It’s been over 50 years since Queen recorded their self-titled debut album and became the world’s biggest band after The Beatles.
Now, as a newly remixed, remastered and expanded version of the aptly retitled Queen I is set to release on October 25, Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor have taken part in new interviews looking back at their early days together with Freddie Mercury and John Deacon.
In an official new YouTube video titled Queen The Greatest Special — The Story of Queen I (Part One), which you can view below, the multimillionaire rock stars recall being on the verge of poverty.
The drummer said: “It was tough in the beginning. We were very poor. It really was hand-to-mouth. What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? Homeless.”
Meanwhile, the guitarist shared how his father was shocked at the state of his son’s living space and was concerned that he wasn’t saving for the future.
Nevertheless, Queen’s big break came when they had a chance to record their debut album at De Lane Lea Studios by Wembley Arena. Reflecting on the late singer’s tenacious work ethic, Sir Brian said: “Freddie’s very elemental in those days and he’s got all the passion, all the belief, all the vision. But he doesn’t have the equipment, he doesn’t have the control of his voice at that point. As soon as he’s in the studio, he’s listening to his takes back, he’s like, “No I don’t like that, that’s no good. I can do better.” He’d go back in, work on it until it was the way he wanted it to be. And incredibly quickly he picked up the art of recording in a studio and getting the best out of himself.”
Once the record was cut, Freddie and Roger headed off around the UK banging on the doors of record companies.
Roger shared: “I remember getting on endless trains with Freddie, hawking the demo around to all the different record companies. We’d sit in their offices and they’d play the stuff, and they’re all kind of interested, but nobody actually took the bait. It was just a grind. I wouldn’t say it was soul-destroying because we were quite confident. We had a sort of innate, gentle arrogance. You know, we thought we were good and quite different. But, yeah, it could have been soul-destroying, but we didn’t let it get us down too much.”
Queen The Greatest Special – The Story of Queen 1 (Part Two) – will follow on November 1st.