Why Mr. Bad Guy was a flop?

oddly enough, I got a call from my father about two weeks ago. He was at my Grandmother's house cleaning out a closet & he found this album burried in there. I guess I left it there 23-24 some years ago. I told him to toss it in the trash.

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[b]princetom wrote: [/b]

some of the songs were worth of further treatment. the album's done in a hurry. just pop. that's all.[/QUOTE]
Enter Made In Heaven.  Thank goodness.

I love Mr.Bad Guy. There was a sad period in my life and I would listen to the songs a lot. Every single day and especially night I would play them. And they corresponded to my state. And helped. I cherish it much!

Put Stop All The Fighting on Your Kind Of Lover place and then She Blows Hot And Cold instead of Foolin' Around - and it'll make the album a little better for me. Indeed TFMA/TGP remixes are better than some original versions.

"Radio Ga-Ga" wasn't a flop in USA, it just lacked of airplay.

  "Mr Bad Guy" was a moderate success in Europe, based on chart positions. It sold 110,000 copies in 1985 alone in UK.

Why was Mr. Bad Guy a flop???

Simple:  BECAUSE BRIAN AND ROGER WEREN'T INVOLVED

(funnily enough it is the same argument people use when they complain about the limited success Brian and Roger have had with Cosmos Rocks) - Queen always said that the group was always better together than individually....

also funnily enough....he tried to get a guitarist to sound like Brian

And seriously....it lacked drums...it lacked guitar...it lacked variety....most Queen fans still wanted a rock album
His vocals are great as expected on most tracks....

People have often said on here that Freddie WAS Queen....and Queen was all about Freddie...
but lets face it, if Freddie left in 73 and tried to be an Elton John, David Bowie, Gary Glitter, etc....he wouldn't have made it unless he found some really good musicians and musical partners like Brian and Roger to help him hone his skills and write songs skillfully....if he didn't he would have run out of chances and we would have never known about him.

I also agree with Serry's substitution comments....can't see why She Blows Hot and Cold was left off it, (and the remakes, and left off the Made in Heaven album - it would have been the closest thing to a rocker on that one)

I disagree. First of all, John Deacon also exists and was also a key part of Queen. His absence on both 'Mr Bad Guy' and 'The Cosmos Rocks' (I guess, since I haven't listened to the album) is just as important as B&R's and F's, respectively.

Second of all, 'Hot Space' has all four of them and was still a flop. So it's not about personnel, but about quality. And when it comes to quality, 'Barcelona' had it (without Brian or Roger), 'Back to the Light' had it (without Freddie or Roger), [i]Who Wants to Live Forever[/i] had it (without John), etc.

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[b]Grantcdn1 wrote: [/b]

Why was Mr. Bad Guy a flop???

Simple:  BECAUSE BRIAN AND ROGER WEREN'T INVOLVED

(funnily enough it is the same argument people use when they complain about the limited success Brian and Roger have had with Cosmos Rocks) - Queen always said that the group was always better together than individually....

also funnily enough....he tried to get a guitarist to sound like Brian

And seriously....it lacked drums...it lacked guitar...it lacked variety....most Queen fans still wanted a rock album
His vocals are great as expected on most tracks....

People have often said on here that Freddie WAS Queen....and Queen was all about Freddie...
but lets face it, if Freddie left in 73 and tried to be an Elton John, David Bowie, Gary Glitter, etc....he wouldn't have made it unless he found some really good musicians and musical partners like Brian and Roger to help him hone his skills and write songs skillfully....if he didn't he would have run out of chances and we would have never known about him.

I also agree with Serry's substitution comments....can't see why She Blows Hot and Cold was left off it, (and the remakes, and left off the Made in Heaven album - it would have been the closest thing to a rocker on that one)[/QUOTE]






another freddie basher, lol. Get over yourself,  mr. bad guy was a flop for one reason.  The album wasn't good.  Of course he needs good musicians to back him up. The same way elvis needed good musicians and elton needed his own lryicsist. the same way brian may hired one of the best drummers in rock for his solo album.  You get me?......

I think "Mr. Bad Guy" story is in some way similar to "Hot Space". Great vocals, not bad ideas.... but the instruments failed. Not worked out enough. Good rhythm but it just doesn't sounds the way it should. Again, in my opinion, without proper guitar sound the song becomes an average pop jingle. You may rest on bass but you must get  a good lead guitar, of course good drums help a lot as well:) . It just enforces the vocal. You have to work on each side of the song: vocal and instrumental. If one of them fails it takes down the whole thing.

So, one more vote for "not good enough instruments&efforts"

I just think Freddie recorded it as he could between The Works & the subsequent tour, then released it & didn't have time to do a solo tour what with the Australia tour, Japan tour in April 1985 when the album was released in the UK. Then Live Aid & beginning work on A Kind of Magic album







I can't remember at the time but surely if Queen hadn't been around the other side of the world during it's initial release, Freddie could have taken more time to promote it but no.6 wasn't bad considering.







Musically speaking it hasn't aged well & sounds most similar to a lot of 80's gay disco which must have influenced the end product what with Germany etc. Apart from "There must more to life than this" & "Love me like there's no tomorrow" it's not my thing even though I have it on original cd from 1985 just part of my collection

Re: Mike Hunt's comments "another Freddie basher..."

not a Freddie basher.............Freddie is/was fantastic...vocals/creativity is/was phenomenal......just doesn't cut it as a solo artist without a stong supporting cast....Queen with Brian,Roger,Freddie and John was always going to be better than a Freddie side project.......Freddie was not the band....he was not the only reason for the band....if he was,he would have been a solo sensation.....and may have even decided to ditch the others to cash in and have 100% control.............but fans actually also wanted to hear what the other musicians brought to the band too....

Sure, but the other musicians weren't only Brian and Roger.

everybody needs a strong supporting cast, that's mr. bad guys problem. Horrible musicians backing freddie up, but it doesn't have to be brian and roger. It could have been a number of quality musicains who could have improved Mr. Bad Guy.

I agree with all you guys have posted lately. But in addition I'd say that you can have Jimi Hendrix on guitars but If your ideas are bad from the start Jimi Hendrix can't do anything about it. If you tell him to play a bad solo from the start, he can be a great guitar player but the solo will suck with Jimi Hendrix or anybody else.
Im not saying that Freddie's ideas were bad, they were good at some points but I agree with the poster saying that maybe he didn't have the time he wanted to make a proper album and work it out better. If it's not that I really don't understand what happened. Maybe Freddie wanted to do a 80's pop with low music work. Dunno...

....yes I agree that the album was probably a bit rushed for release....
and in addition to it needing a strong supporting cast of musicians (not just programmed synth, drum beats and others) it wasn't going to be as good with out the idea battles.....With a Queen album they would fight to get their ideas across - they had battles....battle of how the guitar comes in, how loud the drums were in the mix, what the lyrics were etc........on a solo project that is lost.....often the artist just tells the musician what to play and how to play it or they are fired and someone else comes to play it to the artist's liking.....I'm sure that happened here...Freddie was able to do something his way and didn't have to battle....as such the cd wasn't nearly as good as one he would have crafted with consensus opinion as an equal participant within a "band"



The thing really special about Freddie Brian Roger and John is that they were all incredible musicians (not necessarily the best out there,but really creative,innovative and worked exeptionally well with each other to make music) What they could do as a band together was far more superior to their own individual ideas and if they tried to do it alone with a supporting cast....