OK folks, I give in.
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I, Editor by Henry Gee
This is the Nature Network and therefore Terribly Extremely Very Serious foothold for Nature Senior Editor Henry Gee. If you want fun and games, visit http://cromercrox.blogspot.com/
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I Confess (The Remix)
- Date:
- Monday, 09 Mar ch 2009 - 14:22 UTC
I first saw Queen on TV, sometime in 1974. My first thought was perplexity at the lead singer who not only wore nail varnish, but black nail varnish, and only on one hand. I thought nothing of it until my best friend, Chris Hanson (we were both 11 or 12) filled me in. Looking back, that must have been around the time of Queen’s first major single, Killer Queen. After that I was sold. I very rarely bought singles, but I remember having bought Bohemian Rhapsody and playing it until it wore out. And I still remember buying the album A Night At The Opera – the shop where I bought it, and the anticipation of listening to this classic album for the very first time.
I didn’t get to see the band live until the Crazy tour. It was the 10th of December, 1979: I grew up in leafy Sussex, and had only ever seen bands in my local pub, but I’d gotten tickets to see them play at the Brighton Centre. My sister and I engaged on a marathon bus and train journey — and were transfixed. Mostly, by the sheer volume. I couldn’t hear properly for days afterwards.
The second and last time I saw Queen was at Elland Road, the ground of Leeds United FC, on 29 May, 1982, when I was an undergraduate. I went with my friend Dave, a graduate student in the Genetics department, who was working on development in the moss Physcomitrella patens (gotta have some science in here, don’t ’cha know?)
Queen was at one end of the stadium and we were at the other – the band looked like tiny matchstick figures. But Freddie Mercury was such a showman that he could infiltrate your brain and get you to sing and chant even though you were conscious of his power – but powerless to stop it. It was then that I realized that Freddie Mercury was a peerless showman, bettered by few since.
After Freddie’s death I saw the Brian May Band a couple of times but the magic wasn’t there. I have the Queen + Paul Rodgers live CD and … well, it’s OK, but it’s not the same. I like Paul Rodgers – but he’s too much the macho pub-rock singer for Queen.
Freddie is, in my opinion, irreplaceable. Not only was he a good singer and a great showman, but he had an ear for a really clever tune and arrangement. If you dig into any Mercury song, you’ll see the harmonic and tonal vocabulary of musical theatre, not rock’n’roll. This is why the Queen musical We Will Rock You works so well – because Mercury’s songs are less rock songs than show tunes.
Having said that Freddie is irreplaceable, had I a vote on who should have replaced him, it would have been someone with equal vocal range, showmanship and musical sensibility – George Michael.
Last updated: Monday, 09 Mar 2009 - 14:22 UTC
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Comments
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I fully support your last statement. And what you said before that :)
Agree too. The pairing of George Michael and the rest of the band was one of the highlights of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and I remember that for years after that there were speculations that he was going to join the band for good, but it never happened in the end. I wonder why. Probably that’s when they lost their chance to get back to form AC/DC style, as Stephen put it.
There now, Henry. Doesn’t that feel better?
Did Dave have a straggly beard? We had a theory that people who worked on that moss started to look like it after a bit. Or perhaps that was just the prof.
Hm, I wonder what confession is next. T. Rex, David Bowie or Joy Division? My current music taste can be found here (most played artist: Billie Holiday). If you use both Facebook and last.fm, you can compare your music taste. Apparently there is only a very low match between me and Eva.
But Bohemian Rhapsody was my first LP and I still love that album.
@ Stephen: Yes. Thank you for the opportunity.
@ Bob: yes, that’s the feller.
@ Martin – I am resisting an urge to go on and on about Deep Purple or Rush.
That was the second 7" single I ever bought, Martin !!
“Mama, just….” Someone had to do it.
Since we’re in Remix Mode, check out
The Dub Dide Of The Moon – The Easy Star All-Stars
Ahhh, Freddie Mercury, the King of Queen. And a fantastic drag queen in the video for “I want to break free”. Coincidence?
wow. that just takes the cake, seeing queen, live, when they still had Freddie Mercury, twice!