Released on December 8, 1980, Flash Gordon was one of the earliest high-budget feature films to use a score primarily composed and performed by a rock band.
Mercury was born with four extra teeth and attributed his enhanced vocal range to this. He refused to have his teeth fixed, fearing it would affect his vocal ability.
Guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form a band. May placed an advertisement on a college notice board for a drummer. Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. The group called themselves Smile.
Born in 1946 in Zanzibar to Parsi parents from India, Farrokh Bulsara began to call himself "Freddie" while at St. Peter's School in Panchgani. After the band Smile changed their name to "Queen", Freddie changed his surname to "Mercury", inspired by the line "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me" in the song "My Fairy King".
Said to be the first video ever banned by MTV, Queen's "Body Language" seems tame by today's standards, but the shadowy images of sweaty, bikini-clad bodies writhing and groping one another in a sauna room was a little too steamy for the network in 1982.
May uses the old British sixpence coin as his guitar pick. He chose to use the sixpence as a pick because he found that plastic picks were too flexible.
Originally released as a single in October 1981, "Under Pressure" is a song by Queen and David Bowie. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Queen's second number-one hit in their home country and Bowie's third.
Featuring the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" which was No. 1 for nine weeks, A Night at the Opera topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks.
Following in the tradition of cross-dressing in British comedy, the music video for "I Want to Break Free" sees the members of Queen appear dressed in drag, parodying characters from Coronation Street.
Unlike the head-banging scene in Wayne's World which took ten hours to film, the video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was filmed in four hours and cost just $2,025 to make.
SHARE THIS PAGE!