For all his towering contributions to Queen's catalogue — the insistent stomp of We Will Rock You, the rollicking swagger of Tie Your Mother Down, the raucous sway of Fat Bottomed Girls — Brian May has admitted that each new idea he presented to his bandmates was accompanied by an unshakable anxiety.
"Every time I brought a new song to the boys, I’d be as nervous as hell, thinking, 'They’re gonna say it’s rubbish, they’re gonna hate it,'" May confessed to MOJO magazine. Despite being a key architect of the band's legacy, the guitarist revealed that this trepidation never fully dissipated. "I’d always be embarrassed and apologizing," he admitted. "That never ever went away."
It seems that such creative vulnerability was not limited to May alone. Roger Taylor, Queen's sharp-tongued and ever-dynamic drummer, shared in the same interview that he too felt the weight of presenting new material.
"I used to make a little demo and see how that went down," Taylor recalled, acknowledging that his ability to sing gave him a slight edge over bassist John Deacon, who preferred to remain behind the scenes. Yet Taylor noted that Freddie Mercury, the band's charismatic and often inscrutable frontman, played a pivotal role in easing the tensions of song writing. "Freddie was an enormous help to John in his writing — and to all of us, actually," Taylor reflected. "We’d say, 'You’re the leader,' and he’d say, 'No, no — I’m the singer.'"
Such insight offers a glimpse into the intricate alchemy that defined Queen — a band whose democratic approach to creativity belied the grandeur of their output. And while their catalogue has largely remained a museum piece in recent years, there remains a glimmer of hope for new material.
"I think it could happen," May mused when asked about the possibility of fresh Queen songs. "Both Roger and I are constantly writing and coming up with ideas and doing things in our studios. I could have the beginnings of a Queen song right there in front of me now. It’s just whether the idea reaches maturity or not. It’s whether that seed can grow."
Taylor, in an earlier interview, hinted at a similar prospect, remarking, "We both said that if we feel we have some good material, why not? We can still play. We can still sing. So I don't see why not."
The band's last studio album, 2008’s The Cosmos Rocks, was released under the Queen + Paul Rodgers banner. Since 2011, they have performed with Adam Lambert, whose vocal prowess has won over sceptical audiences but who has yet to feature on any new studio material. Whether the restless seeds scattered in May and Taylor’s home studios might one day bloom into a fresh chapter for Queen remains uncertain. But in a band that has always thrived on the improbable, the idea is not without hope.
