Dear Freddie,
Today, Freddie Mercury is beloved, he is worshipped and praised for his skill as both one of the greatest rock frontmen of all time, but also one of the greatest rock singers of all time. His voice is studied by scientists to figure out it’s magic. Many stars love him and cite him as an influence. They want to be as good at connecting with an audience as him. It wasn’t always that way. Freddie let’s talk about the press, a necessary evil.His band mates are happy to talk about him any time and the man who has been given his job, talks about this man being a rock god. His song writing is seen for it’s genius. A movie about his life makes almost a billion dollars in every country in the world. He has been dead for 29 years and the tears for him have not dissipated. Two or three generations of humans have heard the music he made with his legendary band and are buying it today and buying anything with his image on it. Blogs and social media are packed with stories, anecdotes, fan fiction, funny memes. He is one of the world’s most well known and revered rock stars. He is an inspiration for millions of those who don’t fit in and want like him to not care. He is lauded as an LGBTQ icon and people research information on every iota of information about him. He is a true legend and a mythical figure that is worshipped and adored. But when he was alive. This was not the case.
Back when he was walking the earth however, the press were always bashing him. They would misquote him and try to goad him into saying something they could take and make a story that says he is a prat, whatever that is. It’s a British word. They want some quote or utterance they can take and write something juicy about. They ask him about his so-called imperfections. They taunt and scold him. They are vultures who have just found a new food source. They are the media. No matter how much effort Freddie and the band put into their shows or their records the critics were determined to cut them down.A man sits in a chair dozens of tape recorders so close to his face they are almost touching. They want to catch every syllable and from the proximity every breathe. The man is shy and famous. He is controversial and mysterious and perfect fodder for the vicious and ruthless press. They write negative things about him. They constantly tear down his band and bash every album they make. They call him a “prat.” Quoting him about a joking saying of bringing “ballet to the masses.” They probe him for anything they can get of his personal life. They ask him why he hasn’t improved his appearance, when there is really nothing in need of improving. They pry into subjects that are none of their business.
The man fidgets and searches for what to say and often his witty and dodging remarks get twisted into completely different quotes. He is in hell, but this is part of his job, and though he would rather be doing anything right now than this, he does it for his band. He’s one of the world’s most recognizable rock stars.
His fans are not the problem, usually, it’s the voracious and cruel press that make his life hell in moments like these. His name is Freddie Mercury. He is the lead singer of Queen one of the worlds best and biggest live bands. All he wants is to get away from this and go smoke a ciggie. There seems to be no end in sight. He knows this is what he must do. It’s part of his job and he wonders what things he says they are going to twist and misquote to make him look bad. He’s miserable. He hates it and it shows. Maybe he’s wondering what bad lies they will spread? Maybe he’s praying for a rescue. Regardless, this is the part of his job he hates the most and for good reason.Everyone says Freddie didn’t give interviews because he was shy and yes that’s a part of it. Most of it was he didn’t give interviews because of how horribly the press treated him. They criticized everything. They cut him down at every turn. Always trying to get something salacious out of him, when all he wanted to do was sing. The stage was his happy place. Most people have stage fright. Freddie had press fright.
Social media seems to me like it would be his absolute worst nightmare, though Brian seems to have adjusted wonderfully. In fact, Brian won’t shut up. For the first time in 50 years since Queen began, Brian and Roger are the news. The singer is not a huge press draw and the fans bow to them for once. A privilege they never enjoyed like Freddie. Brian and Roger are basking in the spotlight of legend that Freddie made for them. They hardly ever get any criticism for this band that for 2 decades was completely underrated and overlooked in the US press.
Yes, Freddie got more of the attention and publicity, but that was a double edged sword. For every good story about him there were 10 bad ones, but until Brian May started dating a British soap opera star and went through a messy divorce. No one cared.
Freddie was stalked by the press for the entirety of his career. He wasn’t told he was a legend by anyone in the press or his band mates. They are enjoying the good side of fame as the older gentlemen of Queen, a privilege Freddie never really got to experience. They were jealous over the royalties Freddie got, the attention, and the fame. They were too spoiled to think about how horrible it was, the darker side of fame. It was so ridiculous, when Freddie grew a mustache it was world wide news and people threw razors on the stage. Other than being extremely bored at Brian and Roger’s solos, no one cared what their facial hair did or all too much about them. Freddie took the heat off them his entire life. They should have been thanking him not jealous of him.
