Unquestionably at the forefront are Brian May and George Harrison. As the guitarists for The Beatles and Queen, two of the greatest bands the UK has ever produced and the entire world has ever heard, these two groups are at the top of the music world. May discusses the Beatle’s legacy, but perhaps it would be more accurate to state that Harrison was the leader and the Queen player was one of his thousands of devoted followers.
In actuality, Queen was just one of the numerous influential performers that emerged to take the place of the Beatles’ retirement. There was an uneasy period as they broke up in 1970 and the vague optimism of the 1960s gave way. Counterculture appeared to be scanning the area and speculating about what might come next. In what ways might rock & roll evolve into something fresh, or at the very least, something just as thrilling?
The answer became evident when Queen released their self-titled debut album in 1973, featuring the explosive first single “Keep Yourself Alive.” The next big thing would be glam rock, with Brian May and Freddie Mercury at its forefront. The decade’s appearance and sound were established as T. Rex and Roxy Music emerged, David Bowie changed into Ziggy Stardust, and Elton John also achieved major success.
It’s evident, though, that people didn’t forget The Beatles. Here we are, decades later, still discussing them. Their impact and the sheer amount of inspiration they provided to the generation that followed them, as well as to future generations, are undeniable. Brian May, who readily admits to being a devoted admirer and disciple of Harrison, is well aware of this.
May stated, “He was an inspiration“. He indicated his enduring fascination with the band that ultimately played a role in his early disobedience. When I was a child, I was not permitted to attend a live performance of The Beatles. My parents believed that the wrong kind of people attended pop concerts. Thus, I was never able to witness the greatest phenomenon of the 20th century in person,” he disclosed. However, I knew this as soon as I heard “Love Me Do” on the radio. But I knew these guys were special as soon as I heard “Love Me Do” on the radio. The fact that they expressed every secret delight and desire I had as a teenager trying to fit in with the 1960s world.
When he recorded a cover of “Something” for his live album Acoustic by Candlelight in 2013, he was unmistakably paying tribute to Harrison. You can hear him discussing the underappreciated influence of the silent Beatle before he began to play. “Lennon and McCartney wrote the majority of the really, really big Beatles hits, right? He acknowledged the band’s primary songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He said, “They were a tremendous songwriting team that wrote these global smash hits.”
But Harrison is the one who always comes back to him. He said, “But there was another member of the band, the youngest boy in the band, who was very quiet and shy. His name was George Harrison.”
The answer seems obvious when it comes to his favourite George Harrison song. Which song is most likely to be adored by one of the biggest and most well-known guitarists in the world? “As My Guitar Weeps Gently”
Not only does it feature some of Harrison’s best guitar lines, but in the song’s last act, he and Eric Clapton go into an instrumental breakdown where their instruments actually sound like they’re crying from the players’ intense emotion. But May feels that the track’s tenderness is what makes it so great. He described Harrison and the song as an inspiration, saying, “I’ve discovered it takes courage to be gentle.”
