| ploughman 16.10.2012 07:50 |
Having seen the new Great Pretender - documentary this subject popped up again and again. In the documentaries they always point out that the band was about to break up before Live Aid...or after Hot Space...or before Magic Tour. We know about the fact that Hot Space album didn't sell that good, but apart from that what really was wrong with Queen? I have had an impression that The Works album (excluding the IWTBF -video and U.S -situation) and the tour after that were quite succesful. At least they were not lowering that bands image? Is this talk about breaking up and being fed up with each other something that really was happening? Or was it the press who made the headlines which Queen themselves had to shoot down? There are many interviews where they say that being in Queen is like an marriage and its not easy always etc. But were they really about to break up..and if so...why? There has been some talk lately about John Deacon and his personal problems especially during Magic Tour. He himself said 1986 it's difficult to be in a band now, when they have achieved everything...so they have no goals left. Even Freddie says to David Wigg during Magic Tour 1986, that he thought the band would really split up after thte tour, but now he thinks differently...We know that Freddie stated this many times during concerts on that tour "these are false rumours". So at least there were rumours during that time? If Queen was really on the verge of a break-up, it must have been a personal reasons + losing one's motivation? Cause the band was still doing great even before Live Aid? Today it seems that Live Aid saved Queen. Saved Queen from what? I never thought they really faded out from the music buyers point of view? |
| winterspelt 16.10.2012 18:38 |
Angelo wanted to know about the near break up of the band in the 80s. There was a time before Live Aid when the Band had drifted apart, due to various things. Mainly Freddie was being influenced from outside the band. He was recording his first solo album and was being told by Paul Prenter that he was bigger than the rest of the band, that he would be better off on his own. Queen had been together for about 14-15 years at the time and Freddie thought that there wasn’t too much left that the band as a whole could give to the world. After a big band meeting in Switzerland they thought they would give it one more try, the results speak for themselves…. They came up with the Magic album, The Miracle, Innuendo and the tracks that Freddie recorded for the others before November 1991, and don’t forget Barcelona, which Freddie regarded as some of his best work. When it came down to it, Freddie knew that he could create what he wanted on his own, but his life, his music revolved around QUEEN. Taken from Phoebe's blog @ Freddiemercury.com link |
| Heavenite 20.10.2012 19:28 |
ploughman wrote: Today it seems that Live Aid saved Queen. Saved Queen from what? I never thought they really faded out from the music buyers point of view? I don't know if it saved Queen, but it certainly put them back on top. Lots of their stuff went back into the charts in a big way. Regarded as the best act on the day, Queen were back. Media wasn't anywhere nearly as widespread or instantaneous as it is now. No You Tube etc. (My God! how did we live?), so there seemed to be sort of a mass rediscovery of Queen by the mainstream. On the other hand, some acts like Bob Dylan and a couple of The Stones were crticised for their performance. But if you were good, or, better still great, you were heavily rewarded. I seem to recall The Cars song Drive also did extremely well following Live Aid. |
| Sebastian 29.10.2012 05:23 |
I think they were *always* on the verge of breaking up from late 70's to late 80's and there was always something that kept the pro list a bit longer than the con one. |
| Holly2003 29.10.2012 08:50 |
Or perhaps they were never on the verge of breaking up in the mid-80s and they started those rumours themselves in order to help shift concert tickets. |
| Sebastian 29.10.2012 10:49 |
Good point. Each tour was a potential farewell tour. In the case of Magic, it was. |
| The Real Wizard 29.10.2012 23:01 |
Nah, we can be pretty sure that there was some pretty intense band turmoil between 82-85. |
| Sebastian 30.10.2012 02:33 |
Maybe that's what they wanted us to think. None of us, after all, was there. For all we know they could've been BFFs with each other and spent their nights drinking Scotch and saying 'look at all those idiots believing we're fighting and buying our records because of that.' |
| Holly2003 30.10.2012 05:00 |
