My Top 10 Favourite Queen Songs
Who doesn't love Queen? Only people with no taste in music, I say.
Queen are undoubtedly one of the most popular rock bands in music history. With the late, great Freddy Mercury at vocals, Brian May on guitar, Roger Taylor on drums and John Deacon on bass, Queen was one of the biggest music phenomenon throughout the 70's and the 80's, releasing smash hit after smash hit and their popularity expanded far outside their native England, making them a worldwide phenomenon that continues to be celebrated to this day. The band achieved even greater fame after completely stealing the show during the 1985 Live Aid concert. Heck, I even put Queen's performance at Number 1 on my Live Aid performances list! Sadly, Freddy Mercury died way too soon in 1991 at the age of 45 due to AIDS and thus the band has had a much quieter career since then with Brian May and Roger Taylor still part of the band while John Deacon has retired. The band especially frequently collaborates with singers like Adam Lambert in this day and age. And yet Queen remains ever popular with music fans with many music tributes performed in their name, and in 2018 we got the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic that took the world by storm, launched actor Rami Malek into even bigger stardom, reignited the band's popularity and won several awards, including Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing at the Academy Awards. So yeah, Freddy may have died long ago, but Queen's legacy lives on and remains ever strong to this day.
When it comes to me, I've been listening to Queen songs all my life. My earliest memory of hearing Queen songs was "We Will Rock You", and I would go on to hear several more as I grew up. It helps my parents love Queen music as well. Because of this, we'd go and see some of the Queen music tribute bands perform and we also went to see Bohemian Rhapsody when it released back in 2018. My thoughts? I loved it. It was such a fun biopic that shows us the band's history, even if some of it may not be accurate, Rami Malek was a flawless Freddy Mercury, the Live Aid scene was phenomenally recreated and hearing all the classic Queen tunes was an absolute treat. Some day, I'll probably review the movie. But for now, I'm hear to count down my Top 10 Favourite Queen Songs.
Believe me when I say this isn't an easy list to make, because Queen have done so many damn good tunes! But I feel I've picked some great ones for the list. So let's sit back and rock out as I countdown my Top 10 Favourite Queen songs...
I'm sure this entry will be considered an odd choice for many. I mean, when you think of beloved Queen songs, I doubt "Bicycle Race" gets mentioned a lot. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure many people do like this song, it's just I don't think many would put it on a list of their favourite Queen songs.
And yet here I am, putting it at the Number 10 spot. "Bicycle Race" is just such a fun tune that I couldn't leave it off the list. The song has Queen's signature sound to it, which is always great, and Freddy's vocals are always a treat to listen to. The lyrics are especially interesting as it's basically about a guy who loves to ride his bike and the lyrics go over several topics that were relevant at the time, and maybe still relevant to this day, with mentions of pop-culture icons like Frankenstein, Superman and Peter Pan, and also mentioning stuff like religion, the Vietnam War, cocaine and more. Heck, the song even references another Queen song by mentioning "fat bottomed girls" at one point! Talk about reference overload!
As the lyrics go, the guy doesn't want to do any of that stuff, he just wants to ride his bike. What's really ironic though is that despite writing the song, Freddy Mercury actually wasn't fond of cycling and despite the lyric "I don't like Star Wars", he actually was a Star Wars fan, according to Brian May. The more you know, am I right? The song itself was actually inspired by Freddy watching the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France passing Montreux, in where the band was recording Jazz in Mountain Studios at the time, hence the bicycle race theme. Needless to say, it inspired an enjoyable tune! I especially love how as if to emphasize the cycling theme further, one bit of the song is actually a chorus of bicycle bells ringing in unison before the music kicks in again. Not often you get a song that features bicycle bells, eh? The lyrics and music are great and the chrous is especially fun to sing out loud, especially if you're actually riding a bike at the time. I know anytime I go cycling, I'll start singing "Bi-cy-cle! Bi-cy-cle! Bi-cy-cle!" just for laugh. XD
As fun as this song is, I put it at the bottom of the list for the simplest of reasons: there's VERY stiff competition since just about every Queen song is legendary in its own right. As is, the sheer fun factor, unique subject matter and enjoyable, easily chantable chorus earned "Bicycle Race" a spot on the list. This is a song that makes me want to ride my bi-cy-cle, it makes me want to ride my bike! It makes me want to ride my bi-cy-cle, it makes me want to ride it where I liiiiiiiiiike!
