Why Mr. Bad Guy was a flop?

Of course, the results in terms of music are not Freddie's best. But I wonder why it failed even with Freddie's putting effort on it. He was a great composer, it's rare not to see even one good hit. When you have Freddie's talent at least one good song has to come out of it and eventually become a hit but I don't really see it there.

There are great songs  Mr Bad Guy, Made In Heaven, I Was Born To Love You,  Man Made Paradise.
But no hit song at all, really strange to me. And even more strange is that great songs have came up from people mixes! We all know the 3 or 4 from Living on My Own that are great but: Fooling Around and My Love Is Dangerous remixes are just miles better than the originals!. I don't know what Freddie tryed to do with this album but rarely s seemed to struggle. He seems to have something but did not quite got there enough a perfect probe of this: Let's Turn It On (which seems more like a good project of song, with great idea but not there at all).

By the wat My Love Is Dangerous Jeff Lord-Alge remix it's just marvellous, even more if you comparte it with the original track, which seems a demo actually...

I take it you are talking about the US releases and not the big success it was in the UK.

the album wasa flop because it wasn't very good, it's as simple as that. Of course Mr. bad guy has some good songs, like love me like there's no tomorrow,  but overall was a weak effort.

Love Kills - No.10 UK (not on the album I know but the advance single from the sessions)I Was Born To Love You - No.11 UK[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]Mr Bad Guy (album) - No.6 UK[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]I recall that it was pretty popular in the UK at the time. Also, remember that getting to number 6 in the charts meant selling an awful lot more in 1985 than it does now. Actually, it'd be interesting to compare sales of 'The Cosmos Rocks' to 'Mr Bad Guy' as they have similar chart performances.[/QUOTE]

Also, compare it to a solo career like Mick Jaggers for example. Certainly more success for Freddie.

Absolutely - a big success in the UK following the success of The Works the previous year; no one could get enough of Queen at that stage, given the radio friendliness of their material and Freddie's disco / pop sensibility was absolutely made for the mid 1980's.  Interestingly, I've always wondered what would have happened had The Works been released in 1982 and Hot Space in 1984 - my feeling is that the material would have transfered better in terms of people's understanding of the market and the dance / rock amalgamation.

Musically, Mr Bad Guy is pretty embarassing (for me as a lover of guitar-based rock and Freddie's voice as an accompaniment to it), but his voice and his songs are incredibly strong.  The album is fun and ably displays his ability of move across genres at random.  Also, it's as good an example of a showcase for potential producers (such as Andrew Lloyd-Webber) as you could possibly hope to hear.

No surprise that it failed in the USA given the poodle-rock phenomenon of the time - it went way over the heads of American consumers........funnily enough.............

It probably failed in the States for the same reason [i]Ga Ga[/i] and [i]Break Free[/i] did. All in all, while the album wasn't crap, it was way below what one would expect from Freddie. I admit I've only heard the album once, and then never again.

Sebastian,

You're right to not listen to it too much.  It's incredibly weak and thin sounding on the music front.  In all honesty, Freddie would have been better issuing an a-capella version of the album as opposed to hiring third-rate musicians who then tried to ape the Queen sound.

The best material to have come from the Mr Bad Guy sessions appeared on the FM solo box set and was the vocal-only tracks.

You'd never believe that this was the same artist responsible for the bulk of the arrangements within Queen and then produced Barcelona, would you?

Still, I believe it was more of an exercise in just having fun without the hassle of the rest of Queen and, to be fair to Fred, it worked for him, if not "us".

Those alternative versions found on the BoxSet are indeed great, and they show how some of the songs had potential to be great. I suppose that the 'Mr Bad Guy' treatment would've ruined even gems such as [i]A Hard Life [/i]or [i]Somebody to Love[/i].

Actually,It was not a complete flop,at least in the uk,reaching about number 6.Freddie only considered himself as one quarter of Queen,so was pretty chuffed,all told.In America,it just wasn't the type of music that Queen fans wanted,and at that time their popularity had waned a bit,so there you have it.Looking back,there are some great tracks on it,More to life than this will be great with some Jackson vocals on as well....I would say very different to Queen,but not a patch on Barcelona.

Mr. Bad guy most likely was for the money, not for the music...it's just a bunch of songs...[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]...and curt cress on the drums... hum...[/QUOTE]a good session player technically... but no feeling.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]imo. some of the songs were worth of further treatment. the album's done in a hurry. [/QUOTE]just pop. that's all.[/QUOTE] [/QUOTE]

I've always loved the title track, and I think Love Kills had a great tune.  Way too much 80's for me, on the whole though.  It passes the point of being nifty or quaint and just becomes offensive to the ear.

[QUOTE]

[b]princetom wrote: [/b]

Mr. Bad guy most likely was for the money, not for the music...it's just a bunch of songs...[/QUOTE]
...and curt cress on the drums... hum...a good session player technically... but no feeling.
imo. some of the songs were worth of further treatment. the album's done in a hurry. just pop. that's all. 




it was an album that wasn't made for the money, or anything else. I think freddie wanted too have some fun making some dance songs.  Explore different sounds without the rest of queen in his way.  Some of the songs are good. The title track is a good one, but why didn't he hire better musicans?....I don't get it.  Brain hired one of the best drummers around in cozy powell for his solo album...  Barcelona had mike moran on keyboard and the great cabelle on vocals.  Mr. bad guy could have been good with some real players.

Every tracks looks like a demo... approximative interpretations, bad synths.. Foxy Lady anyone ? OMG...

MBG was the album that made me aware of Queen, my Uncle bought it at Slane when the Magic tour hit Ireland- then the adventure began...which led me to Queen.
[/QUOTE]Again based on the various books that have been released, most imply that MBG only hit no: 6 on the charts after the live aid performance- there's never been any indication if this is correct or incorrect by any of the bio's i've read and no reference to the position prior to the live aid performance.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]the album itself, well it was an attempt to do something outside of the Queen format and it succeeded in doing that. Think, Phil Lynott with his solo albums while Thin Lizzy were still together, an avenue essentially to offload some ideas that would never find a home on a band album-I don't think that means that the songs have any less value but more that it's not a band mentality that present when they are being recorded.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]personally, i like the album: IWBTLY is a cracking track, buoyant and upbeat-not the usual crap when it comes to love songs- it's probably one of the most upbeat love songs I've ever heard.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]I like the album but there ya go- its all only opinion I suppose[/QUOTE]