Few bands have had a profession to match Queen. Shaped in London in 1970, they grew to become one of many largest teams on the planet thanks to large hits corresponding to Bohemian Rhapsody, One other One Bites The Mud and Radio GaGa. Their mixture of anthemic songwriting, uplifting musicianship and the charisma of frontman Freddie Mercury marked them out as completely distinctive in comparison with such 70s friends as Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and Black Sabbath.
Mercury’s dying in 1991 seemingly marked the top of the band, however guitarist Brian Might and drummer Roger Taylor returned in 2004 with former Free/Unhealthy Firm singer Paul Rodgers underneath the identify Queen + Paul Rodgers (bassist John Deacon sat out the reunion, having formally retired). Since 2011, the revitalised band have been fronted by American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert, enjoying a string of acclaimed exhibits and releasing the UK No.1 stay album Stay Round The World. These later line-up modifications helped hold the band alive, with a string of world excursions and the large success of the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody introducing them to new generations of followers.
They could have modified singers a few occasions since their return, however amazingly, the band’s traditional line up stayed the identical for just about all of its authentic existence. Mercury, Might and Taylor based the band in 1970, they usually have been joined the next yr by Deacon – the identical 4 males who would make up Queen for the subsequent 20 years.
But it surely may have been very totally different. Roger Taylor, whose powerhouse drumming would develop into one of many band’s sonic signatures was virtually poached by a rival band – one whose success within the 80s would go on to match that of Queen.
Like many different bands who began out within the early 70s, Queen spent their first few years enjoying the membership circuit. Their early gigs included exhibits at such venues as Truro City Corridor, Liverpool’s Cavern Membership and famed London membership The Marquee.
One other fledging band placing within the hours on the identical circuit have been Genesis, who have been regularly remodeling into one thing extra theatrical and progressive. It’s unclear when the 2 teams’ paths first crossed, however Queen clearly made an impression on the Peter Gabriel-fronted band. When Genesis drummer John Mayhew introduced that he was leaving in the summertime of 1970, they reached out to Taylor within the hope that he could be interested by becoming a member of.
“Properly, they invited me to the studio, then we went to the pub,” Taylor informed Basic Rock in 2020, on the band’s fiftieth anniversary. “They didn’t say, ‘Do you need to be part of the group?’, however I get the impression that’s what they wished as a result of their drummer had left.”
Taylor was flattered by the provide, however he wasn’t tempted to abandon his personal band – not least as a result of he wasn’t an enormous fan of Genesis’ advanced songs.
“I didn’t actually get the music, to be trustworthy,” he admitted. “It was a bit too prog for me. However they’re all pretty folks.”
In the long run Genesis opted for Phil Collins, a former youngster star who had most not too long ago been within the band Flaming Youth. With Collins behind the drums, Genesis established themselves as main lights of the rising progressive rock scene. After Peter Gabriel’s departure in 1974, he took on the extra function of frontman, serving to lead the band to large success with albums corresponding to Duke, Abacab, Invisible Contact and We Can’t Dance.
Genesis weren’t the one band interested by poaching Taylor. Within the mid-70s, shortly after Queen supported Mott The Hoople on what can be one of many latter’s final excursions earlier than they cut up, the latter’s singer Ian Hunter and guitarist Mick Ronson requested the drummer if he was interested by becoming a member of them in an all-star trio.
“I had a beautiful provide from Mick Ronson and Ian Hunter,” Taylor stated. “It was going to be referred to as Hunter Ronson Taylor. That will have been good.”
The rationale Taylor turned that one down was much less to do with the music they have been making and extra to do with the bond he had along with his Queen bandmates by that time. “I believed there was one thing in regards to the 4 of us as a band that was particular,” he stated. “And I used to be proper.”