106 Interesting Queen Facts you May or May Not Have Known

1. On reddit, Tim Staffell recalled Freddie Mercury jamming to Hendrix in front of class using a metal 1 metre stick in his hands to play air guitar. Or stick guitar. Unsure

2. Freddie nearly destroyed a piano in frustration while attempting to the the Death On Two Legs Intro. He smashed the piano about maybe 10 times, belted out a cuss word, apologized, and tried again. Geez I don’t blame him. That intro is crazy fast.

3. Queen played Birmingham in 1973. During this concert, Freddie was hyped up from the music and attempted to do a high kick, only to end up falling straight down on his ass. He got up continued the show and got a hot dog filled with ketchup thrown at him. He was fucking livid.

4. A tape of a show at PJ’s Club (July 25, 1970) does exist. But the owner of the tape is reluctant to release it out into the public due to the Barry Mitchell situation.

5. (Just an explanation) at Queenzone, Barry Mitchell posted an audio recording claiming it was a show at Ewell’s Technical College (January 9, 1971) but it was actually a show at the Golders Green Hippodrome at London (September 13, 1973).

6. During 1969, Brian May and Roger Taylor used to smoke lots of pot in their home. They’d mix it with Jasmine Tea sometimes as well. At the time Freddie had never taken drugs, nor did he want to, but he was tolerating it (for the sake of the greater goal of becoming a legend). One Day (likely in March or April 1969), after classes at Ealing Arts College, Freddie came to the flat and found a small paper bag of tea. He decided he would whip up a few brownies. Little that Fred knew, Brian and Roger laced those brownies with Marijuana. His roommates discovered him halfway down the stairs as high as a kite. He was not amused and threw a tantrum once the effects wore off.

7. Once, during Ibex's peaking era (September 1969) Freddie exited from the band's bus decked out in head-to-toe white satin and that fur coat only to find himself amidst of a group of very dirty and sooty coal miners. He screeched, jumped back in the band's bus and slammed the door.

8. Apparently by 1969/1970, both Fred and Rog didn’t know how to boil an egg. A conversation between the two one night went like this: "Rog, darling, how exactly do you boil an egg?" | “You, umm - I don't know. I think it has something to do with hot water."

9. Brian thought Freddie was a gypsy when he first met him in November 30, 1968.

10. Apparently, being mistaken for a woman out on the street got so bad for Roger in Autumn of 1969 that he grew a short living beard.

11. It took almost a decade (7 or 8 years) for Freddie to complete ‘The March of the Black Queen’.

12. Back around Halloween 1970, the band was up in Liverpool, and were walking down the street in their 70’s fancy getups. Let’s just say people didn’t dress like that at the time. They came across a bunch of gang members who threatened to beat them up, and Roger quickly flashed his student card and told them it was judo license and by law he was permitted to beat them up for self-defense. The gang members backed off.

13. Brian’s shoes were also burnt to ash at Liverpool. He left them on an electric furnace during a concert.

14. Brian May once got pretty angry at a crowd for booing at them for the whole night. To be honest, I don’t blame Brian in the slightest bit.

15. Apparently once in April 1976, Freddie Mercury smashed a mirror over Pete Brown’s head! He recalled: “He [Mercury] could be very tough. He often made me cry during the years I worked for him." Driving the band to the venue, Brown found the route led through a crowded fairground and suggested they'd have to get out of their respective limousines and walk. "We had to drive through at snail's pace so as not to injure anyone and Freddie acted up with the champagne all the way!" Irate pedestrians banged on the windows, flipped V-signs, and yelled "Pommy pussies!" "When we got inside, Freddie was in such a cold rage that he picked up a big mirror and literally smashed it over my head. Then he ordered me to find a brush and shovel to sweep up the glass at once." Oddly enough, Brown forgave him: "You see it was the humiliation he had suffered. He just had to take it out on someone. I understood.”

16. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth was present at Roger’s birth. Apparently she was there for a grand opening of the new maternity wing or something like that.

17. Roger was banned from the Truro branch of Woolworths sometime in the 1960s because he masturbates into the pic n mix.

