This playlist is the soundtrack to "Queen - As It Began", written by Queen fan-club presidents Jacky Gunn and Jim Jenkins. In my view, it is still the definitive biography of the band, despite it being published in 1993. To my knowledge, it has not been revised, updated or reprinted. It is a brilliant summation of the bands career with a short chapter on each of the founding members that leads into how they all crossed paths and formed Queen.
This playlist features 148 songs listed by name in the book, as well as a couple of key artist tracks as bonuses. Thus, it takes in Queen classics, hit singles, BBC Sessions, Demos, B-Sides and live tracks, plus a few pre-Queen tracks when Roger and Brian were known as Smile. As well as records that were influential in the formative stages of the band member's lives, it also includes some solo work by the band members, (not all of the band's solo work is available on Spotify, so I've included all I could find), and a good selection of the guest appearances the band made for other artists.
As with all these biography playlists, it is not essential to have read the book to enjoy the music. However, when reading the book it is a lot of fun to listen to the songs that are referenced in the text, as it adds more context to the narrative.
Enjoy!
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