Great artist, great songs.
But how come USA fans of music got all homophobic about queen and freddie mercury and all that...yet elton john never really faded out completely and stayed popular...?
Timing. Fred and Queen went down the tubes here in the US after the Hot Space fiasco, followed by the IWTBF video.
Plus, coming out of the closet, so to speak, at the time when AIDS was first prevalent, and was then known as a gay disease, added to the Reagan times of so called morality, it all just added us to the band becoming a footnote.
That said, a US tour in 1984, and 1986 would have done a LOT to eliminate that stigma.
Elton John kept releasing hits, kept touring, and was even MARRIED in 1985, I believe.
And, by the 1980s and 1990s, Elton wasn't trying to appeal to hard rock fans. Queen was always thought to be a rock group.
I always thought that the Made In Heaven album could have been much more successful in 1995 if Queen/Hollywood had released some of those songs (HFE, TMLWKY) to the "adult-contemporary" radio stations.
Zeni wrote: And, by the 1980s and 1990s, Elton wasn't trying to appeal to hard rock fans. Queen was always thought to be a rock group.
I always thought that the Made In Heaven album could have been much more successful in 1995 if Queen/Hollywood had released some of those songs (HFE, TMLWKY) to the "adult-contemporary" radio stations.
Was it that they didn't release it to the stations, or the stations refused to play it? I honestly don't know, as I wasn't a fan of Queen at the time since I didn't know who they were yet. Just curious
kingarthur wrote: Great artist, great songs.
But how come USA fans of music got all homophobic about queen and freddie mercury and all that...yet elton john never really faded out completely and stayed popular...?
Why do people always mean "USA fans" as a whole, as if everyone in America is a homophobe??
"Oh, most USA fans only liked Queen after Freddie died."
"Oh, most USA fans don't like freddie mercury because he's gay."
Guggh.... I'd like to say that there is a VERY large percent americans who like queen music no matter what.
kingarthur wrote: Great artist, great songs.
But how come USA fans of music got all homophobic about queen and freddie mercury and all that...yet elton john never really faded out completely and stayed popular...?
A) No one got all homophobic about Queen and Freddie Mercury and all that...not counting the ones who also got homophobic about Elton John. Either way, it results in very few people.
B) Queen simply were not as appealing or promoted as well in their latter career. Compare Greatest Hits I with Greatest Hits II.
C) Elton John didn't die or disband in 1991, and has played live since 1986.
Regardless of my answers, I still don't understand what you're talking about, since Queen still receives the most airplay on classic rock stations second only to Led Zeppelin, which leaves Elton John nowhere close to those two classic rock giants.
Elton John never was the proud macho gay type Freddie was. Straight people do not feel that frightended by a Queen like Elton John but they do feel frightened by the macho type gay. It's no coincidence that the hatred against gays is called homophobia - fear of gays. Think about the 70s - Freddie was as camp as it gets but in the gender crossing way - he looked like a girl. People must have known he was gay just as well as they always knew that Elton was probably gay but they could safely ignore it. While Elton did not change his image and always remained the colourful "clown" which did not present any danger to the heterosexual ego, Freddie turned from the diva with polished nails into the dominant alpha leader type which caused the homophobia.
The reason that homophobia played a role in Queen's "decline" in the United States in the 80s (and not that much in Europe, for example) lies in the stricter morality of the general public in the United States and the lesser tolerance against any kind of "otherness" at that time.
Elton admitted his bisexual tendencies prior to the release of Blue Moves for RS-magazine. It plummeted his popularity in the United States. He was a regular feature on teen-magazines as a "teen-idol" and after that he hardly had a mention. Yes, he never faded out "completely" but only "almost".
If anything, Elton's blurp about liking men served as a "great" warning example to Freddie and other homosexuals to shut up about their personal life as far as the media came.