Queen vs Pink Floyd

Whenever I hear the words “legendary rock band,” a number of band names come into mind. Names like U2, the Eagles, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd,  The Doors, The Beach Boys, Van Halen, The Kinks, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led zeppelin, Chuck Berry, Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Santana, ACDC,  Cream, KISS, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Nirvana, The Ramones, and even One direction,….just kidding.  Among these legendary names, two are the focus of today’s feature. Many new age rock music fans may not have heard of Pink Floyd or Queen before, but that should not deter us from appreciating the quality of the work these two great names put into defining the genre.

 These two  bands may not be as prominent as they were in their glory days, but they are still out there and are still going at it. Queen have seemingly moved on from the death of their Charismatic front man, Freddie Mercury, and have adopted a younger and fresher talent in Adam Lambert to be their voice on tour. Pink Floyd have stuck to their old guns to produce what will most definitely be their last album as a band. Pink Floyd’s album “The endless river” was released in November last year, and has already set a record as the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon, despite being a instrumental album. 

There are very few bands that can boast having made music to match the work of these two behemoths of the genre.  In reality these two bands can weigh up perfectly with the genre’s finest bands, yes they may not have been as flashy or as wild as led zeppelin and the stones, but they still made great music. In my books, these two bands deserve a spot in the top 10 greatest bands of all time. Queen and Pink Floyd are Rock Music royalty, and it’s a shame that not all their members have been fully knighted by the Queen of England for their contribution to music.

When we get down to it, the question here is , which of these two bands deserves to be called Greater, better yet, which of the two is more Legendary?  Is it her Majesty the Queen, or Psychedelic Pink Floyd?

Queen as band may have had a feminine name, but don’t let that fool you, these royals knew how to elegantly dish out hardcore songs like Stone cold crazy as well the lighter and more experimental works like Bohemian Rhapsody. Queen’s sound may have at times sounded a bit pop-ish, but they really did know how to rock their Tiaras off.

Pink Floyd on the other hand, was more of an experimental psychedelic rock act, their sound had no defined boundaries, it was like the wind, free to go whereever it pleases.  Pink Floyd’s sound was one of the first instances of what was then called Space rock, though now termed as Progressive rock. The influence of this great band is now far spread over the whole rock music genre, influencing new age progressive bands like Muse.

When we talk albums, Queen’s greatest album “A night at the opera,” which has some of Queen's definitive hits, it is a great album, but is a far cry from Pink Floyd’s “The dark side of the moon.” The dark side of the moon is one of the greatest albums in rock, and is one of the top 10 essential rock albums in the arsenal of any classic rock music fan.  It's competitors to the title of being rock music’s finest album are “led zeppelin IV, who’s next-the who, back in black-ACDC, appetite for destruction-Guns N Roses, the white album-the Beatles,  and are you experienced-The Jimi Hendrix experience,” plus a few other great albums i may not have mentioned.

Queen was and still is an easy band to understand and like, there is nothing complex about queen’s sound. it was just simple, straight forward rock music. It’s actually pretty easy to sing along to most of queen’s songs, because most of queen’s music was anthemic in its arrangement. Take for example the song “ we will rock you,” it’s the go to anthem for any sports team or franchise. Its a simple acapella number that has beats made by rhythmic clapping and stamping of feet, which makes it the perfect song for crowd interaction. I mean there’s no way you can listen to that song and not get the urge to put on your mean face and go, “We will, we will, ROCK YOU!”

Pink Floyd’s music isn’t very easy to understand. The first time you experience it will probably be a massive disappointment, but once you get around to it, it’s a real eye opener and you’ll find yourself singing and humming along to some their timeless choruses like “I’ve become comfortably numb!”  Or “All in all you’re just another brick in the wall!”

Queen’s live performances were a thing of beauty, owing to no small part Freddie mercury’s incredible showmanship and charisma along with Brian May’s great guitar delivery and prowess. As YouTube is my witness, Queen’s live shows were nothing short of phenomenal. Pink Floyd on the other hand had some the most brilliant effects heavy shows ever. The stage set ups really brought out the psychedelic bit about their music, in short, the effects really did compliment the music.

When we look at the individual members of each band, we get to appreciate their contribution to the band’s sound. Take for instance Freddie mercury, who is considered by many to be one of the greatest, if not thee greatest lead vocalist in rock music. With a vocal range well above 4 octaves, Freddie was surely a great singer with incredible stage presence. And yes he was clearly better than Pink Floyd’s Roger waters and Dave Gilmour, who were both decent vocalist’s, but not among the greatest around.

Both bands had great rhythm sections, though individually Queen’s John Deacon was a better bassist than Pink Floyd’s Roger waters. Deacon’s most notable bass moment is that great bass intro on Queen’s “Another one bites the dust.” Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason was also a better drummer than Queens Roger Taylor, and yes Mason is one of the finest rock drummers of all time. Nick Mason may not have had John Bondman’s strength and thunderous bass drumming or Loony Keith moon’s onstage antics, but he is still an accomplished rock drummer.

When we get to who can play the guitar better, it’s a tough to choose between two of the finest guitarists of all time, both highly ranked by every guitar fanatic around the world. Those two are among my top 10 finest guitarists ever, and I’m sure they also are to the many fans who consider guitar playing an essential part of a band’s sound. David Gilmour and Brian May are both great axmen, but in my books David Gilmour is the more accomplished guitarist and his two great solo’s on Pink Floyd’s “comfortably Numb,” plus other great solos such as the ones he played on “time,” and on “money,” area a clear testament to how good he is. Let’s not take it away from Brian May, because good God, the man can play the guitar, he may not have had many standout guitar solos and riffs, but his lead guitar work is the stuff of legend. His solo on Queen's standout hit “bohemian rhapsody” was also pretty instrumental in the song’s chart topping success. Lets not leave out his heavy metal riff on “stone cold crazy,“ which was also a brilliant piece of guitar work.

In my opinion, Pink FLoyd is more legendary than Queen. But looking at all the facts I’ve put before you, which of the two bands do YOU think is more legendary, PINK FLOYD or QUEEN?

For your listening pleasure, here are some of the essential Pink Floyd and Queen songs

Pink Floyd

• ·         Another brick in the wall
• ·         Comfortably numb
• ·         Time
• ·         Shine on you crazy diamond
• ·         money
• ·         Wish you were here

 Queen

• ·         Bohemian Rhapsody
• ·         Somebody to love
• ·         Fat Bottomed girls
• ·         Another one bites the dust
• ·         we are champions
• ·         We will rock you

 

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