 Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury, lead vocals, piano, Brian May, lead guitar, vocals, Roger Taylor, drums, vocals and John Deacon, bass guitar. Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock, into their music. Before forming Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had played together in a band named Smile. Freddie Mercury, then known by his birth name of Farak Freddie Bulsara, was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques. Mercury joined the band in 1970, suggested Queen as a new band name, and adopted his familiar stage name. John Deacon was recruited before the band recorded their eponymous debut album in 1973. Queen first charted in the UK with their second album, Queen II, in 1974, but it was the release of Sheer Heart Attack later that year and a night at the opera in 1975 which brought them international success. The latter featured Bohemian Rhapsody, which stayed at number one in the UK for nine weeks and popularized the music video. The band's 1977 album News of the World contained We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions, which have become anthems at sporting events. By the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. Released in 1980, another one Bites the Dust is their best-selling single, while their 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in the UK and is certified eight times platinum in the US. Their performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert has been ranked among the greatest in rock history by various music publications, and the best in a 2005 industry poll. In 1991, Mercury died of bronconimonia, a complication of aides, and Deacon retired in 1997. Since then, May and Taylor have performed under the name of Queen with Paul Rogers and Adam Lambert as vocalists on several tours. The band have released a total of 18 number-one albums, 18 number-one singles, and 10 number-one DVDs estimates of their record sales generally range from 150 million to 300 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. Queen received the Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award from the British phonographic industry in 1990. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. History 1968-74, early days In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffel decided to form a band. May placed an advertisement on a college notice board for a Mitch Mitchell-slash-ginger-baker type drummer, Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. The group called themselves Smile. While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffel became friends with Farak Bulsara, a fellow student who had assumed the English name of Freddie. Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keen fan of Smile. In 1970, after Staffel left to join the band Humpy Bong, the remaining Smile members, encouraged by Bulsara, changed their name to Queen and performed their first gig on July 18. The band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the band's chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and began to rehearse for their first album. They recorded four of their own songs, Liar, Keep Yourself Alive, The Night Comes Down and Jesus, for a demo tape, no record companies were interested. It was also around this time Freddie changed his surname to Mercury, inspired by the line Mother Mercury, Look What They've Done to Me in the song My Fairy King. On July 2, 1971, Queen played their first show in the classic lineup of Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon at a Surrey College outside London. Having attended Art College, Mercury also designed Queen's logo, called the Queen Crest, shortly before the release of the band's first album.The logo combines the zodiac signs of all four members, two lions for Leo, Deacon and Taylor, a crab for Cancer, May, and two fairies for Virgo, Mercury, the lions embrace a stylized letter Q, the crab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are each sheltering below a lion.There is also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is overshadowed by an enormous phoenix. The whole symbol bears a passing resemblance to the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, particularly with the lion supporters. The original logo, as found on the reverse side of the cover of the band's first album, was a simple line drawing. Later sleeves bore more intricate colored versions of the logo. In 1972, Queen entered discussions with Trident Studios after being spotted at DeLau Lane Studios by John Anthony. After these discussions, Norman Sheffield offered the band a management deal under Neptune Productions, a subsidiary of Trident, to manage the band and enable them to use the facilities at Trident to record new material, whilst the management searched for a record label to sign Queen. This suited both parties, as Trident were expanding into management, and under the deal, Queen were able to make use of the high-recording facilities used by other musicians such as the Beatles and Elton John to produce new material. In 1973, Queen signed to a deal with Trident slash Emmy. By July of that year, they released their eponymous debut album, an effort influenced by heavy metal and progressive rock. The album was received well by critics, Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone called it superb, and Chicago's Daily Herald called it an above-average debut. However, it drew little mainstream attention, and the lead single Keep Yourself Alive sold poorly. Retrospectively, it is cited as the highlight of the album, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked it 31st in the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time, describing it as an entire album's worth of riffs crammed into a single song. The