- Title: UK: MUSIC OF THE MILLENNIUM POLL
- Date: 24th November 1999
- Summary: LONDON, UK (NOVEMBER 6, 1999) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) QUEEN'S BRIAN MAY (RIGHT) AND ROGER TAYLOR (LEFT) ABOUT BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY AS BEST SONG OF THE MILLENNIUM "It's a great honour. It's a nice justification if you like, if you wanted that. It's definitely a good feeling that people still put it in that place. And given the fact that so many people voted for it it must be a fairly accurate reflection."
- Embargoed: 9th December 1999 12:00
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- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA68DWT7FUWH7OS62I3AI52MN3O
- Story Text: The Beatles, Madonna, Elvis, Louis Armstrong - and Mozart! The names that stand for music in the Millennium - according to the British public voting in the poll to end all polls - the Music of the Millennium poll.So ya better catch the result now - or wait a thousand years for the next one! And the song of the Millennium - Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by British rock legends Queen is voted best song of the Millennium, closely followed by John Lennon's "Imagine", Robbie Williams' "Angels" and at number 3 Elvis Presley's "American Trilogy".
Queen's Roger Taylor and Brian May attended the Music of the Millennium TV show to discuss the poll's results: "It's a great honour.It's a nice justification if you like, if you wanted that.It's definitely a good feeling that people still put it in that place.And given the fact that so many people voted for it it must be a fairly accurate reflection."
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was late Queen singer Freddie Mercury's brain child."It was a lot of fun to do.First of all I was a spectator because these guys were just banging out the backing track with all these gaps in and we were wondering how it was going to take shape but it was all in Freddie's mind.More than anything else in the Queen repertoire I think it was Freddie's brainchild and yeah we contributed but he knew exactly what he wanted in there and I suppose my abiding memory is over and over doing the harmonies which we did.We would always see each line in unison, double it, triple it, bounce it, singing the next line it was kind of like a sausage machine after a while...But it was completely mapped out in his head beforehand."
Some of the poll's results come as a surprise to many.
British pop band "Steps" are number 16 as best band of the Millennium, ahead of Led Zeppelin."It's very strange to see them one step above Led Zeppelin, I thought that was kind of amusing.I mean if you poll again in 20 years time it would be interesting to see what happens...They probably wouldn't be there but I mean it does show that a lot of 3-year-olds did vote" say Taylor and May.
Beverly Knight, Spice Girl Mel G and Jocelyn Brown gave a smashing performance of soul queen Aretha Franklin's "Think".
The trio joined together as soul divas for the first time: "/t was a lot of fun, acting up.Girl thing.You know girl vibe.
It's like being able to be with two young sisters you know that have set up a network for themselves and they're pioneering and more than anything else to be so loose, so happening, we had a good time" says Jocelyn Brown.
The poll's results mainly comprise the last 50 years in music history.Beverly Knight says "I think a lot of the results are indicative of kind of like the British demographic of music buyers, you know music lovers and especially younger people.It seems like quite a young poll and the results kind of reflect that.I've been like uuhhmm...very interesting you know some things are in there that I was like oh! and some things that were not in there that I was kind of scratching my head."
But the poll's winners are definitely The Beatles.Voted best band and best album "Sergeant Peppers Lonely hearts Club Band", the British band tops it all.They were given a tribute by Glaswegian chart toppers Travis who brought a 90s twist to the classic "I feel fine".
Sir Bob Geldof says about The Beatles
"6 years they did it all in.6 years, from "She loves you yeah yeah yeah" to "Abbey Road".It's an extraordinary, stand-alone achievement from which everything else derives."
As far as female artists are concerned, there are none that actually made it into the top ten of any of the categories.
The only female winner is Madonna as best female artist of the Millennium.Spice Girl Mel C says "I always have been a big fan of Madonna.She's a very influential lady in music and I think she will be for some time."
Madonna's latest single "Beautiful Stranger" was featured in Austin Powers.
For most influential musician of the Millennium it's back to The Beatles' John Lennon:
"If John Lennon's number one who could argue with that and I do think that some of his solo work stands up.I think his first and second solo albums stand alongside anything" says Brian May.
Lennon is followed by Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix and fellow Beatle Paul McCartney at number five.
But who was missing? "Loads of people.Velvet Underground probably most or Sex Pistols.I think the way they shook music up 20 years ago had a really profound effect and so they've kind of been forgotten about and I think that's really bad"
says Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.
In terms of how fair a representation the poll is for a whole Millennium, Bob Geldorf has the answer."I don't think it's a farce.The results are sometimes and often farcical because it is a purely subjective thing to vote on who you think is the most influential and you just put your tick down, but it's got nothing to do with the last 1000 years or else we would have had Pope Gregory and King David of the last 2000 years.It's to do with what's immediately popular."
The winners of each category are: Most influential musician - John Lennon.Best song writer - John Lennon.Best album - Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles).Best Band - The Beatles.Best female artist - Madonna.Best male artist - Elvis Presley.Best song - Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen).
Best classical composer - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Best classical record - Four Seasons (Vivaldi).Best jazz artist - Louis Armstrong. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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