Queen: Brian May and his insecurity in writing songs

Even though the single “Hammer to fall” by Queen, from the 1984 album “The Works”, was a UK top 20 hit at the time of its release, forty years later Brian May still remember the fears and the fears in introducing the song to his bandmates after having written it.

In a recent interview for “Guitar World” the guitarist of the historic band once led by Freddie Mercury spoke about his insecurity in writing songs using “Hammer to Fall” as an example and remembering how we struggled to submit it to others.

“As far as I’m concerned, It always starts with an explosion of activity, belief and inspiration.“, May explained: “Initially I think, ‘This is going to change the world.’ But usually that thought is then followed by a period of complete insecuritywhere I get to the point where I’m like, ‘Oh no, this is rubbish. This is never going to work… my band is going to hate it.’ And then I get through it anyway!”

During the chat, Roger Taylor’s buddy added: “This thing happened with ‘Hammer to fall’for example. When I came across the riff that gave rise to the song I initially thought, ‘This is awesome: I can do anything with this and this is what I want to hear on guitar.’ Then when I went into the studio and played it to the guys, they were just like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’ They weren’t like, ‘Wow, we love this!'”

Brian May then explained that, although the song was easy to put together, he had to work hard to “build it to the point where I could sound like a finished song” and to hear his bandmates say, “Yeah, we like it, great!” The guitarist then reflected:

“It takes a bit of belief, I think, to get from the first riff to the point where you’re happy with the result. I think it’s common for a lot of people: that moment when you point it out to the people around you, and you look at their faces, and you feel very insecure in that moment. When I write and sing a song to someone, it’s always nerve-wracking for me, no matter who it is. If they’ve never heard the song before, I get very insecure. I have to get over that moment.”