Brian May reveals which Queen song made him more “unsafe” than any other

July 12, 2024, 1:39 p.m.

If there was one word to describe rock legends Queen, it would be “bombastic”.

Of course, much of the band’s extravagance and stage presence can be attributed to the inimitable frontman Freddie Mercury.

Freddie never shied away from theatrics on stage or in the studio and with his masterful mischief he ensured that Queen went down in history.

In a recent interview, Brian May talked about his insecurities when writing the music we all know and love.

In conversation with Guitar WorldBrian used as an example a song that millions of people around the world learned during their acclaimed Live Aid performance.

Brian revealed that he had a hard time believing his idea was good enough to present to his bandmates, and their initial lukewarm reaction only added to his anxieties during the songwriting process.

The song in question? ‘Hammer To Fall’ from Queen’s 1984 album, The works.

Queen – Hammer To Fall (Live Aid 1985)

“For me, it always starts with a burst of activity, faith and inspiration and the thought, ‘Ah, this is going to change the world.'”

“Then there’s usually a period of complete uncertainty where you think, ‘Oh no, this sucks. This will never work. … My band will hate it.’ And then you have to work through it.”

May then went on to talk about his inner struggle with coming up with ideas, using “Hammer To Fall” as an example.

“I think that’s true of ‘Hammer To Fall’ because I came across that riff and thought, ‘This is great. I can do anything with this. This is exactly what I want to hear when I put my guitar on.'”

“And then I went into the studio and played it for the guys. And they were like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ It wasn’t like, ‘We love it!'”

The riff came easily to Brian, but he still had to work on it a lot to “develop it to the point where I could play it to them as an almost finished song.”

“And then they got it. They said, ‘Oh yeah. Okay, we like that. This is going to be great.'”

Despite Brian’s initial reservations, Freddie, Roger Taylor and John Deacon must have been ultimately convinced by “Hammer To Fall”.

Queen chose “Hammer To Fall” for their legendary 20-minute Live Aid set, which also included absolute classics such as “Radio Ga Ga”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Are The Champions” as well as excerpts from “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You”.

“I think it takes a bit of faith to get from the first riff to the point where you’re happy with the result,” May continued in the interview.

“I think that’s what happens to a lot of people – that moment when you confront the people around you, look them in the face and feel very insecure in that moment.”

“When I sing a song to someone, it’s always nerve-racking for me, no matter who it is. If they’ve never heard it before, I get really insecure. You just have to get over it.”