A good video can make all the difference.
A Queen track has those big, thick, block harmonies.
Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer.
At the moment the Queen stuff does sell really well, but there's no guarantee it'll go on forever.
Doing Made In Heaven was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but I wouldn't have put my seal of approval on it if I hadn't thought it was up to standard.
Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear.
Einstein got most of the things right about black holes. I'm not an expert, I must admit.
Every time I listen to Jeff Beck my whole view of guitar changes radically. He's way, way out, doing things you never expect.
Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do.
For a time I didn't want to answer any questions about Queen. I'd like to be viewed as something alive and relevant, not some fossil.
From the beginning of Queen there was such momentum that I never had any time to do anything else. My energy was 95% focused on the band.
I despise the Lottery. There's less chance of you becoming a millionaire than there is of getting hit on the head by a passing asteroid.
I don't surf the net in general. I have someone do it for me instead, because I find it sluggish.
I don't think anybody comes close to The Beatles, including Oasis.
I go through major crises every few months, but then I have great peaks of belief and creativity. I'm a weird kind of animal.
I had one dream not long after he died where he kept saying, You've got to be there Brian, and I woke up in a daze thinking, Where have I got to be?
I had this big thing about guitar harmonies. I wanted to be the first to put proper three-part harmonies onto a record. That was an achievement.
I have to build my own boat this time. It's a big sea out there, and I have a pretty small boat. I have a lot of belief in it.
I just want to be able to play as fast as my brain goes, and my brain doesn't go all that fast.
I like to go for a walk or swimming or in the garden when I can. It's a busy kind of life, but I guess I'm lucky.
I never took sheet music seriously. I could do better myself just by listening to other people and using my own intuition.
I put myself on the line with this album. It's all me. It's all my fault.
I really thought I was pretty good before I saw Hendrix, and then I thought: Yeah, not so good.
I spent 20 years of my life building up Queen, and now I'm spending years of my life trying to get away from it.
I tend not to write on guitar very often. I tend to start off with keyboards.
I tend to be not a person who does everything right all the time.
I think a lot of people would be better off in America, where at least you would find some radio station somewhere that would play you.
I think Hammer's very cool: he has a great voice and great presence.
I think Queen tribute bands are great. However, we have to keep them at arm's length, otherwise it could be too dangerous.
I was actually perfectly happy when I had no money, which lasted right up until we had a hit with Killer Queen, in 1974. I never wanted for anything.
I was an incurable romantic then, same as I am now. I was always pining away after somebody.
I'd got away from listening to Hendrix, and I'd like to think that that was more sort of developing my style, really.
I'm hopeless at playing scales. Try and be instinctive first and analytic afterwords, although it's good to study the theory of music.
I'm pretty basic as far as technique is concerned. I don't use many gadgets, and I like the sound my guitar makes, anyway.
I'm the nice guy who sits there signing everything that's put in front of me.
I've always lived in that guitar world. I have noticed kids being more into the real essence of guitar music now.
If I go to places where other people are playing, I often get up and play myself. I just enjoy the sound and feel of playing.
In a rock concert, everyone's on the same side. A lot of our music, people would call it bombast and being over the top, and I'd take that on board.
It was music written for a film, but with the idea that it will stand up as an album.
It was so frustrating to sit there and see all that stuff happening and not being able to get in there with our material.
It's not so much the mistakes I mind, it's the overall fuzziness of it.
Mantovani was a great influence on me.
My big hobby is photography. I collect stereo photographs from the 19th century.
My children hate me being such a big star. It's very hard for them to have a father who is always in the public eye.
My mum says I wanted to be a surgeon, but I don't remember that. I think from the time I knew what was happening, I wanted to be a guitar player.
Queen had its time and place, and at the moment I'm not concentrating on that era.
Sanctions always hurt the poor, the weak, the children.
Sometimes if the guitar is the last thing to go on, it's very fresh.
The biggest emotion in creation is the bridge to optimism.
The first nine albums there was never a Synthesiser, never any Orchestra. There was never any other player except us on the albums.
The guitar has a kind of grit and excitement possessed by nothing else.
The guitar was my weapon, my shield to hide behind.
The potential audience seems to be dwindling in the states. I was kind of embarrassed for the band because of the size of the audience.
The Wedding March has a bit of a death march in it.
There are a lot of things in Queen albums that you don't expect; that's why we threw them in.
There are times when I flick through magazines and think I'm in danger of becoming a prisoner of my own hair.
There are times when I've been feeling something and played a solo that I've never been able to repeat.
There is no way that you can ever really repeat something. I have this great belief that the magic of the moment can never be recaptured.
There was all that time when we knew Freddie was on the way out, we kept our heads down. When he'd gone, my way of dealing with it was to get busy.
There's nothing I'm embarrassed about.
To my mind Keep Yourself Alive was never really satisfactory. Never had that magic that it should have had.
We argue fiercely. But there's that point where you know you've said your bit, and you should back down.
We do play to our audience. It's very important. You can't create music in a vacuum.
We don't use many effects in the Queen music.
We experimented with the mikes and various little tiny amplifiers to get just the right sound. It was a bit of fun, but it was a serious bit of work.
We had the feelings about Bohemian Rhapsody: It's a risk, because a lot of people say It's too long, too involved.
We might have all been embarrassed by some of Freddie's antics at some time or another.
We used to more or less stand there and play.
We wouldn't have put it out with the name Queen on it if we didn't think it was musically up to scratch.
We're a bit mean with our sound, actually.
We're quite competitive, but that is the spark which produces the extra edge.
We've done an arrangement with an orchestra, but I think the best stuff tends to come when it's just the four of us.
What we were trying to do differently was this sort of layered sound.
When we were touring heavily in America, we based ourselves there for a couple of years, but now we're all back here and it seems to be the place.
You just toss around hundreds of names. We had loads of names.
You try not to be too obsessive about things. We're always conscious that people have a view of us and expect something of us.
You want to go in the steam bath to get your vocals sounding well, but you don't want your fingers to get soft.
He shares a birthday with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux and Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon.
He used to teach Mathematics at Stockwell Park Secondary School, in Stockwell, South West London.
He opened the Queen's Jubilee concert by playing "God Save The Queen" from the top of Buckingham Palace (2002).
Brian made a guest appearance playing with rock band Marillion at the Mungersdorfer Stadion, Cologne, West Germany on July 19, 1986.
He attended Imperial College, London University where he completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in physics and mathematics. He commenced a Doctorate in astronomy, but dropped out to join Queen.
Brian May and his ex-wife Chrissie have three children: James (aka Jimmy), born in 1978; Louisa, born in 1981; Emily, born in 1987.
He is #39 on the Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
His favorite beverage is Guinness.
His Astrological sign is Cancer.
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