Sir Brian May has revealed he refused to let a rap star sample one of Queen’s tracks in a blunt admission. The much-loved guitarist, 77, has sold a staggering 300 million albums with the iconic group, which was fronted by the late star, Freddie Mercury, who tragically died in 1991.
Queen’s tracks have been sampled by a number of big names over the years, including rappers, Eminem and Ice Cube, who used the drum beat from We Will Rock You. However, Brian said there was one ‘gangster rapper’, who also wanted a piece of the action, but was denied the opportunity because “it didn’t align with Queen’s beliefs”.
Speaking about the request from the unnamed artist, the star told Radio X: “We have stopped them being used to promote violence or abuse, during the heyday of gangster rap when someone wanted to sample it in a song, we thought was abusive to women. But otherwise, our songs are for everyone. All art is theft.”
Queen’s songs have been sampled several times, with artists, with the iconic We Will Rock You used a staggering 105 times. Its thunderous drumbeats have made it a frequent choice, with tracks, including Eminem’s Till I Collapse and Ice Cube’s When Will They Shoot featuring the same iconic beats.
The stirring songs have also been covered multiple times, with troubled star, Kanye West, performing Bohemian Rhapsody Glastonbury back in 2015.
One of Queen’s best-selling tracks is Don’t Stop Me Now. However, Brian admitted he originally disliked the track due to its perceived glorification of frontman Freddie’s hedonistic lifestyle.
Revealing he felt uncomfortable with the song, he said: “At the time, I didn’t feel comfortable about Don’t Stop Me Now, probably for all the right reasons and the wrong reasons.
“I think I resisted realising why people liked it for a long time.”
Explaining he now accepts the reason why people like it, he continued: “Now, I think people love it because it contains all their dark dreams of hedonism – and that’s fine.”
Giving his take on Who Wants to Live Forever, he continued: “People say to me: Who Wants to Live Forever feels like it was written for me, or my mum or my dad. It’s in people’s hearts and minds and becomes personal to them. That’s what makes a song live on.”
It’s been almost 30 years since Queen released their album, leaving their legion of loyal fans desperate to know if more music is in the pipeline.
Lifting the lid on the possibility, Brian told MOJO: “I think it could happen. Both Roger [Taylor] and I are constantly writing and coming up with ideas and doing things in our studios. I could have the beginnings of a Queen song right there in front of me now.
“It’s just whether the idea reaches maturity or not. It’s whether that seed can grow.”
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