UK Music Press

[Generic username]

The narrative of Queen's relationship with the UK music press has always been "the press hated them, so they never talked to them", but that was always likely to be a simplification.

To illustrate, here are some articles from the various magazines that I've found over the years.

This is the earliest - a very late review of the first album by the infamous Nick Kent

[Generic username]

An interview with the NME, part of the promotional push for both SHA and the tour:

[Cool Cat]

The only one i remember very well from that time was in the NME, about 1977 i think it was, Fred did the interview and the paper thanked him with their headline that read ' Is this man a prat? '

[Generic username]

I don't have that one, but we will get to 1977.

Here's more from November '74 - an ad for the album, and proof that Flick Of The Wrist should have been on GH1! Plus a live review

[Generic username]

The following week, but over at Melody Maker, there's an interview with Brian, and what was probably a bit of filler about touring, but may be interesting anyway. Some of you youngsters don't realise how simplistically bands toured in the '70s

[MusicalProstitute]

An over-simplification maybe - but very, very true. The music press abhorred them. NME and MM being two of the worst...and let us not forget that little old rag Rolling Stone.

And it was a real hate towards the band. The NME proved as much when four years after Fred passed they made a cartoon of him crawling out of his grave, like a Freddy Krueger zombie. They could not let their bitterness go. Tossers.

[Kes]

Think it was the NME who christened them The Hosepipe Boys, after one of their more cutting journalists suggested after seeing an onstage photo that Freddie stuffed a length of rubber hose down his leotard. Fred quipped back "The only hosepipe down there, is my own!"

[Action This Day]

Two things that the music press never forgave them for - they got a record deal without being 'approved' by them and they were middle-class. For some reason the UK music press wanted musicians to have 'rags to riches' stories, i.e. be working-class and to have to slog it out for years on the circuit before being 'discovered'. Queen didn't need to and they hated them for it.

Also their disdain for the press was obvious, even during shows Freddie called the press 'a bunch of wankers' etc.

As for Rolling Stone, well go and see how many songs Queen have in their '500 greatest songs of all time' list. It's one, U2 have something like eight. That says all you need to know about them.

The fact is that Queen were (and still are) MASSIVE despite NME and Rolling Stone. And it must have stuck in their throat that Queen were so popular.

[Kes]

I think the only time the music press have ever been on their side, was straight after Freddie died, and even then there were a few journalists that almost seemed to put across the idea that somehow, Freddie "deserved" it.