Queensryche

Emerging during the ’80s metal boom, Queensrÿche separated themselves from the pack with their progressive licks and conceptual vision—and they’re still at it, more than 30 years later.

∙ Formed in 1981, the band (originally called The Mob) had no lead singer, until they recruited vocalist Geoff Tate and became Queensrÿche, a variant of their song “Queen of the Reich.” ∙ Building momentum with albums The Warning (1984) and Rage for Order (1986), the group broke through with 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime, a Platinum-selling rock opera.

∙ In 1989, Operation: Mindcrime’s “I Don’t Believe in Love” earned a Grammy Award nomination—the first of three that the band would receive in their career.