Few bands embodied the pure excess of the '70s like Queen. Embracing the exaggerated pomp of prog rock and heavy metal as well as vaudevillian music hall the British quartet delved deeply into camp and bombast creating a huge mock-operatic sound with layered guitars and overdubbed vocals. Queen's music was a bizarre yet highly accessible fusion of the macho and the fey. For years their albums boasted the motto "no synthesizers were used on this record " signaling their allegiance with the legions of post-Led Zeppelin hard rock bands. But vocalist Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant sense of camp to the band pushing them toward kitschy humor and pseudo-classical arrangements as epitomized on their best-known song "Bohemian Rhapsody." Mercury it must be said was a flamboyant bisexual who managed to keep his sexuality in the closet until his death from AIDS in 1992. Nevertheless his sexuality was apparent throughout Queen's music from their very name to their veiled lyrics — it was truly bizarre to hear gay anthems like "We Are the Champions" turn into celebrations of sports victories. That would have been impossible without Mercury one of the most dynamic and charismatic frontmen in rock history. Through his legendary theatrical performances Queen became one of the most popular bands in the world in the mid-'70s; in England they remained second only to the Beatles in popularity and collectibility in the '90s. Despite their enormous popularity Queen were never taken seriously by rock critics — an infamous Rolling Stone review labeled their 1979 album Jazz as "fascist." In spite of such harsh criticism the band's popularity rarely waned; even in the late '80s the group retained a fanatical following except in America. In the States their popularity peaked in the early '80s just as they finished nearly a decade's worth of extraordinarily popular records. And while those records were never praised they sold in enormous numbers and traces of Queen's music could be heard in several generations of hard rock and metal bands in the next two decades from Metallica to Smashing Pumpkins.