It’s not hard to imagine a small, conservative, Midwestern American town where rock ‘n’ roll is illegal, a la the movie Footloose, but how about a big city in the north of England imposing an ordinance to limit how loud a rock band could be? In 1973!
It might sound like a corny script idea destined for more cliches than the actual Queen biopic itself, but this was the genuine reality facing Freddie Mercury and Co as they travelled up to Leeds to play the first gig on their first major tour, as the support band for headliners Mott the Hoople.
It was the middle of November, and while Queen were generating some good buzz from their recently released debut album, the majority of the fanfare was certainly still around Ian Hunter and his band, who had dominated rock radio for much of the past year with the Bowie-penned anthem ‘All the Young Dudes’.
What neither Queen nor the Hoople had bargained for, however, was Leeds City Council’s mission to “shush” wailing guitar solos as a matter of local law enforcement that autumn. This effort wasn’t motivated by complaints from angry parents or city centre residents, they claimed, but by the guidance of the British Department of Health and a genuine concern for the eardrums of young concert goers.
As such, the council officially decreed that a measurement of 96 decibels would be the new legal limit for any amplified music played in the city; a decision strongly opposed by concert organisers at the local universities, who felt it would greatly hinder their ability to book major rock acts going forward.
Sure enough, Elton John – not exactly the loudest rocker you could think of – cancelled a planned tour stop in Leeds in ‘74 out of objection to the ridiculous rule. It was a bit too late for Mott the Hoople, though. They’d already locked in their opening tour date at Leeds Town Hall on November 12th, 1973, just as the law came in, so there was no thought of pulling the plug. There was also, of course, no intention of following the decree.
For the bonkers, incomprehensible price of 90p, which would still be less than £10 today, or about $13 US after inflation, fans willing to brave the dangerous noise conditions that night got to see one of the biggest rock bands of the moment, as well as a coming-out party for one of the biggest rock bands of all time. Both groups turned up the amps to the proverbial 11, and Ian Hunter was inspired to write a lyric that would appear on a Mott the Hoople single the following year, called ‘The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll’: “So if the going gets rough / Don’t you blame us / You 96 decibel freaks!”
Queen’s opening set, which every Leeds resident of a certain age will now claim to have seen, was about 45 minutes long, with six songs of their own and a classic rock medley of sorts as their closer. The crowd received them well, and heading into the holiday season, Mott fans spread the word about the impressive opening act they’d seen, helping Queen sell some more records at Christmas. Still, according to Chris Poole, who was an assistant to Queen publicist Tony Brainsby at the time, that first-ever tour didn’t necessarily feel like a victory at the time, even if they’d slayed the 96 decibel dragon.
“I had a good time with them,” Poole recalled in the 2004 book Queen: The Early Years, “But they were not an easy band. On the Mott the Hoople tour, they were quite annoyed because they didn’t get as much press as they figured they should have got. They may have been a support group, but they already had the mentality of stars.”
