Queen: Classic Or Dud

"The worst, most plodding and groove-free rhythm section EVER"

you, sir, are nuts. Deacon and Taylor are singular for a proggy heavy riddim section that played the fuck outta funk and disco grooves from '77 on…

If by "played the fuck outta" you mean "played really, really badly", we agree. Compare "Another One Bites the Dust" to "Good Times", the song John Deacon was trying to play but couldn't remember properly. (Really, I'm not making that up.) If you still think Deacon and Taylor were funky, clean your ears and get thee to a proctologist.

"Loser at the End" is possibly the only time Taylor played with anything resembling a backbeat, rather then simply being late on the 2, 3, AND 4. And occasionally the one.

Well it's settled then. Queen wasn't Parliament, so they sucked.

>>"goddang this is SO over the top" and

You should definitely find a Sensational Alex Harvey Band record, too.

-- Gorge, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 07:08 (9 hours ago) Link

yeah i have one -- tomorrow belongs to me -- i should get more, alex harvey is something else too...but maybe doesn't have the tunes that queen does in the end?

Oh it has the tunes all right.

The worst, most plodding and groove-free rhythm section EVER. And I don't know whether Roger or John was worse, I just know that the two of them together kept Queen from being a real contender.

-- Nubbelverbrennung, Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:00 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

woah that's retarded! another one bites the dust! under pressure! probably a bunch of other songs i haven't heard!

anyway the liner notes for the greatest hits i bought says that "another one bites the dust" won some kind of award from billboard for charting on the black, dance, and rock charts.

they also say that freddie wrote "crazy little thing called loved" while "languishing in a bubble bath" at some fancy hotel in germany. i thought that was a pretty great way of saying it.

Never said Queen sucked, just that the rhythm section did. They were the first band I ever loved, actually; I bought everything they had up to and including News of The World, which was when they lost me most dramatically (I was a very unforgiving kid). Anyway, with the rhythm section sucking as they did, they were at their best when being deliberately the opposite of funky (the Freddy pseudo-cabaret prog stuff) or when Brian May, a very funky player, went chunka-chunka funkily. It's probably no coincidence that I fell out of love with them when I did.

Mr. Norse/nonsense-sounding word…

Taylor & Deacon are the worst, most plodding, groove free ever? EVER?

Worse than the entire San Francisco milieu '67-72? Worse than Carl Palmer/Greg Lake? Worse than any bog-standard American hardcore band '81-82?

How 'bout "worst, most plodding, groove free rhythm section that ever aspired to grooving and sold millions of records anyway"? I'll stand behind that.

"Worse than the entire San Francisco milieu '67-72?"

You can say a lot of things about the Dead, but you can't say they were plodding and groove free. All about the groove, man.

And Queen=classic.

Also more bands should groove like the Airplane grooved.

And if you listen to "Under Pressure" closely, you realize that it's Freddie's AWESOME staccato piano part that moves it forward, and since there's a convenient electronic drum track, you can here just how late and inconsistent Roger is on the bass drum 1s & 3s in the rocky bits.

Lastly if you don't hear the drum machine on "Another One Bites the Dust", you are clinically deaf and should sell you iPod.

Oh it has the tunes all right.

-- Ned Raggett, Tuesday, November 27, 2007 4:40 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

for some reason this seems very threatening to me...i've angered powers i can't imagine...i shouldn't have spoken so freely abt alex harvey....

Dud. Just a buncha half-baked ideas, clumsily (and not charmingly) put across. May had an interesting moment here and there, but the rhythm section was, yes, plodding and groove-free. As a vocalist, Mercury was the Billy Corgan of his day; comically inconsistent, completely unaware that he is not the singer he thinks he is. Queen is the Rolls-Royce aesthetic without the Rolls-Royce.

You can say a lot of things about the Dead, but you can't say they were plodding and groove free. All about the groove, man.

???????

I thought being plodding and groove-free was the point of the Dead. And I don't even mean that as a criticism.

xpost - OK, who's the Rolls Royce?

"you can't say (the Dead) were plodding and groove free"

oh yes I can!

Norse-gobbeldy-gook named dude: its astounding to me you can say that a band powered by the listless Spencer Dryden is one that should aspired to…

"I thought being plodding and groove-free was the point of the Dead."

It's not true at all. I know ILM is (unreasonably) anti-Dead, but once they settled into a nice groove the Dead were off and running. And their rythm section was far from plodding, Phil Lesh was a master of his instrument.

"its astounding to me you can say that a band powered by the listless Spencer Dryden is one that should aspired to…"

I never said that. I was talking about the Airplane, which rhythm section was powered by the amazingly energetic and brilliant Jack Casady.

well, you are being a bit obtuse on that last post, aren't you?

Dud. Just a buncha half-baked ideas, clumsily (and not charmingly) put across. May had an interesting moment here and there, but the rhythm section was, yes, plodding and groove-free. As a vocalist, Mercury was the Billy Corgan of his day; comically inconsistent, completely unaware that he is not the singer he thinks he is. Queen is the Rolls-Royce aesthetic without the Rolls-Royce.

