| 5th_member_of_Queen 13.11.2018 13:14 |
I wasn't born around this time. I'm just wondering whether fans knew at the time Freddie was dying, or at least whether they knew he was ill and had aids? Also, people say he was so weak and in much pain towards the end - especially during 'These are the days of our lives' filming. What symtoms would he have had? |
| emrabt 13.11.2018 13:18 |
5th_member_of_Queen wrote: people say he was so weak and in much pain towards the end - especially during 'These are the days of our lives' filming. What symtoms would he have had?There are many medical website where you can look up Aids symptoms and the effects of pneumonia. Do you really want to talk about them here? I wasn't born around this time. I'm just wondering whether fans knew at the time Freddie was dying, or at least whether they knew he was ill and had aids?Even some of the most basic books and documentaries cover this and the British press at the time. |
| 5th_member_of_Queen 13.11.2018 13:22 |
You're friendly. |
| thomasquinn 32989 13.11.2018 13:24 |
You ask distasteful and more than a little morbid questions. |
| 5th_member_of_Queen 13.11.2018 13:28 |
How is it morbird? We know he died, I'm just a fan who is wondering what it was like for other Queen fans at the time. Whether they knew he was ill. |
| bootLuca 13.11.2018 13:36 |
here you will find some answers: link |
| 5th_member_of_Queen 13.11.2018 13:52 |
Most heartbreaking thing is he wasn’t long away from treatment that could have saved him. |
| emrabt 13.11.2018 15:30 |
5th_member_of_Queen wrote: Most heartbreaking thing is he wasn’t long away from treatment that could have saved him.No he really wasn't, even if he lived another year he was too far gone for treatment. |
| dysan 13.11.2018 16:15 |
As a seasoned Queenette, all I knew was he started to look odd. When he went a chubby, and then a bit skinny I just figured it was normal ageing. You wouldn't see him for years at a time in those day so it made sense. Atfer the Brits 1990 people started spouting stuff their dads had obviously told them about faggots dying and how he was a faggot and deserved it. Then it was announced he had AIDS and I was still unsure what that actually meant in real terms. Switching the radio on the next morning and they were talking about him and playing music a Queen song. I thought aw that's nice they're showing everyone that there's all behind him (Queen on Radio1 was a rarity). Had a bit of a spring in my step getting ready for school. Then they said he was dead. |
| Kuijpy 13.11.2018 16:18 |
A newbie talking about aids, what a suprise...... |
| PrimeJiveUSA 14.11.2018 14:36 |
As an American fan, I had to get almost all of my Queen news via the fan club newsletter. I thought Freddie's voice sounded better than it had in years on the Innuendo album. The only inkling I had that he was sick was a magazine interview with Brian and Roger where they asked if Freddie was ill and they said he was totally fine...he had just become reclusive. That's all I ever came across until his announcement the day before his death and even then I figured we'd still have him for years but...:( |
| matt z 14.11.2018 18:17 |
It's a legit question. Prob stems from people's concern about Freddie this new artist they may be relating to or who inspires them. Having not been a 1st generation fan they may ask questions like this. I suppose it's curiosity seeing as how they wouldn't know. since it was a pre internet era, I would think that locally in the USA this was much off the radar. In the U.K. however those sleaze rags were hounding him and it would appear that UK fans would've had prior knowledge and concern about him during that time especially with fewer appearances |
| Qubus 14.11.2018 21:15 |
I was not a fan back then, but I do know that he had become almost invisible to the public and that magazines were occasionally posting pictures of him and speculating about his health. When his condition was announced, on a Sunday I believe, I figured that he would probably have months or maybe years to live. The announcement on the radio the next morning that he had died came as a bit of a shock. |
| kosimodo 14.11.2018 22:12 |
It was another century... i first went online in ‘94 i guess.. i didnt know.. huge shock reading the tragic news on front page in the morning on my way to work.. returned to work somewhere in januari.. And yeah... still not completly over it :( |
| Blackvy 14.11.2018 23:40 |
dysan wrote: As a seasoned Queenette, all I knew was he started to look odd. When he went a chubby, and then a bit skinny I just figured it was normal ageing. You wouldn't see him for years at a time in those day so it made sense. Atfer the Brits 1990 people started spouting stuff their dads had obviously told them about faggots dying and how he was a faggot and deserved it. Then it was announced he had AIDS and I was still unsure what that actually meant in real terms. Switching the radio on the next morning and they were talking about him and playing music a Queen song. I thought aw that's nice they're showing everyone that there's all behind him (Queen on Radio1 was a rarity). Had a bit of a spring in my step getting ready for school. Then they said he was dead. |
| Blackvy 14.11.2018 23:44 |
