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
Please comment below if you have comments for us.
