This programme contains strong language.
In the summer of 2017, Queen embarked on a sell-out tour of North America.
It followed in the footsteps of their breakthrough tour from 40 years before,
revisiting many of the same cities and once again
performing songs that are now amongst the biggest in rock history.
# We will, we will rock you... #
You know, it's incredible.
About 40 years ago, four precocious boys came from England
to see what we could do in this beautiful country of yours.
We were here in 1977, maybe some of you were too, right?
CHEERING You remember?
Back in 1977, as a young BBC music presenter,
I was asked to make a film about the band as they recorded and toured
their sixth album, News Of The World.
Bob and Freddie, take seven.
That film was never put together,
but now to mark the album's 40th anniversary,
we've uncovered and restored this long-lost footage.
I'll have to sing it, go on, and again.
The News Of The World tour was to be Queen's most ambitious yet,
playing 26 concerts across North America in just six weeks.
I was wondering, what targets do you have left to achieve?
Number one album in America.
We were given unprecedented behind-the-scenes access.
Oh, you've caught me in a good mood!
I'd watched the band grow over the previous few years,
topping the UK charts and playing every conceivable venue.
They rocked Britain, but could they rock the world?
# We will, we will rock you... #
By 1977, Queen were a successful headliner act with a loyal fan base.
MUSIC: Somebody To Love
Their two most recent albums were a tour de force of multi-part harmonies and
technical complexity,
which required unprecedented recording time in the studio.
# But I just can't get no relief
# Lord, somebody
#Somebody
# Somebody
#Somebody
# Can anybody find me...? #
Despite achieving a number of hits,
they were battling an increasingly hostile press.
And dealing with the music scene that was being altered by the arrival of punk.
The whole punk movement was said to be a reaction against
people like us, you know, who had raised their art to a high point.
I thought when we went into News Of The World, you know,
we couldn't reinvent ourselves as a punk band.
But we wanted it a little bit more
simple because we thought maybe these really grandiose things
weren't really quite what was happening then,
and to be more of the time, I guess.
We made a more straightforward record.
It was just that we had gone as far as we possibly could into this sort
of baroque, complex, incredibly elaborate arrangements stuff, and we thought,
well, it would be fun to go back to the way we used to play when we first
started. Which would be quite simple, guitar, bass
and drums and vocals as well.
I really like News Of The World.
It's one of my favourites, I think.
And of course, it had two monster singles on it,
We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
We always thought of them as a pair.
We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions
had a very sort of definite genesis.
We played this great hall in the Midlands, and it was packed,
it was heaving. You know, those gigs that you love.
It's all sweaty and hot.
The atmosphere is great. Everybody's in it.
Everybody's jumping up and down, making a noise.
And what they were doing was singing along.
They didn't stop. They sang every note of every song.
And when we went offstage, they sang You'll Never Walk Alone to us.
Now, in those days, it was really new, I have to tell you.
You just didn't go to concerts where people sang to rock bands.
So we went home that night thinking, "What do we do here?
"What does this mean? What does this mean for our future?"
Obviously the audience is as big a part of the show as we are now.
So let's embrace it.
What can an audience do? What could you ask them to do?
They're all crammed in there, they can't do much, you know,
but they can stamp their feet and they can clap their hands and they can sing.
And they would be leading the song rather than the singer.
So I woke up with We Will Rock You in my head.
MUSIC: We Will Rock You
I sang the song to Freddie and he went, "Yeah.
"It's going to work." He twigged that it was a kind of rallying song.
# Buddy, you're a boy
# Make a big noise playing in the street
# Gonna be a big man someday
# You got mud on your face
# You big disgrace
# Kickin' your can all over the place
# Singin' we will, we will... #
In my head, it was a song of the three Ages of Man.
The first age is the boy who thinks he can change the world.
The second stage is the man who thinks he is changing the world.
# Buddy, you're a young man, hard man shouting in the street
# Gonna take on the world someday
# You got blood on your face
# A big disgrace
# Waving your banner all over the place... #
And the third stage is the old man coming to terms with the fact that
there's only a certain amount he can do.
It's like the serenity prayer, you know, change what you can change,
but get used to it that you can't achieve everything.
# Buddy, you're an old man
# Poor man pleadin' with your eyes
# Gonna make you some peace someday
# You got mud on your face
# Big disgrace
# Somebody better put you back into your place
# We will, we will rock you... #
Sing it!