album was certified gold in the UK and the US. The group's second LP, Queen 2, was released in 1974, and features rock photographer Mick Rock's iconic image of the band on the cover.This image would be used as the basis for the 1975 Bohemian Rhapsody music video production.The album reached number five on the British album chart and became the first Queen album to chart in the UK. The Freddie Mercury-written lead single Seven Seas of Rye reached number ten in the UK, giving the band their first hit.The album is the first real testament to the band's distinctive layered sound, and features long complex instrumental passages, fantasy-themed lyrics and musical virtuosity.Aside from its only single, the album also included the song The March of the Black Queen, a six-minute epic which lacks a chorus. The Daily Vault described the number as menacing. Critical reaction was mixed, the Winnipeg Free Press, while praising the band's debut album, described Queen 2 as an overproduced monstrosity. All Music has described the album as a favourite among the band's hardcore fans, and it is the first of three Queen albums to feature in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. 1974-76, Sheer Heart Attack to A Night at the Opera In May 1974, a month into the band's first US tour opening for Mot the Hoopal, Brian May collapsed and was diagnosed with hepatitis, forcing the cancellation of their remaining dates. While recuperating, May was initially absent when the band started work on their third album, but he returned midway through the recording process. Easton 1974, Sheer Heart Attack reached number two in the United Kingdom, sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States.It gave the band their first real experience of international success, and was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The album experimented with a variety of musical genres, including British Music Hall, Heavy Metal, Ballads, Ragtime and Caribbean. At this point, Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-orientated style. Sheer Heart Attack introduced new sound and melody patterns that would be refined on their next album, A Night at the Opera. The single-killer Queen from Sheer Heart Attack reached number two on the British charts and became their first US hit, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It combines Camp, Votaville and British Music Hall with May's guitar virtuosity. The album's second single, Now I'm Here, a more traditional hard rock composition, was a number 11 hit in Britain, while the high-speed rocker Stone Cold Crazy featuring May's up-tempo riffs is a precursor to Speed Metal.In recent years, the album has received acclaim from music publications.In 2006, Classic Rock ranked it number 28 in the 100 greatest British rock albums ever, and in 2007, Mojo ranked it number 88 in the 100 records that changed the world. It is also the second of three Queen albums to feature in the book 1001 albums you must hear before you die. In January 1975, the band left for a world tour with each member in Zandra Rhodes created costumes and accompanied with banks of lights and effects. They toured the US as headliners, and played in Canada for the first time, after that they played in seven cities of Japan from mid-April to the start of May. In September, after an acromionous split with Trident, the band negotiated themselves out of their Trident Studios contract and searched for new management. One of the options they considered was an offer from Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant. Grant wanted them to sign with Led Zeppelin's own production company, Swansong Records. The band found the contract unacceptable and instead contacted Elton Johns manager, John Reed, who accepted the position. In late 1975, Queen recorded and released A Night at the Opera, taking its name from the popular Marx Brothers movie. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced. Like its predecessor, the album features diverse musical styles and experimentation with stereo sound. In the Prophet's Song, An Eight-Minute Epic, the middle section is a canon, with simple phrases layered to create a full choral sound. The Mercury-Pent Ballad, Love of My Life, featured a harp and overdubbed vocal harmonies. The album was very successful in Britain and went triple platinum in the United States.The British public voted it the 13th-greatest album of all time in a 2004 Channel 4 poll. It has also ranked highly in international polls, in a worldwide Guinness poll, it was voted the 19th-greatest of all time, while an ABC poll saw the Australian public voted the 28th-greatest of all time. A Night at the Opera has frequently appeared in greatest albums lists reflecting the opinions of critics. Among other accolades, it was ranked number 16 in Q Magazine's The 50 Best British Albums Ever in 2004, and number 11 in Rolling Stones The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time as featured in their Mexican edition in 2004. It was also placed at number 230 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. A Night at the Opera is the third and final Queen Album to be featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album also featured the hit single Bohemian Rhapsody, which was number one in the UK for nine weeks.Mercury's close friend and adviser, capital London radio DJ Kenny Everett, played a pivotal role in giving the single exposure. It is the third best-selling single of all time in the UK, surpassed only by Band Aids Do They Know It's Christmas, and Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997, and is the best-selling commercial single in the UK. It also reached number nine in the United States, a 1992 re-release reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks.It is the only