Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Keep Yourself Alive (1973)
The challenge with listening to so-called "classic rock" these days is trying to find songs you haven't heard a zillion times already. There are many bands with songs that fall into the category of "never need to hear again" for me.
One of those is Queen. I was a huge fan right from the moment in third grade when I heard "You're My Best Friend" on the radio. Then there was "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions," "Killer Queen," "Under Pressure" and "Another One Bites the Dust," among many other hits. All great songs, but the problem is they've been played to death in the decades since they came out, and it only got worse after the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody came out.
As with other bands of their ilk, I don't listen to them much anymore, but when I do, it's the early stuff. One of the songs I still enjoy hearing is the band's very first single, "Keep Yourself Alive," which is the opening track on Queen's self-titled 1973 debut. The song was written by guitarist Brian May and first developed during band rehearsals in 1970, when the band consisted of May, singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor; bassist John Deacon joined in early '71.
Even recorded as early in the band's career as it was, the hard rocking "Keep Yourself Alive" has elements of Queen at their peak: Mercury's over-the-top and powerful vocals, May's multi-tracked guitars and epic solos and a definite overall swagger, but they're a little rawer than on later albums. May said he wrote the lyrics to be tongue-in-cheek, but Mercury took the song to another level.
"I was told a million times/Of all the troubles in my way/Mind you grow a little wiser/Little better every day/But if I crossed a million rivers/And I rode a million miles/Then I'd still be where I started/Bread and butter for a smile/Well, I sold a million mirrors/In a shopping alley way/But I never saw my face/In any window any day/Now they say your folks are telling you/Be a superstar/But I tell you just be satisfied/Stay right where you are/Keep yourself alive, yeah/Keep yourself alive/Ooh, it'll take you all your time and money/Honey, you'll survive."
The song gallops in with a hot Hendrix-like riff from May and is lean and mean, unlike a lot of later Queen songs that are more complex and constructed. It's even got a drum solo from Taylor before May breaks into a multitracked guitar solo like the ones that showed up on future albums. There's a call-and-response vocal when Taylor sings, "Do you think you're better every day?" and May answers, "No, I just think I'm two steps nearer to my grave."
Unfortunately for the band, the single received little attention from radio and didn't chart in the U.K. or U.S. The album made it to #83 on the Billboard 200 and #25 in the U.K., but it became more popular after Queen started breaking through on its albums Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera, which included "Bohemian Rhapsody." "Keep Yourself Alive" will pop up on classic rock stations from time to time, although not nearly as much as the bigger hits.
After The Game came out in 1980 and "Another One Bites the Dust" went to #1, Queen was one of the biggest bands in the world, playing shows to hundreds of thousands of fans in Argentina and Brazil. But the band's subsequent albums in the '80s struggled in comparison to their '70s output, but Queen still had epic live performances, especially at Wembley Stadium for Live Aid in 1985.
By the time their 1991 album Innuendo was released, Mercury was growing increasingly gaunt and in November of that year, he confirmed that he had AIDS. He died less than 24 hours later. The band's popularity grew after his death, as "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single and went to #1 in the U.K. When the movie Wayne's World came out in 1992, it featured "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a famous driving scene and the song went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. A tribute concert for Mercury was held at Wembley in April 1992 with a gaggle of huge acts including David Bowie, Elton John, Robert Plant, Def Leppard, Metallica and George Michael. It raised more than 20 million pounds for AIDS charities.
In 2004, May and Taylor reformed Queen with Paul Rodgers on vocals (Deacon had retired and didn't rejoin the band). They played a few world tours before Rodgers left in 2009. A week later, May and Taylor performed "We Are the Champions" live on the season finale of American Idol with Adam Lambert, who would later join the band as their vocalist. They've continued to tour periodically since.
As the definition of classic rock continues to evolve (now your favorite grunge bands are classic rock...hell, those songs are over 30 years old), I still have no desire to listen to "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "We Are the Champions." They're great songs, but I've heard them enough. But I can handle "Keep Yourself Alive" or "Sheer Heart Attack" every once in a while.
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