So I came up with We Will Rock You,
and Freddie came up with We Are The Champions.
Do you enjoy record production, Fred?
Do you enjoy working in the studio?
Erm, yes. You can get sick of it, though.
Especially now.
We've decided that on our albums,
we wouldn't spend as much time as we've done in the past.
Because I just think that,
especially with News Of The World,
I think we actually did decide before we went in that it was going to be a short album.
As far as Queen standards are concerned.
So that was like two months instead of four.
We had something like a week and a half to two weeks to actually write all the material.
And it was nice. We didn't fall into this thing of it being over-ripe
before we actually recorded it.
A Day At The Races, we spent five or
six months in the studio, and very long hours.
So, just physically, you couldn't be in the studio all the time.
News Of The World leads back to a more spontaneous
kind of creation of an album.
Because of the nature of the way that we did it,
we were all in the studio at the same time for an amount of the time.
And it was more of a group thing than perhaps A Day At The Races was.
It was easy, because it was so simple.
After what we'd been doing, learning the stuff on News Of The World,
it was almost de rigueur to do it quick because you didn't want to mess
around with it too much. You didn't want to polish it too much,
you wanted to keep the rawness there.
MUSIC: We Are The Champions (backing track)
# We are the champions
# No time for losers... #
Especially a group in our stage of career
can fall into the trap where we can have as much time as we want in the
studio. And you can just go and say, "Look,
"I'd like to try another area of this."
But now I think it's up to us to decide, from the very onset,
that this is the decision, this is what we're going to arrive at,
before we got there. And we were going to say, "OK, this is it."
And I feel I did that.
I mean, OK, I could forever go around saying that I could have done, say, We Are The Champions
a bit better. But I think I quite actually liked saying, "Look,
"I've made my sort of decision now.
"And we're going to stick to it." And it's worked out pretty well.
That was a lovely feel. That's exactly how it should be.
Can I have another cup of coffee? Sorry. Sounding quite nice.
OK, cup of coffee coming, anybody else want anything?
Yes, please, I'll have a cup.
I'll have a cup with one sugar, please.
Right, that's three coffees, with one sugar, one of them.
One and three-sevenths sugars, please.
Three sugars?
No, one and three-sevenths. Seven sugars?
One and three-sevenths!
Is this on?
Test, test. Knock, knock. Hello?
DRUMS PLAY
Think we got a hundred... That's better.
How does the studio situation work, Freddie?
You mean, amongst us? Yes.
Between us? Yeah. If I write a song,
and I sort of take it upon myself from the actual writing stages
to the rehearsing, to the routining, and to the recording,
as being my project, so I sort of handle that.
With my kind of songs, I seem I sort of, more or less,
have everything rehearsed.
I mean, everything sort of written out.
# I've taken my bows
# And my curtain calls... #
It's still repeating.
# You brought me fame and fortune
# And everything that goes with it... #
I want it on a pan. What, the echo, yeah?
So that I can... Yeah, yeah. It will be.
He had a vision and he was
very driven and he was very good on the desk, you know?
And very good moving the faders, balancing the harmonies and getting the things
to do what he wanted. But then we would pitch in with each other's songs,
and then sometimes we'd all get together to mix it.
When did you begin to get to a stage where you felt, between you,
that you could take over the desk yourselves completely?
It comes to a stage where all you really need is an engineer, really,
because the idea of balancing sounds you want, you know, it's...
An artist or musician should really know what they want, you know?
And the only person needed to implement that is an engineer,
really, in a way. And when you're doing a mix, you know,
and you're mixing down the track from the tapes.
I mean, it's setting it up.
And then we actually sit down and work the controls as well, you know...
Yeah. Can you remember which vocals, which solos we used?
Well, if I hear, then I'll know.
Because here, we've got three tracks, four tracks of vocals.
One with a solo guitar and then that's got "end bit solo".
Well, listen to them, darling, that's the only way we can do it.
That's your writing, isn't it, that one? No, it's all, it's all...
..Mike's.
What are you doing now? I'm just going to get a rough balance, OK? OK.
MUSIC PLAYS
There must be more than this.
Must be more what? Oh, that's the one, I think.
There are two guitars.
Yeah. But there's two guitars.
One crosses over.
Right...
Do you remember? Yes, I remember.
