The GAY issue within QUEEN ( and the rock world).

[i]Don't Stop Me Now[/i]: I think Brian loves the song but hates the video (so do I BTW), as it happens with [i]A Hard Life[/i].

Regarding Howard Stern: Dr May may (no pun intended) have avoided those sorts of questions because he didn't want them to be twisted. Remember that in showbiz, anything you say can be used against you. This very thread proves that!

Regarding the documentary: He felt outraged about how Freddie's private life was being exposed; as a man who suffered a lot from media gossip, he surely related to it. He also complained about people slamming Michael Jackson without any proof (allegedly), and about the Townshend thing. He's surely a bloke with principles.

[i]Body Language[/i]: I don't think it's a gay issue. Besides the song being shite, Doc could've been concerned about losing their universal appeal. It's a shame he didn't apply that same rule to himself: it's a bit unfair (IMO) that the lads only played [i]Teo Torriatte[/i] in Japan, as I'm sure loads of people in Europe, Oceania, Africa and the Americas would've enjoyed it too, even if speaking another language (wasn't it the whole point of [i]Love of My Life[/i]?). By the way, a man who wrote 'tried to be a son and daughter rolled into one' and 'I want you to be a woman' wouldn't be homophobic IMO.

I think it's been also established that the band sometimes felt uncomfortable about Fred's flamboyance, but it wasn't related to his sexuality per se. He could've been heterosexual and still worn those clothes, and they'd have felt ridiculous in the same amount.

If I were Brian I'd be less mad about the gay thing and more mad that I had to snap my fingers like a douche ....

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[b]Zebonka12 wrote: [/b]

If I were Brian I'd be less mad about the gay thing and more mad that I had to snap my fingers like a douche ....[/QUOTE]

[img=/images/smiley/msn/omg_smile.gif][/img]

But why!? LOL! They all looked so hot in that video! I watched it just last night, almost had a heart attack.

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[b]TheRobin wrote: [/b]

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[b]Crisstti wrote: [/b]



Further:

"MAY: Yeah, another dimension. In fact, I can remember having a go at Freddie because [b]some of the stuff he was writing[/b] was very definitely on the gay side. I remember saying, "it would be nice if this stuff could be universally applicable, because we have friends out there of every persuasion." It's nice to involve people. What it's not nice to do is rope people out. And I felt kind of roped out by something that was very overtly a gay anthem, like "Body Language"[Hot Space, 1982]. I thought it was very hard to take that in the other way. It's hard to talk about this. But there you go."

Saying "some of the staff" clearly implies Brian is talking about more than one song.  What anotehr song could he be refering to, apart from Body Language?.  Don't Stop me Now is an obvious answer.

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I can understand where Brian is coming from in that quote, and I'm probably the LAST person on Earth who someone would call homophobic. Brian is saying that with some songs Freddie had (MAYBE) presented to the band were, as he said "on the gay side". Brian's problem is that the songs Freddie presented had no consideration for anything else with the band other than the "gay subject". Now Queen is 3/4 straight, if you have a song that is only about a "gay subject" it wouldn't be so democratic and everything would just be weird. Imagine you're Brian, Roger, or John and are playing a song where Freddie is talking about visiting gay clubs and dancing all over guys (this is ONLY AN EXAMPLE!), it'd be extremely awkward because you wouldn't dance all over guys being a straight man (I'm actually female but I'm only using an example).

The "some of the stuff" part could have been discarded songs that the band refused to play, or Freddie realizing that he wasn't thinking of what the band would think about the unknown songs. Now, some songs may have been edited, like Body Language to tune down the gay hints, to make the rest of the band feel more included and have some say the direction of the song was going to take.

NOW, why would ANYONE think the band might have disliked Freddie for his sexuality? I'm talking about the older posts in this topic. I don't think his sexuality influenced one single iota in the way the other guys perceived him. Brian and Freddie were best friends! Roger and Freddie were best friends! John and Freddie were best friends! The band were his best friends so why should something so minimal and pointless as one's sexuality make a difference in a friendship? It's ridiculous some of you would even think that.

And Chrisstti, I never figured Don't Stop Me Now to be about anything gay. In an earlier post you said something about him saying, "I wanna make a supersonic man outta you." He says the same thing later about a woman. Anyways, I think the song is about using cocaine. It's obvious he's talking about getting high! FFS he calls himself an out of control satellite, a tiger who defies the law of gravity, a shooting star, and a race car! And if you wanna have a good time just call him and he'll throw a party and supply you with drugs. WHAT FUN!

To put it all together, there wasn't a "Gay Issue" within Queen. I highly doubt any member was homophobic, how weird is it to have your best friend be gay and you're homophobic - it doesn't make sense. Probably the only "problem" which seems very minor, was the overtly gay material in a couple of songs that the rest of the band would have had a, rightfully so, problem with seeing as they're straight! It'd be just as weird to make a song about having sex with lots and lots of women, Freddie wasn't straight and they wouldn't want to isolate, or "rope out" as Brian says, any group of people. They kept it pretty general IMO.

Wow, did I write a book there or what?
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A few things:

I can understand what Brian was saying as well.  But I really don't think it was fair to Freddie.  I mean, it wasn't just up to Brian to decide that the songs had to represent them all.  It appears he thought that's how it should be so he wrote songs that could be applied either way, but that wasn't just his decision to make.  If Freddie wanted to write a song with romantic and/or sexual lyrics referring to men, I think he had a right to, and he must not have felt fine to have Brian (and maybe someone else in the band) tell him he shouldn't.

