Queen

I was embarrassingly reminded of Freddie Mercury's passing on Brian May's website a minute ago. Nineteen years since Fred passed on - it's a sobering thought.

Sadly, I'm not as much into Queen as I once was. The blues influence in their music has put me out a fair bit. And a lot of their recent activity has left me cold to be honest.

The thing with Queen was they had the songs, they had the presence, they had the power but they blew the RESPONSIBILITY that Rock had blessed them with. Ultimately all they really wanted to do was entertain people and make a sackful of money in the process. They let Rock down in a big, bad way with that attitude.

Brian once described their gigs akin to something like the Nuremburg Rally, whereas Fred saw their live shows as an escape for people from their problems for a few hours. The reality was, frustratingly, somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, what Pete Townshend ascribed to for "Lifehouse" went totally past the heads of Queen even though they were in the position to make Rock change the world. "Live Aid" only showed a tantalising glimpse of their true potential.

Now all we're left with is 1974's "Sheer Heart Attack" album and a bloody awful West End musical.