single ever to sell a million copies on two separate occasions, and became the Christmas number one twice in the UK, the only single ever to do so. Queen Rhapsody has been voted numerous times the greatest song of all time. The band decided to make a video to help go with the single and hired Trillian, a subsidiary of the former management company Trident Studios, using new technology to create the video, the result is generally considered to have been the first true music video ever produced and popularized the medium. The album's first track Death on Two Legs is said to have been written by Mercury about Norman Sheffield and the former management at Trident who helped make the video so popular.Although other bands, including The Beatles, had made short promotional films or videos of songs before, most of those were specifically made to be aired on specific television shows. On the impact of Bohemian Rhapsody, Rolling Stone states, its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air. The second single from the album, You're My Best Friend, the second song composed by John Deacon, and his first single, peaked at No. 16 in the United States and went on to become a worldwide top ten hit.The band's A Night at the Opera Tour began in November 1975, and covered Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia. 1976-79, A Day at the Races to Live Killers By 1976, Queen were back in the studio recording A Day at the Races, which is often regarded as a sequel album to A Night at the Opera. It again borrowed the name of a Marx Brothers movie, and its cover was similar to that of A Night at the Opera, a variation on the same Queen crest.The most recognizable of the Marx Brothers, Groucho Marx, invited Queen to visit him in his Los Angeles home in March 1977, there the band thanked him in person, and performed 39 A Capella. Musically, A Day at the Races was by both fans and critics standards a strong effort, reaching No. 1 in the UK and Japan, and No. 5 in the US.The major hit on the album was Somebody to Love, a gospel-inspired song in which Mercury, May and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to create a 100-voice gospel choir. The song went to No. 2 in the UK and No. 13 in the US.The album also featured one of the band's heaviest songs, May's Tie Your Mother Down, which became a staple of their live shows. During 1976, Queen played one of their most famous gigs, a free concert in Hyde Park, London.A concert organized by the entrepreneur Richard Branson, it set an attendance record with 150,000 people confirmed in the audience. On December 1, 1976, Queen were the intended guests on London's early evening-to-day program, but they pulled out at the last minute, which saw their late replacement on the show, Emmy label made the Sex Pistols, give their infamous expletive strewn interview with Bill Grundy. During the A Day at the Races tour in 1977, Queen performed sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, New York in February and Earl's Court, London, in June. The band's sixth studio album News of the World was released in 1977, which has gone four times platinum in the United States, and twice in the UK. The album contained many songs Taylor made for live performance, including two of rock's most recognizable anthems, We Will Rock You and The Rock Ballad We Are the Champions, both of which became enduring international sports anthems, and the latter reached number four in the US.Queen commenced the News of the World tour in October 1977, and Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called this concert tour the band's most spectacularly staged and finely honed show. In 1978, the band released Jazz, which reached number two in the UK and number six on the Billboard 200 in the US. The album included the hit singles Fat Bottomed Girls and Bicycle Race on a double-sided record. Queen rented Wimbledon Stadium for a day to shoot the video, with 65 female models hired to stage a nude bicycle race. Reviews of the album in recent years have been more favourable. Another notable track from Jazz, Don't Stop Me Now, provides another example of the band's exuberant vocal harmonies. In 1978, Queen toured the US and Canada, and spent much of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan. They released their first live album, Live Killers, in 1979, it went platinum twice in the US. Queen also released the very successful single Crazy Little Thing Called Love, a rockabilly inspired song done in the style of Elvis Presley.The song made the top ten in many countries, topped the Australian Aria charts for seven consecutive weeks, and was the band's first number one single in the United States where it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.Having written the song on guitar and played rhythm on the record, Mercury played rhythm guitar while performing the song Live, which was the first time he ever played guitar in concert. In December 1979, Queen played the opening night at the concert for the people of Campachia in London, having accepted a request by the events organiser Paul McCartney. 