Unlike "Bicycle Race", I have a feeling this song will be more like what Queen fans will expect to see on a favourite Queen songs list. This is easily one of the band's most recognizable tunes and could be considered one of their signature songs along with "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are The Champions".
Freddy himself has stated the song is about a high-class call girl, and I think I see what he means what with the title being "Killer Queen", the lyrics mentioning a lot of things in high-class society such as caviar, cigarettes, etiquette and more and how she's "willing as, playful as a pussycat, then momentarily out of action, temporarily out of gas to absolutely drive you wild". As Freddy put it, he was trying to say classy people can be whores too. Subject matter aside, the lyrics do give us one very memorable and chantable chorus when we get to the "Killer Queen" part. How many of us Queen fans have randomly found ourselves going "She's a killer queen! Gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam, guaranteed to blow your miiiiind!" for no real reason? It's just such a memorable chorus and so easy to sing to when the song plays.
But it's not just the lyrics that make the song an enjoyable listen. Of course, Queen's signature sound is very much at play here with Freddy's sensational vocals, the high-pitched backing vocals that many Queen songs feature and Brian May getting to deliver one of his trademark guitar solos that I often find myself humming along to when I listen to the song. It's quite a catchy solo, let me tell you. May himself even cites "Killer Queen" as the band's turning point, and I don't blame him. If you want a Queen song that sums up most of what the band delivers with their songs, this could well be one of them. It's catchy, it has a great sound to it and a fun, easily chantable chorus that'll stick in your head for years afterwards.
"Killer Queen" is an absolute classic, and more than deserving to be on the list. It'd probably have ranked higher if the next eight songs weren't so damn good too. Still, I enjoy "Killer Queen" for all the reasons I listed above, and it's well-earned its spot. This is a song that's guaranteed to blow your mind...
One of the tunes Queen performed at Live Aid, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a catchy song that is an enjoyable listen, and is also among the more personal songs that Freddy himself wrote for the band.
Lyrically, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is clearly about a guy who's in love, or feeling love, and describing how it feels, but also saying he isn't ready for it yet. I'd say the song can pretty accurately sum up how it feels to be in love, especially with how it can be a "crazy little thing" with what it can do to you or make you feel. The lyrics are once more fun to sing along to, especially when you get to the title, and that just makes for an even more enjoyable tune.
But then there's the personal aspect. You see, Freddy made this song as a tribute to his musical heroes, namely Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. Am I the only one who would've loved to have seen a collab between Queen and either of those two? The Elvis influence is especially notable with the way Freddy sings the "crazy little thing called love" part in a somewhat Elvis-esque fashion. Brian May's guitar solo was even meant to emulate James Burton, a guitarist who often performed with Elvis, and he even used a different guitar instead of his signature Red Special to achieve this. The music itself is closer to 50's be-bop rock'n'roll, which is what was popular around the time Elvis and Cliff's music careers began taking off, hence it's easy to see how the song can be a tribute to the two. It's also notable how we get Freddy himself playing the acoustic guitar, an instrument you don't really hear in Queen songs, and it's pretty catchy. While it may be done more in that style of music, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" still has that Queen style to it, thus making it a tribute to music of that time with Queen's own little twist added to make it something truly enjoyable.
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is one of Queen's many great classics. It's fun to listen to, it's got memorable lyrics, it's a brilliant tribute to music of the past and it's overall just an enjoyable listen from beginning to end. This song shakes all over like a jellyfish, I kinda like it!
We have a song. With Queen. Collaborating. With David Bowie?! THAT'S AWESOME! And big shocker, the song itself is awesome too!
