Hello. This is “Queen The Greatest”,
in which we celebrate some of Queen’s
most memorable songs, performances
and achievements from their
remarkable career.
In the early years,
Queen understandably worked hard to
make headway in the UK and USA markets.
However, there was another country that
had already started to take the band to
their hearts, signalling the beginning
of a deep bond that endures
to this very day.
And so, this week, let's
take a look at the extraordinary story
of Queen in Japan.
As early as 1974, in Japan,
Music Life Magazine had started to
feature pictures of the band
and report on their albums.
The style of music and stage show
struck an immediate chord,
and so in April 1975,
Queen embarked on
an eight night tour in Japan.
Their very first concert on Japanese soil
would be at the world famous
Budokan in Tokyo,
and it’s fair to say the band had no idea
what was in store for them…
[Roger Taylor] “Japan really caught on to
us fairly early on.”
[John Deacon] “Queen II I think
was the big one they picked up on
really, wasn’t it?”
[Roger Taylor] “And we knew there was
sort of demand for us there
and so we sort of tagged it on
to the end of an American tour.
We had a holiday in Hawaii and then
it was, sort of, logical, so we went
there and we arrived at the airport
and suddenly realised it was on a scale
different to that which we’d imagined,
‘cos there were thousands of people
there, just to welcome us, you know.
Normally you just don’t get
that sort of thing anywhere.”
In this exclusive interview,
Record Company Exec, Promoter and
long term friend of Queen, Kaz Utsunomiya,
recalls that extraordinary arrival…
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “I don’t think anyone
really guessed that three thousand people
would turn up at the airport.
Anyone who turned up at the airport
think that this is like,
the second coming of the Beatles.
Some of the people were really scared to
death, because they didn’t really
expect anything like that.”
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “You know, in those days
the rock group band was mainly supported
by the male audience, but then the fact
that Music Life put on Queen pictures and
they opened up the whole new world with
the female fans, and with their great
melody and songs, caught the Japanese fans
in both genders, male and female.
This first encounter marked the beginning
of a deep bond between Queen and Japan,
with each leaving a lasting impression
on the other.
So much so, that it inspired Brian May to
write a song as a special tribute to
their Japanese fans – Teo Torriatte.
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “There is a, sort of,
mutual respect from day one, I think,
from the Japanese fans to the band,
and the band’s fascination to Japan.
I think their great songs really helped to
get into the Japanese hearts.”
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “They never expected
the band to come up with a song like
Teo Torriatte, which is mainly for
the Japanese market.
Because of the history with
the Japanese fans
I think the band has all different songs
for all over the world, but I think
Teo Torriatte you can only listen to
them doing that in Japan.”
Queen would regularly tour Japan
right up until 1985, but as Kaz explains,
the band always embraced a unique
approach to where they performed.
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “Every tour was
very different because in the early days
we toured all different cities
all over Japan.
So we’d go to Sapporo in Hokkaido
which is in the northern part of Japan,
and we would go to Sendai
in the southern part of Japan
and it was really interesting because
not that many bands used to tour
all round Japan.”
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “A lot of
international bands come to Japan,
they go to Tokyo and Osaka,
and rarely have the chance to see
the culture outside Tokyo, which this band
did from the very early days,
from day one.
A lot of people never had that chance
of seeing the international bands in
those cities outside of Tokyo and Osaka,
which they did and they were big in Japan,
which made them bigger.
[Kaz Utsunomiya] “And a very unique
international act in Japan,
and I say this again, but I think that
also helped the band understand
the Japanese culture, Japanese history,
and meeting Japanese fans.”
In the next “Queen The Greatest”,
we continue our celebration of
Queen in Japan, and the album release
that ensured this mutual appreciation
continues to this very day.