10 Rock Bands That Made Metal Songs

For as many times as Bohemian Rhapsody as been played all over the world, some of Queen's music has been co-opted by pop fans a little too much. As much as songs like Under Pressure or Don't Stop Me Now are perfectly crafted tunes in their catalog, the origins of the band were a lot more rugged, like the raw anger behind Death on Two Legs or the war going on in the song Ogre Battle. Queen may have been just trying on new sonic outfits, but Stone Cold Crazy also may have accidentally predicted thrash metal in the process.

While it would be a stretch to call this as intense as Slayer or anything like that, Roger Taylor's drumming is what really keeps it in the conversation of metal music, never letting up with Freddie Mercury's rapid fire vocal delivery and every part of the riff happening on the upbeat. Coming from the world of arena rock, this is the kind of song that feels like it's made for a sweaty club, with fans getting rowdy and starting to understand what moshing is for the first time in their lives.

It's not like the rest of the metal scene weren't taking notes either, with Testament citing Queen as an influence on their sound and Metallica actually covering this song on their covers compilation Garage Inc. Queen definitely has a reputation of being a bit over the top from time to time, but even if you just give them a few minutes, they can rock just as hard as any punk or metalhead could.