Despite a series of gigs and a studio that provided free recording time, no record company wanted to work with Queen in the early 1970s. Eventually, EMI faltered and the band's self-titled debut album from London was released. After this it took a while for Queen to be picked up by the general public, as debut single Keep Yourself Alive was rejected by the BBC. In those days you couldn't be a
… successful British group without the support of this national broadcaster. Actually, Queen wasn't ready for the general public either. Keep Yourself Alive and all other songs on this unbalanced debut show a searching band. The Queen tricks that are so well-known today (Freddie Mercury interrupting himself, the frequent overdubbing of Brian May's guitar) are already present, but not as overwhelming as later. Striking is the phrase 'Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me' in the song My Fairy King. After writing this song, Fred Bulsara decided to call himself Freddie Mercury from now on. (JE)more
