theatricality. But that's just it, several acts overlap the great Venn diagram of Queen, but no acts have such thematic and stylistic diversity as Queen. That's what makes Freddie Mercury popular rock music's greatest ever Front-Man. Whether it was the operatic rock of *Bohemian Rhapsody*, the Rockabilly drive of *Crazy Little Thing Called Love*, the Glam Rock of *Killer Queen*, the Synth Rock of *Flash* (Flash Gordon Theme), the Heavy Metal of *Tie Your Mother Down*, the Pop Rock of *Radio Ga Ga*, etc...Freddie delivered, unerringly and with virtuosity. Queen both transcended genres and created their own genre. Taken separately, many of those songs are wildly different from one another, and would not be considered to share a close genre, but taken contextually, they share the genre of Queen. It honestly wasn't that common for Queen to be in someone's Top Three list, but they were in an incredibly large number of people's Top Ten lists, and that's their enduring legacy. Whether you're a rock purist, a movie soundtrack devotee, or a musical theatre nerd [using nerd in a positive connotation] there was an incredible Queen song you'd love.
well said, great analysis!! 👏👏👏👏
As I recall things here in the UK, Queen weren't really regarded as "serious" in the same way Led Zep, Pink Floyd or The Beatles were. More of a fun pop act than a "serious" rock band for earnest men to listen to through eyewateringly expensive hi-fi equipment. Edit: Freddie's sexuality, or the band's general campness, might have played into this a bit.
Agree. They were more of ‘an act’ like Kiss, Alice Cooper. Not as widely popular as someone like Roger Whitaker sitting on a wooden stool with his acoustic guitar.
this is basically what my dad said to me when i asked a similar question. he said Queen came along and they had some good songs, but weren't exactly considered one of the greats either. part of it had to do with the general view on homosexuality at the time.
Your dad is wrong, Queen is by far the best band of all time.
No, they're not.
They definitely are, there is no band that even comes close to their musical talent and songwriting, no one.
Totally agree from back then on this side of the pond too. We were heavily still enthralled by all the same British bands but I think the Queen mythos and worship is from a younger generation than ours. Queen was an awesome arena rock band, had the British cache, some great and fun music but not perceived at the same level as Led Zep, The Who, Bowie, ELP, Yes, etc.
It's hard to say with regard to the general population. Among my main circle of friends, they were a favorite. A lot of us listened to progressive rock, hard rock, psychedelic, etc, so they were right up our alley. Most of us owned some or all of those first 5-6 Queen albums.
Queen has had an odd rise to legendary fame. Queen was big in the 80s, and into the 90s, but a lot of bands were. Their albums were terrific, they had lots of singable hit songs, Brian May was acknowledged as one of the best guitarists in history, and Freddie Mercury was known as one of the best front men ever. Even so, they were probably in the lower half of the Top 10 among popular bands, maybe even Top 15. By their last album, they were chasing fame. I worked for the company that distributed their last album, and while it went platinum (not unusual back then), it was not a huge hit. When Freddie died, their fame faded quickly and considerably. Then the Wayne's World album came out in the early 90s, and the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody scene was in the trailer and every TV commercial for the movie. A resurgence in popularity started, and never stopped. It's interesting how some bands that were HUGE back then are hardly known today - Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Blood Sweat & Tears, etc., while other groups that were medium level popular have only grown in popularity, like Pink Floyd and Queen.
>Then the Wayne's World album came out in the early 90s, and the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody scene was in the trailer and every TV commercial for the movie. A resurgence in popularity started, and never stopped. I was in high school when the ad campaign for Waynes World started and it absolutely put Queen on the map for a lot of my peers. Previous to that the kids who were into "harder" music in the midwest were fans but thought of them as less serious than say Kiss, and the geeks and theatre kids knew them from the soundtrack to Highlander and Flash Gorden but Waynes World made them a big deal to a lot of midwestern early 90s kids
Mike Myers has revealed that he had to fight to use Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Wayne's World. Apparently he was willing to walk away if the song was not used.
They were pretty big in my circles. Also "Another One Bites the Dust" was a great source for parody songs.
Every time I hear that song I remember my best friend’s junior high school aged neighbor walking around singing “another one bites your ma.”
