In the 1980s, Queen were the only band I ever saw who made me laugh for the right reasons. Other groups and lead singers took themselves too seriously. Queen and Freddie Mercury were the exception.
Queen's music could be smart, shameless, funny, fearless, complex and disarmingly simple - sometimes all in the course of one song. Making this music was a serious business and Queen sweated blood in the studio. But, on stage, they were entertainers, and Freddie Mercury always made the audience feel like they were in on the joke.