This song is an example of what happens when you get two absolute legends making a song together. You get this absolute legend as a result. "Under Pressure" is probably among the most memorable Queen tunes to date, especially with the song's iconic bass riff that has seen use in other songs such as Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" (in which Vanilla Ice got sued because he used the sample without crediting Queen or Bowie). Seriously, you'll be humming that riff for the rest of your life, it's that much of an earworm! Whoever came up with that bass riff, they deserve all the royalties they get because it's that catchy and infectious to listen to. But that's not the only part of the song that sounds great. Naturally, Freddy and David's vocals are a total treat on the ears with both of them giving it their all and delivering a great sounding song throughout. They really do compliment each other so well if you ask me. And of course, the rest of the music sounds great too, as is to be expected from Queen's usual band members and David Richards on the piano.
Lyrically, there's a lot of scat-singing involved, which may suggest that improvisation was used a lot during the song writing process, and the subject matter of the lyrics sounds pretty morbid. The title itself "Under Pressure" doesn't exactly sound all that happy, and then you get the lyrics that mention things like "pressure pushing down on you", "brings a building down, splits a family in two" and "puts people on streets". One especially memorable line is "That's the terror of knowing what this world is about. Watching some good friends screaming "let me out". The song has been interpreted about reflecting the world's ability to get a person down, the pressure and anxiety that can come from trying to live your life and the efforts one goes through to do so. I can see it with the lyrics, and it makes the song depressingly relevant even to this day. I mean, how much of a hellhole has the world become in the years since this song's release? Under pressure indeed... As result, the song has that extra layer of timelessness to it that allows the song to remain relevant no matter what decade you're in or what stage of life you're living now. A song that's timeless is a sign of a truly great tune that can be enjoyed no matter how much time passes, I say.
What else needs saying? "Under Pressure" is an absolute classic. It's a collaboration between two absolute icons of music, it's an infectious earworm, the lyrics are depressingly relevant and it's a timeless tune that can be enjoyed no matter how old you are. The world may make us feel under pressure at times, but this song won't...
As if I wasn't going to include this on the list. You've truly made it as a Queen fan when you've not only heard "Bohemian Rhapsody", but are able to sing it word-for-word no problem. You ask any Queen fan to name one of the band's best tunes, and this one is guaranteed to be mentioned several times. It's even the song that the 2018 movie was named after! That should tell you how iconic this tune is!
Despite being ridiculed at the time, "Bohemian Rhapsody" has become Queen's signature tune and probably their most popular song to date. I may have only put it at Number 6, but that doesn't mean I think lesser of it. I just have five songs I like more than this one. But "Bohemian Rhapsody" is still quite the banger. Despite running at around 6 minutes, you don't feel the song's running time whatsoever. It still feels like a breezy listen from beginning to end and that it never overstays its welcome. And the song is quite the unconventional tune too, as every Queen fan will tell you. This is the kind of song that starts off as a slow moving ballad, then we get a Brian May rock solo at around the 2:47 mark, then we completely flip genres and go into opera at around the 3:05 mark, and then we move into hard rock 4 minutes in, and then finish off with a slow-moving outro! This song sounds like a wacky mash-up of different music styles, and yet somehow it works! The genres don't feel like they clash whatsoever and we move pretty seamlessly from one genre to the next as the song goes on. And the band themselves perform it excellently, especially when Roger goes "Galileo" in a falsetto voice. If the movie's to be believed, I bet recording that part was a pain in the ass for poor Roger. XD
And then there are the lyrics. BoRap is practically infamous for the fact its lyrics seem to be nonsensical and have no real meaning to them with Queen themselves still refusing to this day to tell anyone what the song actually means. That just makes for a more interesting listen as it's up to us to decide what it's about. The opera section is notable for actually referencing various opera singers, old-century performers and dance styles, namely when they mention Scaramouche, Galileo and the fandango. Whether the lyrics actually mean anything or not, I just have fun singing along to them anyway, especially the "thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening" line, or whenever Freddy goes "Mamaaaaaaaa, oooooooooooo!" Those parts are fun.
