Via Ace's news sidebar (his mini-blog, to the left of the main one) comes this little tidbit about Queen's sainted guitarist:

LONDON (Reuters) - Brian May, lead guitarist from rock band Queen who has just completed a doctorate in astrophysics, was on Monday named as the next chancellor to Liverpool John Moores University.

May, who will take up the role early next year, became an honorary fellow of the university earlier this year in recognition of his contribution to the arts and for encouraging public understanding of science with his book Bang! The Complete History of the Universe.

Three problems with the Reuters story: 1) that horrific dangling participle; 2) the egregious omission of the fact that—alone among the top guitarists of all time (Harrison didn't do it, Clapton didn't do it, Hendrix didn't do it; no one did it) May built the guitar he later played in concert for many years. He still has it; he still plays it. It's his signature. He fashioned it as a teenager, with his father's help in their workshop. (Maybe that was in their GARage, it being England and all.) He's not just a physicist; he's an amazing engineer.

And an underrated guitarist. Remember: before News of the World came out (or maybe it was The Game; I'll have to check), Queen produced sounds that were semi-orthodox for the time, but every other prog band was using synthesizers to do it. Queen's first five albums used no synthesizers at all. It was all Yankee British ingenuity, and Brian.

And 3) this:

"In this age of celebrity culture, it is rare to find someone who has fame, fortune and universal acclaim and yet who remains true to his core values of learning and enlightenment," said the university's vice chancellor Michael Brown.

The boys from Queen were all academics; even Freddie had studied visual arts formally. And they weren't alone in not checking their intellects at the door when they got into entertainment: after all, the guys from Monty Python and Beyond the Fringe are/were the same way.

Now if only someone would coax John Deacon back into the spotlight. Hermit Boy: your fans need you.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:05 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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