Queen drummer defends Paul Rodgers

Roger Taylor says that Freddie Mercury would be proud of the new Queen + Paul Rodgers album The Cosmos Rocks. Taylor told Rolling Stone, "Freddie was a huge Paul Rodgers fan. (He) absolutely adored his voice. He was a different animal, but he would have loved to have been able to sing like that."

He went on to say that Rodgers brings an originality to the band, while still managing to evoke and honor Mercury's signature sound: "Any number of people could come along and imitate Freddie, but it would be pointless. It's wonderful to hear Paul inhabiting the songs and making them new. I know that's what Freddie would want."

Taylor says that he and cofounder Brian May are amazed that there's still a tremendous amount of interest in Queen's music: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "I think it's impossible to tell at the time that something's going to have longevity. We managed to keep a really great career for 20 years, so we know we had some kind of longevity, but we didn't really think that all this time later that the songs would still be or some of the songs would still be such a part of the wallpaper."

Queen + Paul Rodgers will perform on Friday in Dubai. A North American tour is expected to be announced for 2009.