When I was a kid, there was always one tape that you count depend on being played during any lengthy family road trip: Queen’s Greatest Hits. I’m not sure quite why or how, to be honest, my family somehow decided without any discussion that that cassette was magically acceptable to everyone in the family, but it was, and we’d all listen and sing along happily whenever it was played (As opposed to the reaction when, say, Huey Lewis and The News – my father’s favorite – was suggested).
Listening to “We Will Rock You” now is a strange exercise, because the song itself is just covered in a layer of nostalgia that almost disguises what you actually hear. But what’s there is kind of fascinating, if only to consider how it became a hit, and a hit that everyone likes. Consider the structure of the song, which isn’t the traditional verse/chorus/verse as much as a chant that, all of a sudden, Brian May comes along and just ends with a ridiculously awesome guitar solo (Is Brian May “officially” awesome again yet? If not, he should be; he’s a really great guitarist). I mean… there’re no instruments in this song until almost ninety seconds into it, and then there’s just this guitarist going nuts, and then it’s just… over. This is pretty much a weird song, the kind of thing that is normally hidden away on an album for the hardcore fans only, and yet it magically became a thing and everyone knows it. Sometimes, I think that over familiarity makes us forget how truly strange that really is.