COVER STORY
COVER STORY
There’s nothing cluttered
about “Killer Queen.” There’s
a fantastic amount going on there,
but nothing ever gets in the
way of anything else.”
‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ [from 1978’s Jazz]. In
the studio I thought it was IT, in capital
letters. But by the time we got it out onto
a record and I heard it on the radio I
thought, ‘No, it’s not really there.’”
That being said, May is able to recognize
when he’s done top-shelf work, such as
the guitar lines he conjured for “Killer
Queen,” Queen’s first truly international
hit single from 1974’s Sheer Heart
Attack. In this case, May’s continuously
harmonic riffage expertly supports the
song’s minimalist story of a high-class call
girl as chronicled by the late legendary
Queen vocalist/lyricist Freddie Mercury. “I
totally agree with what Nuno Bettencourt
has said about what you leave out is
important. And Freddie was an expert at
doing that,” May explains. “There’s nothing
cluttered about ‘Killer Queen.’ There’s
a fantastic amount going on there, but
nothing ever gets in the way of anything
else.” May concedes that the feel of his
MAY / JUNE
multi-tracked, bell-effect solo was exactly
what “Killer Queen” needed to put it over
the top. “I was pleased that the solo went
along with it,” he agrees. “Everything is
crystal clear. And when the three voices
of guitars are all doing little tunes of their
own, it feels almost accidental that they
go together. I was very pleased with how
it came out.”
While “Killer Queen” ultimately reached
#2 on the British singles charts and broke
the band in America, some level of doubt
crept into May’s mind about whether it
was the right move for Queen at a time
when the band was still establishing
its sonic identity. “I had reservations
about the song being a single at first. I
was always worried about it. Everybody
thought it was the most commercial song
but I was worried that people would put
us in a category where they thought we
were doing something ‘light.’ Sheer Heart
Attack was, in my mind, quite heavy and
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