The 24th of November was the 19th anniversary of the death of the front man of Queen, Freddie Mercury. Undoubtedly Queen is a group with a large diversity in their music. We can see it in the Innuendo album, in the Night at the Opera? There aren’t many of their albums that you can disregard.
Farrokh Bulsara (that was Mercury’s the original name) was born in Zanzibar. His ethnic cultural background is visible everywhere in the band, both in their compositions and the performance which was fresh change in the rock scene, a real revolution in music.
Mercury was a multi talented individual. At the age of 8 Freddie was sent in a boarding school in Mumbai (India) where he showed good performance not only in the arts but in gymnastics and boxing. He firstly formed the band “The Hectics” where he played the piano. He spent his childhood in India and then he went back to Zanzibar where, trying to escape from the local troubles, he moved to London. He studied arts in Feitham and Isleworth and also graphic design in the Ealing Art College. During this time his main music influences were the Who, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and more.
Freddie did not start working as a musician from the beginning. He did several other jobs but his love for music made him form the band Wreckage (early Ibex) and he also participated in the Sour Milk Sea band in the beginning of the 70s. At this time he met with Brian May and the drummer Roger Taylor and he set up the “Queen“. The first three albums (“QueenI”, “QueenII”, “Sheer Heart Attack “) did not receive the good reviews from the public but success came with the Night at the Opera and of course the very famous “Bohemian Rhapsody” which was a marriage of classical – opera music and rock n roll and also the ethnic color of Freddie?s background. The band hit the top with the “A day at the Races” and “News from the World“, “Jazz” and “The Game” with songs like “Somebody to Love”, “We are the Champions”, “We will Rock you” and “Another one Bites the Dust”.
I would like to linger here and analyze some of the Queen albums. Of cour
se in order to appreciate them more I would suggest to not to stick to the very famous songs of the band. Apart from the “We are the Champions” for example, there are in the same album songs like “Spread your Wings” , “All Dead” that are notable. Also it is worthy for one to study Freddie’s singing style, the change from clean to distortion and vice versa, the way he colors his voices without being superlative. A respect to what we call “independence in interpretation” rather than showing off. Freddie gives to the songs whatever they need. Aggressiveness and lyricism, respect and love? indeed a lot of singers tried to imitate Mercury, while Freddie did not need to imitate anybody! “Melancholy blues” is maybe the best example from this diverse band which flirts from classical rock n roll to Indian and Jazz music, just another example of how Freddie can sing anything.
However, Queen is not only Freddie Mercury. Most of the listeners forget the offer of the rest of the band members. Taylor for example could sing very good as well, like he does in the song 39 of the Night at the Opera, one of their greatest moments? or in “You’re my Best Friend”.
As far the album “A Day at the Races” is concerned, I don’t think there is a song that could be overlooked. In the “Tie your Mother Down”, “You Take my Breath Away” the combination of his melody, tone, everything is truly outstanding. The “Millionaire Waltz“, an absolute masterpiece. The guitars, the pianos, the vocals are absolute perfection!. The lyrics in the “You and I”, “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy“. The musicality in these songs is something that is definitely missing from most (if not all) of today’s music. An album where feelings change so quickly, with deep meanings, very describable melodies, an album which “takes our breath away”.
As I mentioned above, when we listen to Queen, we have to understand that this is not Freddie alone but a group of people, despite Mercury’s uniqueness which was the main factor of the “Queen” success. Freddie the “unusual”, the “shocking man” the “charming” are just a few nick names that could suit him. David Bowie considered him an the artist who surmounts them all, that mesmerized the audience.
Other notable songs are: “Love of my Life” (Freddie wrote this song for Mary Austin when they broke up after he accepted he was bisexual), “The Show Must Go On” (he wrote this song knowing about his future death as his health was declining because of his HIV infection). Mercury did a solo career as well, which is sometimes overlooked. That is the album «he Works» with the songs “I Want to Brake Free”, “Mr Bad Guy”, “Days of my Life” written by Roger and of course “Too Much Love will Kill you”, “Guide me home”. Singing together with Montserrat Caballe they produced “Barcelona“ which Caballe used as an intro for Barcelona’s Olympic Games. “Having had a solo career for some years in tandem with his Queen recordings, Mercury secured a posthumous UK number one with “Living on my own” (1993)” (Jeremy Simmonds 2008)
The continuance of the band appearances in the Live Aid in 1985 and their concert in their Magic Tour at 1986 in Wembley stadium are the last moments before the end of the band that played over 700 concerts. They met again only twice and most notable moment was the album “Innuendo” with the “Show Must go On”.
Undoubtedly Freddie Mercury and the Queen have offered so much in the music scene as there are so many bands that are inspired by them. It is really a pity that Mercury left so young. It was a very important personality for the music world and he had more to offer but “who wants to live forever”?
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23/04/2010 @ 00:31
wow its hard to believe that freddy has been gone 19yrs. i wonder what he would be doing if he was alive today?? he is sadly missed. i saw queen in 1986 when i was 9 ill never 4get that concert:)
11/12/2009 @ 13:13
Queen without Freddie Mercury performing a Song dedicated to all those who passed away before their time,.
Freddie said before his death: The show must go on !?