John Lennon was the oldest founding member of The Beatles and was born in Liverpool, England, much like all the other members of the band. He was only 29 years old when the band broke up in 1970, and the music industry had seen rapid turmoil during that decade with the emergence of numerous new acts and the creation of new subgenres.

He concentrated on his solo career in the 1970s and worked with many up-and-coming musicians, including good pals Harry Nilson, David Bowie, and Elton John. He mentioned a number of up-and-coming musicians from that decade, including the British group Queen, who put out a number of well-known records during that period.

What was John Lennon’s opinion on Queen

The Beatles had an influence on practically every rock band that emerged starting in the middle of the 1960s, including Queen. Brian May, Freddie Mercury, and Roger Taylor formed the band in 1970, and three years later, in 1973, they released their self-titled debut album. In 1975, John Lennon had not heard any of Queen’s eight critically acclaimed albums when he was slain on December 8, 1980, at the age of forty.

In 1975, he was asked if his son Julian was a fan of The Beatles during an interview with Spin magazine. But Lennon admitted that Queen was one of his favorite bands at the moment. “I think he likes Paul better than me. I have the funny feeling he wishes Paul was his dad. But unfortunately he got me. It must be hard to be the son of anybody. He is a bright kid and he’s into music. I didn’t encourage him, but he’s already got a band in school. But they sing rock’n’roll songs, ’cause their teacher is my age. So he teaches them ‘Long Tall Sally’ and a couple of Beatles numbers. He likes Barry White and he likes Gilbert O’ Sullivan. (Julian) likes Queen, though I haven’t heard them yet. He turns me on to music.”

He continued, “I call him and he says, ‘Have you heard Queen?’ and I say “No, what is it?” I’ve heard of them. I’ve seen the guy … the one who looks like Hitler playing a piano … Sparks? I’ve seen Sparks on American TV. So I call him and say, ‘Have you seen Sparks? Hitler on the piano?’ and he says, ‘No. They are alright. But have you seen Queen?’ and I say ‘What’s Queen?’ and then he tells me. His age group is hipper to music … at 11 I was aware of music, but not too much.”

Lennon said Beatles’ fans should listen to Queen and Slash

In 1980, just before his passing, John Lennon told David Sheff that followers of the Beatles should enjoy the music that was being made at the moment. He gave his audience examples of music they should enjoy, including Queen and The Clash.

John said, “Listen to the Beatles records, but dig Queen or Clash or whatever is going on now. And for the ones who want to relive it, ‘Resurrect The Beatles’ and all, for those who didn’t understand The Beatles and the ’60s in the first place, what the f*ck are we going to do for them now? Do we have to divide the fish and the loaves for the multitudes again?”

Freddie Mercury said that John Lennon was the greatest

Like all of the Queen members, the late, great singer Freddie Mercury had a deep admiration for the Fab Four. in a 1985 television interview broadcast in Japan.

Freddie Mercury said, “I would never like to put me with any kind of parallel with John Lennon at all. Because he was just the greatest as far as I was concerned. Is not a matter of less talent or more talent. It’s just that certain people are capable of doing certain things better than somebody else.”

“I just feel that I’m not equipped to do certain things that John Lennon did and I don’t think that anybody should, because John Lennon was just unique and the one-off.”

Mercury continued, “That’s the way it is. I just admire John Lennon very much and that’s far as I want to go. I just want to think about myself and put myself across in the way I want to think. In terms of peace messages I’m not it. So I don’t wanna do it.”

In the same conversation, he also shared his feelings upon learning of Lennon’s assassination, “Oh, I was shocked, I was just dumbfounded and what you do? I mean, it’s just something that you think will always happen to somebody or you whatever and it just happened. It’s one of those things ‘What can you do?’. I was shocked and disbelief, it was disbelief.”

Sadly, they were never able to work together, yet many decades later, in 2002, Paul McCartney and a member of Queen shared a stage. During the celebration of Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, McCartney asked a number of the in attendance artists to sing a few songs, including “All You Need is Love.” In addition to Roger Taylor and Brian May from Queen, Joe Cocker, Brian Wilson, Rod Stewart, and Eric Clapton were also performing.