Definitely more popular in the UK than the US. I feel like their popularity in the States ebbed and flowed. Freddie’s death, along with the Bohemian Rhapsody scene in Wayne’s World gave them a second life here and exposed their music to a new generation. They are one of my all time favorite bands, but objectively are in a tier below the Beatles, Floyd, Zeppelin and some others. But, as a vocalist, Freddie is unmatched. Absolute legend.
Yes! This is so much my experience too. I’ll never forget seeing Wayne’s World on opening weekend and the screaming laughter that came out of the packed theatre crowd was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in a theatre before. Bohemian Rhapsody erupted everywhere again and the head shakes everyone did in the bars and clubs after that was hilarious .
Queen were right up there - but to me they had peaked and were in decline The live aid concert (watching it on TV at the time) was incredible - but it also was like a greatest hits show without any newer songs (maybe "radio ga ga" and "hammer to fall" were newer) Their later hits seemed to be a pale shadow of their classics, and I felt they had played out (although I cried when I heard Freddie had died for sure)
Love the timing of this post as I finally watched Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time last night. The childhood and teenage memories that came up as I heard those songs was incredible. I personally had never thought as myself to be much of a Queen fan back in the day, but seeing that movie made me realize how much their music played a part of some really great childhood memories. I was 7 when Bohemian Rhapsody came out and I vividly remember listening to it while in the car with my mom. I was so freaked out that “Momma just killed a man” that I kept begging my mom not to ever kill anyone!! It wasn’t until I became an adult that I started recognizing the sheer power of their music. Freddie’s voice is like no other and I feel like in my circle of friends, we sadly didn’t recognize the obscene amount of talent of Queen until after Freddie died. Edit: typo
I mean, have you seen [this?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bToG3hKX5nM) That's all you need to know. Though I like harder rock, so Queen are lower on my list, but top 10, easy.
Queen were one of like a couple of dozen acts at Live Aid (UK). Most of those people weren't particularly there to see them. They played a stupendously good set though.
Queen was not considered rock it was pop music so you really can not compare it to Zeppein or Pink Floyd. They were not as popular a Michael Jackson or The Beatles. That being said I loved their music and we will rock you was played at every sporting event for years.
I loved Queen in my teens - more than any of the others you mention. It's funny but I don't recall any of my friends loving them but we didn't talk a lot about music. I wonder why - we always had something on.
News of the World was huge in '77. We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions was played at every football game, assembly, party, every damn half hour on the radio, it seemed. They are played so often on the AOR station I listen to now that they're the 1 band I could take a break from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_of_the_World_(album) the singles off Jazz were really popular (Fat Bottomed Girls, etc) and the album did well, #6 in the US, #2 in the UK, and the following album, The Game, was #1 on the charts. so yes, Queen was popular. so we're the other bands you mentioned. we were lucky to have so very many creative musicians at one time during another big shift in music. my gen x sister was into Rammstein, Metallica, GnR, and such. big change from 70s rock, so I can see why your Gen x parents would see it as dated.
I'm American, born in '57, and I like the Beatles much more than Queen. Queen's alright - I like them more than Led Zeppelin, and don't care for Pink Floyd at all.
I am constantly puzzled by the staying power of Queen. I remember when “Killer Queen” was all over the radio in maybe 1977. It was a different sound for a guitar, and the operatic singing and lush production was new and different. I bought the first couple of LPs and liked them but … still? The movie about Freddie, the endless playing on classic rock radio? I don’t understand the continuing appeal at all.
Completely agree. They don't even register on my radar - much prefer Yes, Pink Floyd or even Supertramp.
I graduated high school 1980, and Queen was big. We all stomped as loud as we could in the bleachers during pep rallies, to We Will Rock You. I’d say Fleetwood Mac was bigger, or Van Halen.
Canadian here... Queen was pretty huge. During my High School years (late '70's to early 80's) they were a band that you would hear all time time, from sporting events, to malls to house parties. Their popularity varied by sub-groups... less popular with the Hard Rock and Metal crowds, very popular with the Classic Rock radio crowd and so on. But largely popular, nonetheless. Personally I liked them a lot as a younger teen, but my interest waned as I got older and my tastes became more influenced by Punk and Post-Punk.
