It's all opinions, man...
Of course, though I profer the following in Freddie's defense...
a) Who's songs are still being played frequently on AOR radio?
b) Who's songs are being covered currently by large stadium acts such as Pink?
c) Who had a full length movie made about him?
d) Who's song is the most streamed?
e) Who's song is still widely played at major sporting events?
Freddie was a classically trained pianist who wanted to rock and break out of a rigid family/religious structure, and when he combined the two styles of music history was made in 1975! Queen's straight up rock was awesome with the contributions of Roger, Brian, and John, though it was Freddie's classically oriented rock music with classical dynamics, harmonic and rhythmic complexity, along with it's incredible production considering the time period and available technology of the day, that changed rock music forever!
Freddie's work has stood the test of time like no other excepting the Beatles with George Martin IMO.
I was lucky enough to see a press only audition by Freddie and Queen for BGP (Bill Graham Presents) back in the early 70's, back when Queen was just starting out with straight up rockin' tunes, before their collective genius was exposed a few years later, and I'll never forget everyone walking out of the Fillmore West with the same thought, that Queen was going to be HUGE!
Saw Ronnie and Deep Purple a couple of times back then too, just another really good rock band with a great singer. After the first two LP's, Deep Purple was for the most part Blackmore and Lord, and Blackmore was notoriusly difficult to deal with at the time, though a friend played with him later in life in a more acoustic setting and said Richie was cool then (I've never met him).
The defense rests...
