| FlorianS 19.04.2013 08:13 |
It seems to me as if Freddie has created much more 'hits' in the period up to Greatest Hits I than in the years after that. Queen II: 7 seas of Rhye Sheer Heart Attack: Killer Queen A Night at the Opera: Bohemian Rhapsody A Day at the Races: Somebody to love News of the World: We are the Champions Jazz: don't stop me now the Game: crazy little thing called love -------------------------------------------------- Hot space: Body Language (also he got credits for under Pressure) Works: it's a hard life Magic: Credits for one Vision and Friends will be Friends Miracle: Aparently the Miracle has a big effort from Freddie Innuendo: I'm going slightly mad + involved in Innuendo and probably the show must go on I won't count made in Heaven So after big hits from 1974 - 1980 his 'outcome' changed dramaticlly from 1982 - 1991. Allthough he seems to did a lot of efforts with Radio GaGa and a Kind of Magic, these are not his songs. Does anybody else has thought about this? Did Freddie lose his creativity? Were his songs not 'suitable' to become Pop hits in the 80s? Did he lose the ambition? At the same time he stopped to play the Piano on stage...any link to this? |
| pittrek 19.04.2013 09:29 |
Honestly ... absolutely EVERYTHING what Freddie wrote in the 80's SUCKS. He even ruined GaGa and Magic :-( Don't forget that Freddie in the 70's was a respected artist, who spent a lot of time with writing songs and making them as perfect as possible. Freddie in the 80's was a regular cocaine user who spent most of his time in gay bars dancing, sniffing, drinking and fucking. After he was informed that he's HIV positive and he "started to live like a nun", his creativity boosted drastically - the stuff he wrote (or worked on) for Innuendo (and MIH) belongs to his finest works. Just "my 2 cents" and as usually sorry for my English |
| princetom 19.04.2013 10:36 |
pittrek wrote: Honestly ... absolutely EVERYTHING what Freddie wrote in the 80's SUCKS. :-(i'm not sure about that when i listen to "it's a hard life"... but i see the point :-) |
| Hangman_96 19.04.2013 11:00 |
I have to disagree. Freddie always wrote great stuff. All of the tracks from Queen I to Made In Heaven written by him (and also his solo stuff) are as great as he himself was. But you all, of course, may punch me for saying it. |
| brENsKi 19.04.2013 11:09 |
princetom wrote:good as it is...you can almost hear the cocaine being inhaled in that song....pittrek wrote: Honestly ... absolutely EVERYTHING what Freddie wrote in the 80's SUCKS. :-(i'm not sure about that when i listen to "it's a hard life"... but i see the point :-) and one glance at the video is all you need to know it was probably some strange cocaine/lsd/heroin cocktail being taken by the bucketload |
| Ghostwithasmile is BACK! 19.04.2013 11:28 |
pittrek wrote: Honestly ... absolutely EVERYTHING what Freddie wrote in the 80's SUCKS. He even ruined GaGa and Magic :-( Don't forget that Freddie in the 70's was a respected artist, who spent a lot of time with writing songs and making them as perfect as possible. Freddie in the 80's was a regular cocaine user who spent most of his time in gay bars dancing, sniffing, drinking and fucking. After he was informed that he's HIV positive and he "started to live like a nun", his creativity boosted drastically - the stuff he wrote (or worked on) for Innuendo (and MIH) belongs to his finest works. Just "my 2 cents" and as usually sorry for my EnglishHaha totally agree ! Nice abd funny way to explain it. We can all notice FM hadn't reallybig hits in the 80's ! I wonder if he was thinking fwbf would have been as big as watc was... And his solo writing sucked big time as well making those pop oriented dance tracks. With exception of Barcelona of course. |
| brENsKi 19.04.2013 11:42 |
the solo songs were great, the production is what sucked |
| Missreclusive 19.04.2013 22:31 |
Call me ignorant but I like It's A Hard Life and the video ..well, Freddie was an artist with a sense of humor and very entertaining. If nothing else, the looks on the others faces while doing the vid ...priceless eyerolling. |
| Wiley 20.04.2013 01:16 |
It's a Hard Life is Freddie back to form in the 80's. Great song, great solo. I love it. Freddie started to believe his own "disposable pop" phrase and his music reflected it. Mr. Bad Guy had several good songs in it which are let down by the arrangement and the instrumentation. I might be the only one who prefers The Freddie Mercury Album over Mr. Bad Guy and I don't care. For some reason when Freddie had a bunch of nobodys playing to his songs in '85 it was him "fulfilling his original vision without interference" while when a whole different group of nobodys updated the songs in '92 it's sacrilege. I'll put my Jim Beach hat on and say Freddie would have been the happiest person alive (if he had lived) to see Living on my own topping the charts and becoming a club hit. |
