Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, but more likely it's just that attempt to give these fanatics some perspective will be met with the knee-jerk response of: "Yeah, but you're wrong an didn't account for [X]...!"
I took a few minutes to analyze what GF calls Bruce's "intense" "creative" period, but if you want a better look at their respective careers, here goes...
Each artists' studio albums are numbered. Queen jump WAY out in front early and consistently with regularly released albums, slowed only by the inconvenient death of Freddie in 1991, after which, Bruce takes15 more years to catch up.
1973 BS: 01) Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ BS: 02) The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle 01) Queen
1974 02) Queen II 03) Sheer Heart Attack
1975 BS: 03) Born To Run 04) A Night At The Opera
1976 05) A Day At The Races
1977 06) News Of The World
1978 BS: 04) Darkness On The Edge Of Town 07) Jazz
1979 Live Killers
1980 BS: 05) The River 08) The Game 09) Flash Gordon Queen: Greatest Hits
1982 BS: 06) Nebraska 10) Hot Space
1984 BS: 07) Born In The USA 11) The Works
1985 Live 1975/1985 The Complete Works
1986 12) A Kind Of Magic
1987 BS: 08) Tunnel Of Love Live Magic
1988 BS: Chimes Of Freedom EP
1989 13) The Miracle At The Beeb
1990
1991 14) Innuendo Queen: Greatest Hits II
1992 BS: 09) Human Touch BS: 10) Lucky Town Box Of Trix Live At Wembley ‘86
1993 BS: In Concert/MTV Unplugged Five Live
1994
1995 BS: Greatest Hits BS: 11) The Ghost Of Tom Joad 15) Made In Heaven
1996 BS: Blood Brothers EP
1997 Queen Rocks
1998 BS: Tracks (Boxed Set)
1999 BS: 18 Tracks Queen+: Greatest Hits III
2000
2001 BS: Live In New York City
2002 BS: 12) The Rising
2003 BS: The Essential Bruce Springsteen
2004 Return Of The Champions Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl
2005 BS: 13) Devils & Dust
2006 BS: Hammersmith Odeon ‘75 BS: 14) We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions
2007 BS: Live In Dublin BS: 15) Magic Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid
2008 BS: Magic Tour Highlights EP 16) The Cosmos Rocks
2009 BS: 16) Working On A Dream Live In Ukraine
To give Bruce the benefit of the doubt, I've included his solo albums and his E Street Band albums and excluded Queen's solo material because after all, a four on one contest is hardly fair. That said, Bruce has a pretty unmatched level of output for one man, which impresses me as much as David Bowie's level of output.
Still, because someone brought up The Darkness/Promise comparison, I'll say it again...nice and slow...using simple words:
Queen released their music when they recorded their albums.
Bruce, especially in this case, did not.
That's why Bruce's vault is full of albums of unreleased songs and Queen's is not.
Any other myths you want me to dis-spell?
GratefulFan · Member since
The comparison is not between the two careers you insufferable, babbling ass. It's between a worthwhile product that acknowledges devoted fans and the worthiness of the art, and run of the mill products that continually leave devoted fans feeling left out and let down. Unless you think Queen is only capable of producing Greatest Hits packages and standard concert releases and ANATO 30th from their 20 year history - and if you do you think way less of them than the rest of us - you have no point to make.
rhyeking · Member since
If "fans" looked past their selfishness, they'd see they've been rewarded by the band many times over, without the need for lavishly packaged, overrated box sets (despite having actually issued the very same).
Imagine how much more appreciative one can be without the "What have they done for me lately" attitude.
"...insufferable, babbling ass!"
That made me laugh out loud.
Thanks, GF. I'm going to make that my email signature at work.
Awesome.
GratefulFan · Member since
Yeah you do that. I'll give it 10 minutes before one or two of your loudest coworkers are over apologizing profusely.
12yrslouetta · Member since
This is an interesting topic. This is my take. I dont think comparing Springsteen and Queen makes any sense at all. The perception between the artists are million and million miles apart. Springsteen has had incredible critical acclaim throughout his career as an artist and a songwriter so he can release reworkings and lost albums and it would be of huge huge interest. Queen have never had that same critical acclaim and always been dismissed by the media, and never been acclaimed for their songwriting prowess. So reworkings and demos will never be viewed as the same. What Queen always have had though is the singles and the hits.
When Queen release yet another greatest hits package and it spends years and years and years in the charts its hard to argue with that from a financial perspective. And lets be honest those numerous greatest hits packages allowed them to put Q+PR together in the 1st place and let them play arenas and stadiums around the world, because of the hits that everyone knows. I went to one of those gigs and they played all the hits for everyone. They didnt play Liar, or Millionaire Waltz for the devoted fans, they just played the hits. And everyone loved it and thats what they wanted to hear. Now when Queen released The Game on DVD A (or whatever) a few years ago that didnt sell very well and Brian May seemed it to be an unworthy exercise as it didnt sell. So much so that this probably wont be repeaated. Now im assuming the "devoted" fans bought that, but when you can keep an album in the charts for years up against a DVDA album that comes and goes before its even released which one would you choose as a business proposition. IMO in the end its about perception and business. Theres no point putting out anything that wont sell. All the business strokes that they make have to be broad. Queen are a huge commercial worldwide entity. Well those are my musings anyway
rhyeking · Member since
I got nothing from that last post, GF.
Amusingly, after sharing the entire thread with them, my co-workers have no idea what you're talking about either.
I'll spare you any more of me being right as I think I've said all I need to in this thread.