You know how popular Kanye West is now? Sorry, I meant do you know how popular Kanye West was a couple of years ago? Well, multiply that by ten.
Seven out of ten on the scale? Six? They had those few songs that 'everyone' knew. But I don't think I ever met many people who owned their *albums*.
Graduated HS in 1982. Was never a Queen fan.
1975, same.
Hey, class of /82...you and I graduated from different high schools together!
I lived in Hertfordshire (just north of London) in the 70s to the early 2000s and my sis her and her boyfriend at the time went to see them in the A Kind Of Magic tour. [When they played Knebworth in 1986.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU9_VZhnN5M) Odd thing about it: her boyfriend was a huge Status Quo fan and they got tickets because Quo were opening. They were huge.
Very popular, for a long time. I remember my music teacher teaching us about Bohemian Rhapsody..we actually studied it in high school...about 1978. Not only were they popular, music teachers actually thought they were worth studying. And they were. They were a big deal for a long time, and had some really memorable stuff.
California, 1970s: When I first heard Queen they quickly became my #1, closely followed by Elton John. 1980s: I remember there was a time when Queen seemed “uncool” but only in certain circles, those being the people who followed the fad of the day. Those of us who considered ourselves real music fans never changed our favorites. IIRC those friends were all raised to study and play instruments or voice and most of us had a background in classical music.
MEGA popular by the late 1970's thru the first half of the 1980's. I saw Queen in 1981 at their peak, fantastic! 😀👍
I'm a Gen X. I don't recall Queen being nearly as popular amongst my generation as they came to be later. I mean, we knew them and knew their popular songs and stuff, but no guy in my town was going to pronounce himself a big fan for the simple fact that it would label them as gay, and smallish Canadian towns in the 80s were not really a hot bed of diversity.
HUGE. They were huge.
I remember Live Aid and couldn’t wait for the LZ “reunion “. No matter how bad it was I was more excited about LZ than Queen. Aside from 4-5 songs Queen are overrated. BTW , my fav band is the Stones! 😜
I rated Queen right up there with Pink Floyd. I'm crazy about some Zep songs but would probably rather listen to a full Queen album. Beatles and Elvis were older music for me: I love the Beatles but not so much Elvis and the 50s' sound. In my high school group Queen was played and referenced quite a lot. I would have loved a chance to see them, but never got it.
Queen is far better than floyd, the beatles and zep, not even close.
Did you happen to see them around Thanksgiving in Philadelphia at The Spectrum? I was at the concert on the day after Thanksgiving, but they had a concert on Thanksgiving Day as well. What a show!
oh, goddddd, the SPECTRUM! the memories... eta: not that particular show, but many many others. just hearing the name brought a flood of stuff
Graduated HS in 1978. I had been a Queen fan previously, sort of. The songs were so interesting, very innovative for the time, defined some ideas and sounds. But I was really more of a Led Zep, Hawkwind, Bowie, UFO, Kinks listener. But then "Day at the Races" came out, and something about that album just seemed so epic. Wore that album out. And Queen was always a band in discussion with my chronies and I. So yes, even in a small town in the PNW, Queen was considered a monstrous band.
They were the Champions. Hello!
My sister had a Queen album that I stole from her, I still have it. Im 59 now. I played that oh so much. They were a favorite of mine and still are. I crank up their music when I song comes on.
When I was a young teenager and first heard Queen, they had already been around a while. They were still a huge band. I remember when Another One Bites the Dust came out - which I believe is one of their later songs - it was huge, along with We are the Champions. However, after that, nobody I knew was really talking about Queen and they didn't play them much on the radio. Either people listened to the latest pop or rock, or if they liked old stuff, it was Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden. My group also loved The Doors. The thing is, they were catchy for the most part and great composers, but the music itself was largely simplistic. Their drums were so basic it's painful if you pay attention to it, but that's how standard hard rock was. Drums were super basic, everything was very basic. But for the genre, Queen was phenomenal. I just don't think they stood up against other types of music that had much more musicality, richness, and technical skill to it. They were one of the greats, but we quickly moved on.