1980-84, the game to the works. Queen began their 1980s career with the game. It featured the singles Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites the Dust, both of which reached number one in the US.After attending a Queen concert in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson suggested to Mercury backstage that Another One Bites the Dust be released as a single, and in October 1980 it spent three weeks at number one. The album topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks, and sold over four million copies in the US.It was also the first appearance of a synthesizer on a Queen album. Here to four, their albums featured a distinctive No Synthesizers, Sleeve note. The note is widely assumed to reflect an anti-synth, pro-hard rock stance by the band, but was later revealed by producer Roy Thomas Baker to be an attempt to clarify that those albums multi-layered solos were created with guitars, not synths, as record company executives kept assuming at the time. In September 1980, Queen performed three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. In 1980, Queen also released the soundtrack they had recorded for Flash Gordon. At the 1981 American Music Awards in January, Another One Bites the Dust won the award for Favorite Pop Slash Rock Single, and Queen were nominated for Favorite Pop Slash Rock Band, Duo or Group. In February 1981, Queen traveled to South America as part of the game tour, and became the first major rock band to play in Latin American stadiums.The tour included five shows in Argentina, one of which drew the largest single concert crowd in Argentine history with an audience of 300,000 in Buenos Aires and two concerts at the Moramei Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, where they played to an audience of more than 131,000 people in the first night, then the largest paying audience for a single band anywhere in the world, and more than 120,000 people the following night. In October of the same year, Queen performed for more than 150,000 fans on October 9 at Monterey, Estadio Universitario, and 17 and 18 at Puebla, Estadio Zaragoza, Mexico. On 24 and November 25, Queen played two sell-out nights at the Montreal Forum, Quebec, Canada. One of Mercury's most notable performances of the game's final track, Save Me, took place in Montreal, and the concert is recorded in the live album, Queen Rock Montreal. Queen worked with David Bowie on the single Under Pressure. The first time collaboration with another artist was spontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording. Upon its release, the song was extremely successful, reaching number one in the UK and featuring at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s. In October that year, Queen released their first compilation album, titled Greatest which showcased the group's highlights from 1974 to 1981.It is the best-selling album in UK chart history, and has spent 450 weeks in the UK album chart. The album is certified 8 times platinum in the United States, and has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album in 1981, titled Fun in Space. In 1982, the band released the album Hot Space, a departure from their trademark 70s sound, this time being a mixture of rock, pop-rock, dance, funk and rend-by. Most of the album was recorded in Munich during the most turbulent period in the band's history, and Taylor and May lamented the new sound, with both being very critical of the influence Mercury's personal manager Paul Prenter had on the singer. May was also scathing of Prenter, who was Mercury's manager from the early 1980s to 1984, for being dismissive of the importance of radio stations, such as the US networks, and their vital connection between the artist and the community, and for denying them access to Mercury. Q magazine would list Hot Space as one of the top 15 albums where Great Rock acts lost the plot. On 14 and September 15, 1982, the band performed their last two gigs in the US with Mercury on lead vocals, those concerts were held at the Forum in Englewood, California. The band stopped touring North America after their Hot Space tour, as their success there had waned, although they would perform on American television for the only time during the eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 25 of the same year, it became the final public performance of the band in North America before the death of their frontman. Queen left Electra Records, their label in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and signed onto ME Slash Capital Records. After working steadily for over 10 years, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time, they recorded a new album at the Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles and Musicland Studios, Munich, and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work. Taylor released his second solo album, Strange Frontier. May released the mini-album, Starfleet Project, collaborating with Eddie Van Hollen. In February 1984, Queen released their eleventh studio album, The Works, which included the successful singles Radio GAGA, Hammer to Fall and I Want to Break Free. Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the US, while in the UK it went triple platinum and remained in the albums chart for two years. That year, Queen began The Works tour, the first tour to feature keyboardist Spike Edny as an extra-live musician. The tour featured nine sold-out dates in October in Boputaswana, South Africa, at the arena in Sun City. Upon returning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played in South Africa during the height of apartheid and in violation of worldwide divestment efforts and a United Nations cultural boycott. The band responded to the critics by stating that they were playing music for fans in South Africa, and they also stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences. Queen donated to a school for the deaf and blind as a philanthropic gesture but were fined by the British Musicians' Union and placed on the United Nations blacklisted artists. 1985-88, Live Aid and Later Years In January 1985, the band headlined two nights of the first rock in Rio Festival at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and played in front of over 300,000 people each night. The Boston Globe described it as a �messmerizing performance.