The legendary rocker queen popularized art rock, stadium rock, symphonic rock and much more. According to guitarist Brian May, many fans feel that thrash metal also deserves a spot on that list, due to the weight of some particularly aggressive songs from his third LP in 1974. increase. sheer heart attack.
In a recently published chat with Total Guitar, May discussed his musical influences and education as a producer, as well as his feelings about live performance and songwriting. He also gave new insight into some Queen essentials, including “Stone Cold Crazy.”
When asked if it was “the definitive example of the heaviest Queen” (to the point of “Metallica’s version… makes perfect sense”), May reflected (via Total Guitar) :
I think so. stone cold crazy It goes all the way back. This was one of his first songs we played together, but it’s interesting that it didn’t go on record until our third album. . . Freddy [Mercury] I wrote the lyrics with his old band, but the original riff was very different. break it [from 1984 album The Works]the original version of stone cold crazy It sounded like many others out there at the time and had some pretty lighthearted riffs. We didn’t have much pace.
But I thought: these lyrics are kind of frenetic, so the music should be frenetic as well. I got it! i don’t know about it But playing at that pace was unusual for the time.
It certainly was.
Interestingly, May also said that the Queen did not consider the song “so serious”. In retrospect, however, he admitted it was “nice and heavy”, adding: Lots of adrenaline: go for it! It really burns. And I liked the sound we had by then.
He continued:
stone cold crazy A good example of us recording in the studio in a live atmosphere. And it started going down by that point. Grab those things and you can assume it’s live when you’re in the studio. So it sounds real and natural, not calculated. And I captured it. I think it’s all one shot. It’s not like messing around with take-after-take. I just did it. I think that’s when I started mastering the studio.
Check out “Stone Cold Crazy” below, you I think this should be considered thrash metal in the rough!
Speaking of May and Queen, the guitarist recently looked back on the production of their self-titled debut LP in 1973 and admitted to being unhappy with the sound.
“It was the exact opposite of what we were aiming for,” he said of recording at Trident Studios. “So [Queen drummer] Roger [Taylor]’s drums were in small cubicles and all drums were taped. they would all be dead. … I remember saying to Roy Thomas Baker, “This is not the sound we really want, Roy.” And he said, “Don’t worry, we can fix it all in the mix.” Which, of course, would not be the best way? And I think we all knew that wouldn’t happen!”
Luckily none of that stopped queen it’s going to be a classic.
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