Creativity Quote by Brian May

Expectation is the straight line; Queen’s whole trick was drawing graffiti all over it. Brian May’s line is funny because it’s blunt about something most bands mythologize. Lots of artists retroactively frame their oddest choices as destiny or genius. May shrugs and admits the mechanism: surprise isn’t an accident, it’s a design principle. The band “threw them in” the way a great live act drops an unexpected cover mid-set - not to confuse you, but to wake you up.

The intent is half defense, half manifesto. Queen’s albums have always been accused of excess: operatic left turns, hard-rock swagger colliding with music-hall camp, stacked harmonies that feel engineered rather than “authentic.” May preempts the critique by owning it. Yes, it’s stitched together. Yes, it’s theatrical. That’s the point. The subtext is a quiet refusal of rock’s old purity test, the idea that seriousness equals restraint. Queen didn’t just want to sound good; they wanted to keep the listener slightly off-balance, like a movie that changes genres mid-scene but still lands emotionally.

Context matters because Queen rose in an era when albums were becoming statements and tribes were forming: prog, punk, metal, glam. Their refusal to stay put could read as indecision. May reframes it as confidence - a band so sure of its identity it can wear five identities at once. The “unexpected” becomes a promise: every track is allowed to be a plot twist, and the glue is sheer commitment.