Did Queen ever fully recover from Hot Space in the US?

Billy Squier's was career suicide BECAUSE of the video.  Billy Squier was perceived as a hard rocking guy, no different than any other guy in AOR music.  Then to see his prancing?  Bye bye men.  As a Squier fan, I know he came back with a great vid for All Night Long, a rocking song, and lots of shots featuring girls looking longingly at Billy.  Too late as the damage was done.  So you're not comparing apples with apples Skip.  One guy pranced through the 70s IN A FUCKING DIAMOND ENCRUSTED BALLET OUTFIT!!!!!!!!!!!, and yet you say America only collectively discovered he was gay at Hot Space?  Ain't buying it.

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[b]Sheer Brass Neck wrote: [/b]

Billy Squier's was career suicide BECAUSE of the video.  Billy Squier was perceived as a hard rocking guy, no different than any other guy in AOR music.  Then to see his prancing?  Bye bye men.  As a Squier fan, I know he came back with a great vid for All Night Long, a rocking song, and lots of shots featuring girls looking longingly at Billy.  Too late as the damage was done.  So you're not comparing apples with apples Skip.  One guy pranced through the 70s IN A FUCKING DIAMOND ENCRUSTED BALLET OUTFIT!!!!!!!!!!!, and yet you say America only collectively discovered he was gay at Hot Space?  Ain't buying it.[/QUOTE]

You need to work on your reading comprehension.

And you, your writing comprehension.  And history.  When you say, "then Freddie started with the Village People look rock fans in the U.S. were turned off", you do realize that Queen were the biggest act in America in that very year?  Two number one singles, plus a sold out stadium tour.  As a guy named Brian May said, they were at the peak of their powers in America, at the very moment that you say "they equated Freddie's moustache and leather biker outfits with the Village People."  Freddie had a moustache on The Game inner sleeve and was wearing PVC and biker hats on the Jazz tour (hugely successful BTW.)    

So please explain why this backlash didn't start sooner if America (like America has a collective gaydar and said, "that guy from Queen is a faggot).  Skip, if you beleive it was Freddie's gayness, great.  They changed styles, lost their identity and American rock audiences didn't buy Queen as a keyboard heavy pop band.

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[b]Sheer Brass Neck wrote: [/b]

And you, your writing comprehension.  And history.  When you say, "then Freddie started with the Village People look rock fans in the U.S. were turned off", you do realize that Queen were the biggest act in America in that very year?  Two number one singles, plus a sold out stadium tour.  As a guy named Brian May said, they were at the peak of their powers in America, at the very moment that you say "they equated Freddie's moustache and leather biker outfits with the Village People."  Freddie had a moustache on The Game inner sleeve and was wearing PVC and biker hats on the Jazz tour (hugely successful BTW.)    

 



So please explain why this backlash didn't start sooner if America (like America has a collective gaydar and said, "that guy from Queen is a faggot).  Skip, if you beleive it was Freddie's gayness, great.  They changed styles, lost their identity and American rock audiences didn't buy Queen as a keyboard heavy pop band.  

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Queen have never been the biggest rock act in the U.S.  Far from it.  Their tours here were relatively short compared to
other bands at the time (KISS, Styx, Journey, for example).  Their material after "The Game" wasn't a staple on U.S. radio.  They stopped playing here after the "Hot Space" tour.  I don't know where you got the idea that they had a sold out stadium tour here, but that's absolutely wrong.  They played in theaters early on, then arenas, not stadiums here.  They
weren't big enough to launch a U.S. stadium tour.

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[b]skip wrote: [/b]































































Bible belt America were turned off by Freddie's homosexuality.  It didn't help Queen's career in the U.S.  The musical
direction they went in eventually brought an end to their touring in the U.S.





























































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Correct.  It didn't help, but it didn't take away from it either.

Look at the picture of Freddie in the A Day At The Races sleeve where he's wearing the white leotard.  And... Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, for crying out loud !?  Did these bible-thumpers not pick up on the fact that he was gay?

The glam era was long over by 1976, so that can't be used as an excuse.  Elton John dressed as Donald Duck in 1980, and nobody cared.  He is still worshiped by millions to this day.  Today we have artists like Mika, and it's no different.  A few people gripe about the fact that someone's gay, but at the end of the day, if the music is good, people still like it.

how about rob halford?....priest was at their biggest in 1982.  With all the leather outfits and biker hats.  Another one bites the dust was queens biggest hit and the video for that song has freddie prancing around with the stach.  It's all about the songs skippy!.....the 80's was popular for the stach look anyway, both gay and straight men.  Didn't tom selleck and burt ryenolds both have the same look as freddie?

how about rob halford?....priest was at their biggest in 1982.  With all the leather outfits and biker hats.  Another one bites the dust was queens biggest hit and the video for that song has freddie prancing around with the stach.  It's all about the songs skippy!.....the 80's was popular for the stach look anyway, both gay and straight men.  Didn't tom selleck and burt ryenolds both have the same look as freddie?

Well said! (Mike and Sir GH).

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[b]Sir GH wrote: [/b]

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[b]skip wrote: [/b]



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



Bible belt America were turned off by Freddie's homosexuality.  It didn't help Queen's career in the U.S.  The musical
direction they went in eventually brought an end to their touring in the U.S.



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 

[/QUOTE]
Correct.  It didn't help, but it didn't take away from it either.

Look at the picture of Freddie in the A Day At The Races sleeve where he's wearing the white leotard.  And... Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, for crying out loud !?  Did these bible-thumpers not pick up on the fact that he was gay?

The glam era was long over by 1976, so that can't be used as an excuse.  Elton John dressed as Donald Duck in 1980, and nobody cared.  He is still worshiped by millions to this day.  Today we have artists like Mika, and it's no different.  A few people gripe about the fact that someone's gay, but at the end of the day, if the music is good, people still like it.
[/QUOTE]
As I mentioned before being a gay musician today doesn't mean anything.  It did in the '70s and '80s.  It could ruin your
career back then. 

RE:  white leotard

Many of the lead vocalists in the glam rock bands were wearing similiar outfits.  It wasn't a big deal during the glam
era.  That's what made it glam.

Elton John had some backlash when he came out of the closet.  He announced that he was going to quit the music business.  It didn't help that he was a raging alcoholic and coke head at that time.

RE:  glam era

The glam era was still going in the mid '70s.  KISS, Sweet, Parliament Funkadelic, etc.

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[b]mike hunt wrote: [/b]

how about rob halford?....priest was at their biggest in 1982.  With all the leather outfits and biker hats.  Another one bites the dust was queens biggest hit and the video for that song has freddie prancing around with the stach.  It's all about the songs skippy!.....the 80's was popular for the stach look anyway, both gay and straight men.  Didn't tom selleck and burt ryenolds both have the same look as freddie?[/QUOTE]
The difference between Rob Halford and Freddie Mercury was Rob didn't act like a queen during interviews or during
concerts.  The look he went for eventually became a symbol of heavy metal.  Freddie was influenced by disco and I'm sure he was quite aware of the Village People from all of his gay club experiences.

It's not all about the songs, it's also about the image.

Freddie grew his mustache in 1980--inspired by Glenn Hughes (village people Biker).

Wikipedia says that "glam rock" was declining by 1975, just a note. Not that it makes a difference.

Also, we've cited the reasons why Queen lost popularity in the US. How about the revival! BOOM! Hollywood records promoted Queen's back catalog, and Innuendo was successful in the US (and had some radio rock hits as well)!