Queen were jealous and 'irritated' by legendary rock band's live crowds
Queen guitarist Brian May has recalled why he and his bandmates got annoyed by their own audience.
Sir Brian May admits Queen were jealous of Led Zeppelin's live crowds.
The 78-year-old guitar icon has revealed he and his bandmates were "irritated" by a key different between their own fans and the Whole Lotta Love rock band's audiences for their gigs.
Speaking to Guitar World in 2023 about the writing of We Wi, he said: "We had this thing where people insisted on singing along to our songs. And I think we were quite irritated by it!
"Because we thought: 'People, just listen. We're working really hard, so bloody well listen!' But they were unstoppable. And this particular night, they sang every word to every song, which was rather novel in those days.
"I mean, I went to a Zeppelin concert and I don't remember people singing along to Communication Breakdown or whatever they were playing."
The Bohemian Rhapsody legend admitted he would have rather had an audience "listen instead of singing".
Led Zeppelin
He added: "When Zeppelin played, they listened. They banged their heads, and they listened.
"And I thought about our concerts: why don't you buggers listen instead of singing?
"Anyway, that night at Bingley Hall, we came off stage and we all looked at each other in amazement, because all that singing from the audience was so extreme."
Brian May
However, rather than shying away from the trend, Queen - completed at the time by Roger Taylor, and their late bandmates Freddie Mercury and John Deacon - decided to embrace it and wrote We Will Rock You.
Brian recalled: "We all agreed that this was something really interesting that we should experiment with – letting the audience be a bigger part of the show.
"I thought, what can you ask an audience to do if that audience is all crammed in together? There's not much they can do except stamp their feet and clap their hands, but they can also sing.
"And if they can chant, what would they chant? And with that, I could hear it in my head: 'We will, we will rock you!' "