"Bohemian Rhapdosy" is an utter classic, and every Queen fan on the planet knows it. It deserves to be the band's signature song for the unorthodox nature of the tune, how it sounds like nothing that's ever been recorded before or since, the mysterious nature behind the lyrics and how it's a mixture of genres that seem incompatible, yet they work together. Whatever the song means, nothing really matters to me, except for just how enjoyable it is...
Aw hell yeah, this song really slaps! I don't know what the common consensus is for this song, but I really love it myself. It's one of the most badass sounding tunes Queen has ever recorded in my eyes.
"One Vision" just sounds fantastic from beginning to end with a pretty epic opening synthesizer riff, and then you have Brian May's signature guitar sound and some epic drumming from Roger Taylor. One of my favourite parts of the song is when the band goes "Whoa, whoa, whoa" at around the 2:50 mark, that bit's really cool. It's an energetic and bouncy tune that could get one dancing in their seat, no problem, and you especially get your head bopping when they sing the chorus part. It's the kind of song that can get one energized and ready to dance, and the fact it sounds to cool to listen to makes it even better. I could easily imagine this song being part of some badass training montage in a sports movie, it'd fit so well and make that scene seem more epic than it really is.
Interestingly, the lyrics were inspired by the life and exploits of Martin Luther King Jr. of all people. Roger himself even said his lyrics were "sort of half-nicked off Martin Luther King's famous speech". I obviously don't know the famous speech word-for-word, so I wouldn't know which lines reference it, but I still think the lyrics are great anyway. It covers a man battling and overcoming the odds, which is always inspiring to hear about, and thus the song could be considered a motivational tune to pick oneself up when they're down. Given how dark and cruel the world can be, a bit of extra motivation is always welcome. It never ceases to amuse me how the very last line of the song is Freddy just randomly saying "fried chicken". Seriously, listen to the song yourself, he really does do that! XD As random as it is, I don't mind as it just makes the song more fun with that line just coming in out of nowhere to finish off.
"One Vision" is an absolute banger of a song and one of my favourite Queen songs because of what a bopping tune it is. It sounds epic, the vocals are fantastic, the music is awesome and the lyrics are inspiring and uplifting. If there's one vision to have, it's that this song is one of Queen's best...
Just about every music fan in the world has heard this song given it's among the most played Queen tunes of all time. Featured in many different films, ads and TV shows (most notably this advert from Cadbury chocolate of all things), "Don't Stop Me Now" just seems to be a song that everybody loves no matter what, and it's easily among Queen's most popular singles with how heavily it's been featured in pop culture. This also happens to be my younger brother, fellow YouTuber Captain Conroy's, favourite Queen song. It may not be MY overall favourite, but I don't blame him for loving it so much.
If you thought "One Vision" sounded inspiring and uplifting, then this song will REALLY have you feeling inspired and uplifting! The lyrics are meant to reflect how at the time, Freddy and the band were getting better at having a good time, and you definitely feel it with the lyrics. With lines like "don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball" and "I'm having a good time, I don't want to stop at all", this sounds like it was written by a man who's just having the time of his life, and it's just so joyous to listen to. Who wouldn't feel inspired and want to go out and have a good time after listening to lyrics like this? It's no wonder this song's so commonly played at parties or weddings or other such occasions, because the joyful lyrics really match such happy and exciting occasions like this.
The fast-paced tune matches the lyrical content perfectly. If you're going to make a song about enjoying yourself, it should be energetic and full of life. Brian May once again gives us a killer rock solo and the vocals of the band themselves carry all the joy and excitement that the lyrics contain. They not only make the words sound like they're from a man who's having a good time, they make the vocals and music sound like it too. This is a song I can easily get up and dance to because it has the perfect kind of rhythm for it, and it sure as heck would make me feel like I'm having a good time too!
