Вторник 30 Авг 2005, 18:12

I need to vent this, because it's been building up in me for years.

Why oh why do so many Queen fans know only the songs off the Greatest Hits albums? Looking here on last.fm I see the list of the top tracks that people listen to and right up there at the top is Bohemian Rhapsody, and underneath it for almost the entire rest of the page is nothing but singles taken off the Greatest Hits albums.

Don't get me wrong, the Greatest Hits are a good starting point for getting into any band's music, especially a band as diverse as Queen - it's how I discovered more of their music myself - but so many people and even fans don't seem to go past them.

It really bothers me when I find someone who also likes Queen (and believe me, I don't find many even though they are all out there) and ask what their favourite song or album is. I think 100% of the time the answer has been a song that was a single or Greatest Hits. "Don't you have any of their albums?" I ask. "What albums?"

My God. What these people are missing out on. The same situation doesn't happen with The Beatles, ask someone their favourite song and you can get a huge variety of answers, many people even citing b-sides like Don't Let Me Down as their favourite. Everyone knows every Beatles song - Queen have just officially overtaken them recently as the biggest selling and most popular group in the UK, so why is it such a different story?

Queen's Greatest Hits albums are not at all representative of what Queen's real musical output was. Yes, the Greatest Hits show a good degree of diversity in the styles and genres, but they don't give the real gems that were the album tracks. The wonderful compositions that were the songs Freddie did not sing. The daring and very successful attempts (for the most part) to experiment and try new styles.

So here I am providing a quick starter course for Queen fans new and old and also casual, who still haven't gotten past the Greatest Hits.

For simply astounding song writing and gorgeous melodies without any overblown excessive silliness listen to:
Drowse
'39
Long Away
Dear Friends
Tenement Funster

For out-and-out hard rock, edging towards varying styles of metal and even punk listen to:
Sheer Heart Attack
Stone Cold Crazy
Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll

For funk-rock written well ahead of it's time listen to:
Fight From The Inside
Dragon Attack

For fun and craziness listen to:
Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon
In The Lap Of The Gods
The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke
I'm In Love With My Car

And to hear where The Smashing Pumpkins got a good deal of their early sound and influence from listen to:
Father To Son

Rant over!