Queen + Paul Rodgers: 'C-Lebrity'

Without Freddie Mercury or John Deacon on board it seems a little cheeky for Brian May and Roger Taylor to be calling themselves Queen. Mercury may well have been a fan of former Free/Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers, but whether he'd be happy seeing the Middlesbrough man stamp all over his legacy nearly 20 years after his death is another matter entirely. Despite these lingering question marks, "Queen" are apparently back and have a new single out.

While 'C-Lebrity', a song written by aging rockers about talentless, fame-hungry teens, isn't quite as awful as it sounds on paper, that's about all it has going for it. May's chunky guitar riffs and Taylor's stadium rawk drums sound like something from The Darkness's second album, coming off as a pale imitation of their former glories rather than a dignified extension of their 70s and 80s peaks. The result is probably the most embarrassing thing to happen to the Queen brand since their ill-advised 5ive hook-up.