10 Things You May Not Know About Queen

Perhaps the thing that gets lost in the noise about Queen, behind all the flashy stories of Freddie Mercury's personal life and the band's hit singles, is their recording and artistic prowess. 


So, here are ten facts that you may not know about Queen, from their recording techniques to the secrets behind the band's famous crest logo...









1) It was reportedly Roger Taylor's idea for the band to dress up as women for the "I Want To Break Free" promo clip. You may remember the image of Mercury, with moustache in full bloom, hoovering the living room with a pointy, buxom chest working it's magic.  

2) ​The Queen song "Sheer Heart Attack" doesn't appear on the album of the same name.  It made News of the World a few albums later, which incidentally features Robots, not Rupert Murdoch on the cover.

3) When A Night At the Opera was released in November 1975, it was the most expensive studio album ever recorded. The band used six different studios to record it, and Mercury spent several months alone recording his vocals. Also, according to the band, they used no synths.

4) "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was the only song Freddie wrote on a guitar. According to sources, he was relaxing in the bathtub when he thought of it.

5) The four members of Queen were all a bit, well...brainy...for example:

• Brian May: PhD in Astrophysics
• Roger Taylor: Degree in Dentistry & Biology
• John Deacon: First Class honours degree in Electronics 
• Freddie Mercury: Degree in Art & Graphic Design  

6) ​Queen's famous crest logo was designed by Freddie Mercury, who incorporated the band's collective zodiac signs (Leo, Cancer, Gemini).  leo (Roger and John), cancer (Brian) and virgo (Freddie). On top of the "Q" is a Phoenix, the bird of classical Greek mythology, who rose from the ashes symbolizing immortality, resurrection and life after death. The phoenix was chosen as the symbol for the Mercury Phoenix Trust founded by the remaining Queen members after Freddie's death

7) Queen's Greatest Hits album has spent over 450 weeks in the UK Charts, and is the UK's best-selling album of all time. Having sold more than 25 million copies, it's one of the best-selling albums in the world.

8) Freddie Mercury's real name is Farrokh Bulsara and he was born on the island of Zanzibar in 1946

9) In 1981 during the Game Tour In Buenos Aires, Queen drew a crowd of 300,000—the largest single concert crowd in Argentine history

10) Freddie Mercury never had his teeth overbite fixed, for fear that it would affect his singing voice. He also had a recorded vocal range of three to four octaves...