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Exploring Queen, We Will Rock You & We Are The Champions | New British Canon

Trash Theory | August 1, 2026



Queen are an odd band to be so beloved by the British people. They were endlessly posh, wrote extremely camp complex songs about murderous escorts, bicycle races and tigers defying the laws of gravity, referencing in equal parts heavy metal, music hall and opera. And it goes without saying they were fronted by the kind of man that Conservative governments would want you to be scared of: a self-possessed queer person of colour. And yet their first greatest hits is the best selling UK album of all time. Everyone of working age knows every single word of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. And it’s their songs that will echo across the nation’s football stadiums forevermore. This is New British Canon, and this is the story of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions”.

#queen #wearethechampions #musicdocumentary

00:00 Introduction
00:50 A Day At The Races
07:19 News Of The World
16:30 We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions
24:47 The Afterwards, Live Aid Etc

Soundtrack
Luar – Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Luar – Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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Sources
“Queen: A Seventies Bombshell” Chris Welch, Melody Maker, Nov 1974
“Queen: the Best of Friends” David Hancock, Record Mirror, Jul 1976
“Sacked Into Stardom” David Hancock, Record Mirror, Sep 1976
“Queen: Four Queens Beat Opera Flush” Steve Turner, Rolling Stone, Mar 1976
“We’re Certainly Not Resting on Our Laurels” Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, Sep 1976
“Queen’s own tale of success” Wesley Strick, Circus Magazine, Jan 1977
“Queen: The Guitarist” Mick Houghton, Sounds, Jan 1977
“The Year Queen Lizzy Shook America” Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, Feb 1977
“Queen: A Night at the Garden” Kris Nicholson, Creem, May 1977
“Fit to be Crowned: Queen’s Mercury Rising” Mick Brown, Rolling Stone, May 1977
“Freddie Mercury: Is This Man a Prat?” Tony Stewart, NME, Jun 1977
“Queen Interview” Tom Browne, BBC Radio 1, Dec 1977
“Queen Deserve Rock’s Royal Crown?” Rosy Horide, Circus Magazine, Jan 1978
“Queen’s Royal Flush” Penny Valentine, Creem, Apr 1978
“CROWNING OF QUEEN” Tim Lott, Daily Mail, May 1978
“Jazz Review” Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, Feb 1979
“Queen Holds Court in South America” James Henke, Rolling Stone, Jun 1981
“Interview with Brian May” Jas Obrecht, Guitar Player, Jan 1983
“Brian May: Cash For Questions” Mark Blake, Q Magazine, Jul 1998
“Queen: Crowning Achievements” Alan di Perna, Guitar World, Oct 2002
“Queen: Killer Queen” Jon Wilde, Uncut Magazine, Mar 2005
“Born Again” Mark Blake, Mojo Magazine, Oct 2008
“Brian May Discusses Queen’s Greatest Moments” Ben Mitchell, Guitar World, 2011
“Queen: Revisiting History” Rob Fitzpatrick, The Sunday Times, Feb 2011
“Queen: 10 of the best album tracks” Stevie Chick, The Guardian, Nov 2014
“Queen’s ‘News of the World’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know” Dan Epstein, Rolling Stone, Oct 2017
“How Queen Weathered The Sex Pistols & Punk With News Of The World” David Chiu, The Quietus, Oct 2017
“Betty the tea lady can be heard stamping her feet on Queen’s We Will Rock You” Katie Baillie, Metro, Oct 2017
“Bohemian Rhapsody: Freddie Mercury’s 28 most ludicrous anecdotes” David Levesley, GQ, Mar 2020
“Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions’ 40 Years Later: A History of the Biggest Jock Jam Single of All Time” Gil Kaufman, Billboard, Sep 2022
“Queen vs Sex Pistols: How Freddie took on punk and won with News Of The World” Mick Wall, Classic Rock, Oct 2022
“”Oi, Freddie! Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?”: When Queen frontman Freddie Mercury met Sex Pistols bassist ‘Simon Ferocious’” Paul Brannigan, Louder, Feb 2024
“Sheer Art Attack!” Mark Blake, Mojo Magazine, May 2025
“Brian May on Freddie Mercury and the mega-hit that changed Queen’s relationship with their audience” Christopher Scapelliti, Guitar Player, Jan 2026

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Written by Trash Theory

Comments

This post currently has 44 comments.

  5. @sambagogo777

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    "What is your favourite jock jam written by a LGBTQ+ artist?"

    Oh dear. What a crushingly disappointing end to an otherwise superb video that was. It was partly due to the media's obsession with his presumed sexual orientation and that of reducing artists' talent down to them being categorised in such a needlessly, some would say offensively, crude way that Freddie Mercury had so little time for interviews and a lack of interest in discussing his sexual orientation.

