Guitarist for Queen Brian May, like many of his time, was inspired by The Beatles. The Liverpudlian quartet’s introduction was like the great bang of popular culture. They grabbed 1950s rock ‘n’ roll by the lapels and pulled it into the future by bringing true creativity and forward-thinking to it. Following the pop-leaning turns of their formative years, they set off on a journey to the mysterious magical realm, where they experimented with drugs, production methods, and genres. They redefined what a band might and should be on this journey.
The Beatles altered the course of history despite their dwindling significance to the present. Nobody who wasn’t alive during this time, in my opinion, can truly appreciate the significance of their efforts. This has led to people like Brian May, who were fortunate enough to see John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and the rest of the band in their heyday. May reflected on those heady times in an interview, saying that he was persuaded by the Beatles’ “magic” in one song.
May admitted to Louder Sound in 2020 that his parents’ dislike of The Beatles when he was small. He said, “I wasn’t allowed to go to see The Beatles in concert when I was a kid, My parents thought pop concerts were attended by the wrong sort of people. So I never got to see the 20th century’s biggest phenomenon live.”
But it wasn’t all awful. May stated that the song “Love Me Do” from 1962 was the one that made him believe The Beatles were “magic.” The Queen guy kept talking. “But from the moment I heard ‘Love Me Do’ on the radio, I knew this bunch of guys were magic … that they voiced all my hidden joy and yearnings as a teenager struggling to make his way into the world of the ’60s.”
Brian May also stated that he thinks John Lennon, the late frontman of The Beatles, was the band’s most accomplished member in that lengthy love letter to the group. Lennon called them the “perfect rock group to inspire all rock groups,” but May is certain that he was the driving force behind them.
He said, “It is impossible to doubt that the combination of the four lads was unique, a piece of magic in a million — the perfect rock group to inspire all rock groups, and rewrite the framework of not only popular music, but the whole culture of the young. But, as time went on, it became apparent that John Lennon was at the heart of this awesome power.”