�A selection of highlights of both nights was released on VHS with the title �Queen, Live in Rio,� and was later broadcast on MTV in the US. In April and May 1985, Queen completed the works tour with sold-out shows in Australia and Japan. At Live Aid, held at Wembley on July 13, 1985, in front of the biggest ever TV audience of $1.9 billion, Queen performed some of their greatest hits, during which the sold-out stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang and swayed in unison. The show�s organizers, Bob Geldof and Mitch Eurer, other musicians such as Elton John, Cliff Richard and Dave Grawl, and music journalists writing for the BBC, CNN, Rolling Stone, MTV, The Telegraph among others, stated that Queen stole the show. An industry poll in 2005 ranked it �the greatest rock performance of all time.�Mercury�s powerful, sustained note during the acapella section came to be known as �the note heard round the world.� When interviewed for Mojo magazine the band said the most amazing sight at Live Aid was to see the audience clapping to Radio GAGA. Brian May stated, �I�d never seen anything like that in my life and it wasn�t calculated either. We understood our audience and played to them but that was one of those weird accidents because of the, music, video. I remember thinking �oh great, they�ve picked it up and then I thought this is not a Queen audience. This is a general audience who�ve bought tickets before they even knew we were on the bill. And they all did it. How did they know? Nobody told them to do it. The band, now revitalized by the response to Live Aid a shot in the arm Roger Taylor called it and the ensuing increase in record sales, ended 1985 by releasing the single One Vision, which was the third time after Stone Cold Crazy and Under Pressure, with David Bowie, that all four band members received a writing credit for the one song. Also, a limited edition boxed set containing all Queen albums to date was released under the title of �The Complete Works.� The package included previously unreleased material, most notably Queen�s non-album single of Christmas 1984, titled �Thank God It�s Christmas.� Red Rock Heavy Metal, Pop Rock and Psychedelic Rock Queen also wrote songs that were inspired by diverse musical styles which are not typically associated with rock groups, such as opera, music hall folk music, gospel, ragtime and dance slash disco. Several Queen songs were written with audience participation in mind, such as �We Will Rock You� and �We Are the Champions�. Similarly, Radio GAGA became a live favorite because it would have crowds clapping like they were at a Nuremberg rally. In 1963, the teenage Brian May and his father custom-built his signature guitar red special, which was purposely designed to feedback. Sonic experimentation figured heavily in Queen�s songs. A distinctive characteristic of Queen�s music are the vocal harmonies which are usually composed of the voices of May, Mercury and Taylor Best heard on the studio albums �A Night at the Opera� and �A Day at the Races.� Some of the groundwork for the development of this sound can be attributed to their former producer Roy Thomas Baker, and their engineer Mike Stone. Besides vocal harmonies, Queen were also known for multi-tracking voices to imitate the sound of a large choir through overdubs. For instance, according to Brian May, there are over 180 vocal overdubs in Bohemian Rhapsody. The band�s vocal structures have been compared with the Beach Boys but May stated they were not much of an influence. Legacy In 2002, Queen�s Bohemian Rhapsody was voted the UK�s favourite hit of all time in a poll conducted by the Guinness World Records�British hit singles book. In 2004 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Many scholars consider the Bohemian Rhapsody music video groundbreaking, and credit it with popularizing the medium.Ock historian Paul Fowles states the song is widely credited as the first global hit single for which an accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy. It has been hailed as launching the MTV H. Acclaimed for their stadium rock, in 2005 an industry poll ranked Queen�s performance at Live 8 in 1985 as the best live act in history.In 2007, they were also voted the greatest British band in history by BBC Radio 2 listeners. As of 2005, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,322 weeks, 26 years, on the UK album charts, more time than any other musical act.Also in 2005, with the release of their live album with Paul Rogers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts.In 2006, the greatest hits album was the all-time best-selling album in UK chart history, with sales of 5,407,587 copies, over 604,295 more copies than its nearest competitor, the Beatles�s GT Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band.Their greatest hits 2 album is the seventh best-seller, with sales of 3,746,404 copies.The band have released a total of 18 number 1 albums, 18 number 1 singles, and 10 number 1 DVDs worldwide, making them one of the world�s best-selling music artists. Queen have sold over 150 million records, with some estimates in excess of 300 million records worldwide including 34.5 million albums in the US as of 2004. