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The Royal QUEEN Discussion and Adoration Thread!


Entre_Perpetuo
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Thing is, I can't remember if I SAW them talking about it, or just read it.

 

Here's a blurb from wiki but the original source is Rolling Stone:

 

regarding the recording of "The Show Must Go On":

 

Mercury was so ill when the band recorded the song in 1990, that May had concerns as to whether he was physically capable of singing it. Recalling Mercury's performance, May states; "I said, 'Fred, I don't know if this is going to be possible to sing.' And he went, 'I'll f*****g do it, darling' — vodka down — and went in and killed it, completely lacerated that vocal."

 

He was literally fighting off death with his singing. Who else has done that? Bowie may have documented and illustrated death on Blackstar, but fought it off? That accomplishment remains Fred's. Unfortunately death won out in the end, but not before Freddie gave every once of his strength to defeat it. I kind of morbidly always imagine Freddie's last note in "The Show Must Go On," the part right at the end where he screams "show" but is then cut off by the backing vocals repeating the chorus alone, as his dying breath as a singer. Though I know he sang other things before he died.

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I noticed that he could sing, and well, right up to the end.

 

He didn't sound weak at all, despite his gaunt appearance and massive weight loss.

 

Again, he must have been a really good person for his band-mates to have stood by him and protect him.

 

 

Can someone tell me why he always carried what appeared to be some type of scepter on stage in his hand?

 

All I ever knew about Queen was whatever I heard on the radio. Never delved into who was behind the name until now. Never saw any concert footage until I got high speed recently. Hence, my questions. :)

 

Fred's voice only ever got better, more heavenly. The "scepter" you speak of does have a story behind it. Before Queen made their first album Freddie used to use a full mic stand. Being such a young band I'm pretty sure he could only afford one at the time, so when he accidentally snapped it in half on stage one night, he decided to just carry on with only half a mic stand instead of replacing it. He found he enjoyed having such a short stand and that he could use it to add to his showmanship (he would often use it to imitate a guitar while Brian was soloing or riffing), so he just kept it.

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I noticed that he could sing, and well, right up to the end.

 

He didn't sound weak at all, despite his gaunt appearance and massive weight loss.

 

Again, he must have been a really good person for his band-mates to have stood by him and protect him.

 

 

Can someone tell me why he always carried what appeared to be some type of scepter on stage in his hand?

 

All I ever knew about Queen was whatever I heard on the radio. Never delved into who was behind the name until now. Never saw any concert footage until I got high speed recently. Hence, my questions. :)

 

Fred's voice only ever got better, more heavenly. The "scepter" you speak of does have a story behind it. Before Queen made their first album Freddie used to use a full mic stand. Being such a young band I'm pretty sure he could only afford one at the time, so when he accidentally snapped it in half on stage one night, he decided to just carry on with only half a mic stand instead of replacing it. He found he enjoyed having such a short stand and that he could use it to add to his showmanship (he would often use it to imitate a guitar while Brian was soloing or riffing), so he just kept it.

 

Thanks for the story behind it. I noticed when I watched, I think it was the 1986 concert at Wembley, or the benefit concert the year before, that when he came out on stage, after doing his strutting around (which was never obnoxious - you knew it was just camp and it made him all the more endearing), he went over to the side and someone handed him his prop.

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What was it with him and his capes?

Queen Freddie. Long may she reign!

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C3whLlqZ6gk/Ts4E3JvR61I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/13EQbbiDGLk/s1600/Freddie-Mercury.jpg

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:laughing guy: :laughing guy: :laughing guy:

 

You have to know this is the first time I ever watched the above video.

 

Too bad you couldn't see me laughing when he came back out with his royal robe and crown on.

 

I love the guy.

 

:laughing guy: :laughing guy: :laughing guy:

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What was it with him and his capes?

Queen Freddie. Long may she reign!

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C3whLlqZ6gk/Ts4E3JvR61I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/13EQbbiDGLk/s1600/Freddie-Mercury.jpg

 

Goose, I just got done writing about that. This was the first time I ever saw that video. I laughed and laughed when he did that.

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I took a road trip this past weekend and was stuck listening to FM radio. During the trip the various stations I listened to played "Another One Bites the Dust" several times. It's a silly song. You can even say it's a shallow and derivative song. But, Freddie Mercury's cockiness and confidence as a singer elevates the song, much more than his bandmates' musicianship. Freddie is what makes the song great, IMHO.

 

This personal reaction happens so often when I listen to a particular Queen song or album. It works because each band member's talent can elevate an otherwise pedestrian song to magical heights. Their music is all over the map. There's no focal point. No shared vision or purpose. Only the Beatles inspired standard of what works for a song. Mash it all together and you get Queen.

 

Part of me can't help feeling that Queen shouldn't be that good. But they are.

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Freddie and I would have gotten along very well. :codger: We would have been good friends. Too bad we never met. :LOL:

You like cats and copious amounts of cocaine? :unsure:

 

I didn't know he had a cocaine problem.

According to Elton John he did. Apparently, Freddie Mercury threw very elaborate parties.

 

"[Freddie] could out-party me," one-time fellow coke-fiend Elton John told Uncut in 2001, "which is saying something." Queen were well-known in the industry for their outrageous shindigs. Most notable was the 'Jazz' launch party at New Orleans' Fairmont Hotel in 1978, which featured wholesome delights including nude waiters and waitresses, a fellow biting heads off live chickens, naked models wrestling in a liver pit and dwarves swanning about with trays of cocaine strapped to their heads. Standard.

 

LINK

Edited by ReRushed
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Freddie and I would have gotten along very well. :codger: We would have been good friends. Too bad we never met. :LOL:

You like cats and copious amounts of cocaine? :unsure:

 

I didn't know he had a cocaine problem.

According to Elton John he did. Apparently, Freddie Mercury threw very elaborate parties.

 

"[Freddie] could out-party me," one-time fellow coke-fiend Elton John told Uncut in 2001, "which is saying something." Queen were well-known in the industry for their outrageous shindigs. Most notable was the 'Jazz' launch party at New Orleans' Fairmont Hotel in 1978, which featured wholesome delights including nude waiters and waitresses, a fellow biting heads off live chickens, naked models wrestling in a liver pit and dwarves swanning about with trays of cocaine strapped to their heads. Standard.

 

LINK

 

Oh.

 

Well, even I wasn't that bizarre and decadent back then. :unsure:

 

Maybe we wouldn't have been that good of friends after all. ;)

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