Q is for Queen

Queen had the fourth biggest selling album of the 80s in the UK with their first compilation album named simply - Greatest Hits.

Featuring some great songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and  We Will Rock You.

As a band Queen were formed in 1971, but the 80s still saw these rockers gathering more fans as they released classic songs such as Radio Gaga and I Want To Break Free - they also produced the soundtrack album for the movie Flash Gordon.

One of the first music videos I can remember watching on Top of the Pops was I Want To Break Free - it might not have been the first, but it was memorable enough for me to still remember it far too many years later.

Queen were also one of the great attractions at the 1985 Live Aid concert in Wembley and the following year they released the album 'A Kind of Magic' which was, like so many other Queen albums, definitely a kind of magic.

The eighties ended with rumors that Freddy Mercury had AIDS and he passed away in 1991 confirming on his deathbed that the rumors had, in fact, been true.

Queen really were a phenomenal group and their music will be popular for ever - even my nine year old daughter knows the words to a lot of their hit singles such as We Are The Champions and We Will Rock You.

What's your favorite Queen song, if you can name just one?

G is for Gordon

I was trying to come up with an idea for the letter G and I didn't feel like writing about Go West or Ghostbusters and then it hit me - the two Gordons!   My favorite Gordon of the 80s was Gordon Shumway - do you know who he was?   Well if I called him Alf you'd remember him instantly as the loveable alien from the planet Melmac who ends up living with the Tanners after crash landing in their garage.   I've spoken about my love of Alf in a previous post so it's hardly surprising I should grab the chance to mention him again :D

Of course another Gordon was famous in the 80s and we all know who he was - Gordon Gekko!  I actually watched Wall Street on the plane to my new life in New Zealand and when I saw a rerun last year I couldn't believe the size of his mobile phone - LOL.

Gordon became a poster boy for 80s corporate villains - with his line - 'Greed, for lack of a better word, is good,' encompassed what a lot of people who did well in the heady days of the 80s.   Wealth was nothing to be ashamed of and nor was the concept of having it all.  

Of course we can't leave without mentioning another Gordon and it goes a little like this -

Flash A-ah

Saviour of the universe...

Yes I'm talking about Flash Gordon - to be honest I don't really remember much about the movie, but the song is one of those that is hard to get out of your head and another reason to celebrate Queen.

Happy reminiscing and hopefully I'll see you back here for the letter H.