White Brits all over the country, never having met or spoken to each other, have a strongly held belief that Queen is the most overrated band of all time. When they tell you that this is their opinion, they will act as if they are the only person in the universe who thinks this, and that they have been persecuted for this ostensibly outlandish belief.
They feel a similar way about U2; however, they will express their opinions about Bono in a much more vehement and expletive-ridden manner. What white Brits feel for Queen is quite different: less aggressive, it hovers halfway between indifference to the music, mild snobbishness towards the fans, and genuine consternation at the idea that Queen may be considered “innovative”. Note: bringing up Bohemian Rhapsody will not change their mind.
Mere virtuoso talent at singing or guitar-playing seldom impress a white Brit, who instead prefers their music to contain experimentation and elusive lyrics by artists with unconventional singing voices (e.g. Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Dylan, Jeffrey Lewis, Joanna Newsom, Tom Waits). The only known exception to this rule is Jimi Hendrix.
In terms of talented musicians whose death was prematurely caused by AIDS, Arthur Russell has garnered much more favour among the white British community. If Queen come up in conversation, make sure you bring up his name. Although they have nothing in common musically, this will show your impeccable taste and therefore impress your white British friends.
Only those who haven’t bothered to listen to anything other than their greatest hits, I guess that makes most people though, could think Queen were not innovative. Michael Jackson was inspired to write Thriller after listening to Queen’s Hot Space album. In a Radio 2 poll they came out as Britain’s best band ahead of The Beatles. If you want an overrated band look no further than Led Zeppelin, the same guitar riff repeated over and over for seven minutes, little change in dynmics in their songs and they stole half of them from other musicians.
You’re right. If a Radio 2 poll says it, it’s indubitably true.
LOL
Queen – every song is stuffed to the gills with over-dramatic non-sense. Not sure who’s worse…Queen or Meatloaf.
The reason I mentioned the poll was because if a number of people think that they’re the greatest band of all time, it’s unlikely that the majority of people think that they’re overrated. I thought it was fairly obvious that I didn’t mean, ‘everything radio 2 say is true’ but I will elaborate next time.
GEMMA said: “If you want an overrated band look no further than Led Zeppelin, the same guitar riff repeated over and over for seven minutes…”
What about Queen who repeat “I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE” about 10 billion times in three minutes? Sheer talent LOL
Queen is no more than over-rated, over-dramatic ballerina rock.