Queen Records Sleeves

July 1973

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The "bottomless mic" was among Freddie Mercury's many trademarks.Here's how that happened: early in Queen's career, he was apparently mid-show when his mic stand snapped in half. Instead of having it replaced, Freddie just used it as-is. He must have liked it, because he used the mic "stick" from then on.

March 1974

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Initially, critics didn't take too kindly to Queen's new sound. Although the British press had been mostly kind to the band's first album, they afforded a cooler reception to Queen II when it was released"We took so much trouble over that album, possibly too much, but when we finished we felt really proud," drummer Roger Taylor later said of Queen II. "Immediately, it got really bad reviews so I took it home to listen to again and thought 'Christ, are they right?' But after hearing it a few weeks later, I still like it. I think it's great. We'll stick by it."

November 1974

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This album took the band to a whole new level, helping to propel them from a support band on a US tour to a world headliner.

November 1975

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“Death On Two Legs was the most vicious lyric I ever wrote. It was so vindictive that Brian felt bad singing it. No-one would ever believe how much hate and venom went into the singing of that song, let alone the lyrics themselves“. – Freddie Mercury The song was written by Freddie Mercury about the band's fall-out with their original manager and Trident Studios owner Norman Sheffield.

December 1976

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It was the band's first completely self-produced album. The album serves as a companion album to the band's previous album, A Night at the Opera, both taking their names from Marx Brothers films, as well as sharing similar packaging and eclectic musical themes.

October 1977

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The giant robot from the band's 1977 album cover was created by a respected sci-fi artist... It's one of the most iconic album covers to appear in the 1970s: a giant robot looms over the landscape, his face is a mournful, tearful expression.... on his fingers is blood. What's he done? What happened in this futuristic nightmare? Drummer Roger Taylor was a science fiction fan and an image from an old magazine had caught his eye, the very same tearful robot that would later appear on the cover of News Of The World. In its hand was the lifeless body of a man. Queen asked artist F.K Freas to re-create the image, this time swapping the unfortunate pilot for the four members of Queen. Mercury and May lie prone and bloody in the robot's hand, while Deacon and Taylor drop lifeless to the ground. Freas also created the apocalypric gatefold image to complement the cover.

November 1978

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One of the song, Bicyle Race was written by an inspired Freddie Mercury watching the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France passing through Montreux, where the band were recording Jazz in the Mountain Studios. Montreux is famous for its Jazz festival.

June 1980

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The most accessible and pop-oriented record in the band’s discography, The Game was Queen’s biggest commercial hit studio album in America thanks to its two No. 1 hits — “Another One Bites the Dust” and the rockabilly-sounding “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” Yet the album’s success also marked the end of one chapter of Queen’s history and ushered in the band’s dramatic fall in popularity in the U.S. for most of the 80s — even as Queen remained huge in other parts of the world.

May 1982

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Queen’s 10th studio album ‘Hot Space’ saw the band experiment with electro-disco and featured Freddie and Bowie’s iconic single, ‘Under Pressure’. Queen embarked on a massive world tour, taking in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, breaking box office records and filling vast stadiums in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico – countries that would provide some of the band’s staunchest fans, even though Queen visited during a period of political turbulence.

February 1984

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The Works was a return to fundamentals – it was a rock album, although they didn’t entirely discard the grooves that had graced both The Game and Hot Space. It begins with Roger Taylor classic, ‘Radio Ga Ga’ and Queen’s next album would not arrive for over two years.

June 1986

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A kind of magic was based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander, the first in a series directed by Russell Mulcahy. It was Queen's first album to be released since they had received acclaim for their performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert and Freddie Mercury's last album promoted with a concert tour, due to his diagnosis with AIDS the following year.

May 1989

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The album was originally going to be called The Invisible Men, but three weeks before the release, according to Roger Taylor, they decided to change the name to The Miracle. It was also the last Queen album with a photo of the band on the front cover.

February 1991

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Queen’s fourteenth studio album is tinged with sadness as it was the last to be released during Freddie Mercury’s lifetime. Innuendo means "a remark that suggests something but does not refer to it directly". As a matter of fact, rumors had been going on about Freddie Mercury being sick with aids. He revealed his illness only on the day before his death.

6 November 1995

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Freddie Mercury's death wasn't the end of Queen's classic era. Instead, that finale came with Made in Heaven, an album that arrived on Nov. 6, 1995, with the last of a flurry of recordings the ailing singer made before succumbing to AIDS in 1991. It also marked the final full-length project to feature the band's co-founding bassist John Deacon. Mercury had incessantly worked in the months after the release of 1991's Innuendo to make sure there was enough material for Queen to continue without him. He moved from Munich to Montreux, where Queen owned Mountain Studios, so that he could work through his last days.