The Red Special is an electric guitar owned by Queen guitarist Brian May and custom-built by May and his father. The Red Special is also sometimes named in reviews as the Fireplace or the Old Lady, both nicknames used by May when referring to the guitar.[2] A guitar that would define May's signature style, the Red Special was purposely designed to feed back. May has used it on Queen albums and in live performances since the late 1960s. The name Red Special came from the reddish-brown colour the guitar attained after being stained and painted with numerous layers of Rustins' plastic coating. The name Fireplace is a reference to the fact that the wood used to make the neck came from a fireplace mantel.
Brian's rather unusual choice of guitar pick is a coin - an english sixpence, which is a small circular coin with a serrated edge. He chose to use the sixpence as a pick because he finds plastic plectrums too flexible. He holds the coin very lightly and occasionally uses its serrated edge against the strings to produce a rasp.
FearDark wrote: » Greatest band ever.
Deleted User wrote: » The one band I will always be sorry I didn't see live. Amazing. I want 'Don't Stop Me Now' played at my funeral!
Feelgood wrote: » I still think Brian May never got enough credit, the man can play an axe.
Beasty wrote: » From my personal collection, taken 13 July 1985 at Wembley Stadium:
SubBusted wrote: » They invented thrash metal!
Stained Class wrote: » No they didn't! Thrash metal is pointless noise invented by mindless Yanks. Queen made Heavy Metal acceptable to the masses. They were educated & knew how to get their message across. Also, they were one of the few bands to have 4 (good) active songwriters inhouse. Probably unique
bonham23 wrote: » For me their best period for live performances was from '77 to '82 .NOTW to Hot Space. The tours of South America were epic. I think when Mack started producing their albums he brought a new dimension to their sound and helped them strip it back a lot. The Drum sound on The Game and the Flash Gordon Soundtrack is huge. The Earlier albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker can sound a little wooly I think, but that was very common for a lot of acts during the seventies. The forst band I got into at the age of 9 and my musical benchmark ever since.
9959 wrote: » Great post. However, I disagree on your point about Roy Thomas Baker. Only recently I heard 'Your My Best Freind' come leaping out of the radio, with crystal clear vocals, a fantastic 'organic' drum sound and Brian's guitar chiming majestically.
ziggy23 wrote: » Absoloutley adore Freddie and Queen and thankfully have passed my good taste in music down to my 3 year old son. He goes to bed every night listening to their greatest hits cd:pac: I'm also dressing him up as Freddie for Halloween and this is the look were goin for I have the wifebeater vest and skinny jeans for him just hope he wears the tache!!
Mike Litoris wrote: » My Favourite band since I was 6 when I first heard Flash Gordon on TOTP. One of my biggest regrets in life chosing to buy a video game over going to see them in Slane with my brother when I was 12. What a fcuking idiot.:mad: