written by Brian May

produced by Queen and Mike Stone

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I’m making this page July 19th, 2021, the 74th birthday of Queen’s

lead guitarist—who has also worn quite the plethora of different

proverbial hats throughout the course of his life and career—

Brian Harold May. Happy Birthday, BM!!

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(Keeping in sequence of The List, the next song on it I catalogued, earlier today, was “Mr. Roboto” by Styx. After covering my first song on the site from a band that legendary, and then the first from yet another band as fabled and famed as Queen, for heaven’s sake... I’m going to be exhausted.)

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So, in the case of the birthday of a band member who is not the front-figure or lead singer, but still a prominent component, such as Mr. May, I’d want to try and find a song written by that member—at least semi-noted and quintessential (we were fortunate in this instance)—even if not featuring her or him on lead vocal. And so, when I stumbled across Brian’s composition of none other than “We Will Rock You,” for crying out loud... I mean, come, on. Yeah, we’re doing this one. No contest.

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So Brian was born in Hampton, London. Like so many of our beloved greats, he started very very young, forming and founding bands as a teen. His very first was called Nineteen-Eighty-Four, named after the dystopian Orwell novel. He’s pretty patently a genius as well, having earned General Certificates of Education in maths and physics, and a Bachelor of Science in physics (with honors, no less). Around 20, he took his bandmate from 1984, added a drummer (Queen’s Roger Taylor), and formed Smile. Smile disbanded 1970 in deference to Queen, though they reunited briefly after Freddie’s death, in 1992.

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Queen made themselves known, for one, for their beautifully smooth, satiny three-part vocal harmonies, in which Brian usually sang the backing lower or bass parts—though he stepped up to the mic for lead vocal on some songs. The band’s songwriting duties were shared, sometimes with one song being written by all members. Though Freddie unquestionably penned most of the Queen numbers that would end up as the band’s defining smash hits—“Killer Queen,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Somebody To Love,” “We Are The Champions,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”—Brian (in addition to “Rock You”) wrote “Now I’m Here,” “Tie Your Mother Down,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Hammer To Fall” and “The Show Must Go On.” Roger Taylor from Smile wrote a few Queen songs—probably most notably “Radio Ga Ga”—and bassist John Deacon contributed “You’re My Best Friend,” “Another One Bites The Dust” and “I Want To Break Free.”

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“We Will Rock You” cracked the top 10 everywhere it charted, reaching #1 in France. It’s mostly done in an a capella-like style, the percussion provided by stomps and claps, with Brian wailing the guitar solo over the song’s final 30 seconds. Since in came out in ’77, it’s been embraced into a monstrous anthem of sports rock and self-empowerment. As its Wiki page states, “Rolling Stone ranked it number 330 of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” in 2004, and it placed at number 146 on the Songs of the Century list in 2001. In 2009, “We Will Rock You” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.” It also lists use of the songs by other artists/bands/sources of pop culture including samples, mixes, live performances, and references. Two I can add that aren’t on there are: the opening tag of a Cheers episode where the (season 8) gang pounds out and sings it in the bar... and its prominent use throughout the first two Mighty Ducks movies (where it was stylized into “we will quack you”).

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Queen’s peak years were of course 1974 to... well, we should say about 1984, especially as around ’83 the band lost some of its focus as a few members strayed to side projects. Brian jammed with Eddie Van Halen and almost inadvertently came up with an album they didn’t plan on releasing, but which eventually came out billed to Brian May & Friends. In sort of tribute to Freddie after 1991, Brian was torn apart by the loss of his friend, and/but threw himself into his solo work to cope. The next year, he brought together the Brian May Band, which went through a number of modifications and reiterations.

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During Queen’s early years, Brian also worked as a scientist. He also became an animal rights activist, putting together the organization Save Me (named after one of the Queen songs he wrote) to combat cruelty against animals. He remains a reigning member of Queen (no pun int—... all right, what the heck; pun intended)—with his drummer from the beginning, Roger Taylor—and wed to his wife, actress Anita Dobson. Gwilyn Lee played Brian in Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 film.

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(The music video is on their official YT channel just here, although the sound seems to be just about half a second “off,” or out of sync, from the video.)

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version/music video

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Queen’s official website