    If Freddie was alive today then I strongly suspect he'd be rolling his eyes in dismay at hearing such a thing. He wished to be admired and respected on the basis of his talent without people like you placing him into a neat little category just so you can use him to virtue signal. Very disappointing indeed as I thought you were better than this.

  7. @spoooky_matt

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    When I was in high school, I discovered Queen through one of my friends, who was very much into 70s rock. I can't remember which song of theirs I heard first, but it inspired me to do my first ever discography run of a band's catalogue. I think it took me the better part of a year… every month purchasing a new CD or two. What I can say is that, after all of that, Queen are still the greatest band I have ever listened to in my life, and I am now 41 years old. They don't have any bad albums (and yes, that includes 'Hot Space'). During my year spent with them, I felt like I grew up in the same way that they grew and evolved as band. If I could go back in time and experience anything all over again, I would probably choose my time spent discovering them. Thank you so much for doing a proper video on them!

  8. @Halkin85

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    I don't think calling Freddie Mercury "a person of colour" is fair. No one knew he wasn't white British. He was 100% passing. If you showed their album covers to anyone in the world no one would say he was a "person of colour". Sure, by modern standards you could call him a "person of a colour" but that isn't being honest to what happened, it was just not how people viewed him or how he promoted himself…he downplayed his foreignness and people didn't notice. The term "Person of colour" is already out of vogue.

  12. @UGLY-MONEY17

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    ive watched every new trash theory episode over the past couple years. seeing you actually appear on camera was shocking lol, I was not expecting thrat at all. I had gotten used to you just being a really musically educated disembodied voice lol. your channel is my favorite. Ive found so much cool music through your videos, you do an amazing job

  14. @Estolcles

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    All the influences of Queen's "We Will Rock You", and there's no mention of it being the influence of Henry Rollins' "I Have Come To Kill You"? Shaaaaaaaaaaame. (Recorded as "Henrietta Collins & The Wifebeating Childhaters" for the album "Drive By Shooting".)

  20. @GTCounterFootballShare

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Queen is one of the most successful bands this side of the Beatles. Almost as Popular as MJ! Its not just US sports arenas for 45 years they're a global phenomenon. All that and a frontman hated on at the time for his orientation. I admit as a teen boy in the 90s I was like 'Queen?? Thats so G'. Teens are idiots, and I was king idiot. By the way, Waynes world ended up causing a Renaissance in Queen CDs, Tapes, LPs.

  22. @DQSpider

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    This video shook a very old memory loose. One of my uncles attended a northern Baptist church on the wackier end of the spectrum in the 80s. He had these recorded sermons where the preacher went on at length about the evils of rock music and back masking, etc. The samples were on a reel to reel player that he couldn't get to play at the right speed so every song was a little chipmunky.

    He cited "We Are the Champions" as the gay rights anthem about triumphing over Jesus and heterosexuality. I don't remember exactly what I thought at the time – not much probably, I was still very young. What a strange man though.

  25. @petermgruhn

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    [three years]
    Indeed, my AI Overlord informs me that :
    – "Led Zeppelin became a massive commercial and live phenomenon in less than a year"
    – "It took The Who roughly one year to become huge"
    – "It took The Rolling Stones about two years from their formation in 1962 to become massive stars"

    "Oi, you didn't run the control!"
    – What makes you think so?
    – Oi. You stole my pudding.

    – "It took Queen about three to four years from their formation in 1971 to become massive superstars"

    So yeah, the difference was it took Queen a surprisingly longer time to become famous than those better bands.

  29. @Iomar1975

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    When a crowd of 60,000+ people sing your song while waiting for the concert of a different band to begin 26 years after the original singer passed, you know you're in a different league than the rest. The video of that Green Day pre-show sing-along says it everything.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnBNuqqz5g

    As for me, Love Of My Life gradually became my favourite with age.

  32. @DragonTail49

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Wait, you're telling me my favourite music documentarian is covering my favourite British band – if not my favourite band, hands down – and he's also going to say a cheeky hello? What a wonderful way to start my Saturday! Lovely to see you, Ash, and thanks for another great video!

  35. @Roaddblock

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    My favorite favorite Jock Jam by a LGBT artist is 100% "Take on the World" by Judas Priest. I don't know why it's not played at more sporting events. It's just as good as We Will Rock You … Judas Priest may have been copying Queens homework a bit.

  40. @barkboingfloom

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    This single is the only other pair of songs (besides The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper / With A Little Help) that are completely inseparable on the radio. In my listening experience, every time they play "Rock You" they play "Champions" immediately afterward!

  41. @LSDamorino

    August 1, 2026 at 6:58 am

    This video (like your whole backlog) is fantastic. Shame on the folks who did that awful Freddie biopic. The only semi-good musical biopic I've seen is the Ian Curtis one.

Comments are closed.

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