It’s difficult to imagine whether the members of Queen ever experienced any creative hardships. Each brought their own unique flair, but the unity of Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon formed an entity where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Still, as with any legendary outfit, some projects flowed more naturally than others.

The flamboyance at the heart of Queen seemed immovable even when the band members themselves felt distant from one another. In Mercury’s view, this was often due to their differences, but the power of the music meant that their strength always remained. As he once put it, “We like the music we make. If we didn’t like the music we make, we’d say goodbye to each other.”

It might have seemed like a relatively bleak outlook, knowing that if you removed the music, their unity would have likely folded, but if for nothing else, it showed the power of their musicality. There was also a constant element of bullish nonchalance about Mercury’s demeanour that essentially said, “Whatever happens, I’m here today, and so are they, so let’s rock.”

Mercury’s childlike charm, alongside his repeated use of the word “darling” and cagey presence in interviews, of course, added to the allure of the entire group. Still, no matter how much mystery surrounded their inner workings, you could be sure that they encountered the same amount of difficulties as anyone else, particularly when it came to the natural flow of creativity. Cohesion and flow weren’t always guaranteed, even for the best musicians in the business.

In reality, Mercury likely felt the pressure more than most during his time, partially because of his unrelenting desire to constantly better himself, but also because he knew what his best looked like, and that often came in the form of writing in an exceptionally short amount of time. When putting together ‘Killer Queen’, for instance, the fact that it came together in one night made him feel euphoric, even if he refrained from viewing it in an egotistical manner.

“I’m not being conceited or anything,” the singer said the moment he revealed the efficiency with which the song formed. “It just fell into place,” he told The Guardian. “Certain songs do.” The ones that don’t might reflect their quality, but they do yield a certain calibre of effort and energy that can quickly transition from productiveness to pure frustration.

“Certain things just come together, but other things you have to work for,” the musician explained. “The whole band is very particular. We don’t go in for half-measures, and I’m very hard with myself. There are no compromises. If I thought a song wasn’t quite right, I’d discard it. I’m very intricate and delicate.” One such song that wasn’t as easy to navigate was ‘March Of The Black Queen’.

“That took ages,” Mercury stated. “I had to give it everything, to be self-indulgent or whatever,” he added. Although controversial, it’s easy to see why this particular song was challenging to construct, mostly because of the abstraction at its core—unlike many of the band’s more mainstream hits, ‘March Of The Black Queen’ leaned hard into the magical kingdom of Rhye and the experiences deemed forbidden or punishable in the context of modern society.

Perhaps, in hindsight, the song was too niche for most from the outset. That said, it did give a glimpse into Mercury’s unique psyche during a personal transitional period when he challenged himself to dig deeper for more complex and sophisticated personal musings and even greater artistic lyricism.