The greatest experience Brian May has when performing: “It makes me feel very happy”
It can be easy for someone like Brian May to get a little bit jaded with the idea of being a rock star.
Queen might be one of the most seminal rock and roll bands of all time, but there are probably a few times when May doesn’t feel like he’s up for talking about ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ for the umpteenth time in a row or discussing the meaning behind a song like ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. But if there was one thing that could turn any of the band members around, it was their relationship with the audience.
Compared to every rock and roll band, there was something about the way that Freddie Mercury responded to the crowd that made every one of their shows so special. He felt privileged to be able to play up every single song in the setlist, and that kind of energy was infectious as soon as the rest of the band hit the stage. It would have been impossible to stand completely still next to Mercury, but May was offering a different perspective on a lot of their albums.
Because, as much as there was a collective Queen sound, you could always tell who was writing what on their records. Mercury’s songs could range between rock and roll grandeur and pure camp, depending on what you were listening to, and while John Deacon had a more soulful edge to a lot of his tunes, May’s songs were a lot more indebted to hard rock. He and Roger Taylor were joined at the hip when it came to old-school rock and roll, and a lot of their best songs really reflect that.
Even if May wasn’t working on one of his own songs, he could always find a way to throw something strange into the mix. ‘Somebody to Love’ is still one of the most ambitious vocal performances that the band ever attempted in the studio, but for a song that had its roots in gospel music, May was the one breaking out the lead guitar solos that made everything sound a lot more aggressive.
So if having a guitar in his hands made him feel like the greatest rock star in the world, why couldn’t he give that feeling to the rest of the audience? They were already the fifth instrument every single time they performed onstage, so when May landed on the foundation for ‘We Will Rock You’, the purpose was to have a song that could be as engaging for the audience as any of their other guitar riffs.
And while the stomp-clap rhythm has been burned into people’s minds at this point, May said that it never fails to give him the same kind of rush whenever the band performs, saying, “There was a point when suddenly the audience would sing all the words. Our first reaction were irritation. And then it dawned on us that this was something new and great and should be encouraged. I seemed to write something that has embedded itself into the public consciousness. I think it’s the greatest thing and it makes me feel very happy.”
And, really, how could you have made a song like ‘We Will Rock You’ and not expect the audience to clap along? The song is already primitive enough on its own, so to have millions of people screaming that chorus back to you is a high that’s far greater than any other drug on the planet, especially when you hear the guitar feeding back and May comes screaming in with his guitar solo.
While the song will forever act as a tandem with ‘We Are the Champions’, there’s a reason why the rhythm of ‘We Will Rock You’ has far outlasted its musical brother. Because when you have a tune that’s this basic, it’s a lot easier for everyone to grab onto the same elements and throw it back onstage.
