Queen returned to the front lines of pop culture conversation last year when the hugely successful biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, arrived in movie theaters to much critical acclaim. Although the film told the story of the entire band as one of rock’s strongest creative units of the 1970s and 80s, its primary focus was to shine a light on its iconic frontman, Freddie Mercury.
Related: Watch Queen Open The Oscars With A Thrilling “We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions”
In a new interview with Guitar World, Queen guitarist Brian May discussed his late friend and bandmate’s “unorthodox” guitar skills, which may have been better than most imagine as his most recognized instrument of choice to many fans was the piano.
“He was very good on the guitar, very unorthodox — all downstrokes,” May said when asked what songwriting contributions Mercury delivered by way of the guitar. “He wrote the riff for ‘Ogre Battle’ [from 1974’s Queen II]. I used to play it with up-and downstrokes, but he was all downstrokes. Imagine how fast his right hand was moving! He had a frenetic energy on the guitar, which came across very well in that song. He played the rhythm on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love.’ I wanted to sound as good as Freddie did on that record, which was damn good. He kind of left the guitar after a while and concentrated more on the piano. In the latter days, he even left the piano behind. He just wanted to be a performer who ran around and had the freedom to be a frontman.”
Queen – “Ogre Battle”
[Video: Queen Official]
May also addressed some of the complaints shared by fans on the overall flow of Bohemian Rhapsody and its chronological accuracy in terms of the real history of the band.
“We weren’t making a documentary” he continued. “It wasn’t supposed to be ‘This happened, and then this happened.’ This was an attempt to get inside Freddie Mercury and portray his inner-life — his drive, his passion, his fears, and weaknesses. Also, we wanted to portray his relationship with us as a family, which was pretty much a part of what made him tick.”
The success of the 2019 film would go on to help give the song it was named a little extra push to become the most-streamed song of 20th century.
Queen + Adam Lambert will hit the road for a summer tour beginning next month on July 10th in Vancouver. For tour routing and ticket information, head to the Queen website here.
[H/T Guitar World]
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