John sure as hell didn’t care and was glad Freddie was there to cast his shadow for him to hide in. As much as John wasn’t made to be a rock star, he was a great example of how a true band mate should behave. He knew how good he was. He wrote great songs and he collected his money and gladly danced in Freddie’s shadow. Resentment wasn’t even a thought. Maybe that’s why, he is most people’s second favorite member. To me It’s Freddie, John, Roger, Brian. I honestly don’t wish bad things on Brian, but if he doesn’t post on Instagram for a while I would not be upset. Most importantly, he knew how good Freddie was. I can never know for sure, but I’m pretty certain that John Deacon could tell how good Freddie was before anyone even thought about it.
If Queen’s performance lived up to the promise of their entrance it’d be the biggest event since the fall of the Roman Empire. Freddie Mercury, clad in storm-trooper black, comes out swaggering, brandishing his microphone stand like a riding crop, while guitarist Brian May unleashes a Valyrian ride of power riffs. “Let Me Entertain You, sings Mercury, it’s not a request, but a command. For a moment it seems as if we will be swept away by some dark, Dionysian rite that leaves nothing in its wake but shattered champagne crystal and deflowered eleven year olds.
The next two hours of Queen’s set, however don’t match the excitement of those first few minutes. Queen is a band with a cleverly constructed veneer: on the surface their music sounds profound and resonant, but underneath there’s no substance. The group’s studio work maintains this illusion of depth with dense, imaginative productions and arrangements. On stage the veneer wears thin.
Part of Queen’s problem is their musicianship. Mercury possesses a strong baritone that could be an expressive instrument, but he locks himself into a caricature. He knows only one theatrical technique: exaggeration. His head appears to be permanently cocked back, his chest swells like an operatic buffoon. And when attempting a ballad like “You’re My Best Friend” (part of an acoustic segment sandwiched between the electric portions of the set), Mercury tries so hard to act out his emotion that he defeats his own ability to communicate it. He’s like a rock & roll Enzo Stuarti.
Mercury comes across with more flair than the rest of the group. Bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor are more than adequate players on record, but onstage they are possibly the worst rhythm section in rock & roll. Taylor plods. He not only has little grasp of technical nuance, but also seems to have only recently discovered the backbeat. (His solo spot consists of a Lorig drum roll fed through a phase shifter.) Brian May, a polished, technically adroit heavy-metal guitarist, stands off to one side and plays his parts independent of the others. The ensemble results are chaotic. “Keep Yourself Alive:” one of Queen’s best songs loses all dynamics in performance. On the record, it builds from one guitar riff to a multi-layered crescendo; live, the band charges into it like four wild stallions on the rampage. They don’t build the song, they rush it, and by the end the tempo is nearly twice as fast as when the song began.
Queen’s staging is similarly confused. On this tour they’re using the standard array of arena scale effects: smoke, strobes, a second stage that descends from above. But instead of complementing the performance, they seem more like elaborate diversionary tactics. On the second of two nights at Madison Square Garden, the band even dispatched several, unclothed women across the stage on bicycles during “Fat Bottomed Girls.” How far will Queen go to keep people from noticing that it’s not only the bicycling beauties who are bare?
The above article is a prime example of the press never giving Queen a break. In this article they at least actually praise one of Queen’s songs. These two nights in Madison Square Garden were huge milestones for Queen. They were seen as two of Queen’s best ever shows up to that point. To read this article you would think Boston, a band that is barely known by anyone in this generation, is the best band that ever step foot on a stage, but Queen was bare and only the stage effects were the good thing? I’m confused as to what show this reporter was watching? Maybe the saying that the four members of Queen had to blind and deafen them in the beginning really happened to this reporter. Or maybe he needed to figure out how to pull his head out of his ass. Regardless, Rolling Stone is a relic and Queen is a legend. So we know now who is on the right side of history.
This article comes from Rolling Stone Magazine. A magazine that has become basically obsolete, unlike the band they were so critical of the entire time. Now Rolling Stone staffers and writers sing the praises of Freddie Mercury and Queen and are the first to say they are rock gods and legends. That’s why you can understand that they went into this show above, biased to hate it. There is nothing that Queen could possibly have done to get a good review. The worst of it is that they dare to question the band’s musicianship. A band who history has shown are so incredibly technically adept they put other bands to shame. A frontman who is unrivaled in the 20th and 21st centuries and revered by millions in every country in the world.