There was probably some discussion after Hot Space that if the next album wasn't successful they might call it quits. However, The Works was massive -- even a (minor) hit in the USA -- and after that I don't think they had any intention of quitting. But inferring that "this is our last tour" is great way to sell tickets. |
| Sebastian 30.10.2012 08:35 |
Not to mention that anybody with half a brain would already know that any tour can be the last, considering tomorrow is never promised. |
| The Real Wizard 31.10.2012 17:03 |
Sebastian wrote: Maybe that's what they wanted us to think. None of us, after all, was there. For all we know they could've been BFFs with each other and spent their nights drinking Scotch and saying 'look at all those idiots believing we're fighting and buying our records because of that.'Yes, in theory this is possible. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that wasn't the case. Things were pretty smooth-sailing for Queen between 76-81, and after that things went awry. Numerous times they have stated that they may have broken up had it not been for Live Aid bringing them back together. |
| LUI RISER 01.11.2012 18:34 |
boredom |
| Ozz 01.11.2012 23:43 |
- |
| Holly2003 02.11.2012 04:48 |
The Real Wizard wrote:I still think the success of The Works meant Queen would not have broken up in the mid-1980s. Live Aid was successful for Queen because that album resurrected interest in the band in the UK and Europe. Live Aid was an affirmation of that. But it makes a nice story to tell journalists.Sebastian wrote: Maybe that's what they wanted us to think. None of us, after all, was there. For all we know they could've been BFFs with each other and spent their nights drinking Scotch and saying 'look at all those idiots believing we're fighting and buying our records because of that.'Yes, in theory this is possible. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that wasn't the case. Things were pretty smooth-sailing for Queen between 76-81, and after that things went awry. Numerous times they have stated that they may have broken up had it not been for Live Aid bringing them back together. |
| Gregsynth 04.11.2012 01:05 |
Live Aid is amazing! |
| Sebastian 10.01.2013 17:02 |
Gregsynth wrote: Live Aid is amazing!Last night I wanted to visit QZ but mistakenly typed it in the YouTube search, and I found your Skype debates. Long story short... I've been listening to them almost obsessively, and you inspired me to check out Live Aid again after all these years. Guess what? I love it too, it was phenomenal! |
| Gregsynth 10.01.2013 17:43 |
Sebastian wrote:Haha. We've gotten better over the months during the debates (we were finding our feet on the first handfuls of debates). We recently finished a re-debate of the Magic Tour (inspired by Hungarian Rhapsody), and it went really well. I spent about half the debate defending Freddie Mercury and the other half talking about songs. I'll try to get that up in the next week.Gregsynth wrote: Live Aid is amazing!Last night I wanted to visit QZ but mistakenly typed it in the YouTube search, and I found your Skype debates. Long story short... I've been listening to them almost obsessively, and you inspired me to check out Live Aid again after all these years. Guess what? I love it too, it was phenomenal! |
| Gregsynth 10.01.2013 17:54 |
Sebastian wrote:Gregsynth wrote: Live Aid is amazing!Last night I wanted to visit QZ but mistakenly typed it in the YouTube search, and I found your Skype debates. Long story short... I've been listening to them almost obsessively, and you inspired me to check out Live Aid again after all these years. Guess what? I love it too, it was phenomenal! About Live Aid in general, you gotta check out the Radio Ga Ga from it. It's one of the absolute best Freddie live performances and he completely nails the song. I have a subscriber friend that wrote this comment about Freddie Mercury's Live Aid performance of Bo Rhap: "I never really? write long comments but i will here. Im not over how perfrect this version is. He sounds like a new amazing Freddie. He dosnt use his typical macho 80's voice, he uses his sweet clarity voice and sounds so clean. Also he stops the obnoxious over singing, he sings like a 70's version with more power. I mean compare the first verse to Leeds 1982. This ones not obnoxious and shouted. Just perfect..." |
| The Real Wizard 10.01.2013 20:24 |