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the band is the only group in which every member has composed more than one chart-topping single, and all four members were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2009, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the latter was voted the world�s favorite song in a 2005 Sony Ericsson global music poll. Queen are one of the most bootlegged bands ever, according to Nick Weymouth, who manages the band�s official website. A 2001 survey discovered the existence of 12,225 websites dedicated to Queen bootlegs, the highest number for any band. Big recordings have contributed to the band�s popularity in certain countries where western music is censored, such as Iran. In a project called Queen, the top 100 bootlegs, many of these have been made officially available to download for a nominal fee from Queen�s website, with profits going to the Mercury Phoenix Trust Rolling Stone ranked Queen at number 52 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time, while ranking Mercury the 18th greatest singer, and May the 26th greatest guitarist. Queen were named 13th on VH1�s 100 greatest artists of hard rock list, and in 2010 were ranked 17th on VH1�s 100 greatest artists of all time list. In 2012, GigWise readers named Queen the best band of the past 60 years. Queen have been recognized as having made significant contributions to such genres as hard rock, and heavy metal, among others. Hence, the band have been cited as an influence by many other musicians. Moreover, like their music, the bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen and have expressed admiration for them are diverse, spanning different generations, countries and genres, including heavy metal, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Dream Theatre, Trivium, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slipknot and Rage Against the Machine, Hard Rock, Guns and Roses, Def Leppard, Van Hollen, Motley Crew, Steve Vai, The Cult, The Darkness, Kid Rock and Foo Fighters, Alternative Rock, Nirvana, Radiohead, Trent Reznor, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane�s Addiction, Faith No More, Melvins, The Flaming Lips, and The Smashing Pumpkins, Shock Rock, Marilyn Manson, Pop Rock, Meat Loaf, The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Panic. At the Disco, and Pop, Michael Jackson, George Michael, Robbie Williams, Adele, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Keisha, Grimes and Cy. In the early 1970s, Queen helped spur the heavy metal genre�s evolution by discarding much of its blues influence. Queen�s 1974 song Stone Cold Crazy has been cited as a precursor of speed metal. Metallica recorded a cover version of Stone Cold Crazy, which first appeared on the Uribeat, Electra�s 40th anniversary album in 1990, and won their second Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1991. Tom York of Radiohead received his first guitar at seven years old, encouraged after seeing Brian May in a broadcast of a Queen concert.At ten years old, York made his own homemade guitar, trying to imitate what May had done with his red special, but he was not satisfied with the result. Subsequently, Queen was one of the first influences in the music of Radiohead. In other media. Musical Theatre In May 2002, a musical or rock theatrical based on the songs of Queen, titled �We Will Rock You,� opened at the Dominion Theatre on London�s West End. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and produced by Robert De Niro. It has since been staged in many cities around the world.Following the Las Vegas premiere on September 8, 2004, Queen were inducted into the Hollywood Rockwalk in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday, October 7, 2006, at the Dominion Theatre, but due to public demand, the show ran until May 2014. �We Will Rock You� has become the longest running musical ever to run at this Prime London Theatre, overtaking the previous record holder, the Grease Musical. Brian May stated in 2008 that they were considering writing a sequel to the musical. The musical toured around the UK in 2009, playing at Manchester Palace Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Hippodrome and Edinburgh Playhouse. The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II�s Golden Jubilee. As part of the Jubilee celebrations, Brian May performed a guitar solo of God Save the Queen, as featured on Queen�s A Night at the Opera, from the roof of Buckingham Palace. The recording of this performance was used as video for the song on the 30th anniversary DVD edition of A Night at the Opera. Sean Bovim created Queen at the Ballet, a tribute to Mercury, which uses Queen�s music as a soundtrack for the show�s dancers, who interpret the stories behind tracks such as Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio GAGA, and Killer Queen. Queen�s music also appears in the off-Broadway production Power Ballads, most notably the song We Are the Champions, with the show�s two performers believing the song was the apex of artistic achievement in its day. Digital Realm In conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game Queen, The Eye in 1998. The music itself tracks from Queen�s vast catalogue, in many cases remixed into new instrumental versions was by and large well received, but the game experience was hampered by poor gameplay. Adding to the problem was an extremely long development time, resulting in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release. Under the supervision of Mae and Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been underway involving Queen�s lengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their 1986 Wembley concert, titled Live at Wembley Stadium, 1982 Milton Kane�s concert, Queen on Fire Live at the Bowl, and two greatest video hits, Volumes 1 and 2, spanning the 1970s and 1980s, have seen the band�s music remixed into 5.1 and DT�s surround sound. So far, only two of the band�s albums, A Night at the Opera and the Game, have been fully remixed into high-resolution Malta channel surround on DVD audio. A Night at the Opera was re-released with some revised 5.1 mixes and accompanying videos in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album�s original release, CD and DVD video set. In 2007, a Blu-ray edition of Queen�s previously released concerts, Queen Rock Montreal and Live Aid, was released, marking their first project in 1080p HD. Queen have been featured multiple times in the A Guitar Hero franchise, a