Members of two bands composed of university and art-school students combined to form Queen in London in 1971. Aided by producer Roy Thomas Baker, Queen shot up the international charts with its third album, Sheer Heart Attack (1974). A Night at the Opera (1975), one of pop music’s most expensive productions, sold even better. Defiantly eschewing the use of synthesizers, the band constructed a sound that was part English music hall, part Led Zeppelin, epitomized by the mock-operatic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Britain’s top single for nine weeks.
Spectacular success followed in 1977 with “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You”—which became ubiquitous anthems at sporting events in Britain and the United States. The Game (1980), featuring “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust,” was Queen’s first number one album in the United States.
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