The Brian May Interview

T

his interview took place in the waning months of

1983, about ten years after Queen first released their

eponymous debut. Simultaneously they issued their

first single, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ and unleashed on the world

a swirling blend of symphonically orchestrated rock revolving

around Freddie Mercury’s operatic-like vocals and Brian May’s

lush and layered guitar harmonies. They built on this success

with ‘Queen II’ and ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ and then in December

1975 they elevated their music to the next level with a series of

Marx Brothers-influenced album titles including ‘A Night at the

Opera’ and ‘A Day at the Races’.

This former record included the epic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,

a 6-minute overture that combined disparate sections with

intricately-developed vocal lines and would maybe become most

well known for becoming the unofficial theme song for the rock