Talk:Brian May
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[edit] Virtuoso
I'm not sure if one would consider him a virtuoso of guitar. Hes fantastic, true, but I'm not sure if virtuoso is the right title.
I agree. Virtuoso i ssubjective and too strong a term to be associated with this artist. Popularity and good musicianship does not, by any means, trascend one to virtuoso status. Lynnarmstrong 02:42, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Too much detail
Is "The album featured other greats such as Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Pete Green of Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, and Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo." really neccessary? I'll delete it if it remains unjustified... pomegranate 16:59, Jan 6, 2005 (UTC)
- I agree this list is rather far afield, and would agree with the deletion. --Gary D 20:12, Jan 6, 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Dr.?
Question - is it customary to use the "Dr." title with people who have been awarded honorary doctorates?
- Perhaps not customary usage, but when he appeared on The Sky at Night in August 2005, the caption read "Dr" Isidore 16:42, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
- If you have a doctorate (known as a PhD) in any subject, you may rightfully be called "Doctor". TheImpossibleMan 05:13, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
- The title "Doctor" and the postnym letters "Ph.D." apply only to earned doctorates. Front243 14:24, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
There are two levels of doctorate in UK academia. The first level consists of the PhD (or DPhil at Oxford and Sussex, and formerly at York), and also the newer `vocational doctorates' like EdD, EngD and DClinPsych. These require about 3-4 years full-time study and research training, and the submission of a thesis containing a `substantial original contribution to knowledge' which is, in principle, publishable in a peer-refereed context (either as a book or in a journal).
The second level consists of the `higher doctorates' - DSc, DLitt, DMus, DD, etc. These are often, erroneously, believed to be purely honorary awards (in the USA they are only ever honorary). In the UK, though, while they are often awarded honoris causa, it is possible to earn one - almost always by submission of published work representing a `very substantial original contribution to knowledge'.
There are also many cases where someone who is eminently capable of obtaining an earned higher doctorate has been awarded an honorary one - a few years ago my university gave an honorary DSc to Andrew Wiles, for example. Were he to formally submit his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem for consideration, there isn't a university on the planet that wouldn't award him a substantive DSc forthwith.
Regardless of whether your doctorate is honorary or substantive (earned), you are entitled to call yourself `Dr'. It is, however, generally regarded as slightly bad form to do so unless your doctorate is substantive (although this has never stopped Ian Paisley), or if you're a qualified physician (the standard UK medical degree is the double-baccalaureate MB BS or MB ChB, which, while not being a doctorate, for historical reasons accords the holder the courtesy title of `Dr').
Brian May has a DSc, and may thus style himself `Dr Brian May' - the fact that it's an honorary one doesn't change that. Now, as I understand it, he never quite finished his PhD - he did all the research, and either never submitted his thesis, or didn't complete whatever corrections the examiners required. However, as I understand it, he does have two peer-refereed journal articles to his credit, so it seems reasonable to assume that he would have got the PhD had international megastardom not intervened. So although it would ordinarily be slightly bad form to call himself Dr, I think it's fair to say that he possesses the requisite level of technical knowledge in his chosen field, so I think the usual etiquette probably doesn't apply in this case. (For what it's worth, speaking as someone who did finish his PhD, I have no problem with Brian May calling himself Dr.) --Nicholas Jackson 00:50, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Restructure
I would like to restructure this page a bit, but lack ideas. I've done a couple of little tweaks, but it needs some kind of overall structure. Something along the lines of intro, history, performing (broken into guitar, singing, other?), songwriting, personal, these days? Or should the whole thing be presented as a history? All ideas very welcome. The structure as it is, with a section on 'Gear' doesn't make much sense. The content I agree with, but not the structure... --Stevage 20:37, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
- The title of "Brian's input into songs credited to Queen" seems so rediculous.. some reworking needs to be done there.. --Drowse 07:00, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Knighted
Didn't he get knighted recently? Could someone verify and amend the article?
- He was declared a Commander of the British Empire, which is a couple steps under knighthood. --Drowse 06:59, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Totally innappropriate comment for Wikipedia but...
One thing the article doesn't say is what a nice bloke he is.
At a club was working in the late 80s, none of the other staff had turned up to work for a party.
When they saw how overstretched and stressed I was getting, he and Anita rolled up their sleeves and pitched in, taking orders, delivering drinks to customers, collecting empties etc.
He saved my sanity that night chrisboote 09:50, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
- If you can verify that, why don't you make a short mentioning of it in the trivia-section?—♦♦ SʘʘTHING(Я) 10:35, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
- Well, short of deliberatly bumping in to them in Sunningdale Waitrose, asking him or Anita to log on to wikipedia with some identifiable userid, and confirm that they remember the incident, how could I verify it? chrisboote 14:30, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
- Then I'm afraid we shouldn't include that comment in the article.—♦♦ SʘʘTHING(Я) 15:10, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
- I know, that's why I stuck it in talk with the heading "totally inappropriate..."
- It's just something I thought may interest others, without being article material chrisboote 10:53, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
- Then I'm afraid we shouldn't include that comment in the article.—♦♦ SʘʘTHING(Я) 15:10, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
- Well, short of deliberatly bumping in to them in Sunningdale Waitrose, asking him or Anita to log on to wikipedia with some identifiable userid, and confirm that they remember the incident, how could I verify it? chrisboote 14:30, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Red Special
I agree that the Red Special is a unique guitar, but the orchestral arrangements he created were very little to do with the guitar itself. It was due to multi-tracking the guitars (recording seperate tracks after the other rather than trying to record all at the same time), and also in part due to his Deacy amp which John Deacon built for him.
[edit] Problems with this article
Two of the audio samples are longer than suggested (30 seconds) for fair use, Image:Queen Get Down Make Love.ogg and Image:Queen - Brian May - Brighton Rock.ogg. The article, while nice, also fails to cite reliable sources in accordance with our Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons policy. I am going to remove these two samples from the article for now and hopefully the referencing issue can be resolved soon. Can't sleep, clown will eat me 08:06, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Image...?
1. I think the current pic of him must be replaced, because it is of him performing, and the infobox pic should be more neutral, almost like a passport photo, right? Can someone better than me on Wikipedia please upload a better infobox pic of Mr May? I am thinking maybe this one http://www.queenmania.net/images/fotografie/brian_may/brian_may_01.jpg or http://www.queenmania.net/images/fotografie/brian_may/brian_may_02.jpg or http://www.queenmania.net/images/fotografie/brian_may/brian_may_07.jpg - don't know if they are copywrighted, though :S //Thanks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MatteusH (talk • contribs) .
- Those photo's are not licensed under a free content license, so they would have to be used under fair use. Which, according to Wikipedia:Fair use criteria #1 is not possible since the current image is a free content image. One can't replace a fair use with a free content image. Garion96 (talk) 10:51, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
Okey, but you know any valid picture of him we can use? //Matteus
- I think it is best to use a free photo that best illustrates the subject of the article. For someone casually browsing through articles, or even a limited English reader, a photo that shows Brian May as a guitarist seems most appropriate. --Aguerriero (talk) 14:53, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
