What Brian posted about Adam Lambert today

Sebastian wrote:































wouldn't the time Brian's spending working with AL better spent thinking of or discussing projects with Rick Wakeman or Steve Vai instead of focusing on artists that are OK but not at his level?

Who says Brian has to musically challenge himself now or ever again, or even be doing music at all?  He spent over 20 years musically challenging himself with one of the most successful rock bands ever.  Maybe now he just wants to enjoy himself doing fun musical projects, and challenge himself elsewhere, like with astronomy and stereo photography.  Shame on him for getting a PhD instead of working with musicians that you feel he should be working with.

Not that it's something new anyway: back in the 80's, Dr May could've worked more with Michael Kamen or Eddie Van Halen but instead produced Bad News...

Um... he did work with Michael Kamen and Eddie Van Halen - i.e. Who Wants To Live Forever and Star Fleet.

so what if we want to complain about it? It's our prerogative, do you achieve anything by complaining about our complaints?

That's like blaming someone for having intolerance for someone else's religious intolerance.  You can't blame the messenger for pointing out the original deed.

Yara wrote:

Focusing on things we don't like may turn out to be very helpful: properly done, it's nothing more than criticism. Criticism is not the same as complaint. Intelligent, informed criticism is much needed these days with regard to music, anyway. There are times, and I'm stating that in general, that being negative is the best way of being constructive.

You're so very right.

But in this case, it isn't informed criticism.  People are criticizing someone for simply doing what they want to do.

Sir GH wrote:

Sebastian wrote:































































wouldn't the time Brian's spending working with AL better spent thinking of or discussing projects with Rick Wakeman or Steve Vai instead of focusing on artists that are OK but not at his level?

Who says Brian has to musically challenge himself now or ever again, or even be doing music at all?  He spent over 20 years musically challenging himself with one of the most successful rock bands ever.  Maybe now he just wants to enjoy himself doing fun musical projects, and challenge himself elsewhere, like with astronomy and stereo photography.  Shame on him for getting a PhD instead of working with musicians that you feel he should be working with.

Not that it's something new anyway: back in the 80's, Dr May could've worked more with Michael Kamen or Eddie Van Halen but instead produced Bad News...

Um... he did work with Michael Kamen and Eddie Van Halen - i.e. Who Wants To Live Forever and Star Fleet.

so what if we want to complain about it? It's our prerogative, do you achieve anything by complaining about our complaints?

That's like blaming someone for having intolerance for someone else's religious intolerance.  You can't blame the messenger for pointing out the original deed.

I'm not saying Brian 'has to...', but I've got the right to express my opinion. And if my opinion is that Brian COULD be working with WAY BETTER musicians than AL (and he's not bad at all btw), then I've got the right to do it. Agree? Fine. Disagree? Fine. But this is a forum, so I can express what I think.

Kamen & Van Halen: Read carefully - I meant 'Dr May could've worked MORE with...', as in 'MORE than WWTFL and SFP'.

Of course I can blame the messenger. Watch me: the messenger is to blame; I blame the messenger; blame the messenger.

Sebastian wrote:

I'm not saying Brian 'has to...', but I've got the right to express my opinion. And if my opinion is that Brian COULD be working with WAY BETTER musicians than AL (and he's not bad at all btw), then I've got the right to do it. Agree? Fine. Disagree? Fine. But this is a forum, so I can express what I think.

Of course you can say what you'd like.  But what are you ultimately trying to accomplish by naming people Brian could be working with?

Kamen & Van Halen: Read carefully - I meant 'Dr May could've worked MORE with...', as in 'MORE than WWTFL and SFP'.

Right.. my mistake!

Of course I can blame the messenger. Watch me: the messenger is to blame; I blame the messenger; blame the messenger.

That was productive.

What are you ultimately trying to accomplish by asking me about what I'm ultimately trying to accomplish?

Ok, this is getting ridiculous...

This is embarrassing, guys.  You are both above this debate.   Snap out of it.
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[/QUOTE]For crying out loud.  If I want to say "Brian May has a dodgy taste in music", that's the end of it as far as I am concerned.  You agree, you disagree ... small chips really.  It doesn't detract from my respect for him as an artist or a human being.  He could be well inclined to look at the music in my iTunes and say 'er, that's bland' but you know what?  I'd rather he look at my bookshelf - I've got some Patrick Moore there that we could have great conversations about.[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE](No, I'm not kidding).[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]The rampant generalisations on both sides are laughable.  To bemoan the fact that people are criticising Brian's music is all well and good but you'd be carrying the assumption that the person doing the complaining has little or no respect for Brian, and in my case that simply isn't true.  Sure, you could go after each and every complainer and get to the bottom of exactly why they are complaining ... and maybe you will uncover the odd prick who is doing it just for the sake of complaining ...   but what, precisely, would that achieve?[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]Frankly it annoys me too - sometimes Sebastian will post something that is really no more than trolling in that it'll be in a thread that obviously holds no intellectual fascination for him.  Using him as an example, he's clearly going into discussions that he already knows will upset him, subjecting himself to their content, and then writing a base criticism of Brian or something ...  but he's entitled.  He's entitled to comment on Brian's comments, the same way we are allowed to comment on his comments on Brian's comments.  [/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]Where, exactly, does one draw the line?  And why are we still having this conversation?[/QUOTE]

Zebonka12 wrote:

Frankly it annoys me too - sometimes Sebastian will post something that is really no more than trolling in that it'll be in a thread that obviously holds no intellectual fascination for him.

