About this episode

Bill Bailey narrates Queen's journey from near failure to global fame in the 1970s and early 80s.

Bill Bailey tells the story of Queen and in the second episode it's 1975, and Queen are on the brink of failure. With financial issues they are exhausted and overlooked, but take a huge gamble on something long, weird, and radio-unfriendly: Bohemian Rhapsody. As the world turns to Queen we explore their evolution into stadium-shaking titans throughout the late 1970s. Through archive and new interviews, including journalist David Quantick and singer Adam Lambert, we see how Queen were on a roll with releasing albums and were performing internationally to cement their global fame. In the early 80s, we find them embracing synths, disco, and sci-fi scores with albums The Game and the Flash Gordon soundtrack. Through their groundbreaking tour of South America, and the release of Greatest Hits we explore Queen at their height before they face burnout and are unsure of what comes next.

People in this episode

Host: Bill Bailey

Topics covered

• Queen
• music history
• 1970s
• album releases
• global fame
• burnout

Keywords

• Queen
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• David Quantick
• Adam Lambert
• The Game
• Greatest Hits
• music history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Queen

Books & works: Bohemian Rhapsody, The Game, Flash Gordon soundtrack, Greatest Hits

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