| eternalstudent 18.06.2006 11:26 |
Hello queen fans, I am a media studies student and for part of my course have to do research on popular music and youth culture. I have chosen to write about the effect of Queen on youth culture, since I believe that they were a very influential band. I'll be checking books and articles, but I was hoping that you could provide some insight into the thoughts of the queen fanbase first. It'd be very helpful if you could give me your opinions on such topics as: In what ways do you think Queen has influenced today's pop culture? Did the 'coming out' of Freddie Mercury contribute to the new era of tolerance and freedom of expression? How does the film/music industry continue to keep Queen alive? I'd be grateful for any thoughts on the above topics, or on Queen in general. Thanks a lot |
| ~im a fool~ 18.06.2006 12:10 |
queen influenced todays pop culture in many ways, but did you ever meet person that didnt know the song we will rock you or we are the champions. or another one bites the dust or that matter. think about it. |
| Poo, again 18.06.2006 12:51 |
I don't know if the fact that Freddie was gay makes it easier on homosexuals today, but I certainly have changed my opinion about gay people since I started listening to Queen. |
| eternalstudent 18.06.2006 13:27 |
Is it purely because you like Queens music that you've change your view of homosexuality? (thats a great answer though, thanks) |
| Aquillas 18.06.2006 13:47 |
Queen will always influence modern music in some way... You see that "WWRY" and "WATC" are real anthems and I think they cannot be replaced. Some of the other songs are used for different purposes: "Love of my life" in beer commercials and in my country, they use "The show must go on" in TV shows. And take into consideration the fact that their music is still here, very popular and attractive even for very young people. Take my example : I first heard "Bicycle race" in 1994 (very late, due to the country's former politics) and from that moment: "Super music! I want more!" . Yet I became a real Queen fan in 2001 after I listened to "Las palabras de amor". I think every true Queen fan has an interesting story to tell on how he started to listen to the magic of Queen!!! :) |
| Poo, again 18.06.2006 14:06 |
eternalstudent wrote: Is it purely because you like Queens music that you've change your view of homosexuality? (thats a great answer though, thanks)It was initially Queen's music that made me interested in knowing more about the band members. I had heard their songs and now I was interested in the people behind the music. I found out that Freddie was gay, and it really didn't bother me at all. I've never had a problem with gay people, but I just didn't really want anything to do with their gay ways. But somehow, I've become more tolerant towards homosexuality. It may have something to do with my idol, Freddie Mercury being gay, don't you think? Now, I'd say I'm very tolerant towards homosexuality, thanks to Queen. I've even done some...er... "gay" things I'd never consider doing before. If Freddie wasn't a talented musician, I probably wouldn't think much of homosexuality. And by that I mean that I'd still have my old narrow-minded opinions. |
| Asterik 18.06.2006 15:41 |
What's quite interesting is that musically Queen have never really influenced many bands because they were so incredibly unique. By never being cool they could never become uncool so therein lies the secret of their cultural success. |
| deadbird 18.06.2006 15:53 |
Cool questions. Well lets see. I think its important to have it said that Queen did not neccicarily go into the world with the objective to reform opinions or dramatically change something: but rather to just provide wonderful music for people. Freddie's coming out I do not think was a huge inflence on homosexuality or tolerance.... I dont think his objective was to be a headfigure for that at all. But I think waht was most inflential, even if not intended, was waht did happen to him: the fact that Freddie was probably the first nig figure to die of AIDS, and that obviously being a big wake up call to the world no matter what way you look at it. Freddie, Their Freddie, their rock Star, their Friend, was dead. And this new disease is what had killed him, and for many people, that broght it close enough to home that AIDS started to become more real. Musically Queen are nearly incompareable with their permanance and influence. You see "We Will Rock You" in almost ANYTHING these days: not only your high school football staduim or caferteria but TONS of movies and advertisements and everything... its just plainly universal now. Its one of the songs that many people almost assume that there just inst an author for: like its sort of been around forever. I know its in at least one movie trailor right now....and It's sister, "We are the Champions" is not much different in her eternal light. (you may want to refence football and stuff were it kinda came off the ground.) These are probably some of the most played songs in existance. Of course, you also want to mention Bohemian Rhapsody, how absoltely groundbreaking it was in all the ways it was.... a combiantion ballad mock opera heavy rock song that was 7 minutes long (WAY too long, they said, for radios,) and yet it magically broke its way into the hearts of MILLIONS of people, becoming and unbeievably adored masterpeice: It’s been called poetic, cryptic, bizarre, and magnificent. Its appearance in Waynes WOrld made it avaiable to the youth in large again. You may want to mention Queens sort of seculded and sofiticated yet utterly diverse originality... the way they survived the punk era so fabulously, and maybe the granduer of Live Aid. I think Freddie's infulence on the world is evident by how strong Queen is still reveared today even 14 years after he's passed. the incredibel devotiona and love held by his fans for him. That tells a lot. You could mention How Roger and Brian have the Mercury Phoenix trust, and its contributuion to helping AIDS awreness. lets see... Bands imitated and learned from Queen's sound. To this day there are TONS of popular bands that will attribute their inspriation back to Queen and their work. Theyre in almost every home, if you look....Theyre still actively infulencing thw orld through things like The WWRY musical, and things like the recent Rock Honors or American Idol appearence. Hope that helps some. If I think of more, Ill write more. |
| miracle-man! 29382 18.06.2006 16:28 |
The music industry keeps the music of Queen alive with cover and tribute bands like KillerQueen,The works,and my faves Queen Nation and Almost Queen.And they're great, almost as good as the original. |