18. Brian May has bad breath and Anita Dobson has been heard to remark “Jesus Christ Brian! Have you been using shite for toothpaste?”

19. Apparently a huge fight broke out in a bar between Roger Taylor and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo. They were both drunk and then arrested. They managed to escape by tunnelling through an eight feet deep solid concrete wall. This was Summer 1983.

20. John Deacon has a bad habit of putting salt on his food before tasting it and his beautiful wife Veronica often has to remind him of this at mealtimes.

21. Following his frighteningly convincing portrayal of a sexy schoolgirl in the video for ‘I Want To Break Free’ Roger Taylor is now something of a sex symbol in Japan. Thanks to the countries relaxes attitude to paedophilia Toshiba Kawasake, a 59 year old businessman paid 3 million yen for the same panties Roger wore in the video and he now keeps them in a hermetically sealed room to preserve their pungent aroma.

22. In the late 80s, Roger Taylor would dress up as a fly, rub bug repellent all over himself, and ask bandmate John Deacon to spank him with a flyswatter. This, along with the trauma of being exposed to Brian May's wardrobe every day for the past 20 years, ultimately led to Queen singer Freddie Mercury faking his death in 1991.

23. Apparently John Deacon once tea bagged Freddie in 1988.

24. Freddie has a cat named Roger. Unsure of when though.

25. Once, an attendant at a Philadelphia concert in 1977 threw beer at Freddie. Freddie dumped champagne back on him saying “I guess that’s why they call this place filthydelphia”

26. A drunken John Deacon punched through a glass window after a show at the San Diego Sports Arena. Although it required 19 stitches, he was still able to perform the final four shows of the tour. Here is a photo showing the extent of his injuries. here

27. While walking outside of the Beacon Theatre on 8 February 1976, Freddie Mercury came close to death as two girls began pulling on his scarf. On two different sides. Brian and a few other roadies had to literally pull the girls away from the scarf. Freddie got very angry because they destroyed his silk scarf.

28. While in South America, Roger, John and Crystal decided to rent a car and drive to a town some 100 miles away (John, on the other hand, was smarter and decided to take a limo instead). The car eventually broke down on them plus a huge rainstorm developed and the car had no top. A mudslide occurred nearby and all the rain on the ground turned brown from the mud. Roger and Crystal also turned brown when a transport truck passed them and splashed the dirty water all over them and the car! They managed to make it to their destination and after hurling some colourful language at the rent-a-car company, they didn't have to pay for the car.

29. When Roger bought his first Range Rover he claimed "You can park them on a sixpence." He had to be towed out of a ditch. His Ferrari burst into flames on his way to the south of France, and his Aston Martin also burst into flames. The first car he ever got practically disintegrated just two days after he bought it. He doesn't actually count that one in the list of cars he's owned.

30. Freddie used to love pushing all the buttons at the same time in an elevator and would then panic like a 2 year old when the elevator stalled.

31. Brian broke his arm when Jimmy May’s skateboard launched him off of it in the US in 1989.

32. Brian got drunk with Van Halen one night in 1983 and when he went to throw up in the bathroom he hit his head on the toilet tank and got a concussion. He had to play with a bandage on his head the following night.

33. Richie from Five got lost in Brian May's grounds during the recording of their version of 'We Will Rock You', and had to be found by a search party consisting of Five's other members.

34. Brian May suffered with severe depression in the late eighties 1990’s. One night he was driving and thought about driving his car off the bridge he was on to end his problems. Luckily he did not.