Holly2003 · Member since
12yrslouetta wrote: This is an interesting topic. This is my take. I dont think comparing Springsteen and Queen makes any sense at all. The perception between the artists are million and million miles apart. Springsteen has had incredible critical acclaim throughout his career as an artist and a songwriter so he can release reworkings and lost albums and it would be of huge huge interest. Queen have never had that same critical acclaim and always been dismissed by the media, and never been acclaimed for their songwriting prowess. So reworkings and demos will never be viewed as the same. What Queen always have had though is the singles and the hits.
When Queen release yet another greatest hits package and it spends years and years and years in the charts its hard to argue with that from a financial perspective. And lets be honest those numerous greatest hits packages allowed them to put Q+PR together in the 1st place and let them play arenas and stadiums around the world, because of the hits that everyone knows. I went to one of those gigs and they played all the hits for everyone. They didnt play Liar, or Millionaire Waltz for the devoted fans, they just played the hits. And everyone loved it and thats what they wanted to hear. Now when Queen released The Game on DVD A (or whatever) a few years ago that didnt sell very well and Brian May seemed it to be an unworthy exercise as it didnt sell. So much so that this probably wont be repeaated. Now im assuming the "devoted" fans bought that, but when you can keep an album in the charts for years up against a DVDA album that comes and goes before its even released which one would you choose as a business proposition. IMO in the end its about perception and business. Theres no point putting out anything that wont sell. All the business strokes that they make have to be broad. Queen are a huge commercial worldwide entity. Well those are my musings anyway ====================================================================================
If that really is Brian's view then frankly he's an asshole.
The Real Wizard · Member since
Great post, 12yrslouetta. You certainly raise some very valid points, but I still maintain that being a singles band for the majority shouldn't have to be a reason not to acknowledge the hardcore fans now and again. They could always release these types of products in much smaller quantity. Hell, they could even do online downloads of unreleased songs and concerts, maybe even for fan club members only, and they would still make a lot of money.
Sheer Brass Neck · Member since
I agree, somewhere Queen lost their artistry and drive, and sales become everything. Brian has often bemoaned the lack of critical respect Queen's early stuff gets, but when they have an opportunity to shine some light on the crown jewel of their catalogue, they did an absolute half assed job, replete with amateurish videos that were high school level in quality. Bizarre, but deserving. Not many "musos" take Queen's back catalogue seriously and that's okay, as the band and management don't either.
GratefulFan · Member since
rhyeking wrote: I got nothing from that last post, GF.
Amusingly, after sharing the entire thread with them, my co-workers have no idea what you're talking about either.
I'll spare you any more of me being right as I think I've said all I need to in this thread. =====================================
Rhyeking! The mice in your parent's basement are not *really* your coworkers. We've talked about this before. Now stop being wrong and making me fight with you on the internet. Just stop it. Stop being wrong. Is that too much to ask?
Gregsynth · Member since
GratefulFan = Epic post
GratefulFan · Member since
Sheer Brass Neck wrote: I agree, somewhere Queen lost their artistry and drive, and sales become everything. Brian has often bemoaned the lack of critical respect Queen's early stuff gets, but when they have an opportunity to shine some light on the crown jewel of their catalogue, they did an absolute half assed job, replete with amateurish videos that were high school level in quality. Bizarre, but deserving. Not many "musos" take Queen's back catalogue seriously and that's okay, as the band and management don't either. ==================================
You expect Jim Beach and his type to operate like guys who are selling blocks of entertainment widgets. I can live with that. But it's Brian and Roger who I don't always understand. It seems to me the products haven't reflected an appreciation of the fact that there are people still around who are still interested, still hopeful and still waiting. On the onther hand, the bootlegs fly around pretty freely for those who can and want to partake, and most of us have an email or two from Brian himself which is pretty damn special for a fan. That's a lot of work for him times a whole lot of people. I don't know. I can't quite figure out how they feel about 'us', or their catalogue.
GratefulFan · Member since
Gregsynth wrote: GratefulFan = Epic post ====================
I'm right, right? I knew it...
:)
12yrslouetta · Member since
It is a shame in away but i think that Queen are desperate to stay relevant, so if they did release demos and out takes and self indulgent studio musings to a, lets face it, miniscule fraction of the buying population they dont gain anything. The perception is is that whatever Queen release is huge, so they cant be seen to release anything that people will or can ignore. But i agree, you can have download only purchases from the website to keep things interesting.
BUT BUT BUT i think its important to say that when i grew up listening to Queen (the 1st album i listened to was SHA) they were always seen as a corporate obvious band that no one really admitted to liking. They never ever got good reviews and they were never seen as cool or musically relevant or even any good or worth listening to. Bands always rallied against the likes of the huge band like Queen and genesis and elo and so on and so on, hence we got punk, new wave etc etc. But since Freddie has died EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED. They have somehow enhanced the group to become really really well respected and legends and now incredibly everybody loves them. People always mention Queen as a band they really like. Or they like enough of their stuff to buy a greatest hits packages. You cant get more mainstream than being invited on to American Idol. So for all the despair that we or i feel for yet another re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-package of the same singles, on a business level they have definitely succeeded. Without them being as savvy as they have been, and if they didnt always look to appeal to the majority of fans worldwide, who knows where they might be now. Again this is my humble opinion.
Wiley · Member since
I agree with all 12yrslouetta said. Queen is a business and if their objective was to get "legendary" status, be widely know and respected, they nailed it.
Sir GH's point still stands, though, would it kill them to throw a freakin' bone to the fans every now and then? :P
Sadly, most of the times when they seem to be catering for the hardcore fan, they screw up big time (Top 100 bootlegs) or they are discouraged by underwhelming sales and simply discontinue the damn thing (DVDA). As opposed to this, when they release yet another compilation they sell millions of records and make a shitload of money.
Apparently: a) They don't want to release something that will not sell millions, so they target all releases for the masses. b) They want to release something for the fans but they don't know how to do it. When they do, they fail miserable and go back to "safe" releases.
