They've already sold 80 million albums and appeared in front of six million people worldwide. With 16 albums in 16 years, Queen have proved the key to success is continual change.

THAT TIME HAS COME again! The new Queen album is upon us. Layered operatic vocals and distorted harmony guitar breaks might seem a bit passé in the clipped, sampled environment of 1989. But who cares? Queen are quite simply one of the world's biggest rock acts and their 16th album 'The Miracle' is selling faster than you can say satin ballet shoes. Despite consistently incurring the wrath of the music tabloids as the epitome of self-indulgent pompous bores, anyone who has listened to Queen's output over the last sixteen years will appreciate that the band have never been afraid to take risks, and have been constantly innovative in all areas of their career.

True to their early "art-rock" image, the band came together at college. Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor were playing together in a band called Smile, who lasted long enough to record one single, 'Earth'. When the group folded art student Freddie Mercury was persuaded to join May and Taylor. A few months later, John Deacon answered their notice board advert for a bass player, and the Queen line up (a constant to this day) was complete. The group rehearsed diligently and crafted their art playing to groups of friends at Imperial College. They quickly assumed a strong identity, Mercury masterminding his satin clad image — their sense of theatre a perfect counterpoint to their hard rock sound. In some free time they recorded a demo tape which contained such early classics as 'Keep Yourself Alive' and 'Liar', and after hearing their efforts, EMI offered the band a record contract. Their eponymous debut album was released in July 1973, and 'Keep Yourself Alive' released as a single. A month prior to the album's release, Mercury had recorded a Beach Boys song 'I Can Hear Music' under the ridiculous pseudonym of Larry Lurex. Unsurprisingly, this flopped. And although neither the Queen album nor single were a hit, they continued to build a loyal following, the sight of Freddies catsuit cavorting enhancing their reputation. Their music was an intelligent mixture of early seventies glam and, courtesy of Brian May, Led Zeppelin style heavy rock. They arrived good and proper with the charting of 'Seven Seas of Rhye' in 1974. The song had all the classic early Queen trademarks — doubled guitar lines, classically influenced piano, operatic vocals and a touch of camp humour — the song fades out to the strains of 'Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside'. At this time Queen gained substantial acclaim from sections of the rock press for their marriage of aggressive rock and inventive arrangements, since unequalled. May experimented with Echoplex tape loops on the flamboyant 'Brighton Rock' and with Mercury's and Taylor's vocal gymnastics the band were instantly recognisable. 'Queen II' was released on the heels of their first hit and continued in similar vein. Producer Roy Thomas Baker extracted the best from a band who's ideas were evidently years ahead of their contemporaries. But underneath it all, they were still a heavy rock band.

But the release later that year of the 'Sheer Heart Attack' album also revealed a strong pop-sensibility in 'Killer Queen', which took the band to number two. At the time it was highly innovative and they subsequently won fans in both pop chart and heavy metal camps. Another single 'Now I'm Here' showcased May's explosive guitar playing, a much discussed subject over the years due to his home made instrument being crafted from an old fireplace and played with a sixpence as a plectrum. He was also one of only a few guitarists who owed little to a blues style of playing. Queen were pretty massive on both sides of the Atlantic but in 1975 they were to release their masterpiece, 'A Night at the Opera'.

The album's showcase was the ridiculously epic, 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. At six minutes long, it wasn't even a strong contender for daytime radio airplay. Perversely, it soared to spend nine weeks at number one. With a singer as flamboyant as Mercury, it's a moot point whether 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was more camp grandeur with tongue firmly in cheek, or a serious stab at rock's boundaries. Probably the latter. It's also generally acknowledged that the single pioneered the use of the promotional video, a medium which Queen fully utilise to this day. The sleeve of 'A Night at the Opera' proudly declared, "No Synthesisers!", a major achievement considering the richness of the sounds. Multitracking, complex production and even a vocalised "horn section" all make the album an absolute classic, if only for its ambition. 'Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon' and 'Seaside Rendezvous' fully utilised Mercury's affected posture, but to counter this, songs like '39' and 'You're My Best Friend' were hard evidence of Queen's basic songwriting talents. The acapella vocals on 'The Prophet's Song' once again employed multi-tracking and echo. If modem sampling technology had been available, with such imagination Queen's experiments would have no doubt run riot.

In the summer of 1976, the band played a massive free concert in London's Hyde Park. The audience of 150,000 confirmed their superstar status.

