Although it’s hard to imagine Queen without Brian May, we almost lived in that exact reality after a 1967 performance by a different iconic guitarist almost made May want to give up on playing altogether. Years before he would become the lead guitarist of Queen, May was a mathematics and physics student at London’s Imperial College. He played music as a hobby, prompting him to join his school’s Entertainments Committee.
As a committee member, May helped book various musical acts at his college. One such act was so inspiring to the young musician that it bordered on intimidation, as he explained decades later in 2020.
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Brian May Helped His School Book Jimi Hendrix
Brian May first saw Jimi Hendrix when the “Purple Haze” singer was opening for The Who at London’s Savile Theatre in January 1967. Hendrix’s performance impressed May so much that when the Entertainments Committee began looking for musical acts to perform at a student ball later that spring, May suggested they ask Hendrix. The fee wouldn’t be cheap—Hendrix was growing more popular by the day, and he requested the college pay him £1000 for his performance.
Imperial College obliged, and suddenly, May was mere feet away from one of his musical idols. In a 2020 interview with Classic Rock, the Queen guitarist recalled meeting him for the first time.
“They were in [their dressing room], making some noise, smoking a lot of dope. It was getting near the time when they were supposed to go on stage, so one of us knocked on the door and said, ‘It’s time, Mr. Hendrix. It’s time to go.’ He came out with a guitar and says, ‘Where’s the stage, man?’ We all pointed in the direction without actually saying anything, just starstruck. That was my first conversation with him if you can call it that.”
The Performance Almost Made Queen’s Brian May Want To Give Up Playing
Brian May and his fellow committee members rushed to watch Hendrix’s set, which started with a rousing rendition of “Foxey Lady.” May recalled, “I was about ten feet away when he struck up that first note. It was stupendous. I have never heard a sound like that in my life, before or since. I was already a devotee of Jimi. But that was life-changing.”
“I thought I could play guitar at that time,” he continued. “I thought I was okay on guitar. But when you saw Hendrix, you just really, really wanted to give up—or try harder.” Luckily, May chose the latter. “I looked at his equipment and looked at him and thought: ‘Well, he’s just a man, and that’s just a guitar, and those are just amps.’ But when he started up, it was like an earthquake. That doesn’t even describe it. It was like a cross between an earthquake, an orchestra, and a whirlwind of sound.”
Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 performance might have almost made Queen’s Brian May give up his instrument, but luckily for rock and roll fans everywhere, the undergraduate was much more driven. Instead of letting Hendrix’s performance intimidate him, May allowed it to inspire him to practice his instrument even more diligently—picking up skills he would later use when writing iconically complex riffs like the ones in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Hendrix’s influence on May has persisted throughout his entire career. “He’s still the model of what you want to be as a rock star,” May told Classic Rock. “He’s doing it for the sheer joy of it.”
Photo by Ian Dickson/Shutterstock
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