I always had a vague interest in Queen when I was small, mostly thanks to Wayne's World and the Bohemian Rhapsody scene in the car.
But then Bohemian Rhapsody was one of my set musical pieces that I had to study in depth for my final school Exams (called the Leaving Cert over here) and as a result I bought the greatest hits and completly fell in love with them. Learning about the intricacy that went into making Bohemian Rhapsody blew me away. If you know how music recording worked back then and take into account the sheer volume of information that they put onto those teeny 24 tracks, it just blows my mind. Its the one song on the planet that I know almost everything about. And it was one of the first songs to have a proper music video too. Its a really interesting read on wikipedia if anyone is interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_rhapsodyMy other favourite songs are Who wants to live forever? and Killer Queen, Don't stop me now and Too much love will kill you. God they're just amazing.
As for Mercury, it is so heartbreakingly tragic that a talent like his had to die so young. What an amazing man and musician.
Obviously I'm too young to have ever seen them live but I don't think I'd ever go to one of their gigs now (are they even still touring with that guy?) it just wouldn't be the same. Freddie made that band.