RONG

uhm oh yea and Mercury was one of the best rock vocalists evar.

Seriously though, Queen deserved fellatio from their crowds.

<i>Nobody has yet pointed out that "Long Away" from Day at the Races is one of the great straight power-pop tunes of our time or any other.

-- southern lights, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:10 (2 years ago) Link</i>

OTM. I had forgotten about this song until it popped up on my iTunes a couple of weeks ago. I thought that it was the Raspberries or something.

After learning "Body Language" and "Under Pressure" were from the same album, I suddenly am interested in hearing the rest of Hot Space.

Classic.Doin' Alright from the first one and It's Late from News of the World are two faves.

I wish I could hear exactly how 'Another One Bites The Dust' is so bad - it just sounds immense to me.

For an outrageous, theatrical band though, they do have some of the most boring well-loved hits ever - 'A Kind of Magic', 'I Want to Break Free', 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' are all terrible

Listening to the Greatest Hits box again, feeling like I am in love with the world and all that is Queen and Freddie...gearing up to try to say something smart and cool abt Queen and I read back on this thread and I find this so I can not say a thing and leave such things to the pros:

(LOL, btw)

Anyone who dares deem Queen a dud has lost control of his/her senses, and ought to be dunked in a barrel of rancid milk until reason reclaims its rightful iron fist on the steering wheel of their brain bus.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, March 28, 2003 3:15 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

HONOUR THE BICYCLE!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, March 29, 2003 7:36 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't know if Queen were ever really cool, what I like about them is their image and chops. I listened to that "Flash" thing, which was the album everyone laughed at when I was a kid.

I still marvel at something like Bohemian Rhapsody. Sure it's a punchline to a 90's joke but before that, I mean the first time I heard it as a teenager in English class of all things, it knocked me out. Stringing together all of the parts of that song together so seamlessly, it still kind of blows me away.

We had a Queen obsession when I was a kid, then that "Flash" thing came out and everyone laughed at how "dumb" it was "Flash Ah-ah". I listened to it though, it isn't bad.

it's weird how, 9 years ago, almost everyone on ILX was wrong about almost everything. raggett excepted, of course.

flash gordon soundtrack is patchy, but that song is great! damn sight better than "radio gaga".

Love "Flash". I liked parts of the movie (Ming!), but that theme song is still boss.

Yeah ILX was bummer city 9 yrs ago.

Queen were genius, "Flash" was horrible though.

You loveable scamp, you.

Heard an interview with Brian May with Terry Gross the other day (new? old? dunno), and she was he usual daft self.

Terry Gross: So, tell me how you came up with the name "Queen."
Brian May: Really, Terry? Come on.

Whomever upthread was going on about the rhythm section being plodding and groove-free need listen to one Van Halen.

Oh Terry.

it's weird how, 9 years ago, almost everyone on ILX was wrong about almost everything. raggett excepted, of course.

flash gordon soundtrack is patchy, but that song is great! damn sight better than "radio gaga".

― contenderizer, Thursday, December 30, 2010 5:28 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah ILX was bummer city 9 yrs ago.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, December 30, 2010 5:31 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

britishes can have pretty weird blinders about native acts that are even more ubiquitous over there than they are the US

Well I went through a phase of disliking Queen because of their ubiquity, then one day I had to have a word with myself. Loads of timeless songs.

Prophet song tape loop middle section on repeat forever

and now I know and now I know and now I know and now I knowwwwwww

I imagine reddie and Ronnie James Dio being bros up in heaven putting up on killer concerts: Ronnie & Freddie trading verses on Prophets Song. IMAGINE THAT

britishes can have pretty weird blinders about native acts that are even more ubiquitous over there than they are the US

― hann am0n tana (some dude), Thursday, December 30, 2010 11:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

more like lame poptimists can have pretty weird prejudices against shit that rocks

everybody loves A Night At The Opera and Queen II, but the real litmus test is late 80s Queen. if you can dig Live At Wembley '86 and The Miracle then you're the real deal

What was that Flash Gordon movie like? We weren't allowed to see it, because it violated cool norms of the day (or something). The plot looks good.

Mid-flight, the disasters become progressively worse and the pilots disappear from the cockpit. Flash takes control of the plane, and manages to crash land in a greenhouse owned by Dr. Hans Zarkov (Chaim Topol). According to Dr. Zarkov's research, the disasters are being caused by an unknown physical source in space which is sending the moon out of orbit and toward the Earth. Zarkov had been secretly working on a rocket ship for several years to test his theory, and now intends to go to the coordinates for the source of the attacks. He accidentally launches the rocket during a fight with Flash and all three fly off into space, even sailing into the black hole where they finally land on the planet Mongo. There, they are taken prisoner outside a grand city.

I have the theme stuck in my head, it can't be too bad. You're right though, it's no "Fat Bottomed Girls". 1980 was a weird year.

flash gordon movie is the best, you should see it

Football player goes into space, hijinks ensue

Ming the Merciless is awesome too btw

plus burly hawkmen, wanglike spacecraft, budget sleaze, FLASH! (ah-ah)

seems this is old news, but apparently queen albums getting reissued in 2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A71W120101108