Posted on 01/22/2024 4:26:52 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
The film Queen Rock Montreal is staking its claim in the concert movie scene. With an estimated box office total of $4.1 million at global IMAX, it puts Queen and Freddie Mercury ahead of some legends of both music and the IMAX event scene. The estimated total makes this the biggest IMAX exclusive Event opening ever, surpassing similar films like Stop Making Sense, the concert film for The Talking Heads from director Jonathan Demme, as well as the iconic Beatles Get Back: The Rooftop Concert.
(Excerpt) Read more at collider.com ...
The IMAX rejuvenation takes it to a whole new level...it was done very well and gave new life to a 40+ year old piece of film.
I like Queen, but in my mind they were just another really good mid-late 70’s band - no better or worse than Kansas, Boston, etc.. Their elevation to Rock Royalty is sort of puzzling to me.
Also, I always considered The Prophet’s Song to be superior to Bohemian Rhapsody.
Bread and circuses.
“Also, I always considered The Prophet’s Song to be superior to Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Jeez- its like i was reading my own post- I’ve always thought Prophet’s Song was 1000% better than the overrated BR.
I was a HUGE Queen fan in the 70’s- saw them four times in concert at Madison Square Garden- their initial 5 albums were great....then came News of the World...then it was straight downhill after that and i barely listened to them again.
Prophet’s Song was better, but much less radio friendly than even BoRhap.
LINK: Ritchie Castellano-Solo Cover of Bohemian Rhapsody
I think he is one of the most talented musicians out there, given that he performs every single instrument and vocal in this cover!
Enjoy...now...back to your regularly scheduled thread!
I don’t like the song enough to listen to covers of it.
It is less about liking the song itself, IMO, than the musical talent in performing it.
He did a cover of the Beatles “Golden Slumbers” the was phenomenal, where he played every instrument in the orchestra, cello, violin, trumpets, trombone, etc.
He is an unbelievable prodigy.
Interestingly, his version with the video of him playing all the instruments in his “Golden Slumbers” video is unavailable anywhere on the Internet now, and I can only conclude there was a copyright issue involved, which the owners of the songs apparently vigorously hunt down.
But I respect your views on Bohemian Rhapsody. I have never been a fan of Queen, though I do respect their place in the rock culture.
Agreed
That was amazing, such talent!
All that aside, the music of Queen does nothing for me. Their biggest hits like "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Will Rock You", and "Another One Bites The Dust" are just repetitive and annoying to listen to. Even their magnus opus "Bohemian Rhapsody" is ponderous to my ears.
I thought the music of David Bowie was much more exciting, in the studio and in concert. I used Bowie as a comparison because he was a superstar in the same time frame as Queen.
Queen was the penultimate AOR rock band that nobody really liked. They were always boosted on us as a great band but were quite mundane. They are the People Magazine band of rock n roll history.
I concur with your assessment. Spot on. I can’t stand Kansas or Boston either, but they were big on the radio back in the day.
I really like Kansas. Very underrated in my mind. Boston? It wasn’t really a band until they had to tour. Still, Tom Scholz was a genius for what he did. More Than A Feeling is a better song than anything Queen put out imo.
Queen’s best album was their second in my opinion. No hits and it didn’t sell big but it is brilliant.
There’s a lot that goes into it. First the fact that they never were part of any genre, Queen just did Queen, and what Queen was changed multiple times. Were they progressive? Sometimes. Psychedelic? One in a while. Hard rock bordering on heavy metal? Certain songs sure (let’s not forget that Metallica’s cover of Stone Cold Crazy was actually slightly slower than the original). And of course by not having that set style their music is timeless. It doesn’t sound like 70s music, or even 80s music. It just sounds like Queen.
Add to that they’re probably the ultimate deep cuts band. Sure they’ve got all these radio hits, and yeah they are mostly great. But when you get away from the hits you find stuff that’s even better (I’m studiously pretending Hot Space doesn’t exist, hate that album). Like Prophet Song, or March of the Black Queen (probably my favorite Queen song). It’s a great catalog to explore, sure start with the greatest hits, but get the albums cause there’s gems throughout (except Hot Space).
Then of course you have the whole rock god thing. In a time before video screens Freddie absolutely owned a stage and had a presence that could be felt from the cheapest seats in the biggest stadiums. And as the first god to die it transformed him into something else, something even bigger.
Throw in a few things like having the absolute best performance at Live Aid, being the funniest episode of Behind the Music, and a long history of being nice guys. There’s your Rock Royalty, which they’ve really been since been since about ‘78 maybe even before.
Ritchie is so awesome. Blue Oyster Cult (one of my faves) were so lucky to find him. He’s been their secret weapon for 20+ years.
Maybe we were just blessed with a lot of great rock bands and Queen was just one of many at the time.
Styx has a lot of “deep cuts”. Skynyrd (in their short time span) had great “deep cuts”. All those bands did.
Maybe my bitch is w/ the stupid rrhof and how they ignore groups like I’ve mentioned + Grand Funk, Three Dog Night, and many others.
There is no commercial Rock music anymore. Any nominations for their stupid hof should be nothing but old acts - the one’s with the white guys and long hair or fro’s.
The 70s was the era of rock gods walking the earth. Before the studios figured out what makes a “hit” and killed everything.
Jann Wenner’s HOF is a joke. His hatred of metal and prog have kept a lot of great bands out.
There should be commercial rock now. But the studios are idiots. There’s actually great rock happening all over, but they can’t get good contracts or radio play.
Ogre Battle- always been my favorite Queen song
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