| brENsKi 20.04.2013 04:12 |
FlorianS wrote: It seems to me as if Freddie has created much more 'hits' in the period up to Greatest Hits I than in the years after that. Queen II: 7 seas of Rhye Sheer Heart Attack: Killer Queen A Night at the Opera: Bohemian Rhapsody A Day at the Races: Somebody to love News of the World: We are the Champions Jazz: don't stop me now the Game: crazy little thing called love -------------------------------------------------- So after big hits from 1974 - 1980 his 'outcome' changed dramaticlly from 1982 - 1991. Does anybody else has thought about this?the stopping playing piano on stage was more about being the proper frontman for bigger arena audiences - you can't not have a frontman for those kind of gigs as regards you initial point - you lost a load of emphasis by leaving out a stack of singles from that early era jazz: bicycle race (actually the lead single) the game: play the game and two tracks off the EP - death on two legs and good old fashioned loverboy (which was the lead track off the EP) love of my life (live single) |
| Pim Derks 20.04.2013 05:02 |
@Wiley, The FM Album is an excellent introduction to Freddie's solo-work, and I agree that most of the material on there is better than the original versions. Some have become kind of dated (Let's Turn It On, Living On My Own) but the remixes of In My Defence, Time, Your Kind of Lover and Mr Bad Guy are excellent and it took me a long time to get used to the Mr Bad Guy versions, as the FM album was one of the first cd's I got. Probably when I was 7 or 8, in 1992/1993. Mr Bad Guy came probably 4-5 years later. |
| people on streets 21.04.2013 07:18 |
Wiley wrote: I might be the only one who prefers The Freddie Mercury Album over Mr. Bad Guy and I don't care.me too |
| FlorianS 22.04.2013 10:03 |
I did not want to comment on every single Freddie had written, but on the fact that he was capable of writing big hits from 1974 - 1980 and then it stopped. I am aware of the fact that not EVERY single which has been written by Freddie in this period was a major hit. 1974 - 1980: 5 UK top 3 Hits written by Freddie 1981 - 1991: 2 UK top 3 Hits with credits for Freddie (I won't count I want it all, as this seems to be Brians song) |
| greaserkat 22.04.2013 13:27 |
pittrek wrote: Honestly ... absolutely EVERYTHING what Freddie wrote in the 80's SUCKS. He even ruined GaGa and Magic :-( Don't forget that Freddie in the 70's was a respected artist, who spent a lot of time with writing songs and making them as perfect as possible. Freddie in the 80's was a regular cocaine user who spent most of his time in gay bars dancing, sniffing, drinking and fucking. After he was informed that he's HIV positive and he "started to live like a nun", his creativity boosted drastically - the stuff he wrote (or worked on) for Innuendo (and MIH) belongs to his finest works. Just "my 2 cents" and as usually sorry for my EnglishWhy does everyone always say Freddie ruined AKOM? Business wise, I would say that if Freddie hadn't made it more upbeat, it wouldn't have gotten up the charts as it did. I like the Highlander version, but I doubt it would have gotten to #3 as the Freddie tuned AKOM did... |
| samanthalovesqueen 23.04.2013 21:28 |
I don't think we should start to discredit his creativity because he let loose in the 80s. It was the 80s! Goodness me, everyone was doing it. He was just going through different phases, he's even said it himself... If he gets bored of something, he tries something new. I don't think EVERYTHING he did in the 80s was a pile of crap and he was still an amazing individual, both in public and private (no doubt). I don't feel it to be right to slander him, really. Because, whilst we think we know him... we may not. Please don't yell at me for this. At the end of the day, this is a forum for people to express their views and, whilst I will listen to people's opinions and welcome them, I may not agree wholeheartedly. |
| SimonFerocious 24.04.2013 04:37 |
