parody movie, ‘Wayne’s World’. The group would go on to record a
series of other albums and always seemed able to produce that one
sterling single that kept them in the public’s eye. Variously, they
created ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ (‘Jazz’), ‘Crazy Little Thing Called
Love’ and ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ (‘The Game’).
Steven Rosen recalls: ‘This interview took place at the Sunset
Marquis in West Hollywood, a very swank and expensive hotel
where only rock’s nobility were able to lay out a welcome mat.
Queen, at this time, were extraordinarily successful and Brian, in
particular, was most gracious and obliging in answering all manner
of question – relevant or ridiculous.
‘I did remind him of our almost-first encounter some years
earlier. I was in England in the summer of 1972, just generally
doing the gypsy thing with backpack but also trying to make some
connections with English newspapers, publicists, and the like. I
hadn’t really started writing yet but I knew that’s what I wanted
to do. I met a Mr. Tony Brainsby, a high-profile publicist who
handled a number of bands at the time including Paul McCartney
and Wings, Fleetwood Mac, and Queen. I remember going to his
office and seeing a white test pressing of this album by a group
called Queen. He asked me if I wanted to interview them, that
they were a new group with a new album out, and they were going
to be huge. I thought about it one stupid second and replied, “No,
I don’t think so, Tony. That’s a dumb name for a band and they’ll
never make it.”
‘All these years later I could shoot myself for that absurd remark.
I told Brian the story and he just quietly laughed.’
Q There has always been this sort of undercurrent that Queen
came in and filled the void left by Led Zeppelin. Do you agree
with that at all?
I don’t think we were close to Zeppelin, I think we were closer to
the spirit of the ‘Truth’ album. We wanted this heavy atmosphere