Freddie-desperation and transgression through performance.

Do you ever see a certain amount of desperation in Mercury when performing? A friend of mine said the other day he was performing like there was no tomorrow.
That perhaps added an extra dimension in his delivery both on albums and especially on stage. There is a "if I am going to drop dead now i don’t give a shit because i had the opportunity to express my shelf" quality.
You don’t find that in too many artists.
At the same time that may underline an inner desperation and the pathos to fight it.
This is why a lot of his singing and acting looked like combats in my eyes when i first witnessed his charisma as a kid.

Nah, he just acted that way because he knew there was a painfully long guitar solo coming...

Eh?

[QUOTE] [b]STELIOS wrote:[/b]
That perhaps added an extra dimension in his delivery both on albums and especially on stage. There is a "if I am going to drop dead now i don’t give a shit because i had the opportunity to express my shelf" quality.
You don’t find that in too many artists.
.[/QUOTE]
as a fan since 1974 - i can honestly say i have no idea what you are on about.
what you talk about is not unique. you say you don't find that in many artists. that really is rubbish. - i've seen dozens and dozens of bands live since 1979 and i can tell you that none of them go on stage and make a half-hearted attempt (well none except guns & roses)
because no matter what we think of particular artists i think they all give 100% on stage and in the studio.
do you really think that singers, bands, artists give below par performances deliberately? no way. they give their all - because anything less is not accepted by fans and music buyers.
and as for your "extra dimension on albums" comment...do you honestly think that bands don't put out the best possible product they can?

I think that effect comes along when he gives it his all. Obviously he had to conserve his voice to some extent, though. I always like to use Milton Keynes version of Somebody To Love as an example. During the middle section where it's just him singing it sounds like he's about to explode (in a good way), I love when his voice sounds like it's on the very edge of what he can give.

There is a difference between giving 100% of yourself and actually going that extra mile that really make things extraordinary.

Freddie walked on the edge as far as delivery and expressiveness always pushing the envelope and his vocal chords.
Its that thin line between capturing the intensity of the emotion but instead of being consumed by it, sing and act your heart out.
And then re-charge again to dive in a different mood/style/feeling.

I remember him saying in an interview that "when on stage i want to give everything …to just die up there" or something like that. I cant think of Paul McCartney/David Bowie/John Lennon/Elton John/Mick Jagger etc making a statement like that and actually believe them 100%.

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]STELIOS wrote:[/b]
That perhaps added an extra dimension in his delivery both on albums and especially on stage. There is a "if I am going to drop dead now i don’t give a shit because i had the opportunity to express my shelf" quality.
You don’t find that in too many artists.
.[/QUOTE]
as a fan since 1974 - i can honestly say i have no idea what you are on about.
what you talk about is not unique. you say you don't find that in many artists. that really is rubbish. - i've seen dozens and dozens of bands live since 1979 and i can tell you that none of them go on stage and make a half-hearted attempt (well none except guns & roses)
because no matter what we think of particular artists i think they all give 100% on stage and in the studio.
do you really think that singers, bands, artists give below par performances deliberately? no way. they give their all - because anything less is not accepted by fans and music buyers.
and as for your "extra dimension on albums" comment...do you honestly think that bands don't put out the best possible product they can?[/QUOTE]
I agree with you for the most part, but you know what? I think some bands DON'T put out the best product they possibly can. They just put out whatever sells. Why make great when good sells better?

for the life of me, i can't work out why some have to "read" more into queen than was really there.

they were a f*cking rock band, they made albums and performed live...in much the same way most decent rockbands do - ie there is no myth/legend about freddie - he was a singer, a frontman who shook his a** on stage....

and the amount of "debates" about freddie on QZ are becoming a little bit "buzzword bingo"...

even the title of this thread says it all really....it's like people can't just appreciate the music for what it is...a bit of meaningless fun as an artform....ffs it's hardly life n death

as Freddie himself sang:
"i'm just a singer with a song"

I have't had a chance to participate in any of Stelios' more existential threads but I've been meaning to pop on one and at least mention that I appreciate what he brings to the forum with these kinds of questions. It's all highly speculative of course, but there's never anything wrong with thinking about things deeply. So I get what Brenski is saying, but I'd respectfully disagree that discussion should be limited by that mindset, which is really just another set of assumptions - and perhaps assumptions that are even less likely to be accurate given the complexity of human beings and the inevitability of having some of that complexity leak out into one's creative pursuits.

I think its fair to see he had an "extra dimension" in the uncommon intensity of performance at times, and there had to be have been something from within driving that.