If you don't like this song, then you must be the world's biggest sourpuss. There's nothing to dislike here. "Don't Stop Me Now" is infectiously joyful, it's uplifting, it's full of fun and it gets one feeling like they're having the time of their lives. Don't stop me now, because I'm having such a good time whenever I listen to this song...
As mentioned earlier, this is my earliest memory of listening to Queen music. I'm dead sure it's even the first Queen song I ever heard in my life. One such memory I have is going to some kind of motorsport event which had a demolition derby and monster trucks and I definitely remember the song playing at one point during the show. If this was my first time hearing a Queen song, then what a first impression it was!
This is one of Queen's shortest songs at only roughly 2 minutes, yet those 2 minutes count for everything they have. Once you hear this song, you don't forget it! The lyrics are easily quotable and fun to sing out loud, especially when you get to the title. I know I always enjoy it whenever I get to sing out loud "We will, we will rock you!". The song gives one a feeling that they could just stand up, go kick some ass and rock the world, which can make the song feel pretty inspiring just like some of the other Queen songs on the list.
But the most impressive part for me about the song is how it excels at the art of simplicity. It doesn't have a lot of lyrics and the music itself is mostly just that iconic stomp-stomp-clap beat until around the 1:32 mark in where Brian May gives us quite possibly the most epic guitar solo of his career. If I were ranking Queen songs by Brian May guitar solos, this would be at the Number 1 spot without question. It's so flipping awesome it's such a kickass finish to an already kickass song! The stomp-stomp-clap beat is not only what makes the song so recognizable, but it also gives the listener and any fans watching the song be performed live a way to join in as they can do the stomping and clapping themselves. What's not to like about a song that makes you feel included too? That's just so fun and makes an enjoyable song even more so!
Time for a funny story. The first time I ever heard this song was, of all things, when somebody made a history video about the Daleks on YouTube. Yes, I'm dead serious! XD While the original video from the YouTuber who made it originally is gone, it has since been reuploaded by other YouTubers, so you can still get an idea on the very thing that introduced me to this song. Needless to say, no matter where I would've first heard it, anytime would've been a great time to get introduced to this piece of awesomeness!
"Another One Bites The Dust" is another kind of song that just sounds utterly badass and makes you feel like you could go out and do something epic with that as your background track. A lot of the reason why the song sounds kickass is, of course, that iconic bass riff by John Deacon. Interestingly, he was inspired by the song "Good Times" by the disco group Chic when he came up with it, and god bless Chic for inspiring him like so, because that bass riff is awesome! It gets you bopping your head in time with it and makes the song sound even more kickass anytime you hear it. It's so easy to hum or sing along to as well, which makes it even better. While the song doesn't have a Brian May rock solo, that doesn't matter since that John Deacon bass alone makes the song what it is today, and also gives "Another One Bites The Dust" a unique sound that we don't get from other Queen songs. Freddy Mercury's vocals are on point too, perfectly suiting the fast paced nature of the tune and getting more energetic as the song goes on. The way he'd sing the chorus is especially infectious and makes you want to join in with him.
The lyrics also add to the badass nature of the song, and also befit the title. At first, the song sounds like some kind of mobster movie with some guy named Steve walking down the street with the brim pulled way down low and mention of "machine guns ready to go", but then the song moves on to talking about a failed relationship. Talk about a double meaning, eh? "Another One Bites The Dust" could refer at first to the mobster being killed as the bullets rip, but then it could refer to how a relationship hasn't gone well, hence "another one bites the dust". If I was to put this song in a movie, I'd have it set to a scene in where a team of anti-heroes or anti-villains are getting together and getting ready to massacre the bad guys. Maybe it would've worked in a Suicide Squad movie or something, now I think of it... Speaking of movies, this song was originally going to be featured in Rocky III before they replaced it with Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". Now imagine if they'd kept "Another One Bites The Dust" in...
Regardless, this song more than deserves the Number 2 spot for me. It sounds really awesome, it makes you feel really awesome as you listen to it, the bass riff sticks in your head and it's a unique tune that doesn't sound like your typical Queen song. Queen certainly did NOT bite the dust with this amazing track...
