QueenZone discussion #1331648

Ozz wrote: Brian , for what i remember was into Tolkien and Cs Lewis. I don't remember if it was him or roger that was into Herman Hesse.

matt z wrote: Freddie is quoted in an interview stating that books are a waste of time

Mercury Roadrunner wrote: Here is some info about Queen's favourite books...

GratefulFan wrote: his time was too precious, in his terms, to be spent reading when you could get the answer to your questions a lot easier by asking someone.

Zaza Gabor wrote: Talking about Brian's teenage intellectualism, his Wiki page says he named his first high school rock band after Orwell’s 1984 :)

waunakonor wrote: More places say that than just his Wiki page, but that is correct.

The Real Wizard wrote: I'd really like to think this was just a front and that the inquisitive nature of his youth was still in there somewhere. Only he knew..

The Real Wizard wrote:

matt z wrote: Freddie is quoted in an interview stating that books are a waste of time

That was in the 80s when he became a giant ignoramus. The quality of his work largely went to the shitter, as most of his songs had the same subject matter. In the 70s he was a very cultured person and no doubt he read plenty, which led to an output of a wide variety of songs.

matt z wrote: . Maybe this is something to ask Brian on his soapbox.

GratefulFan wrote: I'm sure there are several examples, particularly with Brian, but I recall specifically the song White Queen from the album Queen II being inspired by Robert Graves' The White Goddess. Brian also cites the work as a primary reason for embracing Freddie's suggestion of 'Queen' for the band name. His 2004 quote follows: "White Queen" - back in time again - I wrote this at College, where I led a relatively sheltered life, even though the University on the whole was a pretty rampant pace! I had been reading "The White Goddess" by Robert Graves, which explored the role of the idealised Virgin/Mother/Queen/ figure in art through history, and the name for our group, decided just around that time, fitted in with this perfectly - which was one of the reasons I was convinced to go with the name. The personal side is bound up with a girl (of course!) whom I saw every day at College, and was to me the ultimate goddess. It's incredible in retrospect, but because I held her in such awe, in three years I never had the courage to speak to tell her, or even speak to her. The song found its way on to tape much later, on our second album." The Graves book he cited is built around imagery and symbolism relating to the phases of the moon and a three faced moon goddess.

jones904 wrote: Freddie like Einstien was more of a thinker and creator than a follower of other pepples ideas

Zaza Gabor wrote: Talking about Brian's teenage intellectualism, his Wiki page says he named his first high school rock band after Orwell’s 1984 :)

AlbaNo1 wrote: Though obviously intelligent in many ways, none of them come across as being particularly literary in areas that might have helped improve and add depth to some of the lyrics. Its almost as though whatever they did read during their formal education years saw them through the 70s but the lyrics became more trite in the 80s as they had no deep interest in developing as writers.

GratefulFan wrote: Okay I now remember I also read 1984 in my teens. And a whole slew of sci-fi stuff. I'm probably wildly shortchanging my own history as my face was always jammed in some book or other and they can't ALL have been Stephen King. I think that is one of the reasons I was drawn to this thread. Despite being a prolific reader who did everything I could to foster a love of reading in my own child I also have a teenager who simply does not engage with books. Over the years I've learned to understand it, though I've never learned not to regret it for his sake. Like Freddie and so many other bright people he simply can't pull together the particular kind of focus and stillness you need for reading. Despite this he is a bright and inquisitive person with a love of knowledge and so it's been an education for me learning to jettison some of my past assumptions about reading and people who didn't do much of it.

Martin Packer wrote: 3 little words: "The Invisible Man". :-)

Martin Packer wrote: 3 little words: "The Invisible Man". :-)

brENsKi wrote: Freddie was into reading the "health warnings on the back of cigarette packets" Brian had "Horse & Hounds" and "Country Matters" and "Smash hits" delivered every week Roger was really into "Haynes car Manuals - esp 1976 Ford escort" and John's favourite read was leviticus and chronicles from the old testament * one or more of the above may be untrue

brENsKi wrote: i would think that currently, Brian's reads may bias toward these: The Tale of Mr. Toad (featuring Tommy Brock) C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. (featuring Trufflehuntera talking badger) the tale of "El-ahrairah in Watership Down. (featuring "Old Brock") The Wind in the Willows (featuring mr Badger) the Tales of Rupert Bear (featuring Bill Badger)

GratefulFan wrote: I find the very real and very terrible scourge of disease on wildlife and farming juxtaposed with the pervasive Disneyfication of animals that May et al engage in in service of their cause truly unsettling. There's some surreal thing on his Soapbox about a Christmas number one with a bunch of grown men in fuzzy animal suits dancing around. It all represents totally disordered egocentric thinking with a good helping of fruitcake in my books.

GratefulFan wrote: Forgot to add that Herman Hesse was an inspiration for Brian's '39 via his short work 'The Poet', according to Brian. link

The Real Wizard wrote:

matt z wrote: Freddie is quoted in an interview stating that books are a waste of time

That was in the 80s when he became a giant ignoramus. The quality of his work largely went to the shitter, as most of his songs had the same subject matter.

waunakonor wrote:

The Real Wizard wrote:

matt z wrote: Freddie is quoted in an interview stating that books are a waste of time

That was in the 80s when he became a giant ignoramus. The quality of his work largely went to the shitter, as most of his songs had the same subject matter.

Might I ask exactly what that subject matter was?