Same thing happened to me, there were speculations about his health, but I was very young and had no idea what AIDS really meant. The day they announced on the radio he passed away, I was getting ready to school, and it really shocked me. I cried all the way to school. |
| raucousmonster 14.11.2018 23:59 |
The very first inkling I had that all was not well was seeing a Barcelona era promo photo of Freddie on his own wearing a blue suit with his arms folded. It was in the fan club magazine. And whilst he looked great I did wonder why he was wearing so much make up on his face. It was absolutely caked on in a way I hadn't seen before. I wondered if it was to hide a skin problem. I'd read the Paul Prenter articles which said Freddie was worried about Aids but it didn't say he had it so I felt reassured. Then the David Wigg article came out where Freddie talked about living like a nun and felt hugely relived that this awful epidemic wasn't going to get him. 1989 and watched a teaser trailer for I Want It All in May 89 and got very excited. Queen were back and this sounded like a great song. I had just become a fan in 1986 and I can't tell you how long the wait was between the Magic album and The Miracle. Throughout 1988 I saw lots of photos of the band in the fan magazine where Freddie was wearing chinos and shirts and looking like an uncool dad rather than a rock star. Then when I bought the IWIA single I thought he looked terrible, so old and with bad skin and unhealthy eyes. But as a kid I just assumed this is what getting old looked like. I was a bit down about it but no big deal. I was sad to see the classic clone look of the eighties was gone though I liked the beard. I could not for the life of me figure out why he just didn't look like himself though in videos. I can see now that it was the weight loss which was noticeable from the Breakthru video onwards. I worried when they cast kids in the video for The Miracle because I felt maybe the band were going to split up and couldn't be bothered making a proper video but I didn't think it was Freddie's health. And then I felt he really didn't look too healthy in the small part he did turn up for. But as soon as he turned up to collect his BPI award for his final public appearance you knew. You just knew and that's when the hounds came out. So when the announcement finally cam I don't think anyone was very surprised. You just thought "oh well, at least we'll get a few more year's of music and maybe he and his doctors will be able to keep him going". I went to my student digs the next night and went to bed just before 12am. I turned the radio on and Bohemian Rhapsody was on and something made me climb into bed to await what I felt was maybe coming afterwards. The DJ confirmed my worst fears and I fell asleep. Woke up and went to the cornershop and bought ever newspaper I could find and just sobbed. |
| 5th_member_of_Queen 15.11.2018 01:37 |
It's interesting, because after the release of 'These are the days' and 'I'm going slightly mad' I would have thought it would have been obvious. He looked so ill in those videos and really I always thought 'These are the days' was his way of saying goodbye to the fans. I just always assumed fans watching that video would have known he was dying. |
| matt z 15.11.2018 01:58 |
Curio: we know of the recorded dates. But when was TATDOOL originally officially first broadcast as a music video? I was under the impression it was released much later in the USA. Prob censored until after his death even, as there were like 3 versions even then. Was its only broadcast with the Axl Rose Queen retrospective doc? I did not have mtv and was super young even then. Just talking BROADCAST DATES |
| bas 15.11.2018 21:55 |
I remember that TATDOOL was released in Holland a few weeks AFTER Freddies death. (The release date turned out to be 9 december 1991). FOR ME, the only video released before his death that made me think that he wasn’t in good health, was Headlong. In the Headlong video it was obvious, he had lost a lot of weight and his moves were very stiff, not natural in a way we were used to with Freddie. But that was the only signal in the pre-internet era. I’ll never forget (I just woke up on monday morning, ready to go to school), the moment my dad told me that he had just heard on the radio that Freddie had died. It felt like an enormous blow in my stomach. |
| Qubus 15.11.2018 22:11 |
I too remember seeing a fragment of TATDOOL for the first time on Dutch television shortly after his death, probably in the context of an obituary. Before that, the TSMGO video, which notably featured only old material even if it had been skillfully synchronized in parts, already suggested that something might be wrong with the singer. |
| miraclesteinway 16.11.2018 22:12 |
Regarding the broadcast date of These are the Days of Our Lives, it wasn't a single in the UK until the week after Freddie died, so it probably wasn't broadcast in full until after his death. There are short clips of it on the intro to Greatest Flix II released 4 weeks before Freddie died. Regarding how his last few years must have been? Well, have you known anyone who has been terminally ill? Basically it's terrible, but there are good days and bad days within a period of decline. There are days when it looks like they'll recover actually, and that can even go on for a couple of weeks at the time. The decline in the end is always pretty rapid. Peter Freestone said he was in constant pain for a long time. |
