Lyrical Essay
The Lyrical Essay was a challenge in terms of coming up with our own topic that we were passionate about. We had to write an essay that was short, but had a lot of meaning. I quickly thought to write about my love for cameras and technology. But I ended up switching to writing about my favorite band of all time. Queen. Their music has always blown my mind away and their history was very unfamiliar to the modern generation. I took inspiration from the movie Bohemian Rhapsody and also online resources to learn about the history of each of the Queen members.
Research
Essay
We Are The Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Do these titles ring a bell? You probably heard the legendary thumping drums of We Are The Champions in your head, or the harmonies of Bohemian Rhapsody. The band Queen included Brian May as the guitarist, Roger Taylor on the drums, John Deacon with the bass, and finally. Freddie Mercury.
What seems like the perfect band with an unfortunate ending was a lot more complicated than Freddie’s death due to aids.
The band shared a complicated and long story that only shows how far they’ve come and the grand success of what they produced.
The members of Queen all had different professions before creating the band. Brain May was an astrophysicist. Roger Taylor was a regular college student, John Deacon’s life is more hidden. But who brought the band together was really Freddie Mercury. Which has a passion for music all his life but was put in the shadows by his own family.
Freddie has always had a complicated life. His parent’s never approved of his actions, he had no friends, and he had big buck front teeth. But he was able to take that to his advantage. The claims his teeth had helped him increase his vocal range in his voice which is what brings all of us the amazing vocals of each song.
Believe or not, Freddie Mercury wasn’t his name given at birth. It was Farrokh Bulsara. Freddie had a passion for music which he wrote his own songs from the start. He wrote a bohemian rhapsody famous piano verse on his bed with his piano, and it was perfected into a song 15 years later. Freddie also struggled with his life in terms of finding his sexuality, he had a long time partner. Mary Austin, but also had many affairs with former band manager Paul prenter. Clearly he had a lot going on in his life.
Brian May left college to pursue a career in the rock and roll industry because of his passion for guitar. And that definitely went his way. But he wasn’t even a rockstar. He was an astrophysicist. After the band, 2 decades later he went back to complete his degree and actually finished it in 2 years. Which is pretty impressive for someone that took a 20 year break from the topic.
John Deacon was also different. He was an electrical engineer that just happened to be very talented in bass. He was a lot of the reason that Queen sounded like what they sound today in their music. Most of their unique styles were from him and implementing different sounds and instruments. Without him, it would be a completely different story.
The members of the band all had something different. Like Freddie Mercury said, We’re Playing For The Other Misfits. They’re The Outcasts, Right At The Back Of The Room. We’re Pretty Sure They Don’t Belong Either. We Belong To Them.”
The band had something electrical about them, they wanted everything for their fans, they made the music for us. And Decades later, they are still arguably the best rock band of all time.
Reflection
Overall, I thought this project was super cool, I was able to talk about my passion for the band and their past. And I was hoping people were able to see how amazing each and every one of the members were, and also how they had individual lives apart from the band.