Unlike Rolling Stone who started to decline in the 90’s and early 00’s and succeeded in just creating controversy for whoever was their subject of the month. Queen didn’t seek this US music magazine’s approval in fact Roger Taylor wrote a scathing article to them about the relentless and unwarranted criticism on a barf bag from an airplane. How appropriate.Many other articles about these two concerts are as glowing about Queen as this one is of Boston. History toasts to the greatness of truly great bands. Rolling Stone in the late 70’s was terrible at picking which bands those might be. I hope that crow tastes good. In numerous documentaries, Rolling Stone staffers sing the praises of Queen these days. Hmm….wonder what changed? Could this journalist possibly have been blind and deaf? That’s the only excuse I can see for all the years they criticized this legendary band and their legendary front man. Man do they look stupid. Sucks to be so wrong now doesn’t it? So to this reporter, here’s some advice. Eject head from ass, uncover eyes, and get a hearing aid, just a suggestion. Queen is still insanely popular and your magazine and this reporter are obsolete. Who was Boston again? What did they sing? Queen, oh yeah who doesn’t know Queen. Isn’t Boston the capital of Massachusetts. A city right? Good call Rolling stone, right on the money. Pfft. I guess you really enjoy being wrong.I want to talk about your interviews. I have an entire DVD dedicated to your interviews. Now with YouTube in the mix, prior interviews can be watched any time any where. The DVD I have is not very complete. A lot of interviews are missing.
The media and stars have a very symbiotic relationship. They don’t want to admit they need each other, but they do. It’s a very uneasy relationship. Who would they diss without Queen? How would Queen sell records and promote them without the press? In some instances it’s mutually beneficial and it’s always the press that get out of line not the subject of the publicity.
Freddie Mercury was shy. But he was, leery of the press in any country. The press that abused him the most was in Britain. In order to be famous you have to be in the press often. In order to sell albums you have to put yourself out into the press’ line of fire. You cannot refuse all interviews and expect to sell albums. That is one great and telling thing about the power, quality, and universality of Queen music. They were so bad towards the end of his life that they had to sneak visitors in trunks of cars. They had to sneak medicine in CD’s. They blocked the way for people to get in and out and were relentless always trying to get a glimpse of Freddie. Never satisfied to just be annoying they took it to the next level. It was the first time that we would see the ruthlessness of the British press. Six years later, that ruthlessness would kill Princess Diana.
Freddie Mercury knew in the beginning that the press would want interviews. In the beginning he gave them and was very shy and looked so innocent and ready to share. Like in an interview in 1977 after Queen had hit it big with Bohemian Rhapsody.
Freddie tried in the beginning to be a good sport. Often you would see Roger doing the interviews in the very beginning. Then Freddie’s onstage performances became better and better and flashier and flashier and he became the news.
Sharon Osborne in a recent statement about the movie in 2018, said erroneously that Roger and Brian hated Freddie. Well as usual that was taken out of context. After a few years of Queen, a lot of the press didn’t even care the other three were there. They wanted a piece of Freddie. He was always the story and therefore, even though he didn’t want to be, he became the public face of the band.
The press wrote about every part of his body from head to toe and usually not in a good way. They made fun of his teeth, and his costumes, and even the elaborate sets that Queen had in their shows. For this, Brian and Roger were jealous of the constant attention. I can only think they didn’t actually read the articles. Freddie never wanted the attention, but he was the lead singer, and the most fascinating and secretive of the four members. So when one of his former friends felt slighted he betrayed Freddie in the most egregious way a friend could. He sold him out. He went to the press and not for a lot of money, but out of spite, and betrayed the trust of a man who had done everything for him for almost a decade. This is a problem that didn’t happen and wasn’t a worry of Brian, Roger, or John.
Roger’s life was an open book. Brian’s was just too boring. John was mostly forgotten by the music press. Freddie was the one who they wanted information on and Paul Prenter came along to further show that making Freddie look bad was their ultimate goal.One scene in the movie I like, is when there is a press conference with the four band members and every press person only wants to talk to Freddie. You can see him becoming agitated and trying to deflect attention to the others. It didn’t work. That was the worst part of being the phenomenon that is Freddie.
An account of what Paul did to Freddie from Jim Hutton who was there when it happened.The problem was, Freddie hated doing interviews and rarely did unless he had to, in order to promote an album. When it came down to it, if Freddie had to do one to promote a new album he would usually give in. For just about every album Queen did, there is at least one interview. Given the prolific and constant interviews of his contemporaries, Freddie was the proverbial white whale. For a journalist to get an interview with him was a huge deal. In order to get him in that interview chair opposite from them Freddie had to like the interviewer. How Freddie met a lot of journalists when he had dozens of tape recorders shoved in his face I have no idea.