I don't know if you're referring to me, but I certainly haven't said the band "disliked Freddie because of his sexuality".  I don't think anyone has said that, actually.
Brian and Freddie best friends?.  That just wasn't that way.  I'm not saying they weren't friends, but they certainly weren't best friends.  According to everyone close to Freddie who has been asked about it, Freddie did not socialize with Brian outside of the band.  The only band member with whom he socialized outside of the band was Roger.
I'm a huge Beatles fan, and the difference is noticeable.  the Beatles were best friends.  They'd hang out all the time outside from the band.  They'd be in each others houses, go on vacations together, spend New Year together.  That wasn't the case with Queen (I'm not saying Freddie's sexuality had anything to do with that, by the way).

Of course Don't Stop Me Now has gay references.   (I'd actually say the whole song is about that, but I guess that's more open to discussion.)   I find it surprising that people will say otherwise.  English isn't my native language, but how could a line like "I'm a sex machine ready to reload, like an atom bomb, about to explode" not be about sex?.  Add to that the "I wanna make a supersonic man out of you" (yes, he says woman one time, I'd say that's an example of a concession to Brian) and the shirt Freddie is wearing in the video (I already posted a link), and I think it's really clear what he's talking about.  All the lines you refer to could very well refer to having sex.  And the line about the car, remember he says "like Lady Godiva".  If you read the link I posted about the shirt, that seems to me to be referring to that club as well.

In any case, whether Brian had some homophobic feelings he was rationalizing or whether he was sincerely just concerned about "roping people out", the fact remains that by his own account, they did have a problem because of Freddie's sexuality.

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[b]Sebastian wrote: [/b]

[i]Don't Stop Me Now[/i]: I think Brian loves the song but hates the video (so do I BTW), as it happens with [i]A Hard Life[/i].

Regarding Howard Stern: Dr May may (no pun intended) have avoided those sorts of questions because he didn't want them to be twisted. Remember that in showbiz, anything you say can be used against you. This very thread proves that!

Regarding the documentary: He felt outraged about how Freddie's private life was being exposed; as a man who suffered a lot from media gossip, he surely related to it. He also complained about people slamming Michael Jackson without any proof (allegedly), and about the Townshend thing. He's surely a bloke with principles.

[i]Body Language[/i]: I don't think it's a gay issue. Besides the song being shite, Doc could've been concerned about losing their universal appeal. It's a shame he didn't apply that same rule to himself: it's a bit unfair (IMO) that the lads only played [i]Teo Torriatte[/i] in Japan, as I'm sure loads of people in Europe, Oceania, Africa and the Americas would've enjoyed it too, even if speaking another language (wasn't it the whole point of [i]Love of My Life[/i]?). By the way, a man who wrote 'tried to be a son and daughter rolled into one' and 'I want you to be a woman' wouldn't be homophobic IMO.

I think it's been also established that the band sometimes felt uncomfortable about Fred's flamboyance, but it wasn't related to his sexuality per se. He could've been heterosexual and still worn those clothes, and they'd have felt ridiculous in the same amount.
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Don't Stop Me Now:  Maybe, but what do you base that on?.
I like the video, by the way (and love the song).

Howard Stern:  I haven't actually listened to the interview, just read a transcript.  Listening to his voice would be helpful.

Oh, I'm not twisting Brian's words at all.  I actually bothered to look for the exact quote and link (which took very long), so that you all could see and judge by yourselves.  I think what he says is very clear.

The documentary:  Sure Brian is a person with principles.  One of the reasons I like him a lot.
The issue of how right or wrong is to talk (do a documentary, a book, etc.) about someone is a complex issue, no doubt.  A whole discussion in itself.  But I would like to point out that, unlike the case of Michael Jackson and Peter Townshend, no one was saying anything bad about Freddie in that documentary.  I didn't see anyone accusing him of anything.
I tried to find what Brian said about it, but couldn't.  I do seem to remember that he didn't seem just concerned about the privacy issue... but that's just how I remember it.

Body Language:  If he was concerned about them losing their universal appeal, that means that Freddie's sexuality was an issue in relation to that.  Brian says it very clearly in that interview.  I don't see the big deal.

The gayest thing about Body Language was the men standing around snapping their fingers in what one had to conclude was a bathhouse.  Lyrically, if anything, it sounds like he's talking about a woman. I suppose conceptually - once one witnessed men standing around snapping their fingers in a bathhouse - one might equate the term 'body language' with gaydar.  I found 'Get Down Make Love' lyrically and atmospherically gayer by a magnitude.

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[b]GratefulFan wrote: [/b]

The gayest thing about Body Language was the men standing around snapping their fingers in what one had to conclude was a bathhouse.  Lyrically, if anything, it sounds like he's talking about a woman. I suppose conceptually - once one witnessed men standing around snapping their fingers in a bathhouse - one might equate the term 'body language' with gaydar.  I found 'Get Down Make Love' lyrically and atmospherically gayer by a magnitude. [/QUOTE]

Oh, I agree.  But it's Brian who called Body Language a "gay anthem", so he either disagrees with us or the lyrics were somewhat changed from Freddie's original idea.