That one is... Go back to the other place and we'll find out.
Just the last chorus of the note? See if you could use...
Do you want to do a guitar or something? I suppose we could.
It would sound different.
Do you want to do a guitar bit in there, squeeze it in?
Work out your guitar so you can mix...
Roger, do you want to come in here and just do...
The kit? Yeah.
MUSIC PLAYS
More bass, please.
Erm... Back to cylinders.
What do you think for sounds? I mean, I think we should just...
Yeah, it sounds all right to me.
He's only done drum sounds at the moment.
That's right. Oh, that's why it sounds all right to me.
Let's open a bottle of wine.
Yes, where is the screwdriver?
Congratulations, you're number one on the Hit Line at the moment.
How's that for loyalty?
I think it's great. It's a very good instant reaction
to what we put out.
And only Queen could come up with the title, We Are The Champions.
I mean, where's the modesty gone?
Well, there isn't any. There's no modesty whatsoever.
After the slaggings off that we get from the English music press, well, who cares?
So we've got nothing to lose now.
Because pulling We Are The Champions, off the new album,
that seems to me to have thoughts and sentiments in it that you must've
been wanting to express for some time.
Is that true? Oh, I'm a cold, heartless bugger.
No, it has absolutely nothing.
It's just pure commercial, call it what you like.
Can you go easy on the stage lights because they're so fucking hot?
Oh, that's a bit better for now.
It's the most egotistical and arrogant song I've ever written.
Was it?
HE BLOWS A RASPBERRY
I was kind of quite shocked because I thought, "Are we really
"going to stand up and say we are the champions as opposed to every other group
"and every other person on the face of this Earth?"
You know, and he says, "Actually that's not what it is."
And he said rock and roll is the only place
where everybody has a feeling of, like, being in a team,
but you're not fighting anybody.
It'd work if you could dodge down a bit lower even still. Oh, but...
Then you can't see, there's no way you'll see the notes.
There's no way you will see them. I can't... It doesn't work, huh?
Yeah.
The only way is to put a sheet over my head.
Have you got a black card, or...?
Or just a bit of black drape that we can put in front.
Black drape? Yeah.
Basically, it is a participation thing.
I've been... I'm just thinking in terms of how
maybe we're going to sort of adapt it on stage,
and how people are going to...
It's a public...
..public/group thing, really. Yeah.
We're going to be finishing off filming for We Are The Champions,
which, of course, you know is the new single from the band, yeah?
I don't know whether you've heard it, first of all.
Have you heard it on the radio?
AUDIENCE CHEERS
I understand it's number two on the Hit Line on Capital Radio tonight...
AUDIENCE CHEERS
We'd like your involvement, if you would, towards the end,
because if you've got any banners that you can wave towards the end...
Hundreds, hundreds. I knew it.
Get those out, shout and scream and sing with the band.
# It's been no bed of roses
# No pleasure cruise
# I consider it a challenge before the whole human race
# And I ain't gonna lose
# And I mean to go on and on and on and on
# We are the champions, my friends
# And we'll keep on fighting till the end
# We are the champions
# No time for losers
# Cos we are the champions of the world
# We are the champions, my friends
# And we'll keep on fighting till the end
# Oh, we are the champions
# We are the champions
# No time for losers
# Cos we are the champions... #
I think Queen fans will be surprised
because it's far more kind of raw than any other album,
and also shorter tracks.
I'm glad you said raw, cos that was exactly, really, what we wanted.
OK, are you ready to rock 'n' roll?
Most of that album is quite stripped down.
There isn't a Bohemian Rhapsody on that album.
It's very powerful, it's very raw.
So, in a sense, we went a little bit sort of punky ourselves, I suppose.
You get involved in quite a lot of music outside of the band,
and outside of the band's style, don't you?
I mean, I remember you talking really in the very early days,
for example, about The Sex Pistols.
If you hear something that's...
..or hear of something that's exciting... There's simply so few.
# Well, you're just 17 and all you wanna do is disappear
# You know what I mean - there's a lot of space between your ears
# The way that you touch... #
Roger was much more aware than the rest of us.
He kept in touch with what was going on around him.
I remember him talking about The Sex Pistols very early on
and getting excited about it.
I thought, you know, "This is so fresh,"
and I thought we needed a little bit of that kind of sensibility.
