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I Still Miss Freddie
By Marc | January 12, 2009
A while ago, I slapped together some quickly worded appreciation of Freddie Mercury and Queen. They’re back in the front of my mind now in a time when I need to write.
Yesterday, working in the basement, I wanted to listen to some music, so I grabbed my Live Aid DVD set for background noise. Then I thought, “I really only want to listen to disk 2, with the Queen portion. Why don’t I dig out the Live at Wembley DVD? I listened to both.
If you notice anything, it’s that whoever else is playing the same venue, Freddie will always own that stage. Just watch him walk around. It’s more of a strut. A chest out, head high, swinging that mic stand around, almost kicking strut. It’s almost like he’s saying, “You think you can do better? Come on up and I’ll put you in your place.” At the same time, he made the audience feel like they were part of the show.
The first time I had ever heard Queen, it was probably either “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “We are the Champions” sometime in the ’70s. I remember the first time I saw the “Bohemian Rhapsody” promotional film (before videos) at my aunt and uncle’s house. Not knowing a lot about them, I knew they had a sound that made me want to keep listening.
I high school, I think during my sophomore year, I bought their Greatest Hits cassette. I played that thing into the ground. The funny thing is nobody else wanted to hear it. The big song at the time was “Why Can’t This Be Love” by Van Halen from the 5150 album. I really got sick of it after about 30 plays in a row, but evidently Queen sounded like garbage to my friends.
But, they weren’t a huge name in the U.S. anymore, the album only reaching #46 on the charts, and the title single only hitting #43. Ungrateful philistines!
A few years later, after The Miracle (in1989), Innuendo was released in 1991, only reaching #30 on the charts in the U.S. and reaching gold status. In the U.K., their homeland, it reached #1, was on the charts for 37 weeks, and went double platinum. This was their swan song as a complete band and our country completely snubbed them.
In late 1991, Freddie passed away. He always denied having AIDS, but finally admitted to having it the day before he died. I remember feeling really really depressed. There would be no more Freddie Mercury. No more of that same energy and charisma he exuded. Nobody at the time had even come close to him. I don’t thing they still can.
I never really cared about his sexual preference. He was obviously very flamboyant and didn’t really care what people thought of him. He didn’t get in people’s faces and make an issue out of it. He wasn’t annoying with a chip on his shoulder. I really don’t care much for anyone who gets on a soapbox and rants about how everyone should pander to his or her opinions. Freddie was who he was and kept things cool. For what anyone can say about him, he was an awesome showman and had an energy that drew attentions to him.
A few months later, the movie Wayne’s World was released. I don’t know for certain if they had always intended to use “Bohemian Rhapsody”, but now that Freddie was dead, Queen was popular again. It’s always popular to mourn in the entertainment industry, and we slack jawed lemmings follow suit. The song made people miss him even more and got people to buy movie tickets and the soundtrack. I guess it did revive a great song and put it back on the charts, but I wish they didn’t have to do it to sell a mediocre movie.
When the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert happened, I didn’t know who to trust. Were these performers really friends and fans, or were they hopping on the bandwagon? The only ones I couldn’t really question were the people like David Bowie and maybe Elton John, mainly because they were contemporaries and Bowie did record a song with Queen. The rest could have been attention seekers and cause-hounds. I really don’t know, but I remember feeling like his death was just an excuse for a bunch of musicians to show off and join the new cult of mourning.
Queen is still around, mainly releasing Freddie material, producing, and touring with different singers. At first, I felt like they were just trying to beat a dead horse. Now I see they exist as a band. Freddie’s death didn’t destroy them and make them turn into idiots trying to grasp on to their former glory (uh, Sublime?) They keep existing and working, having a change in singers, but not forgetting the original. I’m glad they’re currently working with Paul Rodgers, an amazing legendary singer in his own right.
Just the other day, a website, onepoll.com, voted Freddie Mercury the Ultimate Rock God, beating out The King himself, Elvis. Nice to know he’s still making a big impression.
It’s been a little over 17 years since he’s been gone. I regret I never got to see Queen in person in concert with Freddie. I regret not being more of an open fan when they could have used more in this country.
I miss you, Freddie.
Something I couldn’t fit in nicely: I remember the first time I heard that garbage, “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. If you don’t remember it, it features music stolen from “Under Pressure”. Someone was blasting it out of their car stereo in a mall parking lot. I heard that bassline and said something like, “Yeah! This song rocks!” and happy Queen was being cranked up. When I heard that horrible white-boy rap, think I yelled out, “Hey, what is that crap? Why did they ruin a perfectly good song?” Vanilla Ice reportedly denied stealing the tune, stating he added a drum beat to the end of it. He was declared lame and ordered to give Queen money.
Topics: Awesome People, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
January 12th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I am stunned you wrote that! I LOVED that movie! LOVED IT! Sure it didn’t win Oscars, it didn’t try to, but it made people laugh. Here my husband calls it “mediocre”!? This is coming from a man who calls “Cabin Boy” great. I’ll take that taste into consideration, then I can forgive you.