PIXELID

DREAM THEATER, RHAPSODY ON FIRE, BLIND GUARDIAN, NIGHTWISH, HELLOWEEN, DAVID BOWIE, ELTON JOHN, KURT COBAIN, in their genre don’t seem too terrible to me.

Dream Theater are often referred to as the poor man's Queen.

DaveJonGilmour, I see from your profile that you say: "The recent bands that excite me the most are Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Circus Maximus, and a few others." Well, you should know that 2 of the 4 bands you mentioned are heavily influenced by Queen.

I knew you would ask me this question.
Do some research, or watch the documentary "Magic Moment" about Queen.
Bowie, when interviewed, says that very often, to get inspired to write new songs, he listens to Queen's CDs.

And being non-professionals doesn't mean being outside of real music; in fact, perhaps that's exactly where real music is found.

My group is influenced by them, and among the non-professionals, I know at least 100 groups shamelessly in the style of Queen.

Queen have influenced: Darkness, Guns N' Roses, Manowar, Metal Majesty, Timoria, The Ark, Nightwish, Rhapsody on Fire, David Bowie, George Michael, Elton John, and even Kurt Cobain admitted to having drawn inspiration mainly from the lyrics of Freddie Mercury. The drummer of Nirvana was always a big fan of Queen; there would be thousands of other bands or singers, these are just some of the most popular ones.

Okay, I didn't say that these 3 great artists haven't influenced anyone, I just say that their influence is primarily in the world of jazz and its derivatives. Meanwhile, Queen can and influences many more musical fields.

I don't know Soft Machine well enough to judge, but I have the doubt that you chose this band as an example just because they have jazz influences.

DREAM THEATER, RHAPSODY ON FIRE, VALENSIA, SAVATAGE, ANGRA, SYMPHONYX, BLIND GUARDIAN, HELLOWEEN, GAMMA RAY, ETC. IN THE METAL SCENE.
GEORGE MICHAEL, DAVID BOWIE, ELTON JOHN, THE DARKNESS, THE ARK, GUNS N' ROSES, CESARE CREMONINI, RENGA, RUGGERI, VIBRAZIONI, KURT COBAIN, AND MANY OTHERS.
These are some artists, many of questionable quality, but who have been influenced by Queen.
I would also like to point out that Queen were pioneers of the greatest hits, music videos, and metal (in fact, at the time, Queen had a metal sound, never heard before, thanks to May's guitar, played with a coin) and they were absolutely the first to mix all the musical novelties of the era into a single blend (glam-hard rock-heavy-pop-opera). True, there were already those who sang glam (Bolan), those who combined opera with rock (Zappa), etc., but no one mixed it all together.