Sheer Heart Attack, which is a song of Roger's
which he'd been trying to get on an album at that time,
we thought, "Oh, it makes sense in this context."
Something simple and energetic.
# Sheer heart attack... #
It was sort of written a few years before,
and I thought, "This fits perfectly,
"this really fits in with what we're trying to do now,"
so we put it on that album -
and it became a live staple.
Murder to play on stage, it's so fast.
# I feel so inar, inar, inar, inar inar, inar...
# ..inar, inar, inar, inar inarticulate. #
We were making this album in north London,
and in another studio just nearby was this young group
called The Sex Pistols.
We were literally next door for months.
Sid Vicious came in.
Sid was a moron, you know?
He was an idiot.
Fred played him a few things.
He played him Sheer Heart Attack, actually.
I think he said, "It sounds like The Cortinas."
And there was the moment when Sid said,
"Are you bringing ballet to the masses, then?"
Fred just said, "Oh, Mr Ferocious, we're trying our best, dear."
# Do you know, do you know, do you know just how I feel?
# Sheer heart attack
# Sheer cardiac... #
How are the rehearsals going, Brian?
Very well up to now, up to the usual standard, I think.
Which is usually slow up to the last minute, and then panic.
But it's going OK.
How much time have you put aside this time?
We have a full week here in Shepperton, where we are now.
Um... Which is without the PA, but we have the monitors,
so our stage environment is more or less as it will be,
and we have a mock-up of how the lights will be...
..and then the stuff is dismantled and goes to the States,
and we follow it out a week later,
and then we have three or four days with everything,
and with John working the PA and everything. Mm.
How much of News Of The World are you going to do this time?
News Of The World will feature heavily.
Partly because it's easy to do.
Most of the stuff is fairly simple in terms of instrumentation...
..and it was built around stuff which is easy to do on stage,
which really is the first time we've done that since the first album.
So there'll be a lot of it.
We've already been through five or six numbers off the new album.
It must be interesting finding that exact balance
between new material and old material, too, Brian.
Definitely, yes.
Cos a lot of people come to see a show for the familiar things...
..and always at the end of any artist's show, generally,
when he starts doing the old stuff,
people respond in a completely different way.
Um... So you have, as you say,
you have to strike the balance
between doing the things which people want to hear
and doing the things which you think you ought to be introducing them to.
Strangely enough, the things that people notice most
are the beginning and the end.
I think it starts getting too much. It's the start they've come to see.
They want to see what we're going to do.
This is a new show.
This is something... What are we going to perform?
I think it worked great as an encore. I think we should do it,
but the whole thing with We Will Rock You is stating that...
Do you see what I mean? Yeah.
There's no point saying, "We will rock you,"
after we've rocked them all night long at the end of the show.
Yeah.
MUSIC: We Will Rock You
We love designing these sort of dramatic openings,
and particularly, the beginning and the end of a show,
there's a great opportunity to do something special,
and We Will Rock You, I think, in my head,
was partly conceived as an opener, anyway.
I thought, "Wouldn't that be great
"just to start off with this very stark stamping and clapping?
"It'll be like the audience is starting the show."
# We will, we will rock you
# We will, we will rock you... #
So Freddie would go out and do his thing, all on his own, you know. Hero.
# Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
# Playin' in the street, gonna be a big man someday
# Mud on your face
# Big disgrace
# Kickin' your can all over the place
# We will, we will rock you Yes, sir
# We will, we will rock you
# All right
# We will, we will rock you Yes, sir
# We will, we will rock you... #
And I would go out on the other side, do the guitar solo, hero.
But then it's like, "What do we play now?"
You know, when we get to the end of the guitar solo, what happens?
There's this huge kind of anticipation
at the beginning of a show.
You've got to be high energy,
you've got to fulfil that kind of expectation -
and on the record, you go into We Are The Champions,
but that wouldn't be right,
because We Are The Champions really cries out to be the end of a show.
So we thought, "What do we do here?"
And for some reason, I thought, "Well, a fast version
"of We Will Rock You would be really interesting."
# Ooh, yeah... #
And it was very effective.
It was just all very simple, very high energy,
and the audience could kind of bang their heads and get into it
and feel that their energy was being harnessed.
# Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
# Playin' in the street, gonna be a big man someday
# Got mud on your face
# Big disgrace
# Kickin' your can all over the place
# We will, we will rock you
# Tonight
# We will, we will rock you
# Buddy, you're a young man, hard man
# Shoutin' in the street, gonna take on the world someday
# Got mud on your face
# Big disgrace
# Wavin' your banner all over the place
# We will, we will rock you
# We will, we will rock
# Oh, yeah
# We will, we will rock you
# We will, we will rock
# Buddy, you're an old man, poor man
# Pleadin' with your eyes, gonna get you some peace someday
# Got mud on your face
# Big disgrace
# Somebody better put you back into your place
# We will, we will rock you
# Rock you, rock you, rock you
# We will, we will rock... #
AUDIENCE CHEERS
America's great.
You feel like America is the centre of rock music, somehow.
There's a real family which surrounds music in America.
You go there and you feel that you're part of it.
# You say you love me... #
America was regarded as sort of the grail of the rock scene
in those days, and, obviously,
when you sort of smell success in America, you go for it.
America was so geared up for rock and roll,
much more so than any place else at that time.
It had an amazing, thriving community which we plugged into,
and, in a sense, we created our audience,
but in a sense, they created us.
They're a very formative influence on us.
And it was a riot, it was amazing.
The energy that would be in those American halls was outstanding.
I think we grew up on those American tours as a band,
and you start to think of yourself as artists, in a sense.
# It's late
# But I'm bleeding deep inside
# It's late
# Is it just my sickly pride?
# Too late
# Even now the feeling seems to steal away
# So late
# Though I'm crying I can't help but hear you say
# It's late, it's late, it's late
# But not too late
# Mm, yeah
# The way you love me
# Is the sweetest love around
# But after all this time
# The more I'm trying
# The more I seem to let you down... #
Are you going to make sure that the whole...
..all the lights... all these gaps are filled?
Oh, yeah.
You must aim for maximum effect, both aurally and visually.
We're just trying to put out the music and the visual aspect
as effectively as we can to as many people as we can.
We think it should be a real event every time we play.
People are paying money to come and see you...
As far as we're concerned, we're putting on a show.
It's not just another rendition of an album.
If that was the case, we might as well just have
sort of cardboard cut-outs and just play the album.
# It's late
# But it's driving me so mad
# It's late
# Yes, I know but don't try to tell me that...
# It's too late
# Save our love, you can't turn out the lights
# So late
# I've been wrong but I'll learn to be right
# It's late, it's late, it's late, it's late, it's late
# It's late, it's late
# It's all too late
# Oh, let's do it
# Right on!
# Mm, late, oh, late
# Oh, yeah
# Whoo! #
I had to tell everyone to go home, cos he stayed standing there.
I know! I didn't realise he was playing!
Oh, blood, blood, sue the management!
We are! I bled, as well.
Shit!
I haven't got that blood.
Peter, sue the management!
Get off my trousers.
Fucking get out!
We did stay pretty connected.
Generally, we sort of found a big place
where we could get ready together,
and we would kind of joke around and talk about stuff.
So we had a good kind of camaraderie, which kept us alive.
Arnold! Sorry... Oh, my God...
Oh, shit, I threw my whistle away, actually.
HE PLAYS WHISTLE
I bet you can't blow 'em like that.
I hesitated, actually, I did, and I thought - I threw it.
I thought, "I've thrown it, should I ask for it back?"
I want it back.
You threw my best fucking pair of maracas away the first day.
Great-sounding maracas!
I mean, it took me hours to steal them.
Now they know I'm going to throw those things...
He just goes...
Actually, they were wonderful, I must say, I'm sorry.
Now they know I'm going to throw them in the audience,
they give me these horrible things
with about two peas inside, you know?
They just rattle, rattle, rattle.
I feel such a berk, going...
Nothing happening. So I just throw it away.
Lovely colours, as well.
Lovely colours, lovely kitsch colours.
Real height of bad taste.
Really?
You could throw me in the audience!
Don't give him ideas.
You don't rattle as good.
Are you happy with the response on the tour so far?
Very much so, I think. Yes.
See, I think it's worth pointing out, really,
that it's the most successful tour on the road right now.
Isn't it? If you say so, it is.
It is.
We wouldn't want to keep abreast of it, but, yes. Yes, it is.
There's a lot of competition around. I mean, there is...
How many groups on the road? Well, I don't know.
Of the sort of halls we're playing, no more than half a dozen.
But people here are just geared to going to...
