IMO Freddie had a big decline in his songwriting during the eighties. But if You were to choose his best songs of the decade, which ones would they be? Excluding "The Great Pretender".
My favourites:
1. Barcelona
2. It's A Hard Life
3. The Kiss
4. Exercises In Free Love
5. Play The Game
6. Keep Passing The Open Windows
7. Staying Power
8. Scandal
9. Was It All Worth It (if it was his song:))
10. The Miracle
Hmm... That would be a pretty good album, wouldn't it?
Here are some songs Freddie wrote in the 80s -
Play the game
Crazy little thing called love
It's a hard life
Keep passing the open windows
Man on the prowl
Is this the world we created (with Brian)
Princes of the universe
Mr Bad Guy (the whole album is brilliant, some great songs on it)
There must be more to life than this
Man made paradise
I was born to love you
Made in heaven
Time
In my defence
Living on my own
Barcelona (the whole album again)
How can i go on
The Miracle
Was it all worth it
Innuendo
I'm going slightly mad
Winter's tale
I wouldn't call that a decline :)
Some of my favorites are:
How Can I Go On
Life Is Real
It's A Hard Life
Made In Heaven
There Must Be More To Life Than This
Princes Of The Universe
Play The Game
Under Pressure is at least 50% Freddie's also.
Truth be told, I'll bet at least 50-60% of the lyrics that were actually used on "One Vision" were Freddie's as well.
"The Hitman" and "Don't try so hard" from the Innuendo album are both Freddie's.
THE BOTTOM LINE FOLKS IS THAT FREDDIE HAD A VERY GOOD SECOND HALF OF HIS CAREER, AS WELL AT THE FIRST HALF.
I mean...after a while, creativity does dry up a little....When's the last time Paul McCartney had a huge hit? What about Stevie Wonder? Lionel Richie?
You see...you will always have those that prefer "Liar" and "We are the champions".....but at 45 yrs old, while dying of AIDS, Freddie was able to come up with "Innuendo" , "I'm going slightly mad", "The Hitman" ...which are all charted hits.
His friends say he was still writing and in the studio in early November 1991. He died November 24th 1991. Can you say work ethic?
He was a trooper....and I feel he was a total professional, and total rock star from beginning to end.
thank you 'scott mercury' even though he went through a dry spell in the early eighties he still came up with some gems 'hard life, keep passing open windows are great, 'barcelona' is brilliant (all of it), and like 'scott' said 'innuendo' and 'slightly mad' are brilliant, 'mother love and a winter's tale' are great, i believe good old fred was on his way back to his vintage ways. also 'play the game' came out in 1980.
Actually, Innuendo sessions begun in March '89, and I seem to remember Brian mentioning that the title track was one of the first things to come. Moreover when Steve Howe went to visit them at Montreux they showed him Slightly Mad and I Can't Live With You, so at least we know those three tracks are from '89, just as much as November Rain is from mid 80s in spite of being released in '91
Freddie did not have a song writing decline in the 80's. As has been said in many interviews, during the 70's each member held on to his own song, where as in the 80's they were much more cohesive, someone would present their idea to the band and the others would change it, and it was primarily Freddie who had the biggest influence, you can clearly see his stamp on songs such as "A Kind of Magic" and if you watch the Magic Years you'll see Freddie is the one guiding the others in the making of "One Vision" As a result of this Roger,John and Brian's songs became more commercial and more likely to become hits and Freddie had less time to work on his own material. Some songs were credited to a band member just because they had the original idea and wrote most of the lyrics, even if the end tune was very different to the original. As a result of this from the Miracle onwards all songs were credited as "Queen"
everyone has a prime, freddie's was the 70's, but he was still a great songwriter in the 80's. 'hard life' sounds like it could have been released on a 70's album and 'barcelona' was simply one of his all time best, make no mistake about it, the 70's was his best.
i don't understand the constant critisism towards Freddie's 80s output. obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion, especially fellow Queen fans. however, don't feel the need to have to defend his work.. if the critics best song were put up against freddie's worst, they'd still come up short.
barcelona
princes of the universe
love kills
crazy little ting called love
the great pretender
scandal
keep passing the open windows
how can i go on
play the game
living on my own
Staying Power
Play the Game
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Keep Passing the Open Window
Princes of the Universe
That's about it for Fred in the 80's, not counting tracks which were credited to Queen, since I don't feel like checking which ones were his or mostly his. After the early 80's, his songwriting really went to hell.