Which era of Queen do you prefer? The 70s era or 80s period?
While I feel the 70s had stronger songs, the 80s had stronger and more iconic albums. While I enjoy both, with the 70s I only listen to the hits, whereas in the 80s I listen to the full record.
I used to play the hell out of A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, but never got much into their later stuff. So put me down for 70s.
Ditto, but include the first three songs of the white side of “Queen II,” and most of the “Sheer Heart Attack” album.
I got the original Greatest Hits album and cassette when they came out in 81’ and played them to death. Never owned any of their other stuff past that.
Bum, bum, bum, bum, Bum, bum, bum, bum…
FLASH!
AhhAhhhhhh!
Well, since their first 3 albums are their best, there’s your answer. 
Back when I was a teenager delving into rock music big time, I was a Queen fan, but only of their first five albums. Their 70’s output beats the crap out of their 80’s output, much of the latter being unlistenable, and most instantly forgettable.
I’m a big fan of Queen, and have been since my teenage years, in the early 80s.
Overall, I prefer their 1970s stuff, in particular the run of albums from Queen II through News of the World. I also like some of the 80s albums (The Game, The Works, and A Kind of Magic), but to me, that early run is their best work.
On one hand, I appreciate their expanding their boundaries in the 80’s and the songs are good. On the other hand, I am a guitar rock guy and loved May’s work and the guitar songs of the 70’s, so that’s my preference. But I am glad they didn’t stay in a box - they commercialized and went global without losing what made them Queen.
Heh. I still remember reading Rolling Stone’s review of The Works when it came out in 1984:
[QUOTE=Rolling Stone]
…making The Works perhaps the first record to refute the maxim that the words Queen and listenable are, of necessity, mutually exclusive.
[/QUOTE]
As far as my answer to the thread title’s question:
I’ve listened to most of their albums, but some of them not enough to be throroughly familiar with them. Like Hampshire, I had the '81 Greatest Hits (US version), which for a long time defined Queen for me. So to me it seems more natural to divide Queen into everything up through then vs. everything afterward, instead of 70s vs 80s. My division has Era #1 including The Game, “Flash,” and “Under Pressure,” resulting in a really impressive body of work. Of the stuff that came after, The Works and Innuendo (actually a 90s album) are essential, but I can take or leave the rest.
Sure, you can fill a Greatest Hits II with pretty solid material from the last 11 years of Queen’s existence (ending in Mercury’s death, if you ask me). The Flash Theme, Play The Game, Who Wants To Live Forever, Radio Ga Ga, I Want It All, Innuendo, These Are the Days of Our Lives, The Show Must Go On, and of course Under Pressure (which is at least 50 % a David Bowie song, and because of that, excellent) are all latter day Queen classics. But those 80’s and early 90’s albums had loads of dreck, like the poppier songs off The Miracle, and the rockier, embarrassing tracks off Innuendo, and most of A Kind of Magic - loud, simplistic, empty.
I was going to write pretty much this exact post. I can easily divide Queen’s discography into their first five albums (wonderful) and everything afterward (very uneven, with some good songs but no good albums).
I became a Queen fan when Shear Heart Attack came out, and then bought Queen I and II. I remained a huge fan when Opera and Races came out. When News of the World came out, I immediately bought it, of course, and was extremely underwhelmed. I stuck with them and bought Jazz and The Game and then finally gave up on them. I still listened to their new albums as they came out (as best I could because I stopped spending my hard-earned money on them) but clearly the ship sailed away after Races.
This is so close to my own experience with Queen it is scary.
There are probably thousands of us. 
mmm