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institution1970–1991

Queen

Disciplines:
rock music
rock music/glam rock

Summary

Queen are a British rock band led by Freddie Mercury whose 1976 album 'A Day at the Races' contains a Shepard tone.

Core Contribution

Queen's use of the Shepard tone on 'A Day at the Races' represents the device's entry into mainstream rock production.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Studio maximalism (Queen's recordings stack dozens of overdubbed voices and guitars to create a sound impossibly large for a four-piece band)
  • Bohemian Rhapsody's genre refusal (the song is simultaneously ballad, opera, and hard rock — it refuses classification, which is why it became the definitive rock anthem)

Historical Influences

Jimi Hendrix Led Zeppelin The Beatles

Intellectual Lineage

British glam rockProgressive rock Arena rock

Allied Works

A Day at the Races A Night at the Opera

Contemporaries & Peers

Led Zeppelin David Bowie The Rolling Stones

Minds Influenced

Muse My Chemical Romance

Intellectual Posterity

Bohemian Rhapsody as rock anthem

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Queen

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