Q: Are Queen a great band? A: Yes, by popular decree.

LastMantra

First time I, consciously, listened to them was in the highlander sound track. Got kind of magic straight away and listened to it loads (still got the vinyl). I'd have been around 10yo at the time.
Next I got, I think, a "best of" cassette. Going from "gimme the prize" to "killer Queen" was a bit of a shock but diving into their earlier stuff was good fun.

Wouldn't say I was a huge fan over all but big part of my music experience, and great band. 

McSwaggerty

I never liked them....
Don't like these Anthem sing-along Stadium songs that Queen ( admittedly ) were brilliant at churning out.

CHRISB50

No

Mattharrier

Sorry @Redlester , another multi-word response. But to start with, I will comply with your rules - yes.

Now for the rule-breaking - it depends on what you consider to be great. Based on sales - undoubtedly great, they were, and continue to be hugely popular.

Based on longevity - absolutely, they are still very popular 31 years after Freddie Mercury died.

Based on industry recognition and critical acclaim - again, yes; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, multiple Brit Awards, Ivor Novello Awards, and ludicrous amounts of nominations for various things.

Based on other musicians' opinions - yes. Artists who claim Queen as an inspiration include Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Trivium, Slipknot, Guns n Roses, The Flaming Lips, Faith Hill, Foo Fighters, Motley Crue, Lady Gaga, Robbie Williams and Katy Perry, among countless others.

It's not really a subject for debate, is it? Some people might not like them, but most people would at least agree that they're a great band, even if they aren't their personal cup of tea. I don't particularly like hip hop and have no interest in listening to Illmatic or 2Pacalypse Now, but I can't deny that Nas and Tupac are two of the greats of rap.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Not dissimilar to Rob Halford in that respect.

Other than Judas Priest being named after a Bob Dylan song and not after a term for an outrageously gay man, yes .

proggy

I think they're very good musicians but, I don't like their songs. I especially don't like Bohemian Rhapsody.

CoolCat

LPManic said:

Yes because they have four virtuosos who also write. And each of them has written a hit song. So yes, easily a great band.

Ditto to the above.

Yes - they're a great band.

Redlester

Mattharrier said:

Sorry @Redlester , another multi-word response. But to start with, I will comply with your rules - yes.

Now for the rule-breaking - it depends on what you consider to be great. Based on sales - undoubtedly great, they were, and continue to be hugely popular.

Based on longevity - absolutely, they are still very popular 31 years after Freddie Mercury died.

Based on industry recognition and critical acclaim - again, yes; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, multiple Brit Awards, Ivor Novello Awards, and ludicrous amounts of nominations for various things.

Based on other musicians' opinions - yes. Artists who claim Queen as an inspiration include Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Trivium, Slipknot, Guns n Roses, The Flaming Lips, Faith Hill, Foo Fighters, Motley Crue, Lady Gaga, Robbie Williams and Katy Perry, among countless others.

It's not really a subject for debate, is it? Some people might not like them, but most people would at least agree that they're a great band, even if they aren't their personal cup of tea. I don't particularly like hip hop and have no interest in listening to Illmatic or 2Pacalypse Now, but I can't deny that Nas and Tupac are two of the greats of rap.

@Mattharrier Oh go on then, I’ll let you off. 

I did enjoy reading that. I would add that ordinarily I would agree with you that it’s not a matter of debate, but some of the responses above show they do provoke strong views against, which did take me by surprise in another thread, hence this one. 

I’d add a very persuasive metric in favour of their popularity and ‘greatness’ to your list: their monthly listens on Spotify. Maybe they’re also a heritage rock act with cut through across all generations? 

sev112

Name any band where you wouldn’t get a few extreme “no”s ?

TTBZ

Yes, I absolutely can't stand them but can't deny their talent and influence. I have to skip them if they come on a playlist or change the radio over, there's just something about their sound that's nails on a chalkboard to me. Brian May's guitar tone is fucking awful as well.

slacker

Yes

Queen 4 virtuoso musicians and 4 songwriters
Led zep 3 virtuoso musicians and 0 songwriters

I love both BTW.

Grumpyrocker

slacker said:

Led zep 3 virtuoso musicians and 0 songwriters

That's unfair, they wrote Innuendo for Queen.  

axisus

TTBZ said:

 Brian May's guitar tone is fucking awful as well.

Well we are all entitled to an opinion, However, News of the world for me has some of the greatest guitar tones ever. 

lustycourtier

axisus said:

TTBZ said:

 Brian May's guitar tone is fucking awful as well.

Well we are all entitled to an opinion, However, News of the world for me has some of the greatest guitar tones ever. 

Im far from a fan, but his tone has changed so much. The only one I can tolerate is the live at Wembley one, which by all accounts is his most hated by his fans.

Blueingreen

Absolutely not a fan. No doubting their talents but their music is overblown schlock as far as I’m concerned.

Oddly this used to be pretty much the critical orthodoxy. Punters and musos liked them, the critics hated them.  I have an old Rolling Stone Album guide where their first several albums average about 2.5 stars out 5.

They’ve obviously been critically rehabilitated since then, but I still hear them the same way I did when I wholeheartedly agreed with the critics back in the day.

Stuckfast

TBF the critics used to hate Zep also.

Danny1969

There's a lot to admire about them. All of them were / are superb on their instruments and worked superbly together as a band. These days with the multitrack from years ago dug out we can listen to the BT of tracks like Bo Rap in isolation and hear just how good the piano, bass and drums BT were. It's just perfect to me, human timing and feel. 

They covered so much ground. From heavy rock, pop,  to disco to opera and everything between. Mercurys range was amazing but anyone who's had to try and do Rogers BV parts knows what a range he had too, without going all thin and weedy. 
BM is such a great player his tone is irrelevant. Every solo is always composed, fits beautifully and his bends are full of emotion. 

But everyones different. I can't stand Guns & Roses but plenty of people love them. That's the beauty of music, there's generally something for everybody to enjoy listening to. 

LPManic

Everyone should listen to News of the World. Skip the first two tracks and listen to the writing, riffs, guitar tones, drumming, and everything else on all the other album tracks. Sheer Heart Attack, Get Down Make Love, Fight from the Inside, Spread your Wings, and It's Late are AMAZING Queen songs. And all written and sung by the different members of the band. Incredible.

darthed1981

Does anyone else just like a few songs by most famous bands and not really take the time to take a strong opinion either way?

I tend to not like the videos posted on here where it's just somebody noodling and everyone goes "oh wow look at this guy"...

A bit like the thread about Ariel Posen the other day..

Some were "wow he is the best, I've never heard playing like that before..."

and some people were "What a load of tuneless widdly bollocks..."

in conclusion, all people are different.

RocknRollDave

Much of their stuff might be considered overblown and pompous, quite a bit of what they tried didn’t work, and letting the drummer write lyrics doesn’t always work out as well as it did for Rush….but…

So many of their songs are just downright pure FUN.

And how awesome must it have been for Brian May walking onstage as the intro tape to One Vision ends and he hits the first chords of that riff?!