What makes Queen such a rare anomaly is how each member managed to inject their worldview into the band’s catalogue without ever derailing the larger vision. It wasn’t just that they could write cracking songs, it was that they wrote distinctly and instantly recognisable Queen songs. Deacon’s pop instincts, Mercury’s theatrical proclivity, May’s guitar-led dramatics and Taylor’s off-kilter edge all bent to the shared aim of making music that didn’t just sound different, but felt like it came from a completely separate plane. When they were at their best, it was less a band writing music and more like a machine where every cog wrote its own (very flamboyant) code… More here.

It’s the main thing that amazes me about Queen, the sheer luck of four extremely talented and diverse people meeting and then creating the best band in history. It’s crazy really-

Brian May (We Will Rock You, I Want It All, The Show Must Go On, Who Wants To Live Forever etc etc)

Roger Taylor (A Kind of Magic, Radio Ga Ga, These Are The Days Of Our Lives, Sheer Heart Attack etc etc)

John Deacon (Another One Bites The Dust, I Want To Break Free, Under Pressure, You’re My Best Friend etc etc)

Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody To Love, We Are The Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now etc etc)

And then there are all of the album tracks they all wrote. It is astonishing.

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