| eternalstudent 19.06.2006 05:23 |
Thanks a lot for your help, guys, this is all great stuff! |
| saltnvinegar 19.06.2006 06:28 |
First of all, as some posters have mentioned, Queen's musical influence isn't so apparent due to them being very hard to define and therefore imitate. However I do feel that their very style has at least helped more diverse, less cliched rock and pop acts to come through over the years. These days bands can readily mix musical styles and switch moods thus avoiding being pigeonholed and reaching out to wider audiences. As for the 'coming out' question. Without sounding argumentative or pedantic, I wasn't aware that he did officially out himself, infact I get the impression that 'outing' is a concept from more recent years and perhaps wasn't so strongly focussed on in the 70's/80's.(Or maybe you are referring to revelations *after* his death?) I also can't speak for any gay people as to whether he furthered any causes due to his sexuality. I think he was rather careful with the image projected to the general public and that people see him the way they *want* to see him. Generally speaking, any existing interviews are kind of cautious and his responses are ambiguous so as not to alienate any particular fanbase perhaps? I get the impression he wasn't an overtly political man and could never imagine him marching with placards fighting for any rights, his own included... Every so often a Queen track is used in a film and I'm sure it probably succeeds in converting a few more people over to the 'Queen camp' (excuse puns!) Whether the filmmakers set out to promote Queen or the music promotes the film, I'm not sure but their amazing variety of tunes means there's something for every genre of movie. In the music industry, a stuggling band void of any original ideas will probably scrape together a little publicity if they cover a Queen track (no matter how badly!) Even these covers indirectly help to promote Queen's music to new generations of people who want to find out how the song was *meant* to sound! Good luck with the project btw! |
| Togg 19.06.2006 07:38 |
The 'Coming out' issue is interesting, because there is little doubt that after Freddies death more and more celebraties announced to the world they were gay. I don't think Freddie ever did the big statement and frankly more power too him, he showed that he didn't feel it was an issue in his music, it was his private life, few would be surprised about his sexuality so why bother mentioning it. I think as a result of his death AIDS was pushed to the forefront of the news which was good, but in many ways what was better for me to see was the fact that it makes no difference to your work what sexuality you have, in the end if you are good at what you do it shows. He didn't need to shout I'm gay to get attention, he was just great at doing his job. |
| TRS-Romania 19.06.2006 08:06 |
eternalstudent wrote: Hello queen fans, I am a media studies student and for part of my course have to do research on popular music and youth culture. I have chosen to write about the effect of Queen on youth culture, since I believe that they were a very influential band. I'll be checking books and articles, but I was hoping that you could provide some insight into the thoughts of the queen fanbase first. It'd be very helpful if you could give me your opinions on such topics as: In what ways do you think Queen has influenced today's pop culture? Did the 'coming out' of Freddie Mercury contribute to the new era of tolerance and freedom of expression? How does the film/music industry continue to keep Queen alive? I'd be grateful for any thoughts on the above topics, or on Queen in general. Thanks a lotIf you do research present us a questionaire online, so we can answer at least the basic questions for your research to be answered. How else can you do proper research? (even opinions can be set with answering possibilities like: Agree | Don't agree completely | Don't agree | Don't agree at all | No opinion Then percentage wise you can question people (but on the other hand we Queen fans are biased like sh*t ...so that means that your research won't have any value) haha And I gues you have more questions than only the 3 mentioned in your first post. So make a list of questions opinion polls or anything that "reseachers" come up with, and let us fill it in for you online, and the result then can be sent to you (automaticly) by e-mail for you to analise! I am not aware if you are in higschool/college/university ... I gues if it's an essay form of research with minor importance, you can use the "posts" in this thread as your source of info .. Otherwise I suggest to stick to a questionnaire Stefan Stefan |
| vtx 19.06.2006 10:53 |
EVERYONE KNOWS A QUEEN SONG try it out |
| eternalstudent 19.06.2006 11:17 |
Stefan - Yes, they are all valid points. However in my course it doesn't matter where the research is done because as well as analysing the research I also have to analyse the reliability of the research, so along with talking about the responses gained from my post here I shall talk about "real life" questionnaires. Thanks again for everyones time. |
| eternalstudent 19.06.2006 11:20 |
Stefan - Yes, they are all valid points. However in my course it doesn't matter where the research is done because as well as analysing the research I also have to analyse the reliability of the research, so along with talking about the responses gained from my post here I shall talk about "real life" questionnaires. Thanks again for everyones time. |
| deadbird 19.06.2006 22:25 |
youre welcome man, get an A! |
| FreddiesGhettoTrench 20.06.2006 13:07 |
eternalstudent wrote: Did the 'coming out' of Freddie Mercury contribute to the new era of tolerance and freedom of expression?I don't think neccessarily. I think the new era of tolerance simply came from people questioning their elders' wisdom. I.E., I think the people who were and are interested in Queen's music were these people already. Then again, I'm also not entirely sure I'd say that the new era of tolerance has occurred yet, at least on a large scale. It seems that young people show as much anti-gay sentiment as older people, and they seem more likely to express that sentiment through violence and harrassment. |
| magicalfreddiemercury 20.06.2006 14:59 |
I read awhile back where the gay community was insulted by Freddie rather than proud of him since he never formally came out. They took it as his way of saying either he was uncomfortable with his sexuality and/or being gay was something a person should hide. I never researched this, so I can't say how accurate it is, but it might be something you want to look into for your project. |