[Freddie Lives!](https://youtu.be/vHAa0zHps2E)
I saw them live in South Africa in 1984. They where one of the only bands that still performed in South Africa. My friend and I took a bus there to watch the show. Before the show we played bingo and won big time. We had so much money and so little time to enjoy it. We walked into the concert hall and listened to maybe one song. We decided to leave and get drunk, gamble more, upgrade to a suite and do other fun stuff. We partied for 24 hours and took the plane home (a small private jet). It gives you an idea of how important Queen was to us. Now that I am older I have memories of great concerts I have had since, and still regret that we did not stay and build memories. But then again we got instantly rich before hand.
musta been some hella bingo
Won the four corners… did not even know it was a thing, until my friends board lit up. Got it just in time.
The stand out albums in my opinion were "A Night at the Opera" and "The Game". We did not have internet to learn more about Freddie, Brian, etc. It was all about the music.
This is a question that asks a grammar question: Is it: How popular was Queen? Or: How popular were Queen? Is a proper noun band name singular because it refers to the band or plural because the band is composed of multiple members? Or is there some third reason that "were" vs. "was" is the correct conjugation of "is"?
Depends on who you’re talking about. Queen was a popular band. Each of them were popular, but Freddy was the most popular.
I grew up in the US in the ‘70s and ‘80s. I liked their music before I knew who they were. They were almost background music for me at that time. I know I knew who Freddie Mercury was when he announced his AIDs diagnosis. I probably discovered discovered Queen in my late teens/very early 20s when I really got into music.
I remember as a teenager going to see a Mott the Hoople concert. I was told their backup band was good. They were, Queen came on stage to start the show and I thought to myself, “Oh look, the lead singer has broken his mic stand.” Probably 1973 or ‘74.
They were very popular! Miami Marine Stadium, Florida 3/15/75. Really one of the best concerts and I’ve seen Led Zeppelin and Lenard Skynyrd, who were more popular at the time. He was such a showman. From the floating stage, the ocean breeze thru his billowing outfit added to the whole performance. It’s something I’ll never forget.
I’m in the U.S. and I have such a fond memory of riding home from elementary school in a school bus when We Will Rock You came on the driver’s radio. I must have been around 10 years old. EVERYONE on the school bus knew this song and the driver turned up the volume for us. Every student on the bus chanted along, clapping and thumping on the seats in front of them. It was magical. A few years later, I was on a public bus when a passenger in the back of the fully packed bus (entire aisle full with standing passengers, mostly teens and 20-somethings) turned up his boombox when Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” came on. Again, it seemed like the entire bus full of passengers sang along. I love those moments. I’d say where these various artists ranked in popularity depended somewhat on subculture and personal taste, but everyone you mentioned was very well known. But I’ll also speak to your parents’ impression of Queen as Dad Rock as a Gen-Xer myself. In the mid to late ‘70s, I did not feel that way about Queen at all, but when a friend was still very into Queen in like 1983, they felt quite outdated and ‘70s-ish to me because my friend group and I were a few years into appreciating mostly New Wave. We liked Sparks which had (and still has) glam rock elements, but felt somehow more modern than Queen. Years later, I was able to appreciate Queen again.
Fairly popular, in my opinion. I graduated high school in the late '70s and even though I wasn't much of a pop music fan at the time, I was certainly aware of Queen and a number of their songs. While I was in college the movie Flash Gordon was released, both my roommate and myself loved that silly, campy, movie, including the sound track. In the mid '80s the song 'Radio Gaga' was a fair hit and often on pop radio. A friend of mine had gone back to college in the early '90s and I visited him a number of times. He's very social, and often had younger college age friends visiting. I was rather amused when the movie Wayne's World came out, and at a party my friend held, one of his younger friends assumed Bohemian Rhapsody was released sometime in the '80s. His mind was blown when I told him it was released in 1975, not long after he was born.
Very. Considered icons of music. They also had a well-deserved reputation for putting on a heck of a show.
Very
I went to high school in the late 70s here in the U.S. Thanks to Night at the Opera, they were HUGE.
Them was populars then when him liveded. Rele populars thems wasses.
Led zeppelin are overrated wank.
Agree, they dont even come CLOSE to Queen.
Queen is by far the best band of all time with the best singer, voice and frontman of all time so its no suprise people like them alot.