..to actually seeing so many rock concerts
that, I mean, it's kind of a way of life, really, isn't it?
Particularly what strikes me on this tour
is how well put together the stage is, how well designed it is,
and how well the stage show works.
Can you describe the opening and how you got the idea for it, Freddie?
How did I get the idea for it? What do you mean,
how HE got the idea for it?!
I don't know, usually, I just kind of...
How did it start? Somebody comes up with an idea
and it's immediately rejected -
but it kind of sort of seeps in after a while,
once it's kind of thrown about. They want to get a row on film, you see.
Oh, they want to get a row - you should've been there yest...
Well, you were there yesterday, but the cameras weren't rolling.
I'm playing what I always play.
I'm playing exactly what is on the record, Fred.
Did you slow down? Oh, fuck slowing down.
Did he slow down? That's hardly the point.
Give us a bit more tea, and we might try and join in with you.
Well, you're expecting all of us to be perfect
before you even attempt to do anything.
Oh, don't be so fucking ridiculous.
Don't take it down.
That's all right.
It's not coming out on mine.
I want to hear it.
I hear we split up last week,
according to the NME or something.
Actually, we must develop that.
Just to a point.
How did that develop, those rumours?
Oh, it's...
It's so...
A lot of trivia, it's not even worth talking about.
Was there any basis in fact for that speculation at all?
Not as far as I know, really.
Breaking up, when we're doing so well?
Yeah. You must be kidding.
I think the most important thing is, for a band - basically, it has to be good,
and it also has to stick together, I think,
and know each other backwards.
You know, you've almost got to know what the other person is thinking.
A band has to stick together
until there's no longer any point in them sticking together,
if you see what I mean.
But mind you, when it is all over
and there's not really much coming out of it any more,
you've got to quit then, I think.
I'm sure we will when that happens.
Should we do something out front?
See if the fucking monitor's working.
We did, in a sense, become a little less cohesive, I suppose.
But I think the great thing for us was that we always did soundchecks.
We did long soundchecks every day -
and so much happened in the soundchecks.
We would talk to each other, look at each other, discuss things.
We'd figure out what was good about last night,
what wasn't good about last night,
and you know, "Let's try this.
"Let's see if we can get this song together,"
and try out things, and have a bit of fun.
It's a kind of dedication, really,
but, boy, it pays off!
So I think that saved us from getting fragmented and disconnected.
# Get your party gown
# Get your pigtail down
# Get your heart beatin', baby
# Get your timin' right
# Get your act all tight
# It's gotta be tonight, my little schoolbabe
# Momma says you don't
# Daddy says you won't
# And I'm boilin' up inside
# No way I'm gonna lose out this time
# Tie your mother down
# Lock your daddy out of doors
# I don't need him nosing around
# Tie your mother down
# Tie your mother down... #
Just try and give me a touch more vocal.
One, two. One, two, one, two.
# Sammy was low
# Just watching the show
# Over and over again... #
One, two, one, two.
# Sammy was low
# Just watching the show
# Over and over again
# Knew it was time
# He'd made up his mind
# To leave his dead life behind
# His boss said to him
# Boy, you'd better begin
# To get those crazy notions right out of your head
# Sammy, who do you think that you are?
# You should've been sweeping up the Emerald Bar
# Spread your wings and fly away
# Fly away, far away
# Spread your little wings and fly away... #
If, individually, you went off -
I'm not talking about the band break-up at all. Mm.
Oh, no! If you made individual solo albums...
Yeah. Oh, I'd make a lot of money!
..and I'll ask you individually this -
what sort of album would you make?
Rog? No idea.
I don't know yet. Haven't done it yet.
Er, a good one.
I'd like to make it naked and raw.
Fred? I really haven't thought in those terms, really.
I mean, probably my solo album would consist of me singing with Roger,
Brian and John backing me!
Most of the things that I want to do, I would want to use the group,
cos that's partly - we sort of use each other, in a way,
if we have ideas, and that is the big thing about a group,
that you have a group of people
who understand each other's ways of working
and you can get the maximum out of each other.
So there are things which, perhaps, at a particular time
you don't want to do for the group, but mainly the group is the vehicle.
That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah.
And it's the best vehicle that we have.
John? Um, I'd never do one, no.
I can't sing!
So how do each of you, then,
musically pull the band in certain directions?
I mean, I'm thinking of your songs, for example,
which always strike me as being so melodic...