Gregsynth wrote: "Also he stops the obnoxious over singing, he sings like a 70's version with more power. I mean compare the first verse to Leeds 1982. This ones not obnoxious and shouted. Just perfect"He had rested his voice for a couple months, so he could do pretty much anything he wanted. He didn't have to resort to the shouting. The pure clarity of his voice is what came through. Queen's one-off gigs were always top notch shows for Fred - Champions video shoot, Saarbrucken 79, Montreal 81, Live Aid. All with good reason. |
| Gregsynth 10.01.2013 20:55 |
The Real Wizard wrote:Gregsynth wrote: "Also he stops the obnoxious over singing, he sings like a 70's version with more power. I mean compare the first verse to Leeds 1982. This ones not obnoxious and shouted. Just perfect"He had rested his voice for a couple months, so he could do pretty much anything he wanted. He didn't have to resort to the shouting. The pure clarity of his voice is what came through. Queen's one-off gigs were always top notch shows for Fred - Champions video shoot, Saarbrucken 79, Montreal 81, Live Aid. All with good reason. Vocal rest really does help, but I think he also did some "training" or something because he was singing "differently" at Live Aid compared with the previous tour (even as far back as some Hot Space stuff). He was singing with not only a lighter tone (probably because of the vocal rest), but he was singing with more of a "mixed voice." When he sings all those Bb4s on Bo Rhap, the chorus parts on Champions, or the C5 on Champions, those notes sound much less strained sounding compared with other tours, and the notes sound much "lighter" compared with the same notes he hit on other tours (just compare the A4s on Hammer To Fall from the Works Tour to the Live Aid version--the Live Aid version has much lighter-sounding A4s). I don't think Freddie "shouted" as much as some people say, but I do get the gist of what my friend wrote (the bolded statement). |
| André 24.11.2014 04:25 |
I recall that in 1986 the Dutch radio effectively announced the break up of Queen. It was on KRO radio and the DJ said, "what if you want to break up in style and you are Queen? You rent a church and record an anthem. And then he played Who wants to live forever for the first time (as far that I know of) on Dutch radio. Shortly after that Airplay, Queen played in Holland and like on other occassions in spring 1986, they also referred in Holland to the rumours. For me it was only logic that they did that just before the live performance of who wants to live forever. |
| Oscar J 24.11.2014 19:13 |
Gregsynth wrote: He was singing with not only a lighter tone (probably because of the vocal rest), but he was singing with more of a "mixed voice." When he sings all those Bb4s on Bo Rhap, the chorus parts on Champions, or the C5 on Champions, those notes sound much less strained sounding compared with other tours, and the notes sound much "lighter" compared with the same notes he hit on other tours (just compare the A4s on Hammer To Fall from the Works Tour to the Live Aid version--the Live Aid version has much lighter-sounding A4s).Still not as easy A4's as the Crazy tour though! ;) |
| Martin Packer 25.11.2014 10:21 |
The supposition was that Queen were smarter than breaking up; I got that off The Magic Years. |
| stevendabudgie 28.11.2014 15:19 |
John Deacon was quoted in the book written by Jim Jenkins and jackie Gunn that Queen "ceased to exist as a band in the proper sense of the word in 1987" "The Works" was a comeback in terms of commecials success but not of internal relations. There were a lot of arguments and bitter fights during the production of that album- prompting one band member to disappear for a few days. but like Freddie said:"Why kill the goose that lays us golden eggs?" |
| The Real Wizard 28.11.2014 21:21 |
stevendabudgie wrote: "The Works" was a comeback in terms of commecials success but not of internal relations. There were a lot of arguments and bitter fights during the production of that album- prompting one band member to disappear for a few days.That was Brian, after Deacon insisted on having a keyboard solo in Break Free instead of the guitar solo he had already recorded. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 28.11.2014 23:22 |
Are you sure about Brian dissapeard? Fred Mandel and Mack told it was recorded when Brian was out for dinner , and when he came back, he didnt like it but accepted it. |
| The Real Wizard 29.11.2014 00:35 |
As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle I guess ! |
| Martin Packer 29.11.2014 03:35 |
Would be interesting to have William Orbit warm over that guitar solo. :-) |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 29.11.2014 10:14 |
Yes, I guess you are true The Real Wizzard. There are a lot of voices...something in the middle. |