When Britain’s four greatest guitarists all met the Queen on the same day in 2005
When John Lydon spoke about what gave rise to the Sex Pistols and punk, he blamed the state of Britain.
“Early ’70s Britain was a very depressing place. It was completely run-down, there was trash on the streets, total unemployment, just about everybody was on strike,” he said, “Everybody was brought up with an education system that told you point blank that if you came from the wrong side of the tracks…then you had no hope in hell and no career prospects at all. Out of all that came pretentious moi, and the Sex Pistols and then a whole bunch of copycat wankers after us.”
It’s true, a hatred for Britain can inspire a great deal of music. It still does. Punk hasn’t exactly gone anywhere; there are still plenty of bands screaming into the void, making political music and ensuring their resentment towards this country is evident.
Frustration is understandable, but it shouldn’t get in the way of appreciating some of the things that are good about Britain. One of our greatest attributes is our contribution to music, as so many of the bands that have changed the shape of music come from this tiny island in the middle of the ocean. It was deemed such a crucial part of the country that one day in 2005, the monarchy held an evening when a number of artists were called to Buckingham Palace to be formally recognised.
The Queen wasn’t the only royalty in the palace that day, as four of the greatest guitarists, certainly the greatest British guitarists, went round to meet her highness. Among these four were Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Brian May. Seeing those four people in the same room would blow the minds of any music lover, but the story goes that the Queen had absolutely no idea who any of them were.
This wasn’t the first time that Brian May had spoken to Buckingham Palace, as they had previously asked him to walk through the rooms and play the national anthem. There were a few reasons that May had reservations about this, but eventually a compromise was reached.
“They said originally, would you come and play a version of God Save The Queen, strolling through the state rooms of Buckingham Palace and in the style of Jimi Hendrix?” he recalled, “Now, there’s a few things in that I didn’t feel comfortable about. I mean, trying to be Jimi Hendrix is one of them.”
Of course, May did wind up playing the national anthem, but rather than walking through the rooms of Buckingham Palace, he did it on the roof. “And then I had this thought…where I need to be is not strolling through Buckingham Palace rooms, but up the top,” he said, “I need to be on the roof. I need to be the lone piper who’s been up there for the last 50 years in wind and rain. Grizzled old campaigner still playing.”
On another occasion, May, along with all of the other six-string superstars, went to meet the Queen herself. As she makes her way down the line, it becomes pretty clear how unenthused she is to be meeting these musical legends. Upon shaking hands with Jimmy Page, her question tells you everything you need to know, as Queen Elizabeth II leaned forward and simply asked, “Are you a guitarist too?”
