QueenZone discussion #1571459

The Freddie Mercury concert would have been one of the most unintentionally hilarious undertakings in the history of the universe if it wasn't for the seriousness of some of the underlying subjects. Mercury, the embarrassing lead singer of the largely bad and largely forgotten (in America at least) Queen, died last November of complications resulting from AIDS.

The show was a couple of Mondays ago, with MTV broadcasting a somewhat less-than-fulfilling precis in a four-and-a-half-hour special the following Saturday.

The striking thing to me was that the concert was barely about AIDS at all, and it was most definitely not about being gay.

... "Under Pressure," the 1980 hit by Bowie and Queen

the artistically barren Bowie, at heart a calculating publicity hound,

they looked like the main event at the Star Wars cantina.

the rest of the concert largely consisted of tired, has-been rock stars fronting Queen and tired, soon-to-be-has-been rock stars fronting Queen

Mercury managed to overcome his physical limitations--his tiny stature, buck teeth unattractive even by rock 'n' roll standards, a Terry-Thomas lisp--and make himself a genuine star even as 70s proto-metal kids thrilled to guitarist Brian May's limited but forceful power riffing.

"Bohemian Rhapsody," which was apparently created by sticking Tiny Tim, Verdi, and a multitrack recording console into a Cuisinart and hitting puree, is of course a marvelous parody of a rock 'n' roll epic.

"We Will Rock You" has a fascistic charm

Today listening to these records is a painful assignment. (Why doesn't Congress put warning labels on albums like News of the World? They could read, "Warning: Brain Advisory.")

The next time you happen to throw on the live version of "We Will Rock You" (the one on side four of Live Killers), listen carefully to the opening bars of the song. After the crowd sings "We will / We will rock you" for the fifth time, Freddie audibly shouts the words "Spinal tap."

Queen had been thankfully overlooked;