Beech Tree News Network

Beginning this week, I’m starting a “When I discovered” series.  This will focus mainly on music.  I will begin with my favorite old school rock band of all time-Queen.  As with most things, I was late to the party with Queen. Queen’s final album called Innuendo in 1991. 
It was Queen’s 14th studio album and their final recording of new material.  Lead singer Freddie Mercury was dying of AIDS.  In fact, I heard that laying down the vocals for their final song, “These Are The Days” was especially difficult, as he was so frail and weak he could hardly stand, much less had enough energy to record vocals.
My introduction, however, wasn’t until a few years after Mercury died on November 24, 1991.  I was in high school when I heard my first Queen tune, I was riding around town with my buddy Kyle and he popped in Queen’s greatest hits CD.  “This is the coolest sound”, I thought.  They were a combination of glam-rock and precise musicianship.  I knew I loved it from the first note of “We Will Rock You”.
Aside from the fact that the song is played at every sporting event worth its salt, I’d not heard it in any other context.  As soon as I got to the mall (this was back when the mall actually had music in what was Disc Jockey), I hunted for Queen’s greatest hits.  When I finally found it, I remember playing the fire out of that thing.  That was, at least, mid-‘90’s. 
Since then I’ve read and watched everything about Queen that I could get my hands on.  My next group I’ll talk about in a future column of When I Discovered series featured another lead singer who met a tragic end, albeit this one by his own hand.  Who is it? Well, you’ll have to wait until next week to find the answer.  Same Bat time, same Bat channel.