35. The first time Brian met Christie he accidentally stepped on his foot with his clogs and apologized about 20 times.

36. Brian May got extremely frustrated during a show at New Jersey on August 9, 1982. The string broke during the Brighton Rock solo. Now, the Red Special Brian has was a copy and it had a tremolo bar. Or a whammy bar as most people call it. Anyway, when a string breaks, every other string goes way out of tune and it makes the playing sound horrid. Now, there is a way for preventing that sound. You can achieve it by holding the whammy bar down and playing. This can be pretty uncomfortable and it is not an easy task at all. Anyway, he ultimately gives up, and takes the guitar off and hurls it over his stack of Vox cabinets (the one and only time he did this), snapping it in half. Some audience members watch in bewilderment as they have witnessed the normally gentle and soft-spoken May lash out in frustration. Others cheer the 'coolness' factor. A roadie, visible to the audience, picks up a piece of the Birch guitar and holds it up for a brief moment. The beleagured axeman then switches to his Flying V, and he and Roger (barely) finish the segment, not before that guitar, too, goes out of tune. He also says during the introduction to another one of the songs, “"Before this next song, we'd like... what is that fucking noise? It's been driving me crazy all fucking night. I bet it's not doing you guys any good, either." Brian replied to a letter that regarded the incident, saying: “You evidently saw a special night ... the only night when I ever threw a guitar off stage in despair ! And, yes, I did hit the ground behind the stage - I'm pretty sure I thought I was throwing to someone, but evidently I misjudged it. And, yes, its neck snapped clean through. I kept it for a while, intending to get it fixed. But we decided it would probably never be good at staying in tune, because it wasn't a very rigid instrument. And not being able to get it in tune was what drove me to distraction that night, and this was what led to its demise! As I remember, this was on top of having problems with the Red Special in the beginning - in the heat of the moment, this was the final straw ! I imagine your bootleg of the show will reveal the problems I was having. These things usually make me feel ashamed, frustrated, angry, in the moment... I don't like giving people less than the best. So this picture really does tell a story ... a unique story. I wonder what happened to the Flying V ... As for the Birch guitar, well, we lent it to Guild, to compare, while they were making their Red specials under license in the 80's. Then we all forgot about it for many years. Then it turned up, and thanks to a friend (I think I told the story here) it now resides back with me. We have decided to keep it as it is, in pieces, just for historical interest, for the same reasons as before."

37. Freddie took a nasty fall down the stairs at Hanover On September 22nd 1984. He was running down the stairs when he slipped and his right leg moved too far to his right and he broke it falling down the stairs. Here is a photograph of Freddie recovering](https://i.redd.it/k3a5unrp1ig21.png)

38. During a show in Glasgow on the release date of Sheer Heart Attack Freddie was dragged from the stage into the audience!

39. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The band joked around about John Deacon playing an upright bass for ‘39 but when the next recording session came along so did an upright bass. John bursted into the studio with the bass. The band were flabbergasted to say the least.

40. While playing at a university at Stirling, Scotland in March 1974, an audience member threw a couch cushion at Freddie’s face. He fell, for back up, and threw it back. Soon enough the cushions turned into beer bottles and Freddie hail maried it by jumping off the stage and running to the dressing rooms. The band followed along. Roger Taylor and two roadies ended up being swallowed by the crowd. Roger wasn’t seriously injured but the roadies were.

41. On January 28th 1977, Thin Lizzy opened for Queen. A lemon was thrown at Scott Gorham during Lizzy's set. A few songs into Queen's set (during The Millionaire Waltz), about a dozen eggs were thrown from the balcony onto the stage, and Brian May slipped and hurt his tailbone. Freddie stopped the show, the band walked off, and the house lights came back on. They regrouped backstage, and ultimately decided to continue playing. Otherwise the "bad guys would win," as Brian would later recall. Fifteen minutes later the show resumed, with Freddie saying something to the effect of, "Listen you motherfuckers, we don't have to play for you if we don't want to. But for the other 99% of you who want to see the show, we will continue."

42. Brian got drunk with Van Halen one night and when he went to throw up in the bathroom he hit his head on the toilet tank and got a concussion. He had to play with a bandage on his head the following night.

43. Apparently as a kid Brian was afraid of a chair in the corner of his room at night.

44. During The Works sessions Brian and Roger got into a fight and Brian punched Roger. They kept on fighting for a moment.

45. Apparently John Deacon threatened to throw his bass at Jim Beach once due to the fact that there was mayonnaise on a sandwich he didn’t want mayo on. He was going through a really really really rough time so I don’t blame him.