Yes. ..John, and add that input into the...?
Yes, yeah. Well, that just obviously comes from the type of songs
that the individuals write,
you know, I mean, because we are four...
..you know, four individuals, really.
I mean, we are quite different in our musical taste, as well.
Mine tend to be slightly lighter.
I don't think I could ever write a heavy song, you know?
It's, you know, it's not in me. Mm.
# Come on, honey
# Come fly with me... #
Oh, it's got an awful ridge on it.
Is there another one?
Ow, ow, ow.
I've lost my shoe!
Cinderella.
I like to think that I can do different things.
I mean, I don't like to just think, "OK, rock and roll,
"so therefore I'm going to go up there,
"put on my high-heeled shoes and play the songs."
I like to think that we do so many different types of songs
that then when we try and put them over
they require a different format.
And within that is a wide area.
Why don't you do a nice picture of Roger's legs?
Away!
Oh, but I don't do my own!
Dave!
Do, do, do.
I feel a lot of people now realise when they come to see our show
that they're going to get a lot of contrasts.
We're not scared of trying out different ideas, you know?
I think one of the things we really steer clear of
is trying to sort of repeat the same formula.
That's not the thing done in rock and roll!
Can you imagine it?
As the albums have progressed,
I mean, our sort of songwriting has progressed.
We've sort of ventured into different areas.
When people hear them on the records,
we like to do them on stage.
We'd like to try out something very different right now.
This is from the new album, the News Of The World.
Have you got it yet? The album, that is.
AUDIENCE CHEERS
OK, you might just about recognise this one.
This is called My Melancholy Blues.
# Another party's over
# And I'm left cold sober
# My baby left me for somebody new
# I don't wanna talk about it
# Want to forget about it
# Wanna be intoxicated with that special brew
# So come me... # Bluh-bluh-bluh!
# Let me
# Oh, don't expect me
# To behave perfectly
# And wear that sunny smile
# My guess is I'm in for a cloudy and overcast
# Don't try and stop me
# Cos I'm heading for that stormy weather soon
# I'm causing a mild sensation
# With this new occupation
# I'm permanently glued
# To this extraordinary mood so now move over
# And let me take over
# With my melancholy blues
# I'm causing a mild sensation
# With this new occupation
# I'm in the news
# I'm just getting used to my new exposure
# So, come into my enclosure
# And meet my melancholy blues. #
AUDIENCE CHEERS
We are halfway through the tour with Queen now,
and it's proving to be,
relative to everything else that's on the road this autumn,
a very, very successful tour.
We've just come back from a gig at the Atlanta Stadium...
..and we're just going up...
I've already got one. ..to the bar to get another drink.
On the table, and kick it! I don't want to...
On the table, and kick it! What? Oh, right.
The Midwest could get on your nerves,
because of the sheer repetition of it,
and every town looks so much like the other -
and you did feel like you were in a culture vacuum sometimes.
Sorry.
All we have is bad televisions, vibrating beds, even worse,
and bad food - but it was still a lot of fun.
HE CHUCKLES
There was loads of sex and drugs!
No, there really wasn't much sex and...
Well, there wasn't much drugs.
# Get down Make love
# You take my body
# I give you heat
# You say you're hungry
# I give you meat
# You suck my mind
# I blow your head
# Make love
# Inside your bed
# Everybody get down, make love
# Get down, make love
# Get down Make love
# Every time I get high
# You wanna come down
# Every time I get hot
# You say you wanna cool down
# You say it's enough
# In fact it's too much
# Every time I wanna get down, get down, get down. #
Your eye.
Dry your eye. Get your eyepiece.
Horrible use of space.
You are going to start taking.
I got a photograph of him tonight.
Really? Smiling?
How did you get that?
He even managed to get on the video.
Me? I fucking tripped...
I came hurtling on in Now I'm Here,
in the darkness, went arse over tit.
Did you see that? That's why I came sort of...
I kind of slipped and I went hurtling on and did all this.
It really puts you off, for real.
I thought it seemed to get together tonight.
I enjoyed tonight.
We're not together.
Brian broke a string in, well, the most awkward spot,
in the middle of Liar, where there's a crescendo, and it comes to a lull,
and then he has to give it a cue, so we're all waiting,
and he broke a string!
So he's changing. I'm standing in this spotlight, I mean...