Probably a bit of a "safe" and "obvious" choice, but hey, sometimes the popular opinion is what we go with, and that's the case for me. "We Are The Champions" is another Queen song that practically everybody knows and has heard at least once in their lives. It's become a staple of sporting events, especially for victorious teams, it's been covered a few times (including by Crazy Frog of all people) and it's also noteworthy for being the finishing song for Queen's Live Aid performance, and they couldn't have picked a better tun to conclude their set with if you ask me since Queen really were the champions that day...
What's so wholesome about "We Are The Champions" is that Freddy Mercury himself wrote the song with audience participation in mind. See how it's called WE are the Champions? The "we" in the title refers to us, the listeners and the audience. Brian May has even said "We wanted to get the crowds waving and singing. It's very unifying and positive." He's not wrong on that, cause the lyrics do carry that unifying and positive feeling Brian described. How can you not feel uplifted by a song with lines like "We are the champions my friends" and "We are the champions of the world"? I'd say this is the kind of song that can make one feel like a winner as they sing to it with these kinds of lyrics, especially if they actually do win at something like a big competition or sporting event. The recent FIFA World Cup is one such example. I bet at least a few people over in Spain were singing "We Are The Champions" when they won the tournament. Some of the lyrics feel like they're about overcoming adversity, especially the line "I've had my share of sand kicked in my face, but I've come through". That's what life's like some times, you hit some rough bumps, you get dragged down a bit, but you keeping getting up and you pull through in the end. Queen songs never fail to sound inspiring lyrically, do they? The lyrics could also be seen as referencing Freddy, or maybe even the band as a whole, and how they felt like champions when their career took off. Freddy sings about "taking bows and curtain calls" and then there's the line "You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it, I thank you all". I like to think the "I thank you all part" is there for the fans, like Queen are thanking them for making them the worldwide success they are today and beyond.
Musically and vocally, the song sounds just as great. The song starts off quietly and slowly at first, but picks up as we get to the chorus, then goes back quiet again and then picks up again once we get to the second chorus. With Freddy's vocals and piano work, Roger on drums, John on the bass and Brian May's trademark guitar sound, the song sounds great from beginning to end with the piano tune working well during the quieter moments of the song and the rest of the instruments coming in during the louder, more energized sections of the tune. The song has a very grandiose feel to it due to how it's composed, almost like some kind of finale to Queen's career despite this releasing in 1977 and Queen's career could continue far longer than that. Regardless, the vocal work and music fits the uplifting nature of the song and it's so grand and epic to listen to throughout.
There's not much else I can say here. "We Are The Champions" is just an iconic song that is among Queen's best, and it's my favourite overall Queen song for everything I've mentioned already. It's an uplifting tune, it feels very inclusive with its unifying title and lyrics, it makes you feel like a champion when you hear it, it sounds fantastic and it's overall just an incredible song that gives you all kinds of positive, emotional vibes. This is a song that truly makes one feel like a champion. "We Are The Champions", my Number 1 favourite Queen song...
And that's it for my Top 10 Queen Songs. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. What are YOUR favourite Queen songs? Do you like my choices? Do tell me.
Next week, I'll be returning to the world of Avatar as I cover the sequel series, The Legend of Korra. See you then media fans!
Honourable Mentions
Thank God It's Christmas
Radio Gaga
It's A Kind Of Magic
Somebody To Love
The Show Must Go On
Hammer To Fall
Awesome selection of songs. Love all of them. :D
Surprisingly, I remember when Bicycle Race was used for an Angry Birds video of all things. Yes really. XD
Good list. has the all time bests. Not sure which order I'd put them in myself but picked the right numbers for the top ten
Great list! Queen are awesome no matter the songs espeailly with David Bowie which is best music combo of all time!
I have no idea Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard were his heroes such again awesome!
My personal fave was Headlong and These where the days (Has sad hanting feeling even with black and white.)