Some music historians define punk in terms of song characteristics (fast drumbeats, rapid-fire power chords, snotty or shouted vocals, anti-authority lyrics). Others believe groups that brazenly challenge rock's standard practices deserve this designation regardless of whether they sound anything like the Sex Pistols. By the latter criterion, Queen embodied punk. Queen subversively smuggled a proud gay man's voice into America's athletic arenas, and flamboyant frontman Freddie Mercury made its moniker coyly confrontational. Queen's legacy lives on with the Blood Brothers, whose sassy stage presence baits any mosh-pit homophobes, and Chiodos (pronounced chee-oh-dos), which flouts hardcore's tough-guy ethos by co-opting Queen's melodramatic crescendos and baroque piano balladry. The Michigan-based sextet bolsters these rhapsodies with breakdowns that are seismically similar to a packed stadium stomping along with "We Will Rock You." Choppy and chaotic, Chiodos' songs are anything but steady anthems, but its sporadic melodies and staggered riffs make them live killers.
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