In the age of You Tube and a time when we can see any interview Freddie did, for the most part, not only are we able to listen, but we can watch as Freddie as adeptly as he sings, works the interviewers. He was an expert at making the interviewer think they were getting something juicy when really he knew what he was doing. With a mind that worked incredibly fast. Not only was he able to write a hit song in 10 minutes, he took just seconds to come up with a clever quote during interviews. Quotes many of us know really well. No other rock star has the same amount of clever quotes from past interviews. Again, only Freddie could conquer the press, mostly because he didn’t care what the critics said.
He answered to only one group. He answered to and worked for his fans. Critics could shout from the mountain tops and basically when it came to him only heard their echo as the sound of money kept Freddie and Queen’s ears occupied. As Freddie shopped, spending the money they were bringing in by the truck load, the low paid journalists sat behind a desk typing derogatory things on typewriters. The best revenge is living well and Freddie lived very well.
A few of my favorite interviews, show the fun Freddie in full glory.The Hot Space press conferences. An album that needed the most hype and would later inspire one of the best selling albums of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller. A little bit ahead of its time when it was released and considered one of their worst though it did rather well in the charts. It was only a failure by Queen standards. It was at a place many other bands would have done anything to be in that spot on the charts. To Queen it was a failure.
As he was dying they hounded him relentlessly. He was a prisoner in his home, the press acting as the wardens. It was a gorgeous prison, but he was still confined by hundreds of reporters there night and day. Then, when Freddie died, the press gave him about 48 hours of good press to vocalize that he would be missed. Then the vultures descended. Here he was their favorite victim who admitted he had AIDS.
I picture some of them jumping up and down with excitement ready to tear down a defenseless Freddie. Little did they know that their bad words would backfire. In the USA Rupert Murdoch published an article a few weeks after Freddie died about his horribly immoral lifestyle and it was the worst selling issue ever, which they pulled from the stands by noon the same day. After that, he didn’t dare publish a hateful Freddie Mercury article or no one would buy it. Britain was not as accommodating.
I did not make this meme. I was much younger when Freddie died. I was not corrupted by the horrible press articles and in 1992 my love affair with Queen would start and in 2018 I would become obsessed with the band its music and especially its incredible front man. History always reveals the truth. Who the hell is Joe Haines? No one cares. People care about Freddie. I’m kind of glad the actual article is covered. I have read it before and it was horrendous and just mean. You can disagree with his lifestyle all you want but no need to be this mean about it.
The above article was written by an old white dude. These were the same men who banned “I Want To Break Free” video from MTV and decided which bands were played the most on the newest and hippest form of music consumption in the USA. Essentially keeping me from discovering the greatness that is Queen until Wayne’s World.
These are the same men who saw AIDS as a gay plague and thought that anyone who caught it deserved it. These are the same men, that had they not been total homophobic idiots might have funded AIDS and HIV research sooner and may have come up with a treatment sooner and may have even saved Freddie. We don’t know that for sure. All I know is Brian May said that Americans were prudes in public and perverts in private and that’s the way it’s always been. Thankfully, it’s not still that way although homophobia still runs rampant in this country and many others.
Articles such as this one compelled a grieving Brian May and Roger Taylor who had just lost their band mate, their brother, and their best friend to go on TV and defend him. Freddie’s life was no more immoral than any musician. Why was it okay for Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and the rest of the 27 club to overdose on heroin or whatever drug, but not okay for Freddie to have sex? Why was that okay, but Freddie having fun and being a rock star wasn’t? All he did was live his life and he was constantly punished for it. He caught a disease that no one knew anything about and it killed him. He didn’t stick a needle in his arm. He did exactly what his contemporaries were doing. Rod Stewart bedded so many women around the same time that Freddie’s numbers look low, same for Mick Jagger who I think was even married at one point and cheating constantly. Why is it okay if it’s leggy blonde women, but if it’s men that’s your preference you are immoral? Being gay is not something you can help, being a heroin addict is. Drugs are a choice, who you are sexually attracted to isn’t. Fuck them.
Here we are 29 years later and people like me are too busy ooohhing and awwwing over the love story of Freddie and Jim Hutton and reading the book about it and worshipping all things Freddie. Those journalists, where are they? No one knows because no one CARES! Which is, the way it should be. As I said history always comes out on the side of those who deserve it.
Freddie I miss you more than you know and I will use every breathe in my body to defend you because it’s not your fault you caught a disease no one knew about and couldn’t cure. You aren’t just a gay man. You are a legend in both life and music. You are so many things it’s not possible to list them all. If I had to it would take all day. All those journalists have long since been forgotten and now look like complete idiots. History and karma always serve what you deserve. They got theirs and are forgotten, and look foolish. You got your karma and became a true, undeniable legend of music. Just desserts I’d say.
Love ya,
Me❤❤