When Freddie Mercury rode on Darth Vader's back in Houston

In August 1980 Freddie Mercury and Queen played The Summit in Houston. The encore featured Mercury riding on top of Darth Vader. The rest is meme history.

PHOTOS: Houstonians share the first concert they ever went to... PHOTO COURTESY: Tom Callins / Modern Rocks Gallery less In August 1980 Freddie Mercury and Queen played The Summit in Houston. The encore featured Mercury riding on top of Darth Vader. The rest is meme history.

PHOTOS: Houstonians share the first concert they ever ... more Photo: Tom Callins / Modern Rocks Gallery Photo: Tom Callins / Modern Rocks Gallery Image 1 of / 104 Caption Close When Freddie Mercury rode on Darth Vader's back in Houston 1 / 104 Back to Gallery

"You might be cool, but you'll never be 'Freddie Mercury riding Darth Vader in Texas' cool!"

All things Queen and Freddie Mercury are hot right now after the release of the band's biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" into theaters.

The life of the late rock idol Mercury, seen by some as hands down the best rock frontman of the 20th century, is full of curious tales of excess and courageousness.

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One of the most famous images of Mercury was captured here in Houston 38 years ago by a photographer who still makes his home in Houston.

During the band's 1979-1980 touring run Mercury would return to the stage for encores sometimes riding on the shoulders of someone dressed as "Star Wars" bad guy Darth Vader as Mercury sang "We Will Rock You" triumphantly. Although this happened a lot that year, it's been Callins' image that has become very well-known, along with a shot of guitarist Brian May from the same set. Mercury also did the same gag with a guy dressed as Superman.

Photo: Tom Callins / Modern Rocks Gallery The photo in its full-scale glory. PHOTO COURTESY: Tom Callins /...

Tom Callins was in the photo pit during the band's encore at their August 10, 1980 Summit show when Mercury mounted the man formerly known as Anakin Skywalker. This was a time before the standard "first three songs and gone" rule for concert photographers so Callins was able to shoot whatever he wanted during the run of the show.

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The Rockin' Houston website has similar photos from the same show in its database, including one with Mercury wearing a crispy cowboy hat holding an acoustic guitar looking like Aaron Tippin.

By the time 21-year-old Callins shot photos of Queen and Mercury in Houston he was a huge fan of the band, first seeing them in 1975 at a tiny venue, the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio.

"I was a Queen fan from 1975 after seeing them in San Antonio," Callins told Chron.com this week. "That show was maybe half sold-out."

Callins' photo, which has been endlessly bootlegged for years, can be purchased through the Austin-based Modern Rocks Gallery, run by Modern English guitarist Steven Walker.

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Callins, now a professional corporate industrial photographer for hire, still shoots concerts when he gets the itch.

He never thought when he was taking the photo of Mercury and Vader that it would become so oddly iconic, meme fodder nearly four decades after he snapped the photo at the building one day reborn as Lakewood Church.

"I was just happy to have gotten the shot that night," he told Chron.com. "The Summit was a great venue to shoot at too."

Craig Hlavaty covers Houston history and pop-culture. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | craig.hlavaty@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message