“Freddie always had a good voice. That’s always been the anchor of that group I think and Brian good guitar player as well you know they’ve had musical skill. … But I think there’s a say, the first thing you heard with Queen was Freddie’s voice.
JOHN:
It appears John was never photographed with or met any of the members of Queen (which is a shame). I think at the time Queen were coming to the forefront of music, John had just moved to America and as Queen rose, John withdrew from the public eye to look after Sean. However, as you may know, John was a hero of Freddie’s in particular.
The above video is an audio recording of Queen playing Imagine live in concert at Wembley, London on the 9th December 1980, the day after John died, and the day the the news would have been spreading and shocking the world. Queen continued to play Imagine live as a tribute to John through out 1981–82 (maybe longer).
Around the same time Freddie wrote the song Life is Real (Song For Lennon) which appeared on the Queen album Hot Space, released in 1982. Life is Real is almost a pastiche of a John Lennon song, starting with three bell-like piano notes, paying homage to Beautiful Boy and Starting Over, and its a ‘sparse’ piano based tune, also playing musical homage to Mother, and the title may be a reference to Strawberry Fields (Nothing is Real) or Love (Love is Real).
Also on the same album is the song Put Out The Fire which seems to reference John’s death in the lyrics:
They called him a hero In the land of the free But he wouldn’t shake my hand boy He disappointed me So I got my hand gun And I blew him away That critter was a bad guy And I had to make him pay
GEORGE:
Here’s a photo of George (with Joe Brown and Chas McDevitt) playing a Brian May RedSpecial guitar in 1992 (I think it’s probably Brian’s actual, original guitar!) And here’s George and Brian at the same event:
Brian May is a huge George fan. I think it’s fair to say George is his favourite guitarist. (As an aside, people sometimes like to rip off George and belittle his guitar playing – I think, only because he wasn’t a showboat-er or as ostentatious as other guitarists, people can overlook him – but George is a guitar player’s guitarist. People who really know what they’re talking about are typically fans of George).
Brian only met George once, at the Water Rats Ball (a charity event) which was held on the 29th November 1992. Here’s a quote from Brian from an interview in November 2001 (just before George died):
“I’ve been thinking about George a lot recently and I really wish him well. And just before you came I was thinking about how the press treated Freddie when he was ill. You know, he literally couldn’t step outside his door for photographers. They were even trying to get in the windows and there’s absolutely nothing you can do; you have no protection.
“But I’ve only met George once. We played together at a Water Rats do, when Bert Weedon was King Rat. There was George, Joe Brown, Bert and me… what a precious moment. I had a blinding migraine, but the moment overcame the pain. I wish I’d had the balls to say what I really wanted to at the time. I hold George in such reverence and I think he’s so underrated by the guitar community; everyone raves about people who play fast, but if you look at the catalogue of stuff he’s produced, it’s colossal.”
Here’s some of my favourite Brian/George tweets from Dr May as well:
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