httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU5LMG3WFBw
Hammer to Fall
By: Queen
What’s not to love about Queen? Freddie Mercury’s incredible voice and theatrical style, Brian May’s clean and wailing flanged guitar sounds, a capella vocals, and a band that understands the soul of rock ‘n’ roll. I could go on for pages and pages and still not even scratch the surface of this band’s legacy.
Damn, but I want that jacket
Everybody seems to know and love Queen; I’ve even seen self-professed homophobes disregard the knowledge of Freddie Mercury’s sexual preferences because the band rocks that hard. It’s the kind of music that transcends genre preferences. I’ve seen dyed-in-the-wool country music fans get up and sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody at the karaoke bar.
True to my generation, my first exposure to Queen was thanks to Mike Myers, despite the fact that my father had a couple of Queen albums on vinyl at home.
Party on
We owned the album (pictured above), but probably only really paid attention to the first track. Further exposure to Queen was thanks to the Highlander movie, and once a band had its hooks in me like that, a quick trip to Napster often led to a download of a band’s discography.
So why did I choose ‘Hammer to Fall’? There’s just something clever about using the cold war as a metaphor for the struggle of life and the inevitability of death. While not as innovative as many Queen songs, it still rocks, and to a writer like me, once in a while it inspires.
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