cover of Killer Queen in the original Guitar Hero, We Are the Champions, Fat Bottomed Girls, and the Paul Rogers Collaboration Celebrity in a track pack for Guitar Hero World Tour, Under Pressure with David Bowie in Guitar Hero 5 I Want It All in Guitar Hero, Van Holland, Stone Cold Crazy in Guitar Hero, Metallica, and Bohemian Rhapsody in Guitar Hero, Warriors of Rock. On October 13, 2009, Brian May revealed there was talk going on behind the scenes about a dedicated Queen Rock Band game. Queen have also been featured multiple times in the Rock Band franchise, a track pack of 10 songs which are compatible with Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3.3 of those are also compatible with Lego Rock Band. Their hit Bohemian Rhapsody was featured in Rock Band 3 with full harmony and keys support. The band also appeared in the video game Lego Rock Band as playable Lego avatars. In March 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment released a Queen branded version of the company�s karaoke franchise, Singstar. The game, which is available on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, is titled Singstar Queen and has 25 songs on the PS3 and 20 on the PS2. We Will Rock You and Other Songs by Queen also appear in DJ Hero. One vision was featured on the successful video game Grand Theft Auto 4 on the fictional radio station Liberty Rock Radio 97.8, while Radio GAGA features on Grand Theft Auto 5 character trailer for Michael and the game�s soundtrack. Film and Television Queen contributed music directly to the films Flash Gordon, 1980, with Flash as the theme song, and Highlander, the original 1986 film, with a kind of magic, one year of love, who wants to live forever, hammer to fall, and the theme Princes of the Universe, which was also used as the theme of the Highlander TV series, 1992-1998. In the United States, Bohemian Rhapsody was re-released as a single in 1992 after appearing in the comedy film Wayne�s World.The single subsequently reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, with the show must go on as the first track on the single, and helped rekindle the band�s popularity in North America. Several films have featured their songs performed by other artists. A Version of Somebody to Love by Anne Hathaway was in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. In 2006, Brittany Murphy also recorded a cover of the same song for the 2006 film Happy Feet. In 2001, a version of the show must go on was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the film musical Moulin Rouge. The 2001 film A Night�s Tale has a version of We Are the Champions performed by Robbie Williams and Queen, the film also features We Will Rock You played by the medieval audience. I Was Born to Love You was used as the theme song of the Japanese television drama Pride on Fuji television in 2004, starring Takya Kimura and Okota Kuchi. The show�s soundtrack also contained other songs by Queen. Don�t Stop Me Now has featured in the BBC television show Top Gear, and in 2005 the song was voted as the greatest driving song ever by the show�s viewers. Keeping in a tradition of naming each season�s episodes after songs by 1970�s rock bands, the eighth and final season of that 70�s show had episodes named after Queen�s songs. Bohemian Rhapsody served as the season premiere. The Simpsons has made storylines which have featured Queen songs such as We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, both sung by Homer, and You�re My Best Friend. On April 11, 2006, Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared on the American Singing Contest television show American Idol. Each contestant was required to sing a Queen song during that week of the competition. Songs which appeared on the show included Bohemian Rhapsody, Fat Bottomed Girls, The Show Must Go On, Who Wants to Live Forever, and Innuendo. Brian May later criticised the show for editing specific scenes, one of which made the group�s time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite. Taylor and May again appeared on the American Idol season 8 finale in May 2009, performing We Are the Champions with finalists Adam Lambert and Chris Allen.On November 15, 2009, Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared on the Singing Contest television show X Factor in the UK. In the autumn of 2009, Glee featured the fictional high school show Choir Singing �Somebody to Love� as their second act performance in the episode �The Road�s Not Taken. The performance was included on the show�s Volume 1 soundtrack CD. In June 2010, the Choir performed Another One Bites the Dust in the episode Funk. The following week�s episode, Journey to Regionals, features a rival choir performing Bohemian Rhapsody in its entirety. The song was featured on the episode�s EP. In May 2012, the choir performed We Are the Champions in the episode Nationals, and the song features in the graduation album. In September 2010, Brian May announced in a BBC interview that Sasha Baron Cohen was to play Mercury in a film of the same name. The time commented with approval on his singing ability and visual similarity to Mercury. However, in July 2013, Baron Cohen dropped out of the role due to creative differences between him and the surviving band members. In December 2013, it was announced that Ben Wyshaw, best known for playing Q in the James Bond film Skyfall, had been chosen to replace Cohen in the role of Mercury. The motion picture is being written by Peter Morgan, who had been nominated for Oscars for his screenplays The Queen and Frost Slash Nixon. The film, which is being co-produced by Robert De Niro�s Trebekah Productions, will focus on Queen�s formative years and the period leading up to the celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid Concert.