Fuck!
Anyway, we've been in worse things.
How were the audience?
They were good, yeah. It's been different this time.
I don't know. Last time, the places were smaller, much smaller,
but they were more...up.
This time, I suppose, they brought their mums and dads.
# I was nothing but a city boy
# My trumpet was my only toy
# I've been blowing my horn
# Since I knew I was born
# But there isn't nobody wants to know
# I've been sleeping on the sidewalk
# Rollin' down the road
# I may get hungry
# But I sure don't wanna go home. #
What's happening when we get back to London,
going to be presumably looking at your whole business situation
and reviewing it.
Let's face it, we're going to sort of try and sort out
a lot of business... so-called business problems,
and, I think, the Queen... the so-called Queen Empire,
it's pretty large now, we've all got subsidiary companies and things,
and it needs a lot of handling!
# I may get hungry
# But I sure don't wanna go home. #
We didn't get a penny of record royalties
from the first three albums
so, basically, we got out of that one, right,
by re-signing with a guy called John Reid.
We signed with him for three years, right,
which finishes in about September next year.
What we are looking, at that point in time,
is basically to just look after ourselves
and, you know, do it completely on our own.
TAYLOR: It's the long road to artistic and financial freedom,
you know, which is so hard to find if you're successful to any degree,
cos there's a million sharks out there.
You've achieved so much, now, over the last five or six years,
and I was wondering now what targets you have left to achieve, really.
Number one album in America would be nice.
Yeah, we've never had a number one over here.
We've had very successful sort of two-million-selling albums,
but we haven't had a number one album.
I don't know. And also, we could be a bigger draw than we are, you know?
Yes, I mean, we haven't...
The wrong thing to do is to actually sort of see ourselves...
..with a particular goal to meet, you know?
I mean, to say, "This is where I want to go."
It's got to be so wide that...
I mean, you just keep going.
I mean, it's endless, really.
You're going to take some time off
when you get back to London, aren't you? That's the plan, yeah.
You have to get refreshed every now and again,
and we haven't really had a holiday for the last four years or so.
We've always said, "This is time off,"
but then it isn't, because you get involved in projects.
Certainly, for me, I'm going to get as far away as I can.
I think we really deserve it.
I think...
Oh, we bloody well do!
I think we've been kind of sort of putting it off and putting it off
for the last six years, really,
and I think the time has come where we can kind of ease off a bit
and just...
I mean, on this tour, I've been surviving on just jabs.
I mean... I don't mean that, in that sense!
Oh, please, mother!
No!
But, um...the show goes on.
MUSIC: We Will Rock You
# We will, we will rock you
# All right!
# We will, we will rock you
# OK!
# We will, we will rock you
# We will, we will rock you... #
As filming came to an end,
News Of The World reached number three in the US Billboard charts,
their most successful album in America to date.
The double A-side We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions
reached number four, just missing out on the top spot they craved.
# I've paid my dues
# Time after time
# I've done my sentence... #
It was to be another two years before their singles
Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites The Dust
finally got them their American number one -
but the huge appeal of We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions
was to be pivotal in cementing Queen's relationship
with the American audience -
a relationship that endures to this day.
# We are the champions, my friends
# And we'll keep on fighting till the end
# We are the champions
# No time for losers
# Cos we are the champions of the world... #
I'm feeling very thankful and grateful and blessed
just to be among you folks again,
cos it's something you can't take for granted.
This is an amazing moment for me, to be back here.
Thank you. AUDIENCE CHEERS
It seems quite incredible that old Roger and me are back here,
and it's even more incredible that you guys are here to see us!
# It's been no bed of roses
# No pleasure cruise... #
I don't think either Roger or I ever thought that this would happen.
We thought it was kind of done, in the old days, when we lost Freddie -
and it's wonderful that we have Adam.
You need an extraordinary figurehead,
and we do have it in Adam.
# We are the champions, my friends
# We'll keep on fighting till the end... #
I didn't even think we'd ever get to this age.
You don't think of it, you know?
We spent half our lives building up this legacy of songs
and sort of contact with an audience,
and now we can still be Queen.
In some ways, it's a miracle.
# Cos we are the champions
# We are the champions, my friends
# And we'll keep on fighting till the end
# We are the champions
# No time for losers
# Cos we are the champions
# Remember
# We are the champions of...
# ..of the world. #