As a young man Roger Taylor formed
a band called Johnny Quale and the
Reaction. The future Queen drummer
travelled the length and breadth of the
country with his band, competing in
various talent contests. Eventually they
downsized their name to Reaction, and
became a constant on the music scene
throughout the mid-1960s.
At the same time, Brian May had
taken inspiration from author George
Orwell, and was playing in a band named
after one of Orwell’s most famous novels
- 19 84. They enjoyed even more success
than Taylor’s Reaction, played sold out
gigs across the country, and even picked
up a support slot with Jimi Hendrix in
- Unfortunately this success was
short lived as conflicts within the band
meant they split soon after.
Queen’s soon-to-be bassist John
Deacon, was also in a mildly successful
band at the time, and with Deacon’s
group getting booked most weekends in
The New Opposition, it was clear that all
three artists were on the rise.
In 1966, Brian May was busy studying
for a degree in astronomy at Imperial
College in London. As well as performing
with 1984, May was playing in a band
called Smile with singer and bassist Tim
Staffell; a band that Taylor also joined
after answering an advert on a notice
board at the Imperial College.
Freddie Bulsara was Staffell’s
roommate at the time, and followed
Smile closely – turning up to rehearsals
as well as most of the band’s gigs. At
the time, Freddie was also big on the
scene in his own right, singing with thelikes of Ibex and Wreckage. Freddie
was becoming closer and closer with the
Smile boys – as Staffell drifted further
and further apart from them – and it
wasn’t long before Staffell decided that
Smile was not for him, and Freddie was
brought in as lead singer in his place.
Smile also began the long search for
a new bass player, initially settling on
Barry Mitchell. Freddie quickly stamped
his authority on the band, changing
the band’s name from Smile to Queen,
stating, ‘Years ago I thought up the name
Queen... it’s just a name, but it’s very
regal and it sounds splendid. It’s a strong
name, very universal and immediate.
It had a lot of visual potential and was
open to all sorts of interpretations. I was
certainly aware of the gay connotations,
but that was just one facet of it.’ Deciding
his own name also needed a makeover,
Freddie Bulsara found inspiration for
a new one when writing the song My
Fairy King, which contains a verse with
the lyrics ‘Mother Mercury, look what
they’ve done to me.’ Bulsara was quick
to latch on to Mercury as a name, and
subsequently took the stage name Freddie
Mercury; a name better suiting the stage
persona that Freddie described as an
‘extroverted monster’.
When bassist John Deacon joined
the group in 1972, the band was finally
complete. Queen began to rehearse
for their first full-length release – the
eponymously titled Queen – but struggled
to find a label to market the finished
product. Roger Taylor later recalled the
trying time reflecting, ‘We had quite a
difficult genesis. It was very difficult for
us to get a contract, to be accepted in any
way. But many groups went through that,
and it does engineer a kind of “backs to
the wall” feeling in a band. So we felt
very strong together.’
When they were eventually picked up
by EMI, it had been eight months since
Queen had completed their debut album;
by which point the group had almost
grown out of it. Years later, Brian May
talked about the lengthy process, stating,
‘The album took ages and ages – two
years in total, in the preparation, making
and then trying to get the thing released.’
The press barely paid any attention to
Queen at first, yet the album did succeed
in giving the band their first radio hit
through Keep Yourself Alive, which, as
Mercury himself remarked ‘... was a very
good way of telling people what Queen
was about in those days.’
A mixture of mostly Led Zeppelin
inspired rocking numbers, as well as a
hint of glam rock, Queen slowly bubbledJohn Deacon and Freddie Mercury setting out on the road to superstardom.