Welcome back to “Queen The Greatest”,
our year long journey through
some of Queen’s most memorable songs,
performance and achievements.
In this episode we continue
our celebration of the extraordinary
reception that has been enjoyed by…
Queen in Japan.
The bond between the Japanese and Queen
had been firmly established through
the tours of the 1970’s and 80’s,
but then Queen music continued to
be treasured throughout the 90’s
and into the 21st Century,
thanks largely to their inclusion
in TV commercials and dramas,
particularly one of Japan’s biggest drama
series which prompted the release of
a special ‘hits’ compilation album,
exclusive to Japan – Queen Jewels.
The album went on to
sell over a million copies.
Having returned first with Paul Rodgers,
Queen were invited back in 2014
with Adam Lambert to perform
at the Summer Sonic festival.
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “Summer Sonic is like
Glastonbury or one of the biggest
summer music festival outdoor shows,
and we played Osaka and Tokyo, but
I’ve seen many many Summer Sonic festivals
but I think I can say that everyone
who I talk to, including fans and
record company people, that was
probably the biggest ending act
of any Summer Sonic
for twenty years or something.
Japan is once again a regular feature
on the Queen touring schedule,
indicating that this mutual love affair
is still going strong…
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “Even if the Japanese fan
loved them, if the band didn’t actually
return that kind of love,
they wouldn’t have got this big.
And I think it’s mutual respect of
the culture, mutual respect of the people,
that’s bonded by the greatest songs.”
[Brian May] “Are you sure?
This is specially for you,
this was written for you guys in Japan,
a very long time ago.
And if you want to sing
that would be wonderful.”