There's no doubt that Freddie was more interested in partying than writing songs in the 80s. If it wasn't for the others chipping in big hits like Radio Ga Ga and A Kind Of Magic (Roger) and Another One Bites The Dust and I Want To Break Free (John), Freddie would have faded away as a popstar and Queen's appearance at Live Aid probably would never have happened. Freddie named the band, he designed their logo, he wrote their first top ten hit and their first number one single, so without Freddie's drive and focus, the others would have never made it (they never got anywhere as Smile without him). Talented songwriters, musicians and producers that the others are though, they were able to write in the style that Freddie established and were able to keep the group going when Freddie ran out of ideas. That's the benefit of being in a group of like-minded individuals as opposed to being a solo artist. |
| Holly2003 24.04.2013 05:26 |
I think some are overstating the argument: Fred was responsible for some of Queen's big hits in the 1980s, including Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Body Language (a hit in the USA) and It's a Hard Life, and he has co-credit for Under Pressure, One Vision and The Miracle. We know that he rearranged AKOM, which probably made it a hit. He was also responsible for some of Queen's better album tracks in the 1980s such as Staying Power, Life is Real, Princes of the Universe and Was it all Worth It. And let's not forget he did two solo albums, one of which was weak and sold poorly whereas the other is among his best ever work. There is a strong argument though that his songwriting in the 1980s was much weaker than the 1970s. Let's face it, there're few bands than can produce a run of albums such as Queen II through to News or the World. The Beatles, Led Zep maybe. Few others. Fred was a major element of that. |
| Fone Bone 24.04.2013 06:57 |
pittrek wrote: Honestly ... absolutely EVERYTHING what Freddie wrote in the 80's SUCKS. He even ruined GaGa and Magic :-( Don't forget that Freddie in the 70's was a respected artist, who spent a lot of time with writing songs and making them as perfect as possible. Freddie in the 80's was a regular cocaine user who spent most of his time in gay bars dancing, sniffing, drinking and fucking. After he was informed that he's HIV positive and he "started to live like a nun", his creativity boosted drastically - the stuff he wrote (or worked on) for Innuendo (and MIH) belongs to his finest works. Just "my 2 cents" and as usually sorry for my EnglishHarsh statement yet uncomfortably close to the thruth. Except the re-focus on songwriting you mention did happen in the 80's, for Barcelona. |
| liam 24.04.2013 15:23 |
How did he ruin GaGa? Didn't know he had much of an input. |
| people on streets 24.04.2013 17:50 |
Freddie's songs from the 80s I like: Staying Power (single in Japan) Life Is Real It's A Hard Life (single) Man On The Prowl Keep Passing The Open Windows Princes Of The Universe (single) None of the singles were big hits, only maybe It's A Hard Life wich peaked a no. 6 in the UK, but I think the above songs a really good songs from Queen in the 80s. Much better than the hits: Radio GaGa, Invisible Man, A Kind Of Magic, Friends Will Be Friends and Who Wants To Live Forever in my honest opinion... |
| TheWorks84 24.04.2013 18:51 |
I always liked Keep Passing The Open Windows. |
| Bluesqueen 26.04.2013 13:26 |
I think the OP is a bit harsh. FM came out with plenty of brilliant songs during the 80s. Those Mr Bad Guy solo tracks are better with the measly German synth mix than the postmortem, guitar dominated, egotistical remixes with fake clips inserted. ï was born to love you" and "living on my own" were just as great as Barcelona. Especially the videos that did not linger on anyone's face but Freddie's. Just my opinion. I Don't wanna make enemies here with my first post! Warm wishes to all. |
| mike hunt 26.04.2013 16:19 |
Bluesqueen wrote: I think the OP is a bit harsh. FM came out with plenty of brilliant songs during the 80s. Those Mr Bad Guy solo tracks are better with the measly German synth mix than the postmortem, guitar dominated, egotistical remixes with fake clips inserted. ï was born to love you" and "living on my own" were just as great as Barcelona. Especially the videos that did not linger on anyone's face but Freddie's. Just my opinion. I Don't wanna make enemies here with my first post! Warm wishes to all.I actually agree with you, I do like most of his solo songs, but Barcelona Is almost up there with Queen's best. The Lover of life CD is one of my favorites...In Queen His output obviously was weaker...I like Play the Game and Hard life...Princess of the universe and the Miracle. |