46. John Deacon suffered a mild drinking problem during the magic tour. He would have a mini bar would the roadies would whip him up a few cocktails. He’d leave most venues steaming drunk.

47. On October 16th 1970, John went to see Queen (obviously this was before he joined). For the performance, they were all dressed in black and the lights were dim, so all he saw was 4 shadowy figures. They didn’t make a lasting impression to him… at the time.

48. When "Night At The Opera" came out, everyone thought the band was making tons of money. Actually, their management company, Trident, was - they weren't seeing any of it. In fact, Deaky wound up begging them to loan him the money for a down payment on a house. Trident refused. (He and Veronica had just had their first child and were still living in a one-room flat because that was all they could afford.)

49. The video of "We Will Rock You" was filmed in Roger's garden in Surrey on February 1st 1978. It was filmed after it had snowed for most of the morning. Freddie had to borrow Ratty's gloves while Brian and Deaky's fingers were so numb that they could barely pretend to play, although Deaky did manage to stomp on Roger's foot at one point. (Wearing heavy boots, nonetheless.) Roger wasn't exactly amused.

50. Apparently John got drunk one night and got caught driving. He was breathalyzed and banned from driving for 12 months. He had to use public transport. Nobody noticed...

51. During the ‘Queen’ sessions, Roger suggested "Top Fax, Pix and Info" for the title of the album, and Roy Thomas Baker suggested "Deary Me". Obviously both were turned down.

52. Roger Taylor was not satisfied with his hair on the original photograph of the Sheer Heart Attack album, so the photographer Mick Rock used fake extensions, much to the band's amusement.

53. In August 1977 during the recording of ‘News of the World’, the Sex Pistols were recording their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols in the next studio and Johnny Rotten was eager to meet Mercury, so he crawled on all fours through Queen's studio, up to the side of the piano where Mercury was playing, and said "Hello, Freddie!" before crawling out.

54. Back in Kensington Market, Freddie and Roger once snuck into the stall next to theirs and rearranged the mirrors in the women's dressing room so that Freddie and Roger could sit back and enjoy the sight of topless women.

55. Roger and Brian were having a huge row backstage. The fight ended when they burst into Freddie's dressing room only to find him sitting in his underwear and eating corn flakes

56. When Freddie lived in New York City there was an episode where he went out to the gay clubs with his NYC friends. Earlier that day Peter Freestone had done his shall I say “Shopping” for that night's outing. Freddie had taken so many drugs that he climbed into a trash can and kept screaming "I'm trash. I'm trash."

57. According to David Quantick from the NME, at a dinner one night, Freddie asked Roger's date 'And how big is your cunt, dear?' and 'Can you get it over your head, dear?'.

58. Queen were recording at Trident Studios. Freddie learnt that Mary was sick in London and he felt the urge to go back to the city with her. The road was frozen, the brakes failed and they crashed in the middle of nowhere. Some gypsies camped in there knocked the car window telling Peter and Freddie to run away before the police came in case they were drunk! Peter stayed in the car and Freddie went walking to a near village in search of a phone to make a call for assistance. Knocked the door of the first house he found and the family in there were shocked to see Freddie Mercury at their door (he was already recognizible then!), telling him to come in and have some tea or something with them. More neighbours were alerted and a lot of people came to join the tea party with Freddie; Peter stayed freezing his ass for more than an hour or so in the car while Freddie was having such a great time with his new country friends!

59. During the Works tour tensions in the band were at an all-time high, particularly between Brian and Roger. Roger was angry about the (Brian-heavy) setlist and Brian had a problem with the stage design that Roger had a hand in. Before one particular show things got really heated up, anything might have happened (it's suggested that the situation could have lead to an actual fight between Brian and Roger). All of a sudden one of the roadies said that there were a few minutes before the beginning of the show and they couldn't find Freddie. Everyone, including the rest of the band, started looking for him and they couldn't find him for quite some time. Finally they discovered him in a dressing room - sitting in his underwear and a robe, eating cornflakes... Everyone burst out laughing, the fight was quickly forgotten and according to some accounts Queen gave one of the best shows of their career.

