Do you think John was offended, or felt his role had diminished when his bass lines were replaced with synth bass? Or what about Roger's drum parts being drum machines, thus enabling Queen to replicate easily what the two other members worked hard for.
Or how do you think other members felt when someone would do most of the instruments on a song. IE Roger in Fight From the Inside, or Freddie on Body Language?
and while I'm here... I'll tack on another question pertaining to the last one - in the case of Body Language where Freddie did all but the guitar... when it is released as a single, since it's basically a solo song, under Queen's name, how do the single royalties work?
Queen were always about compromises, and everyone wasn't always happy with the end result.
But in terms of the synths, it was the 80s... the new technology was the fad, and they had to keep up with it. How many rock bands kept their 70s sound in the 80s? Van Halen and Styx? Not many more. Most bands morphed their sound to make themselves more marketable. Look at Chicago, Genesis, Yes, etc.
As for the royalties, your guess is as good as mine. It depends on what their business arrangements were on paper, but in Queen the writer of the single definitely got more royalties. The fight for the BoRhap b-side was apparently a major one, and Roger won. Brian wanted '39, I think.
> Do you think John was offended, or felt his role had diminished when his bass lines were replaced with synth bass?
Probably, in a way. But keep in mind that what his role also grew as he programmed drum machines and played more keyboards than in the past. So, one thing makes up for the other.
> Or what about Roger's drum parts being drum machines, thus enabling Queen to replicate easily what the two other members worked hard for.
Actually, the whole point was precisely that machines can NOT replicate a talented professional musician. Freddie, reportedly, said something along the lines of 'drum machines are supposed to be precise, but Roger is guaranteed not to miss a beat.'
And actually, instances of drums being chiefly machines rather than Roger's playing were still a vast minority even for Hot Space or The Works, let alone Innuendo or The Miracle.
> Or how do you think other members felt when someone would do most of the instruments on a song
They got their own 'revenge', most of the time at least.
> in the case of Body Language where Freddie did all but the guitar...
There are also drums there. The bass is Freddie (on synths, of course), but most drums are human there.
> when it is released as a single, since it's basically a solo song, under Queen's name, how do the single royalties work?
Roger and Brian still played there, and John was at least a co-(executive) producer, so it's still a Queen track. Same for, say Bijou: John and Roger are co-producers, even if they didn't write it or play instruments. Or Dear Friends, etc. Only some Flash Gordon tracks escape that.
What I mean is, while publishing royalties obviously went to the writer or writers (in the case of Body Language, Fred wrote the B-Side as well), performing royalties go to the band. In some cases, one band member would contribute a lot less than the others, but in others, he may have done way more, so it's sort of 'fair' and in any case easier for accountants and the members themselves.
Not sure how it is handled in other countries. Here, APRA is the body that handles songwriting royalties, with the money going towards the songwriter whenever a song is played live, or when the recording is broadcast in the media like TV or radio). AMCOS also gives money to the songwriter, but that money is a percentage of physical copies of the song that have been sold. Then there's PPCA, which is the organisation that gives royalties to the people that performed on the recording.
I don't know what the overseas equivalents of these organisations are, but that's more or less the kind of royalties that one receives. There's others, but I have a headache.