Queen + Paul Rodgers Is Over
by Paul Cashmere - May 13 2009


Queen + Paul Rodgers is no more. The collaboration between Queen`s Brian May and Roger Taylor and Free/Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers has grounded to a halt.


Rodgers confirmed the decision to stop the act in an interview on VH1.

While his official word for the band is “done” he does not rule of the occasional special occasion performance. "It's out there for us to do things in the future if there's something - a huge charity say like Nelson Mandela - but I think we are pretty much done," he said.

Rodgers will concentrate on the Bad Company reunion in June and July. The band, featuring Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke, will tour the US.

Queen + Paul Rodgers released their one and only album ‘The Cosmos Rocks’ in 2008. It was the first official Queen album since ‘Made In Heaven’

‘The Cosmos Rocks’ was a disaster. The fans hated it and avoided it. It was not the band’s finest moment.

Rodgers first got together with Queen in 2004 when he joined Brian May on stage and performed by his songs and theirs.

The first official public performance was on March 2005 for the Nelson Mandela 4664 concert

Paul Rodgers is awesome.
Queen are awesome.
"The Cosmos Rocks" is not awesome. I tried. I hated it, semi-liked it, then hated it again. I stand by the hating it part. But live, they were pretty cool.
Rodgers belongs with Bad Company.
Or Free.
Or The Firm.
Or The Law.
Or solo.
Or with Menudo.

They never started for me. Unfortunately in rock music, groups don't know when to call it quits. There is a market for that group, a person who wants to relive their youth and hear their favorite groups from that time once again 30 years later. I'm not that market. IP is. I'd rather listen to that cd from 30 years ago of Journey then listen to an inferior incarnation, but to each his own.

I've never heard PR + Queen; & I don't want to. PR is so different then Mercury & Queen is so different then Free/Bad Co; makes me think oil & water...........

I didn't realize I was a market all to myself. If that was the case, they would've made a better album because it sucks.
By the way-the current Journey is not "inferior" just because you don't listen to it. And, just so you know, my favorite Journey lineup is the ORIGINAL band that made three jazz fusion-oriented albums that no real "fan" even acknowledges.
Please don't pass judgement on my musical tastes.

I wonder what market I am? I liked "Cosmos Rocks", though certainly not nearly as much as the original Queen or Bad Co. & Free. I also like Journey (and those original 3 albums too - I have the Japanese remasters of them all). I would have liked to see Queen + Paul Rodgers in concert, though. Wouldn't want to go see something like Simple Plan or Chris Brown, for instance - but I do intend to see the current versions of the Guess Who, Jefferson Starship and Rare Earth for free this summer. Why not?

As long as you're seeing "Jefferson Starship" (Paul Katner) & NOT "Starship" (Mickey Thomas' abomination) they should be really good. & I THINK the current Guess Who is Bachman/Cummings?

This is truly distressing news. The world clamored for Queen to get together with the singer of Bad Company. May, Taylor & Rodgers not only revived the dormant Queen, but reinvented it, with spot-on bluesy vocals that didn't ape the late Freddie Mercury's.

They made a bold move, calling their first album The Cosmos Rocks. They even cited Alice Cooper and The Beach Boys in their groundbreaking song "Surf's Up, School's Out" without seeming derivative. Their boldness in continuing on the Queen legacy was met with deafening silence from those should have been "their fans."

This is truly sad news. Rodgers is obviously riding the Bad Company reunion train for the money and can easily sing those songs. But what about Brian May and Roger Taylor? What do they get for their brave attempt at carrying on? A singer who ditched them for $$$$.

Someday, The Cosmos Rocks will be viewed in retrospect as a brave step forward for a group who wanted to further their--







BWAH-HA-HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris, you may want to send your post to SNL, I think they have a job waiting for you in the writing dept!

I'd like to think I could write something better than SNL, but thanks for the compliment, Geff.

I wish it were Bachman/Cummings but it's not. It bet it wouldn't be a free show if it were! Also, it is the Kantner/Balin Jefferson Starship.

I'm jealous if Balin's with Katner at the moment. It should be a great show. I believe The Tubes Prairie Prince is still playing drums for them too.

This project was doomed from the second that John Deacon didn't participated. And Brian May's the one with the PhD!

