Artist Playlists
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Queen defied convention in the most audacious ways imaginable. Together, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon were one of the biggest acts of the '70s thanks to their mash-up of metallic guitar crunch and art-pop flair topped off with Mercury's singularly spectacular voice. It's an aesthetic that was crowned in 1975 by the ingeniously constructed micro-symphony “Bohemian Rhapsody.” With a voracious appetite for new sounds, Queen would go on to ingest nearly every pop trend under the sun: Strutting disco beats, robotic synth-pop and retro-rockabilly all found their way into their fabulously indelible style. - Queen's operatic rock 'n' roll wouldn't have resonated quite like it did were they not such consummate performers. Their incomparable frontman Freddie Mercury always took centre stage, channeling Elvis Presley on “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, getting glammed up for “Bohemian Rhapsody” and even taking the fight to a frosty countryside for “We Will Rock You”.
- Queen were a force of nature onstage. Freddie Mercury commanded the spotlight, of course, but in Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, the classic rockers possessed a crack live unit capable of delivering rousing torch songs (“Somebody to Love”), intricate art pop (“Sheer Heart Attack”) and raging metal (“Tie Your Mother Down”), all with flawless majesty.
- There’s no question that Queen’s music is triumphant. “It gives me exactly what I need to get through a tough workout,” Fitness+ Strength trainer Gregg Cook tells Apple Music. “It lifts me up emotionally and supercharges my motivation to get it done and enjoy every minute.” But it also has a sense of humour—a balance that can make even the heaviest workout feel a little bit lighter. Curated by Gregg and our Apple Music editors, here’s a Queen playlist to lift your spirits and deliver that extra shot of energy for whatever your goal might be. We switch things up here regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library. Now go rattle those bleachers.
- A band as expressive as Queen can only have come from an enormously varied musical gene pool, invoking as they do the howling riffs and tricks of Clapton and Hendrix, the plush warmth of Chic and the choral precision of Gilbert & Sullivan. Contemporaries with David Bowie and Elton John, the band were inspired by the fearlessness of the former and the melodic sumptuousness of the latter.
- Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
- Look beyond Freddie Mercury's operatic vocal antics and you'll find that the rock rhythm section of John Deacon and Roger Taylor cooked up some truly booming beats. Cut-and-scratch pioneer Grandmaster Flash was fond of flipping into Queen's grooves while Ice Cube and Freddie Gibbs have taken the group into a gangsta zone. And who can forget J-Kwon's drinking anthem from the '00s?
- As a ‘70s progressive rock band with enormous pop talent, Queen crafted songs that committed to the possibilities of any idea. So they could rock hard, with sharp riffs and monolithic harmonies, as in “The March of the Black Queen”, and they could play with the traditions of theatrical ballads and grand opera. But they also created immaculate pastiches, as with the trad jazz guitar orchestra in “Good Company”.
- Queen became legends by refusing to do anything in moderation, inspiring artists such as Muse and Jellyfish to stack their vocal harmonies a mile deep on top of intricate guitar riffs. But there's also Freddie Mercury's iconic emboldening of the imagination—a freeing, encouraging paradigm whose influence is heard in both Lady Gaga and MIKA's most flamboyant musical flirtations.
- Grab the mic and sing along with some of their biggest hits.