Rogers to sing in Queen

[Kaiser of Arabia]

frags right.

[Mount Suribachi]

damn straight he is!

(gay pun not intended)

[Orda Khan]

I suggest you doubters go listen to Tons of Sobs.
As for Queen with FreddIE Mercury ..............nothing special

.....Orda

[Fragony]

I suggest you doubters go listen to Tons of Sobs.
As for Queen with FreddIE Mercury ..............nothing special

.....Orda

Hmph. Try to imagine Michael Jackson as a white female.


wait nevermind.

[Togakure]

Queen was probably the most influencial band of my teenage life.

I began my studies in classical piano beginning at age 8. On my first day in Junior High school in 1976, four long-haired seniors welcomed us noobie freshmen by playing Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way," which was red hot that year. The entire auditorium erupted, with all the girls jumping up and down and screaming like crazy for two minutes straight. I was amazed, and baffled, because what those guys were playing was SO EASY. I oggled the blond beauty practically peeing her panties next to me and said, "hey what's the big deal ... I can play that with my eyes closed!" She looked at me in my plastic-rimmed glasses, straightlegged courdoroys (denim super bells came the following year), and plaid shirt buttoned all the way up and said, "yeah sure, right, you freshman geek." I blushed heavy and melted back into my seat, but, my love for rock and roll and desire to rock myself was born on that day. And I showed her . In five years or so, all the likes of her were trying desperately to come to OUR after gig parties.

The closest thing to rock that I played at the time was Jazz Band stuff, so it makes sense that my first choice in a rock record to buy was Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits (25 or 6 to 4, Saturday in the Park, Color My World, etc., fabulous horns). But my second album leaned towards my classical background. It was "A Night at the Opera." I wore out three vinyl albums of that recording in my lifetime before CDs. In 1977, Queen booked a gig at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, CA, with Thin Lizzy opening, and I bought my first live concert tickets. I was SO excited!! On the Friday morning before the Saturday evening show, my father woke me up and told me that he'd just heard on the radio that Queen's singer had contracted a virus (ironic, that), which forced them to cancel the show. I waited for my dad to leave the room, then put my face down in my pillow and CRIED. I was SO bummed.

But I went anyway, and I will never forget that show. This guy with blond squiggly hair, wearing a read leather outfit, opened for the now headlining Thin Lizzy. He'd been the lead singer for some band I'd never heard of at the time called Montrose (lol), and was promoting his album "Red." He was from San Francisco, so I thought of him as a local. When he sat down with his legs dangling over the edge of the stage and pulled out a slide guitar I thought, "oh great, COUNTRY crap." Then this OUTRAGEOUS sound of metal guitar meets revved up motorcycle made my hair blow back and the back of my neck tingle. The arena blossomed into an ocean of synchronized light and movement, and the show was on. Bad Motor Scooter, Rock Candy, Space Station Number Nine ... OMG!! This was Sammy Hagar at his absolute finest (looking back, I wish Ronnie was there ... though I might not have survived the show if he had been).

15-year-olds have stout hearts, and it's a good thing because by the time Sammy was done my heart had been doing double overtime for an hour and a half straight. Then, after a short intermission, the dry ice fog under blue lights blanketed the stage and rolled over into the first few rows of screaming, lighter-flicking youth. After just the right amount of time to get everyone anticipating again on the tips of their toes, the red siren lights came on, accompanied by their traditional wail. Amazingly, the screams increased even more, Thin Lizzy broke out of jail in a storm of frenzied guitars, and we were off on another awesome joyride. By the time the encore of "The Boys Are Back In Town" was done an hour or so later, I was done too. Rock and Roll overload, my first show, and I was hooked for life.

I still missed Queen. Sadly, I never did get to see them play live, but I own almost all of their albums and videos. Creative geniuses, the lot of them. It's hard for some to appreciate, especially if they lack a musical background, because much of what makes Queen so amazing is rooted in their technical command of music AND music technology. Go back and listen to "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races." NO SYNTHESIZERS. NO MIDI. NO SAMPLING. Those sounds of cellos, violins, and other exotic instruments are heavily-processed GUITAR played by Brian in multiple tracks. The orchestration and layering of track after track of vocals and instruments is absolutely amazing in its harmonic complexity and melodic beauty. And then they turn around and "Tie Your Mother Down!" And then they turn around and "Laze on a Sunday Afternoon!!" Such diversity and refined creative genius is matched by NO band of the current day--not by a LONG shot--imo.

Paul Rodgers is a fabulous vocalist with one of the great unique rock voices. I look forward to hearing his work with Queen sans Freddie. Furthermore, I really look forward to hearing what Brian May has been up to--he is a veritable god of the electric guitar. No one will ever replace Freddie Mercury as Queen's lead vocalist and pianist, but now his Spirit shines down on us from the night sky, and I'm glad to see that the rest of Queen is willing to continue on giving of their great Gift to all of us. I for one, will always love them.

Champions, indeed.