Top 10 Queen Deep Cuts

Photo: Thomas Steffan [CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]

Our top 10 Queen Deep Cuts playlist looks at the catalog of one of the most well-known rock and roll bands ever. Queen is probably the most popular classic rock band known to teenagers in the 2020s because of the success of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. Ask a classroom of kids who Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, or David Bowie is, and none will put their hands up. I ask my students that question every day. However, when I ask them to name the lead singer of Queen, every single hand is raised. I witnessed that every day I worked in schools as a teacher. Kids love Queen; We love Queen! Simply, one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

When bands such as Queen become so popular, they generate an audience so large that a majority of that audience only knows the hits. This article will look to change that. Of course, if you’re a longtime Queen fan, you know every great cut on every great album. Your opinion will vary from ours. However, this article is designed to turn people on who have just discovered Queen.

Most of these Queen deep cuts will stem from their 1970s material. That was the period in which they did their best work. There will be some Queen songs from the 1980s, but ask any long-time Queen fan what their favorite Queen album was and I guarantee you they will name a Queen album that would have been released in the 1970s. Those were the Glory Days of Queen!

# 10 – Son and Daughter

We didn’t know whether to open up or close out our top 10 Queen Deep Cuts list with this incredible smoking song from Queen. In the end, we just hit them hard right off the bat. Listen to this track. Do you get it now? Their ’70s material was unbelievable, especially their first three albums. The Queen song “Son and Daughter” was released on the band’s debut album in 1973 entitled Queen.

# 9 -Drowse

We would have loved to put Roger Taylor’s classic “I’m In With Love My Car” on this list, but that song was way too popular. When Queen followed up their mega-selling album A Night At The Opera with the A Day At The Races album, Roger Taylor followed up “I’m In Love With My Car” with the great song “Drowse.” I love this one, especially Brian May’s guitar work.

# 8 -Sail Away Sweet Sister

Queen’s album The Game had a lot of long-time fans scratching their heads when they heard the record’s lead single, “Another One Bites The Dust.“ What was up with the disco stuff? Most classic rock fans hated disco. And then the band goes and releases Hot Space. The Game was a good album, and the disco groove of “Another One Bites The Dust” was not representative of the rest of the record. One of our favorite tracks on the album was Brian May’s “Sail Away Sweet Sister.”

# 7 – Tear It Up

After Queen’s album Hot Space gave most loyal fans a heart attack, the band followed up that record with The Works. The record was a mixed bag of styles. “Tear It Up,” along with “Hammer To Fall,” was the album’s best track. The album’s single, “Radio Ga Ga,” has become far more popular among today’s youth than it was when it was released because of the terrific Live Aid performance shown in the movie.

# 6 – Dead On Time

Brian May sounds like he is having a great deal of fun on this one. Listen to May play his butt of on this track. Those are some fast guitar licks. This cool song was the opening track on side two of Queen’s Jazz album.

# 5 -Brighton Rock

Continuing with our top 10 Queen Deep Cuts list we turn to the classic Sheer Heart Attack album. I remember hearing “Stone Cold Crazy,” on the radio in 1974 and asking my friends who is that? No one sounded like Queen at that time. There were so many great songs on the Sheer Heart Attack album, “Brighton Rock,” was one of them. It was the album’s opening track. Brian May once again rips it up on this one.

# 4 – It’s Late

This one was actually released as a single but it did not do well commercially. So in our way of thinking it becomes eligible for our top 10 Queen Deep Cuts list. Additionally, we just love this song so much that we want to make sure that everyone knows about it. It was our favorite song on the album when it first came out. It still is. Released on the brilliant News Of The World album in 1977.

# 3 – Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…)

This great track was released on the band’s most successful album of their career, A Night At The Opera. The song was written by Freddie Mercury. It was the album’s opening track. If there is one thing we all learned from this one, it wasn’t wise to tick off Freddie Mercury.

# 2 – The March of the Black Queen

Before there was the song “Bohemian Rhapsody,” there was the classic Freddie Mercury song the “March of the Black Queen.” If one wants to look back into the Queen catalog before The A Night At The Opera album and find the hint of greatness to come, especially from the pen of Freddie Mercury, here it is. Queen’s unknown masterpiece to everyone but big time Queen fans was released on the band’s second album entitled Queen II. The album was released in 1974.

# 1 – Ogre Battle

The same Queen song that landed the number one spot on our previous Top 10 Queen Songs list earns the number one spot on our Top 10 Queen Deep Cuts list. The song is that good and not many people know about it. The song was released on the great Queen II album.