Best Queen Songs: Top 5 Hits From Legendary Rockers, According To Experts -

Queen was a legendary British rock band that left an indelible mark on the music industry with their unique blend of operatic rock, theatrical performances, and iconic anthems. Led by the charismatic frontman Freddie Mercury, the band created some of the most memorable songs in rock history, earning them a place among the all-time greats. With their powerful vocals, virtuosic musicianship, and genre-defying style, Queen has inspired countless musicians and fans around the world, cementing their status as one of the most beloved and influential bands of all time. Some of the best Queen songs are still being played today and are beloved by millions.

There’s without a doubt that you’ve rocked out to one of Queen’s iconic tracks, and maybe you’ve even worked out to one! A new survey finds Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor and Guns n’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” top the charts as the best workout songs of all time. That’s not surprising considering the hefty punch those songs pack.

Freddie and company did more than provide a stellar work out mix for you, they allowed you to feel something with their music. Music often does a great job of saying what simple words struggle to convey, and you probably have a favorite song for whenever you’re feeling sad, looking for a pick me up.

The skill of Freddie Mercury aside, a study might suggest drummer Roger Taylor as a special piece of the band as drumming affects your mind significantly. A team of researchers from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany analyzed a group of seasoned drummers’ brains. They discovered that playing the drums does indeed change one’s brain structure; drummers’ motor brain areas are organized more efficiently

So, among the endless astounding tracks they’ve produced, which are the top favorites? StudyFinds set out to do the research for you, visiting 10 expert websites to put together this list of the best Queen songs of all time. If you’ve got your own suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Freddy Mercury (“Freddie Mercury” by kentarotakizawa is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

The List: Best Queen Songs, According To Experts

1. “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1977)

A six-minute operatic rock masterpiece that became one of the band’s signature songs, blending rock, pop, and classical elements. “One of the reasons why ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ sounds so different is in its structure. The song is neither an a cappella, a ballad, an opera or rock. It’s actually all of them in one song. Fisch: It advanced a tradition of suites in pop music, meaning not a continuous song, not a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge structure, which was the norm. A put together group of different songs, in essence. So if people refer to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as a song, that’s a bit of a misnomer. It’s actually three or four songs,” says Business Insider.

“‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is one of Queen’s most famous songs. It’s reached fame all over the world and is considered one of the best songs ever recorded. Now, with the self-titled biopic out in theatres, more people are learning about the band and the late great Freddie Mercury,” comments History By Day.

“When I first heard Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio as an impressionable 9-year-old back in 1975, the song not only fit into the last category, it created it. Nothing would ever be the same after the first listening, the same as it probably would’ve been for a 9-year-old first hearing The Beatles’ A Day in the Life upon its release in 1967. Your life was divided into what came before and what came after,” muses Good Men Project.

2. “We Will Rock You” (1977)

A stomping anthem with a powerful beat and infectious chorus, often performed at sporting events and rallies. “We Will Rock You became one of Queen’s most famous songs and a moment of audience participation at the band’s shows. It also was picked up at sports events, particularly in the US, when hockey and baseball games would play the track over the PA,” says RadioX.

This was one song that was more than just Freddie’s vocals, “Queen’s guitarist, Brian May, wrote the first track of the single, a song titled ‘We Will Rock You.’ It’s loud, brash and features a loop of handclaps and stamping; when performed live, any audience can replicate it. Both Roger Taylor’s energetic drumming and John Deacon’s iconic basslines are conspicuously absent from the instrumental. Besides the vocals of frontman Freddie Mercury, the only real instrument you hear is May’s guitar, which comes wailing in solo during the last 45 seconds of the song,” comments LA Times.

Boys Set Fire says, “We Will Rock You, is one of the most iconic rock songs of all time. With its recognizable beat and chant-like lyrics, it has been used as a rallying cry for fans at stadiums and arenas across the globe. But just how long is the song? Measured in terms of length, ‘We Will Rock You’ clocks in at just two minutes and fourteen seconds. Despite the brevity of its length, the song has become an anthem for generations of rock and roll fans, uniting them in a shared celebration of the power of music.”

3. “Somebody to Love” (1976)

A soulful, gospel-inspired ballad that showcases Freddie Mercury’s incredible vocal range and emotional depth. “The lyrics of the song ‘Somebody to Love’ are about a person who is looking for love and understanding. She feels alone and lost, and hopes to find someone who can provide companionship and support. The lyrics express a deep desire for connection and intimacy, and reflect the feelings of loneliness and isolation that many people experience at some point in their lives,” explains Call Me Fred.

The frontman himself gave it his praise, as iHeartRadio puts it, “Queen’s iconic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ might be Freddie Mercury’s magnum opus and the band‘s most enduring hit, but Freddie himself was even more proud of another single, ‘Somebody to Love.'”

“This song is sung in a gospel style, with the voices of Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor multitracked to sound like a choir. According to Brian May, the gospel sound was inspired by the music of Aretha Franklin,” says Song Facts.

4. “Don’t Stop Me Now” (1967)

An energetic, upbeat tune that has become a classic party song, with its catchy melody and lyrics about living life to the fullest. “The song Don’t Stop Me Know by Queen emerged as the top feel good song of the past fifty years due to its combination of a relatively fast tempo, positive lyrics and the perfect musical key,” comments Daily Mail UK.

“Yet four decades later, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is not only one of the band’s most treasured cuts, but one of the most popular songs of its entire era. On Sunday, March 3, it eclipsed 500 million plays on Spotify — nearly double that of any Rolling Stones, U2 or Led Zeppelin song on the service. It’s the highest streaming figure for any Queen song not called ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,” says Billboard.

Far Out Magazine showcased an interview with guitarist Brain May about how he had to come around on the song, “‘I didn’t really take to it in the beginning. I didn’t feel totally comfortable with what Freddie was singing at the time…I found it a little bit too flippant in view of the dangers of AIDS and stuff. But as time went on, I began to realize that it gave people great joy’.”

5. “Under Pressure” (1981)

A collaboration with David Bowie, this song features a memorable bassline, soaring vocals, and a poignant message about the pressures of modern life. “In July of 1981, David Bowie went into a recording studio in Switzerland with Queen and made ‘Under Pressure,’ a song that would become one of his most ubiquitous and most recognizable recordings, even though it never appeared on a proper Bowie album. The song hit No. 1 in the U.K. and cracked the Top 30 in the US,” comments Slate.

“It really shouldn’t have worked. On the one hand, you had Queen, purveyors of fist-pumping, crowd-pleasing anthems featuring a loose-limbed rhythm section, Brian May’s skyscraping guitar, and Freddie Mercury’s rafter-rattling vocals. On the other, you had David Bowie, rock’s great chameleon, who at the beginning of the ’80s was in the midst of a series of dark, challenging albums that weren’t exactly catnip for the pop charts but were endlessly captivating to the adventuresome fans in his audience,” says American Song Writer.

“The unmistakable bassline in ‘Under Pressure’ is probably one of the most iconic intro’s in rock music history,” simply states Smooth Radio.

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Tags: musicians, songs