Q is for Queen

Ugh. I just said it. It's an understatement to say there aren't many bands beginning with 'Q' and because no elderly women have yet started a tambourine troupe called Quilters, I'll have to go with Queen.

Queen may have been a massive British success story but I never really warmed to them. I'd rather go to a concert featuring last year's A-Z for Q entry Q is for (the) Queen and see her play a flute with her corgis howling in the background.

Queen were formed in 1971 and soon became one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. While I'm not a huge fan of their material I have to concede they could put on a great live show and clearly stole the show at Live Aid in 1985.

They could certainly rock you, if you were feeling remotely like being rocked. At least they changed their name early on from Smile, which strikes me as a very lame name for a band.

Thir biggest hit was Bohemian Rhapsody which was the third biggest selling record in British history and somewhat bizzarely became Number One at two separate Christmases. I'm actually fairly partial to a bit of Bohemian Rhapsody which is a good song to sing along to after about eight beers, although not as good as Fairytale of New York by the Pogues and Kirsty McColl.

But I really don't go in much for We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You, Crazy Little Thing Called Love... blah blah.

The 1978 album Jazz with the singles Fat Bottomed Girls and Bicycle Race, was accompanied by a strange marketing campaign in which 65 naked women were persuaded to get on bicycles rented from Halford's cycles and sent racing around Wimbledon Stadium. This has given me a moment of pique because I am recalling my new bicycle from Halford's that was callously stolen. We are actively seeking video of this marketing campaign that is probably even stranger than Pink Floyd floating an inflatable pig over Battersea Power Station.

Queen were fronted by the ever exuberant Freddie Mercury (real name Farrokh Bulsara) who tragically died of pneumonia linked to AIDS. His death raised the profile of AIDS tremendously in Britain and the UK. Mercury remains one of the consummate showman in rock and a legend on both sides of the Atlantic.

Curious fact about Queen: Lady Gaga was a big fan of the band and their hit Radio Gaga inspired her name.