Smith 1 Casey Smith ENG 200 Christine Olding 26 March 2014 A Day to Remember Queen Since music exploded

in America with inventions such as the phonograph, genres of music have been experimented with. Queen, coming around in the 70s, later came to be known to be one of the greatest rock bands of all time. While A Day to Remember (ADTR) is just starting out on their journey to take over the world. Pitting these two bands against each other and digging deep into two of their more popular songs Killer Queen and If It Means A Lot To You, I will discuss where these two bands cross musical boundaries and where they greatly differ. Starting off with the earlier band in the time-line, Queen formed in the United Kingdom in the year 1970. Freddie Mercury headlined the band as their lead vocalist and pianist. The bands early works came from a more metal hard-rock theme, but later swung to a more radio friendly tone to increase popularity. Queen ended their career with Mercurys death in 1991; they ended their incredible career with 18 number one albums and singles (Wiki Queen). A newer band on the circuit, ADTR came to life in 2003. The band is known as being the first band to successfully combine metal and punk in a commercially successful way. The band has launched 5 albums with each one becoming more and more successful. The band has overcome a lot in their early career and should continue to grow and succeed in their genre (Wiki ADTR).

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Queen Song analysis Song: Killer Queen Ethos: Queen represents themselves as an authority on the subject matter of this song. Queen was one of the most successful rock bands to ever grace the UK. Freddie, having a net worth of around 100 million, would have been able to afford and see a significant amount of high end prostitution and easily be able to relate and write about this aspect of their life. This makes them an authority on the subject. Since Freddie Mercury himself wrote this song, Queen as a band is credible about the songs contents. Queens headliner and lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, wrote most of Queens hit songs including Killer Queen. Queen discusses the issue of high end prostitution in this song and looks fairly at the subject. Freddie was known as having homosexual affairs. At this point in the UK, homosexuality had only recently been decriminalized helping to further reason why Freddie might fairly approach this subject. I do not feel a connection to this song. This song does not connect with me because I do not, nor will I ever, have the opportunity to live this aspect of their lives. Pathos: Freddie Mercury was an incredibly talented singer/ songwriter. This can be easily seen in the song Killer Queen. The wide spread vocal ranges and complex rhythms and vocalizations really help this song to attach to your emotions. Tone is a complicated discussion in any of Queenss songs. In this song Queens tone seems to have a positive upbeat feel. Instrumentals and vocalizations change everything. The theme of the song is somewhat of a dark theme of prostitution while the vocals and instrumentals help keep the subject matter light, but powerful.

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Logos: Evidence is throughout Killer Queen. Freddie mostly pulls all of his evidence from lyrics used in the song. The first example of such is To avoid complications she never kept the same address. This lyric shows that Freddie had some knowledge of how high scale hookers operate. Freddies claim is a little blurry, with his uplift singing and instrumentals being just as uplifting, the darkness of the subject matter is hidden. The song follows a common theme for Queen, but not so for other bands. Freddies ability to write complex songs makes this song different from the average, but is well organized in the end. Both of these facts come from Freddies interest in genres like gospel, which is a more complex genre to write. A Day to Remember Song analysis Song: If it Means a Lot to You Ethos: Jeremy, the bands headliner and vocalist, represents himself as an authority on the subject matter of the song. This song describes the complications of having a small, struggling band, with a girl at home, trying to make ends meet. ADTR struggled at first and toured as often as possible, this wouldve complicated any of the bands relationships they had started prior to accepting the responsibility of the band. ADTR is credible on the content of this song because they wrote the song. Jeremy Writes about 9 out of every 10 songs the band produces and this was one he solely wrote, though he had very little to do with the instrumentation of the song as that lies with the lead guitarist Neil.

Smith 4 Pathos: This band appeals to anyones emotions on almost all of their songs. This song is especially easy to relate to. The song discusses the stress leaving home puts on relationships. You can see this when Jeremy sings And I know that you don't wanna be leaving me/ Yeah, you want it, but I can't help it./ I just feel complete when you're by my side. At some point most kids leave their home and with it leave crucial relationships. In this song the artists use a lighter more acoustic tone to help listeners relate to the message at hand. Acoustic songs tend to have I more serious tone and help the listener to feel more connected to the meaning of the song. Towards the end of the song the band comes in with the audience to sing the final chorus. This allows the band to successfully get across the point that their band has made it, but the final chorus is Jeremy singing alone to signify his once substantial relationship has completely faded and he is now alone. Logos: Jeremy puts most of his evidence in his lyrics. One example of this is the first verse Hey darling;
I hope you're good tonight /And I know you don't feel right when I'm leaving/ Yeah, I want it but no, I don't need it/ Tell me something sweet to get me by; 'Cause I can't come back home 'til they're singin'. This lyric effectively shows the entire problem of leaving home and leaving someone you care about at home or far away. Jeremys claim is very clear throughout the song and only develops deeper as the song progresses. This is easily confirmed by the progression of the story throughout the song. Compare: Looking at the two bands above ability to use Ethos Pathos and Logos, I find the two bands are strikingly similar. Both bands write about topics that impacted their careers and lives. Neither of the bands wrote about songs that they didnt have some understanding of the topic. Though both

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bands had very different writing approaches and complexities they both found ways to appeal to your emotions one way or another. Both bands also used their lyrics as evidence to support their claims within the song. The bands have a similar style of music so their stage presence is somewhat similar though Freddie is a much more flamboyant on stage. Both bands have very loud upfront sounds and lyrics.

Contrast: Queen does not reach out to make connections to their audience nearly as much as ADTR strives to accomplish that task. While both bands have upfront in your face lyrics, ADTR uses much harsher versions of their lyrics and instrumentals pulled heavily from their metal background. For their time, Queen was a hard rock band. Compared to modern metal, Queen is relatively calm. Freddie makes a wonderful attempt to use his incredible sonwriting and singing capabilites in every song while ADTR reaches out to more of their story telling abilities and hard rock attitudes to get their message across. Closing: Both of these great bands bring a lot to the table. Whether its Freddies incredible vocal skills or ADTR making it easy to connect to their music through your own interpretation of a story, they both will forever make a spot in history. Both bands adequately use Ethos Pathos and Logos in the two songs examined, and their subtle differences really make one wonder if one would exist without the other.