Unarguably, Freddie Mercury was the most exciting thing about Queen. Though every member brought their unique, invaluable talent to the table, it was Mercury’s direction that focused them into the era-defining group they were.
So, when it comes to Mercury’s opinion, we can’t really disagree. But, if we had to, there was one instance in which he tried to remove an iconic guitar solo from one of the band’s biggest songs. If that had come to pass, it would’ve been a massive misstep in the band’s career. Find out which guitar solo Mercury tried to kill below.
The Queen Guitar Solo Freddie Mercury Tried To Stop
According to Brian May, one of his key solos in the band’s history was almost cut by their enigmatic frontman. The guitarist once said that Mercury saw “Don’t Stop Me Now” as a piano song, and nothing more. As we all know, that didn’t end up being the case.
“Freddie envisioned it very much as a piano song, akin to Elton John, really,” May once said. “[He heard] powerhouse piano, powerhouse vocal, and that’s it. I played lots of rhythm guitar on it, and Freddie still said, ‘No, no, no, no — it’s a piano song!’”
The beginning of this song does start out that way. Mercury pounds on a piano while his skyrocketing vocals draw the listener in. As the verses go on, Mercury ceded and let May have some room to play. They ended up with a legendary guitar solo, befitting the song’s unmatched energy.
“Being in the studio and hearing it evolve, I could sort of hear the solo in my head before I actually picked up the guitar to do it,” May continued. “As very often with me, it’s a kind of little diversion. It’s a countermelody.”
“It’s very simple,” he added. “I sometimes feel a bit apologetic about it. But I do notice that when it’s played in the dancehall, it gets a reaction from people in the solo, and it steps up the energy quite a bit, even from a song that’s got high energy, so I’m happy with it the way it is.”
Queen fans are also happy with the way that it is, easily being one of May’s most beloved bits of work. Revisit the guitar solo that almost didn’t make it in “Don’t Stop Me Now” above.