Like the Rolling Stones and The Beatles, Queen hit it big in their native England before hopping the pond to enjoy even more success in America. While Queen might not have surpassed their U.K. popularity after the Atlantic transition, they still remain a band which belongs on the short list of mega-popular, genre-defining bands that combined British roots and style with cold, hard American record sales.

Queen was formed when Smile broke apart following the death of the band’s lead singer. Smile’s Brian May (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums) joined forces with Freddy Mercury, who left the band Wreckage, and John Decon (bass) to form what would become Queen. The foursome performed and practiced minimally during the time they were all enrolled in college, but upon graduation they took their work more seriously and issued a self-titled debut album in 1973. An indistinguishable metal-sounding record that achieved little success outside of generally positive reviews by music critics, Queen and it’s lead single “Keep Yourself Alive” allowed the band an opportunity to tour around England, and opened up the door for a follow-up album in 1974. Queen II sounded noticeably different, more like the Queen we know and love today, and reached a Top Ten position in the U.K. charts, following the acclaim of the albums’ most popular single, “Seven Seas of Rhye.” After Queen had made their name and their sound famous in Britain, they embarked on the voyage across the pond to do an American tour, after which their album broke into the top 50 in the U.S.

With a growing fan base in both Britain and the United States, Queen went to work, quickly pumping out Sheer Heart Attack to go along with the singe “Killer Queen” in late 1974. When A Night at the Opera came out in 1975, Queen had perfected their campy, bombastic and flamboyant style, as evidenced by their most famous song on the album (and perhaps their most famous work ever), “Bohemian Rhapsody.” After A Night at the Opera, Queen took their unique persona, complete with overly expensive sound production, stage shows with pomp and bravado and innovative music videos, to the limit, distinguishing themselves from the norm with every performance and every single afterwards.

Even though Freddy Mercury and his pals have voices which are as hard to duplicate as they are classically clean, their songs, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You” have become anthems that demand a voice-over from anyone within earshot.