| Martin Packer 18.11.2018 21:21 |
It was broadcast on the Monday night - with the intro by a (very close to tears) Elton John. |
| philip storey 18.11.2018 21:28 |
I can remember getting in an argument the day it was announced Freddie had died with someone at work ,who called him a queer.It was just an awful day I cried a lot,it was like a member of my family had died.Most of the papers turned on him and I think about him every day. |
| matt z 19.11.2018 06:14 |
Martin Packer wrote: It was broadcast on the Monday night - with the intro by a (very close to tears) Elton John.U mean the night following his death? Just for context this would seem to indicate that those outside of the UK may not have seen or known about a decline in those days. The headlong video being one of the few indicators outside of UK tabloid vulgarity |
| Martin Packer 19.11.2018 09:35 |
@matt z Yes, I think it was the night after his death. Really rather quick for a tribute. But then we know most newspapers keep their obituary files up to date. As for Headlong, I thought (and still think) he looked pretty good, considering. But we all know a lot was done in filming to conceal the truth. (And thank goodness.) |
| MisterCosmicc 19.11.2018 09:56 |
Freddie between 1987 - 1991 at Garden Lodge... very adult. Almost like an old social conservative. |
| raucousmonster 20.11.2018 22:43 |
Yes I remember the video for TATDOOL coming out in the UK just days after Freddie died. It was quite a surprise. Make that a shock. I thought at the time that they had deliberately hld it back becuase Freddie was so undeniably sick looking in the B&W footage. :( |
| raucousmonster 20.11.2018 22:49 |
Yes I remember the video for TATDOOL coming out in the UK just days after Freddie died. It was quite a surprise. Make that a shock. I thought at the time that they had deliberately hld it back becuase Freddie was so undeniably sick looking in the B&W footage. :( |
| Mr.Michael 21.11.2018 01:15 |
I first heard their stuff around 1986 and when the Miracle was released I became a fan with my friends. The "Miracle look" was more or less the way we first knew him and to us it was pretty normal. But we bought some VHS tapes of their video collections and found it so intresting how different he looked thru the years. When Innuendo came out it was clear he was sick. We didn't really think it was aids, but we thought it was a possibility. We were still young and I believed when Roger and Brian said somewhere that everything is fine and there might be a tour again sometime in the future. But I also remember when we saw on TV the Innuendo EPK, where they talked about the album. Freddie wasn't interviewed, but you could see him in some clips. In the beginning "Hitman" is playing and the band fool around in the studio. Freddie was trying to do his classic fistpumps but you could just see how tired and sick he was. That image is stuck in my head. I just checked and it's also on YouTube, Innuendo EPK 1991, around the 1.48 mark. Sunday 24.11, I was with my friends the whole day and when I came home my parents said that Queen's singer was dead. I went to my room and cried, I just didn't want my parents to see it. I even got angry with my mom when she said that they had turned the French TV news on and they called him there l'homosexuel and it was the only word she understood. |
| Sweetandtenderhooligan 26.11.2018 00:53 |
Barcelona was a huge wakeup call for the die hards. We knew something was wrong. He didn't look like himself and we later learned it was from his meds. |
| 5th_member_of_Queen 27.11.2018 02:06 |
I've always wondered, at the end of 'I'm going slightly mad' Freddie says "and there you have it". There's something about the way he says it and looks into the camera that makes me wonder whether he was saying it to the press, as if to say "are you happy now?". |
| Martin Packer 27.11.2018 18:06 |
"And there you have it" refers to the full reveal that IGSM represents. Almost a "print that" statement. |
| Sweetandtenderhooligan 27.11.2018 21:09 |
Its safe to say that, sadly, he suffered a lot in his last year. Elton and Brian’s recollections of his physical state are haunting. I’m just glad he had people who loved him caring for him on a daily basis. |
| Sweetandtenderhooligan 27.11.2018 21:10 |
MisterCosmicx- well, yeah. He felt like crap, couldn’t party like he used to and was being hounded by the press. All he could do was putter around the house in his spare time. |
| Grantcdn1 30.11.2018 06:24 |
I also just saw it on a news feed both days....I was totally devastated...I felt so low for so long after....how much I looked forward to a new album and it wouldn’t really happen again....ever.....Made In Heaven just wasn’t the same.....I heard rumours before but didn’t believe them thinking it was just nasty press speculation and thought like others that he was just aging / changing his look...I did find some joy in the Tribute as it was nice to see the rest of the band play and recognize how much he was loved by so many....it is nice to see how much they are still loved today by new generations of fans too because at the end of the day their music was so great and timeless |