Brian May: Queen guitarist, stereo photography nerd, amateur astrophysicist

So much to groove on in this Fresh Air radio interview with Queen guitarist Brian May (and photo slideshow). Apart from being a rock legend, he's into antique stereographs, interplanetary dust, and writing books on the history of the universe. The interview also explains how he used audio science to design the famous "stomp stomp clap" section of "We Will Rock You." He constructed the stomps based on a series of distances based on prime numbers, to make it sound like thousands of people were making that noise.

[Submitterator / from kvh]

• [ReallyRUSirius]

  Are you familiar with this insane blogger who is obsessed with Brian May as the devil? Very hilarious!

  http://wethinkyoushould.blogspot.com/2010/06/brian-may-devil-worshipping.html?zx=99a36293f801ea55

  R.U.

  • [z7q2]

    Hey R.U.

    Thanks for Mondo 2000

    Always wanted to say that.

• [Xeni Jardin]

  OMGNOWAY! Thanks, R.U.!

• [Anonymous]

  You’re aware he’s not an amateur astrophysicist, right? He has a PhD in astrophysics from the Imperial College London, and his thesis was on interplanetary dust. He was working on his PhD before Queen became huge. This makes him better than pretty much everyone ever. :-D

• [wayn3w]

  Don’t forget: guitarist, author, astrophysicist, and …

  Luthier. HE MADE HIS OWN GUITARS! He IS the Renaissance Man.

• [bklynchris]

  OK, the post had me going, “Whu?!”.

  But the Brian May as Satan blog? Double “whu?!”

  those are “orbs” huh?

• [dross1260]

  Brian is me god. In ’77, TWA played Bohemian Rhapsody on the in-fight track. There is nothing better than being a 13-year old turning it up next to the suit smoking. On aside note, my mom wouldn’t let me buy a Queen t-shirt from Target in Independence, MO. But then, Target’s logo was black/white then. Still looking for my phenakistoscope Fat Bottom Girls.

• [Christovir]

  I went to the site and it reminded me of Conspiracy-Theory-Guy who used to ambush me at my college library and lecture me with his bat-shit insanity.

  I’m hoping this is just another instance of Poe’s Law.
  http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law

• [Rob Cruickshank]

  His book A Village Lost And Found is wonderful. Everyone who is interested in stereo photography should own it.

• [emilydickinsonridesabmx]

  I listen to NPR as background noise for a good chunk of my work day, and when I heard this today it really made me stop what I was doing and listen. I’ve always thought Brian May was very cool, but I had no idea just how cool. The way he mentioned that Freddie Mercury never minced words was priceless, especially his tone of voice.

  I enjoyed hearing about his stereograph photo project, because he’s been working on it for 25 years. That’s a whole different kind of dedication, apart from the obsessiveness of Queen’s music.

  Is there anything better than finding out someone you admire is even more interesting and admirable than you imagined? Terry Gross did a fantastic job balancing out, and including all the seemingly disconnected facets of Brian May’s life. Very well done all around.

• [IanWalker]

  Amateur astrophysicist? He’s got a PhD in it, and is Chancellor at a University. Makes him a professional in my book at least.

• [chroma]

  I believe he did an important study of the effect of the female gluteus maximus on the rotation of the earth.

  • [Anonymous]

    Did he collect the data? I thought he just assisted on preparing and presenting the abstract.

• [gastronaut]

  Of COURSE he’s a leading authority on the universe. He’s one of its PRINCES, after all:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnrXiaPVeHY

• [Baron Karza]

  Is it just me, or my browser, or is there no headline on this story on the main page? I see one at the top of this page, but on the main page there’s no headline for this one, or the FIA story after it. There is one for the pencils story though. Just checking! Is this some new format or a bug?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    It’s a micropost.

    • [Baron Karza]

      Hmm, it looks like a mistake or something related to the larger story above. Maybe a smaller-font microheadline? Subhead? It’s really been bugging me as a reader lately. My 2¢.

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        There’s a little red arrow on the upper left corner.

• [Drowse]

  Thank you Boing Boing. I love you.

  And I love Queen.

• [Cochituate]

  As others have pointed out, Brian is like a god to those of us who were listening to his licks since Queen’s .first album. I still love the guy

  • [Tynam]

    Cochituate: I was too young to listen to his licks since Queen’s first album, and he’s still my god, whom I worship, and whose name (and hair) I swore by when my sincerity lay in doubt.

    But Chroma wins the thread.