60. On the first show of his Electric Fire tour, Roger performed half the show with his fly open!

61. Roger claims everyone who's close with him now thought he was a prat when they first met him.

62. Roger's grandfather used to tell him dirty jokes when he was little. That definitely explains a lot right there don’t you think?

63. To celebrate Queen's 20th anniversary, Roger bought Debbie an antique necklace made of platinum and diamonds which was worth £150,000.

64. In February (20-25 around there) 1967, Roger crashed his group's van into a fish truck in thick foggy conditions. One of his friends were seriously hurt. The matter wasn't resolved for several years. Queen was already formed by that time!

65. When the Bulsara family moved to the UK Freddie decided that it was time to get a job. He worked at Heathrow Airport and at a shopping centre in Feltham. Both jobs demanded heavy lifting, but Freddie's co-workers joked about his "soft hands" and helped him out with the heavier stuff. To pay them back, Freddie told them stories to entertain them. In the end they were practically doing everything for him. As it should be.

66. No one who knew him believed Brian wrote "Son and Daughter" because it had the word "shit" in it.

67. Apparently on December 15th 1977, Brian came out of backstage with no guitar. His guitar didn’t work for the ending solo.

68. Brian is so overprotective of his Red Special, when he was travelling by plane somewhere he refused to check it in with the rest of his baggage and instead bought a seat for it.

69. Brian wrote "Tie Your Mother Down" long before Queen ever got started. He'd been up all night in an observatory watching the stars and was too wired to sleep. He says he has no idea where the line came from, it just popped into his head. He was going to change it because he thought it was silly, but Freddie told him not to because "it reminds me of something that happened once, darling." Brian didn't dare ask what...

70. It has been said, by many people, that John is scared of plastic cups

71. On October 20th 1978, John Deacon went and cut a majority of his hair off. Everyone said he looked like a convict, and one of the roadies called him the 'Birdman of Alcatraz'. Birdman has been his nickname ever since (as well as Deacy!) and the joke was so popular that they bought him pyjamas with little arrows on like convicts wear, and he wore them once on stage in 1981. I did some research. here

72. The only time the rest of the Opposition could remember seeing Deaky get the least bit freaked out over anything was after he flipped his Vespa on a turn and more or less landed on his face, getting pretty banged-up in the process. According to one of the other band members "he was a little bit shaken when he showed up."

73. In the song “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” the line “Hey boy where do you get it from? Hey boy where did you go?” is sung by one of Queen’s producers Mike Stone. However Roger Taylor sings the line in live performances.

74. Freddie broke up with Paul when he disrespected Freddie’s dad saying: “Freddie doesn’t care about you, he only cares about music” or some shit like that. While Freddie went to the bathroom or something. Freddie’s father, when he came back, told him that Paul said such a thing and Freddie took him outside, yelled at him, then broke up with him saying; “you can do anything you’d like with what you know about me, though I want you to promise me ONE THING that I never get to see your face again!”

75. For the filming of “I want to break free” Freddie had planned to wear 6-inch heels but he could barely stand up in them so he had to settle for 2-inch ones

76. Once an airport custom official felt the need to search one of Freddie’s bags and was rather embarassed when he found it full of black nail polish, mascara, stage jewellery and satin underwear.

77. Freddie used to love pushing all the buttons at the same time in an elevator and would then panic like a 2 year old when the elevator stalled.

78. In a show in 1986, Roger had to spit a big spit and it landed safely in Brian’s hair (he didn’t notice).

79. John Deacon had to wear short shorts at Wembley stadium due to his Mt. Dew addiction, which the yellow dye causes swelling to the testicles. He complained that his tesitcles were hurting during the break, so Freddie lent him some of his yellow shorts.

80. John Deacon was inspired to write "Spread Your Wings" after he got drunk one night and thought he could fly out the window.

81. "Sail away sweet sister" was actually based off the time Brian shipped his baby sister to Austrailia after she annoyed him so much.

