One of the great musical shames of all time was that Freddie Mercury died young. Not only did he have the best pipes in rock-n-roll, he was one of pop music's best songwriters, with a knack for both the sophisticated and very simple.

Take for example Queen's 1980 No. 1 hit, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," which is my No. 4 song for that year, based on Billboard magazine's year-end list. It's a tune awash in rockabilly, made to sound like something Elvis might have done.

However, it's become a pop standard.

Lots of folks don't realize that Freddie Mercury played the acoustic guitar on this one. Heck, Brian May barely even got in on the tune, recording his solo after everybody else was done, according to Wikipedia.

What's scary is that "Crazy Little Thing ... " isn't nearly Queen's best tune. Go back to the 1970s and songs like "Killer Queen," which I think is the group's greatest achievement, and you'll get a sense of just how diverse the group's tastes were.

Of course, I suspect Queen's stamp on the music world was primarily driven by Mercury. Surely, nobody plays the guitar like May, and most musicians are familiar with the story behind his homemade instrument. However, Queen was rock-n-roll Broadway; they were all over the place.

Just think about how etched they are into the fabric of pop culture. Take the bass line of "Another One Bites The Dust," possibly the greatest bass riff ever. Take the global recognition of "We Will Rock You," the most popular sports arena anthem of all time, while "We Are The Champions" is also ubiquitous in the world of athletics.

But it's this little rockabilly ditty that set the tone in the early part of the 1980s for originality and catchiness.

No. 4 for 1980: Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen