Exclusive: Queen's Brian May Addresses Adam Lambert Rumors

After Adam Lambert's killer performance with Queen on Wednesday night's season finale of American Idol, rumors flew that he had already been offered a job singing with the band. That's slightly premature, according to the band's guitarist, Brian May. "Amongst all that furor, there wasn't really a quiet moment to talk," May tells Rolling Stone in an e-mail interview. "But [drummer Roger Taylor] and I are definitely hoping to have a meaningful conversation with him at some point. It's not like we, as Queen, would rush into coalescing with another singer just like that. It isn't that easy. But I'd certainly like to work with Adam. That is one amazing instrument he has there."

May, whose band recently ended a four-year-long partnership with singer Paul Rodgers, is comfortable with Idol as a launching point for the careers of rock singers. "You'd have to define 'legitimate' first," he writes. "The long-term answer has to be that, if you have enough talent and enough will to succeed, you will get there by whatever route presents itself. Once you have scaled the castle walls, with the sword in your hand, it matters little how you got there. I've not always been positive about shows like this, but there is no doubt that it offers a door to some real genuine talent along the way."

"Both those boys are well worthy of big success," May continues, in regard to Lambert and Idol winner Kris Allen. "So it's pointless for someone like me to stand on the sidelines jeering. I'm confident Adam will make great use of this wonderful opportunity. I hope I'm there to see it."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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