Could they follow all this? They certainly tried. 'A Day at the Races', released towards the end of 1976, was previewed by more mock opera in 'Somebody to Love', a showcase for the band's vocal harmonies. Queen were now way beyond being "another rock band", determined to utilise all the facilities a modern studio could offer. Although they returned to a more basic rock approach on 'Tie Your Mother Down' and 'White Man', 'A Day at the Races' was the logical extension of the previous album. 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' a benchmark of their work at that time.

If their version of 'God Save the Queen' on 'A Night at the Opera' had seemed ridiculous, it was nothing compared to their 1977 celebration of the Silver Jubilee. They performed their gigs under a giant crown, a mere 54' wide and 26' tall, sticking a theatrical two-fingers up at the punk explosion. The anthemic swagger of 'We Are the Champions' introduced the 'News of the World' album, which seemed linked to it's two predecessors in title theme only. The sound was rawer and conveyed more aggression. 'We Will Rock You' was another pioneering track, built around a thundering drum and handclap rhythm — the antithesis of their previous two efforts.

'Sheer Heart Attack' (the song) demonstrated enduring taste for heavy rock, but the largely acoustic 'Who Needs You' and the sobering 'Melancholy Blues' demonstrated latin and jazz inclinations. It was around this sixth album that Queen began to incorporate the wider influences that would make subsequent albums such diverse affairs.

1978's 'Jazz' was launched with a massive party in New Orleans for the release of the double A-sided single 'Bicycle Race'/'Fat Bottomed Girls'. Despite Mercury's wailing introduction to the album's opener, 'Mustapha', 'Jazz' strengthened the band's reputation for straight pop songs like 'Jealousy' and 'In Only Seven Days'. Experiment was kept to a minimum, one of the most interesting moments being the primitive "cut-up" mixing on 'More of That Jazz'.

As the end of their first decade approached, Queen released their first live album, 'Live Killers'. It was a return to their rock roots, with almost the whole of one side being devoted to Brian May's echoplexed 'Brighton Rock' solo. The next studio album, 'The Game' saw more liberal switching of styles, and became one of their most successful. 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' was straight rockabilly and took May's solo playing into new territory. To follow, John Deacon plundered Chic's basslines to come up with 'Another One Bites the Dust', their first US number one. Queen could tackle any style with commensurate ease, and still left their unmistakable royal stamp. The opposition must have despaired.

They stretched themselves again with the penning of the extravagant soundtrack to Dino de Laurentis' film of 'Flash Gordon'. Although featuring musical and lyrical contributions from all four members, the album was most memorable for May's orchestral guitar work, and he remains one of the few guitarists to constantly explore the instrument's potential.

The following year saw the famous collaboration with David Bowie, 'Under Pressure'. The subsequent album, 'Hot Space', found Queen in uncharted funkier territory, Deacon's and Mercury's influence seemingly at the fore. Sadly, some of the material was awfully lacking. I'm sure they would agree that 'Body Language', 'Cool Cat' and so on, were not Queen at their best.

After a two year break, Queen returned to form with 'The Works', which saw the band fully embracing technology on 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'Machines (or back to humans)', with Brian May exploring more familiar themes in 'Hammer to Fall' and 'Tear It Up'. Although Queen albums were still impeccably written, arranged and performed, the music lacked the diversity that so characterised their output from 1974 to 1980. They were now huge and perhaps they were wary of alienating any of their following. Still, they couldn't resist making the absurd video for 'I Want To Break Free'. In 1985, their memorable performance at Live Aid confirmed Queen as one of the best live acts in the world, and by the band's own admission, injected them with fresh enthusiasm.

They headed for some live dates in eastern Europe, and returned to vinyl with 'A Kind of Magic'. Megabucks sales were guaranteed, although the material was below par again. Songs like 'Friends Will Be Friends' revealed a rare ineptitude. Still, all this doesn't stop the release of 'The Miracle' being a major event — Queen remain a benchmark for longevity and quality. What is evident is the special chemistry that exists between the band members. All four have indulged in solo projects, but none have reached the high standard the group have achieved. Mercury's preposterous solo efforts were summed up in one of his hits -'The Great Pretender', so at least he can always be relied upon for some much needed humour in an overly serious business. Laugh at him, or laugh with him, but laugh you will.

As a group, Queen have few imitators and few competitors — they have explored every genre going from opera to rockabilly, from heavy metal to funk, and it all bears the unmistakable Queen hallmark. They've never been afraid to progress, even when they hit a winning formula. They merely move on to a new winning formula, and don't look like abdicating just yet.