82. Roger is extremely afraid of chlorine.

83. Brian May thought he was the original Writer of God Save The Queen and tried to sue the Royal family back in 1976.

84. Roger Taylor got his drumsticks taken away at age 11 because he had beaten a fellow classmate with them.

85. John and Freddie both love the taste of clear colored gummy bears.

86. Brian and Freddie Argued over whether We Will Rock You or We are the champions would be played first on the AA side single. They ended up settling it with a best 2/3 game of rock, paper scissors. Brian won by smashing rock against Freddie's scissors.

87. Roger stubbed his toe during the "Tie Your Mother Down" video shoot.

88. Despite being an accomplished racing driver, Roger Taylor still has problems with three point turns and parallel parking.

89. Freddie was hopeless around the house and had to be looked after by a team of round the clock assistants. In 1989 he tried to set the timer on his video to record an episode of ‘One Foot In The Grave’. The ensuing blaze cost the lives of eleven firemen and caused over £1 billion in damages.

90. Freddie Mercury had a sweet tooth and was particularly fond of toffees. Turkish Delight on the other hand made him physically sick.

91. Freddie Mercury was once arrested for claiming unemployment benefit whilst earning millions of pounds in royalties. He managed to avoid a custodial sentence by agreeing to pay back the money at £22.50 a week.

92. Roger Taylor was supposed to attend the London premier of Stephen Spielberg's latest movie "Munich" and was three quarters of the way into "Herbie Re-Loaded" before he realised he was in the wrong cinema.

93. When informed of the tragic death of comedian Dick Emery in 1983 Freddie replied "Really? I thought he had snuffed it years ago."

94. Whenever possible, Brian May avoids giving money to beggars as he believes they might spend it on drugs and alcohol.

95. Freddie Mercury forget to send Art Garfunkel a Christmas card in 1982 and avoided him for the rest of his life.

96. Brian May can't get past the 'Lost Valley' in Tomb Raider 1. "I keep getting killed by that cowboy guy before I can get out of the water." remarked the poodle haired guitar god.

97. Brian May paid £300,000 to have a swimming pool in the shape of Spongebob Squarepants built in the middle of the street outside his London home. He was later ordered to fill it in and pay for the road to be resurfaced.

98. Roger Taylor is a huge fan of the channel 4 game show "Deal Or No Deal" and has been known to throw things at his television and scream obscenities when the £250,000 box is taken out of play.

99. John Deacon came last in the father's race at his youngest child's school sports day. The former Queen bassist put his poor performance down to the fact that he was getting on a bit and had enjoyed a particularly large lunch that afternoon.

100. Brian May is a keen science fiction fan and has written a story about robots from space taking over the world in which the main character is a gutarist called Mrian Bay.

101. John Deacon has spent the last 11 months trying to finish a SuDoku puzzle in "TV Quick magazine" despite the fact that the prize of a portable DVD player has already been won by Mrs Ethel Barker of Stevenage, Herts.

102. Freddie and Roger had a legal dispute over the Bohemian Rhapsody/I'm In Love With My Car single. Freddie did not want Roger to receive royalties for Bohemian Rhapsody, which legally he would've been entitled to because I'm In Love With My Car was the b-side of the single. I'll bet this put a little strain on their relationship for a while.

103. When "Night At The Opera" came out, Freddie was living in a flat that was so damp all the time that he came back from the band's first trip to Japan to find mushrooms growing on the walls.

104. A fan once shipped themselves to Freddie Mercury.

105. Queen had to do an interview in Autumn 1973. They greeted the journalist by bashing the door wide open, stumbling, shaking hands, hugging, and then falling. They were on stairs. They must have come from the pub they normally met up at. They cranked up a copy of their newest album. ‘Queen’. It was absolute chaos and laughter. Freddie even encouraged the journalist to sing the whole album with him. It probably was a ball for her.

106. Roger never learned to swim until he was 22. I think it was at the swimming baths in Epsom. I heard the members of pushed him in (it wasn’t that deep I’m sure) and he picked it up there.

Submitted July 29, 2019 at 10:48PM by Queenophiliac https://ift.tt/2ZtO112