I disagree: trolling would be things like 'Brian deserves death penalty for liking Lambert' or 'I'm pretty sure White Queen was a gift from Freddie or John because Brian couldn't have written it - he likes an AI contestant!'. This is a simple 'AL isn't bad, but Dr May could be working with much better musicians'. And there are loads of threads that obviously hold no intellectual fascination for me, where I haven't participated at all (and don't plan to):

http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1196267/may-snubbed-by-paul.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1194159/ultimate-one-disc-greatest-hits-contest-guesses.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1195281/qpr-what-hasnt-been-released-on-cd-or-dvd.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1195631/music-today-really-sucks-why.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1195630/michael-jackson-overrated-entertainer-compared-to-freddie-mercury.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1195800/how-many-the-cosmos-rocks-copies-have-been-sold.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/446270/meaning-of-bohemian-rhapsody.aspx
http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1196231/what-would-be-queens-playlist-if-they-are-to-tour-in-2010.aspx

This particular thread interests me, and I do have a lot of respect for Dr May, which is exactly why I'm disappointed by his choice of collaborators lately (sans Paul Rodgers). As it was pointed out by another poster elsewhere, the fact BM didn't know about DT until some weeks ago (but was well aware of Britney Spears, Robbie Williams and Katy Perry) speaks for itself. It'd be like Queen doing Under Pressure with KC & the Sunshine Band instead of David Bowie, hiring The Village People for Who Wants to Live Forever instead of Michael Kamen and having Kurt Cobain playing the Innuendo solo rather than Steve Howe.

To be fair I wasn't quite saying (or didn't intend to say) that your output in this thread was trolling.  I'm referring to some of the one liners you've offered in threads the past; that's a different kettle of fish.
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[/QUOTE]I find it a silly topic to be engaged in at all because I don't remember questioning Brian's right to an opinion ... I simply recall pointing out that it can't be a yardstick for outstanding music when you consider his positive reaction to someone like Katy Perry.  And fair enough, maybe he's just being diplomatic because he met her.  That's another privilege, and one I wouldn't dream of denying him.[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]I was too short in my initial post in this thread anyway, it seemed that I was shitting on Adam Lambert and I'm really not, he's a great singer - by Idol standards, and he holds his own against most of the crap on the charts.[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]I didn't even know what was on the charts until the few minutes ago - suffice to say I'm pretty disappointed.  Too many kids on their parent's computers, I think ...[/QUOTE]

Yikes! I thought this thread had run its course and now I see that the dying embers have burst back into flames!

Of course everyone is entitled to his/her opinion! I have always championed Adam Lambert here because I think that he has an honest-to-god chance at becoming a great singer/performer! Good god, he was so far out of AI league that, well, it was the Adam Lambert Show, as is the Idol Tour. Yet he was pleasant and respectful and unpretentious. He has been in theater since he was 10 years old, so he didn't exactly just come out of nowhere.

I LIKE Brian, and he signs his posts at his soapbox "Bri", not Dr. May. That says something about him. I commend him in his support for the humane treatment of animals,even though I may feel that he is associating with the lunatic fringe by showing any connection with PETA. I engraved firearms for years and I also think that the National Rifle Association here in the USA is the lunatic fringe. Opposite ends of the spectrum, I guess. But Brian seems to be a very humble and  likeable man unless someone gets him riled by putting up animal snares or pinching his guitar design without crediting him. If I am wrong then I'm sure that someone will correct me with lots of examples. [img=/images/smiley/msn/tounge_smile.gif][/img] I think it is great that he has other interests. It has already been said, but he doesn't have anything to prove, and if he just wants the music to be more of the "fun" variety for now or ever and spend time on these other interests then I understand that perfectly. I'll champion him too, but I do resent the implication of being an apologist or a sycophant. I think that my hide is tough enough to survive it though.

To my knowledge, Sebastian, Brian hasn't been working with Adam. He just heard this recording that Adam had done at the same studio where he was producing an album for Meat Loaf. There are those delightful clips of he and Meat Loaf clowning around too.  He said wonderful things about Adam's performance but we won't be able to hear it for some time to see if we agree. If he and Roger were to get together with Adam for a performance, it would be just as good if they weren't doing it as Queen. Everyone can sort that out for themselves if it should ever happen.

But to take Brian to task for driving VW Beetles instead of his Ferraris? ROFL!!!  Pardon me, but deservedly or not, that makes you sound really petty!

Yeah, Brian would benefit from doing a bit of reading about PETA.  They cause more animal cruelty than I do, and I'm a meat eater.

Zebonka12 wrote:

Yeah, Brian would benefit from doing a bit of reading about PETA.  They cause more animal cruelty than I do, and I'm a meat eater.

PETA has done some good things like sending covert people in to film what goes on in the factory farming of animals and at slaughter houses, but other things they do invalidate the good stuff.