3. Queen (1970 – present, queenonline.com)
The band whose songs you inevitably know, because they are everywhere – commercials, movies, TV series, TV shows and mentioned in other artists’ songs – was created in the 1970s by guitarist Brian May, Farrokh Bulsara or better known as Freddie Mercury, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor, who decided to give it a royal name – Queen.
Despite the legendary Freddie Mercury’s death because of bronchial pneumonia and AIDS, the band continued its activity along other singers, including Luciano Pavarotti, Robbie Williams, George Michael, Elton John, Wyclef Jean, Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert.
The Kings
Finding their inspiration in bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and in genres like progressive, art, glam, pop, psychedelic, hard rock and heavy metal, but also disco, opera and folk, Queen came up with 23 albums, out of which 8 are live, 7 EPs and 72 singles. Their time came when Queen became a band to look up to for Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Muse, My Chemical Romance, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.
A Song to Remember
Or more. Albums which you might find on your parents’ bookshelves are Queen (1973), on which every effect was done without any synthesizer effects, A Night At The Opera (1975), the jewel on their crown and the album on which they put the most effort, Queen II (1974), featuring a white more emotional side and a black dark fantastic side, Sheer Heart Attack (1974), a more conventional rock album, and A Day At The Races (1976), their first independent album .
Of course, we could not miss their renowned songs Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now, Somebody to Love, The Show Must Go On, Who Wants To Live Forever and Another One Bites The Dust.
2. Led Zeppelin (1968 – 1980, ledzeppelin.com)
The second best band in our list, Led Zeppelin was formed back in 1968 in London, from the The Yardbirds group, choosing its name by alluding to a downfall of a “lead balloon”, which later became a “led zeppelin” and a success. The pieces making this Led Zeppelin were Robert Plant as vocalist, Jimmy Page as guitarist, John Paul Jones as bass guitarist and John Bonham as drummer. Despite an attempt of reuniting the band in 2007, the group failed its comeback, but… who knows? Maybe one day they will go back to their renowned glory.
Silver
One of the most significant cultural impacts in the rock music industry, Led Zeppelin were the idols and spiritual guides of other bands such as Black Sabbath, Tool, Dream Theater, The Cult, Pearl Jam, but also pop musicians such as Madonna and Shakira. During their on and off career, Led Zeppelin won a total amount of 638 awards, out of which 5 are Grammies, for their 9 albums and 15 singles.
Gold
As an insight on their most popular pieces of work, we advise you to take a look at the 4 self titled albums – Led Zeppelin (1969), a commercial scuces and a fusion of hard rock, heavy metal and blues, II (1969), featuring songs touched by blues and folk music which brought them 12 Platinum awards, III (1970), which showed another side of the band, and IV (1971), one of the best albums in the world and one of the best sold. As songs, you should definitely give a try to Stairway to Heaven, Immigrant Song, Whole Lotta Love, Kashmir, Black Dog and The Rain Song.
1. The Beatles (1960 – 1970, thebeatles.com)
You need not to have ever listened to The Beatles, which is frankly unlikely, to know about them and who they are. While they originally started in 1957, when the members were still a bunch of teens, it was only three years later that they officially became The Beatles and started breaking music charts and teen girls’ hearts.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were a global phenomenon and were until they broke up. While they did try to find success on their own, nothing was ever the same, especially after Lennon’s murder in December 1980.
Musical Picassos
Icons of the 1960s, The Beatles did not use their music solely for the fame and money, but also tried to make a change in terms of environment and women and gay rights. Constantly changing their musical style, from pop to psychedelic and from ballads to hard rock, The Beatles has an entire number of 27 albums, 37 music videos and 55 singles, plus many others pieces of work for which they won 16 awards, 10 being Grammies. And let us not forget about Yellow Submarine, the 1968 animated comedy inspired by their music and aided animation in its development and popularity.
Beatlemania
Their most acclaimed albums were Revolver (1966), by which they were already perceived as “bigger than Jesus”, Abbey Road (1969), you know, the one with them crossing the street and one of the best albums of all times, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club (1967), an early concept album and the roots of art and progressive rock, and The Beatles/ The White Album (1968), whose songs were written in a bucolic scenery, yet it was recorded in constant quarrels over band members differences.
Which songs are our favourite? A Day In The Life, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Strawberry Fields Forever, In My Life, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude and All You Need Is Love. Also, we would like to add a special mention to John Lennon’s peaceful Imagine.