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'Modern Times Rock N' Roll' - The majesty of Queen's debut.

David Geldard
Aug 16, 2017
4 min read

When I was a kid I loved Queen. I don't remember first hearing Bohemian Rhapsody, because for me it has always been there.

My Dad loved them and when the first Greatest Hits came out in 1981, he played it all the time. A big plus for me was the fact they'd done the soundtrack to Flash Gordon, a film I loved.

The release of a new Queen record was always an exciting event.

When Queen released their single Radio Ga Ga in 1984, it was quite a departure from their usual sound, venturing into the electronic synthpop that was very popular at the time.

I was eleven at the end of 1984 and getting seriously into music.

My musical tastes were expanding and I became interested in

the New Romantic bands that my older cousins and the other kids in my class were listening to.

Although I loved Queen, they started to seem a little bit passe. They were older than Duran Duran, The Thompson Twins and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. They were a band from our Dad's generation, not ours.

Then Live Aid happened. I watched pretty much the whole thing from Status Quo's opening at 12pm until Neil Young early the next morning. Everyone at school was talking about it beforehand, "Who do you think is going to be the best?". It was generally accepted it was going to be Duran Duran, Ultravox, The Thompson Twins or Wham!

The minute Queen came on, everything changed. Freddie took to the stage as if he was going to prove to the world he was the best. He and the rest of the band were full of energy and gave it their all. If you go and watch it on YouTube now, you'll see how much Freddie was enjoying it and had the audience in the palm of his hand. It was incredible. On the Monday morning, the only bands people were talking about were Queen and a fairly new Irish band called U2.

I was converted into a full-on Queen fan overnight. I knew my Uncle had every album, so I asked to borrow them, to tape them.

(A bit naughty I know, but Queen have had loads of money from me since and I wasn't earning when I was eleven).

I loved The Works, The Game and A Night At The Opera. For some reason, I just couldn't get into their first two albums at all. They seemed too 'heavy metal' for me.

As time wore on, I became more and more seduced by heavier music.

A lot of people may not realise it now, but Queen were pretty much regarded as a Heavy Metal band when they started. Their debut self-titled album from 1973 is a band wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves. The most obvious influence, I think it's fair to say, would be Led Zeppelin. Let's be honest, the two bands share a lot of traits. The rock god singer with an unbelievable voice, the guitar hero with killer riffs and solos, the incredible drummer fully embracing the rock and roll lifestyle and the quiet but intelligent bass player.

There were other influences too, some of Brian May's solos brought to mind Jimi Hendrix. Some of the song structures were reminiscent of Yes. There was also more than a hint of Ziggy Stardust camp about the album too.

That's not to say that Queen were a band without their own identity.

Although their sound was not 100% fully formed (in my view that happened on their next album Queen II), all the hallmarks were starting to blossom. Particularly with both vocal and guitar harmonies. Most of the songwriting was split between Mercury and May, but Roger Taylor provided one of the album's highlights - the sublime proto-thrash of Modern Times Rock N' Roll.

Two of the songs on the album were live favourites for years to come: Keep Yourself Alive ( their first single) and one of my particular favourites - Liar. It's also ironic that when Queen toured with Paul Rodgers in recent years, they never performed Son and Daughter, because it is the most Free-like song that Queen ever wrote. A slow, bluesy riff with high pitched harmonies and thunderous drums.

The song Doing All Right, started off life in the pre-Queen group, Smile. If you haven't heard the Smile version, it's well worth searching out because it's notable that despite the absence of John and Freddie, it still sounds very much like a Queen track.

From being one of my lesser liked Queen albums as a kid, it became one of my absolute favourites. It is a classic heavy rock album. 'Fred Zeppelin', if you will. Another bonus, because it is a less commercial album, none of the tracks will be hammered on TV ads for sofas or bathroom cleaner.

Perhaps the greatest shame is that too many people will never venture past the Greatest Hits collections and remain ignorant of these great tracks.

Tracklisting

Side one

No. Title Writer(s) Length

1."Keep Yourself Alive"Brian May 3:46

2."Doing All Right"May, Tim Staffell 4:10

3."Great King Rat"Freddie Mercury 5:41

4."My Fairy King" Mercury 4:07

Side two

5."Liar" Mercury 6:26

6."The Night Comes Down" May 4:24

7."Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll" Roger Taylor 1:48