Actually, I just watched the Q+PR thing that was on HDNet. It was decent, but it wasn't Queen. I understand why they called it Queen, but I think it was the wrong decision. It wasn't fair to the fans, it wasn't fair to Paul Rodgers, and it wasn't fair to the new band. Play the Queen stuff, play the stuff from Rodgers' career, but don't call it Queen. That would be like Kiss dressing up guys like the original members and going out on...never mind.

There's a fine line between what constitutes a band legitimately continuing with a name, and a project that needs a new name, and we all draw the line in different places. I just saw that Foghat is doing a free show here this summer. That's right - Foghat. Or, more accurately, Foghat's drummer and three other guys (the bass player may have been in Foghat at some point, but I'm not sure).

Journey is an interesting case - as IP said, the original band isn't the one most identified as Journey. But were they really more legitimately Journey when Steve Perry had essentially pushed out all the original members save Neal Schon?

Alan

As I've mentioned before, I problem I have with the new Journey was re-recording all the hits & selling them to likely unsuspecting folks at Wallymart

I tried to like the Cosmos Rock and I just couldn't get into it. Even bought used I wish I didn't.

Man, what is Best Buy going to do with all those expensive boxsets they have for the Cosmos?

Rick A.

IP, I wasn't casting aspersions on your musical taste, which would be fruitless anyway, because musical taste is arbitrary. I was merely pointing you out as a poster who quite frequently extols new recordings of rock bands that have done nothing of note since the 70's or early 80's, most notably Foreigner and Journey. Queen with Paul Rodgers isn't Queen. You can spin it however you want to: no Freddie Mercury, no Queen. No Lou Gramm--no Foreigner. No Paul Rodgers--no Bad Company. No Steve Perry or at least Greg Rollie--no Journey. I personally don't want to hear some piss poor facsimile of the original singer. I can watch American Idol. which I don't, if I want to see an imitation. These bands had their heydeys 30 years ago--IT'S OVER. I still listen to them, that's why they call it classic rock. You enjoy these bands and their new incarnations even today. As I said in my original post which you either ignored or chose to overlook--to each his own. You post about liking these bands now, that's your opinion, I'm posting that I think they are crap, which is merely mine.

James:
To each his own. But, it seems you base this on nothing. You haven't seen Journey or Foreigner live now (I assume you'll tell me you saw a clip on You Tube and it was oh so awful you just couldn't watch it)-they're amazing, and others here have attested to that fact. Where do you get off saying it's "piss poor"? I see no evidence of such.
And, no Gregg Rollie-no Journey? I think even Rollie would have a hard time with that one.
remember, I'm a fan of these bands, not just the current incarnations. If they made bad choices I'd say so-they didn't. Queen + Paul Rodgers was an odd idea to say the least. I saw them live-they were great. It was NOT Queen and was not billed a such.
The studio album was a bad idea and was awful-again though, it was not billed as Queen. The name Queen should not have been associated with this project though. See, we're on board there!
You're a bit quick with the heydays being over-the new Journey album went Top 10 Platinum and they had a sold-out tour.
I also extol new music which you may or may not care about. Bands like Bloc Party, Airborne Toxic Event, The Horrors, Air, Daft Punk, Arctic Monkeys, Placebo, Silversun Pickups-that's what I primarily listen to now-so I'm in no time warp.
Look-I see and hear what I hear, and I recently saw the PBS Soundstage show with Foreigner and I don't know how anyone could bash that-also, their new song "Too Late" is an excellent song.
I have said this 4,000 times and I'll say it again-just beacuse a singer leaves a band should not have to break up.
Are some of these people hanging on to past glories? Yes. Isn't Brett Favre, Jamie Moyer, Michael Caine and Phil Jackson? So what-most of them still have lots of success and are as good now as before.
Obviously we disagree here, but that's fine.

From his e.r.a., sounds like Moyer's long run is ending...............

I'm looking forward to the new album by Queen + Michael Caine. As long as their touring schedule doesn't interfere with Caine's work on the next Batman film, I'm down with it.

I thought they'd picked a duo of Britney & Jessica..................

They decided to go with someone who had talent.

Gotta say Doc, these jokes are almost as bad as "The Cosmos Rocks" itself. Some new material wouldn't hurt. Carrot Top seems fresh and funny to this stuff.