The Innovations of Queen

 The Innovations of Queen

Queen, 1970, London, United Kingdom

    In the late 1960s, rock n roll started to go through some drastic changes. Who were the frontrunners of these drastic changes to rock you might ask? Well, Queen is one of the top rock bands to innovate music in their time period. Which was technically from the 1970s to the 1990s. They were able to innovate music changing the very concept of a rock n roll band can do. Now two songs come into mind with how Queen was able to innovate music. The first is known as the greatest song of its generation. Which is "Bohemian Rhapsody". You cannot talk about Queen and its innovation of music without talking about Bohemian Rhapsody. Now the second song I can talk about can be any one of Queen's greatest hits. Which is there is a vast majority I can choose. I ended up choosing one of the most unique song "We Will Rock You". These two songs were able to innovate music quite drastically.

    Bohemian Rhapsody was able to change the definition of a hit single. Also secondly was able to change what a rock song could be. When Queen wanted to release this song as their single for the album. It was rejected by their record company. They said it would never be a hit single with its 7 minute run time. Various other reasons stopped Queen from releasing their song as their hit single. But Queen eventually got their way by threatening to leave the record company. The song itself was able to change the definition of a rock song in a couple different ways. I already mentioned its 7-minute runtime which was rare for a rock song. It also used three different bass tracks. Which is the same bass track but was recorded in three different ways. It is also one of the first songs to use ad-libs for the first time. These attributes would become quite prominent in modern music. With ad-libs being used in a majority of Migos songs. Isiah Rashad released his hit song "Shot You Down" as a single. Which also has a 7 minute run time. I found the three different bass tracks being quite unique to this song. In the time 1970s rock, was known to be a risk to release this as a single for their album.

    We Will Rock You was able to incorporate the audience into their music. Which is actually the first time in music history to do this. Brian May was the genius behind the creation of the song. He notice how the crowd wanted to join in singing along with the band. So he thought why not have the crowd provide a beat to the song. What better way could you do by using their feet and hands to create this. Which turned out perfectly for them since it was easy to teach. The song was a perfect fit for the music industry. The song became a signature of the band for concerts. Since they were the only band to have the audience feel like they are part of the band. 

    In conclusion, Queen is one the most innovative rock bands in music history. Their greatest hits have a long list of various different types of songs. With every album, they released they were able to change music in some way. Whether it was a minor change or a major change. To me, their greatest songs are Bohemian Rhapsody and We Will Rock. Since they were able to change music uniquely. That only Queen was able to do. I believe without Queen rock music would not have gone through its drastic changes in the 70s.

Dunning, Chris. "Bohemian Rhapsody: How Queen Created a Game Changing Song." Bohemian Rhapsody: How Queen Created a Game Changing Song, Dig!, 31 Oct. 2020, www.thisisdig.com/feature/queen-bohemian-rhapsody-song/#:~:text=With%20Bohemian%20Rhapsody%2C%20Queen%20created,n'roll%20band%20could%20do.&text=Formed%20in%20London%20in%20the,British%20culture%20to%20this%20day.

"How an amazing gig gave Queen the idea for We Will Rock You." RadioXO, p. 1, www.radiox.co.uk/artists/queen/why-did-queen-write-we-will-rock-you/.