All we ever hear from Brian and the press, is that what hurt Queen's career in the USA, above all else, was dressing in drag. That the ONE thing USA audiences STILL can't stand, is a macho metal rock band waring women's clothing, and their IWTBF video all but killed their career here.
In the current Foo Fighters ''Metal Hammer Collectors Edition'', Dave Grohl discusses that one of his all time favorite things about The Foos doing videos, is the Foo Fighters get to regularly dress in drag, which was somewhat inspired by the Canadian Comedy TV show, ''Kids In The Hall'' (like Queen were inspired by ''Coronation Street'').
Grohl says the Foos intentionally wear dresses and dress in drag to DISPEL any homophobia or narrowmindedness among fans... and to quote him Dave says it's hilarious and that...
......''It takes a Real and a Big man, to wear a dress.''...
As you can see The Foos' career in the USA is fine and their fans think they are super macho and cool.
I think Grohl is fu**ing cool and apparently the Foos fans are fu**ing cool too.
Shame Queen's fans took a totally differnt attitude and instead became homophobic about it all, where as the entire point of the Foos dressing in drag, is to dispel homophobia, and it works.
Well you have to realize, it was 20 years ago Queen dressed in drag, people's general attitudes change with time. In the beginning of the 80's, homosexuality and everything even slightly related to it was still a taboo to the most, and even though it still is to some, the general athmosphere is a little more free these days. It's the same with anything related to sex (straight or gay).. look at these things 20-30 years ago and how they are now.. totally different!
BTW...I have noticed that Dave Navarro (alias Jane's Addiction, solo artist, now host of Rock Star INXS) also wears drag, dresses, fishnet stockings, heels, makeup, the full 9 yards when he performs live...ALOT.
But christ I think he is one of the HOTTEST, MOST TALENTED rockers/guitarists around today, a great guitar virtuoso, and absolutely Gorgeous/Sexy/HOT!
Carmen Elektra (his wife) is one lucky lady.
And..likewise, Dave Navarro's wardrobe style sure has NOT hurt his super macho USA and worldwide fan base and career any.
Times have definitely changed...being gay is for some reason trendy here right now, so there'd be no reason for people to care if the Foo Fighters feel like wearing dresses. With shows like Queer Eye For The Straight Guy being so popular, it's not as much of an issue to be gay or something that people feel should be swept under the rug...But in the eighties, America was more conservative to things like men running around in skirts and schoolgirl uniforms. And especially since no one really got the joke of Coronation Street here...
jgoodm wrote: Yeah, and I guess the jeans and checkered flannel shirts they wore in the 70s was the reason for their immense popularity in the States at that time.
Touche...*LOL*
For some reason, leotards must've not been as offensive..;-)
I don't know why American would get upset about 4 men dressing in drag--especially as it was obviously meant as a joke!! (Freddie dressed in high heels and falsies with a MUSTACHE) We have had well-loved entertainers who dressed in women's clothing, i.e. Milton Berle in the 50s and Flip Wilson in the late 60s. America didn't fall apart over THAT. I can't understand the furor over that video.
Could it be that Freddie in the 70's was perceived as straight because he "had" Mary, and the leotards were seen as just an act? However, Freddie in the 80's had that gay clone look with the mustache, and maybe the whole band was perceived as gay because of the IWTBF video.
The real reason is probably, Queen had their 2 worst albums in a row (Flash Gordon & Hot Space) after The Game. In addition, Queen was becoming more commercial and somewhat forsaking their rock roots. I mean the first 2 singles off the works were Radio Ga Ga, and IWTBF. How cheesy is that?
Remember that Twisted Sister thrived in the early to mid 80's despite dressing in drag ... because they rocked.
One part of the problem was US audiences didn't know what the point of the video was...they didn't know that it was a parody of a British TV show. If Queen had been parodying an American show, then it may have been a hit.
But the way it came off was Queen were suddenly in drag for no apparent reason.
Plus yeah, Flash's Theme, Radio Ga Ga and IWTBF didn't help. And hardly anyone even knew Under Pressure (it took 6 months after Vanilla Ice for people to realize it was a Queen song).
And America's pop fans *did* embrace Boy George as a pop star, but most of Queen's fans were macho rocker types. People also just saw Boy George as weird rather than gay I think :)
