How I began my Queen journey 20 years ago

Let's see, my interest in Queen began early on but my mother (may she Rest In Peace) detested Freddie Mercury and assumed all of Queen were gay because of Freddie (which we know was not true). Then when my parents divorced I went to live with my father who uplifted the ban on Queen.

Seeing their albums were out of print in the States when I started becoming a Queen fan (as in the original FOUR, not the Queen + fiascos) in 1990, my first illegitimate Queen album was a dub of the Elektra Records version of Greatest Hits (a great overview in my view) and was a fan of "Headlong" and "Innuendo" from rock radio playing the Hell out of those two tracks (which I kindly added to the dub of Greatest Hits I had).

Then once I started buying CDs permanently in August of 1991, I was upgrading my Pink Floyd and Rush collections. Then in March of 1992 (at the height of "Bohemian Rhapsody's" resurgence) I finally acquired my first legitimate Queen CD and I went with A Night At The Opera thanks to my father at the local Strawberries Records and Tapes in Brockton, MA (five minutes from my Whitman, MA home). I played the album start to finish and said "Queen KICK F*CKIN' ASS, SORRY MOM (wherever you are) BUT QUEEN KICKED ASS". Then I went on a Queen binge recording copies of albums my oldest sister's ex had.

The albums in order of when I nabbed first copy of each (not counting re-buys, newest remasters) and stores I acquired from :

A Night At the Opera (16 March, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
News Of The World (3 April, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
Jazz (18 April, 1992) at NRM Music, Kingston, MA (I paid for with money mother gave me for Easter)
A Day At the Races and Hot Space (both cassettes as CD player was in the shop being repaired) (2 May, 1992) at Wall to Wall Sound and Video, Taunton, MA (again with money my mom gave me)
Live Killers (16 May, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
Sheer Heart Attack (30 May, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
The Game (4 June, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (my mom bought for me as she felt bad for bailing out of a visit due to a wedding she went with her third and final husband)
Live At Wembley (5 June, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (I paid for it)
A Day At the Races (6 July, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
The Miracle (14 July, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
Flash Gordon Soundtrack (31 July, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
Classic Queen (29 August, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
Maroon Greatest Hits (30 September, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (pops (my dad) paid for it)
Hot Space (3 October, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (my dad and I split the cost)
A Kind of Magic (18 October, 1992) at Strawberries, East Brockton, MA (my dad paid for it)
Queen II (3 November, 1992) at Spinners (an indy store), East Bridgewater, MA (i got $14 in credit and they had a new copy of Queen II for $13 so I even swapped)
Innuendo (Christmas 1992) at Check It Out (an old indy store), West Brockton, MA (my oldest sister bought for me as a Christmas present)
self titled and The Works (26 December, 1992) at Strawberries, West Brockton, MA (I paid for with cash and gift certificates)
Queen at the BBC (22 March, 1992) Spec's Music in Ocala, FL during Spring Break
Made in Heaven (6 November, 1995) at Strawberries, Brockton, MA (I paid for it)
Greatest Hits I and II (Gold Box) (17 November, 1995) at same Strawberries as other aforementioned
Queen Rocks (4 November, 1997) at Sound Chaser (indy record store) in Hanover, MA with credit I got from turning in some loose end CDs.
The Platinum Collection (24 September, 2002) at Quincy Records (where I worked at at the time), Quincy, MA
Live at Wembley Stadium (20 August, 2003) at Sound Chaser
Queen On Fire Live at the Bowl (9 November, 2004) at Best Buy in Charleston, South Cackalacka
Queen Rock Montreal (30 October, 2007) at Sounds Good Music, Port Saint Lucie, FL (where I worked at the time)

I didn't add Greatest Hits III, Queen Collection nor Crown Jewels nor A Night at the Opera CD/DVD the 2011/2012 remasters.

I

[QUOTE] [b]NOTWMEDDLE wrote:[/b]
Let's see, my interest in Queen began early on but my mother (may she Rest In Peace)DETESTED Freddie Mercury and assumed all of Queen were gay because of Freddie (which we know was not true).
[/QUOTE]

Detested? Really?
Your mom was anti gay?

Yup. I'd say it was the norm 20 years ago. In fact, in much of the US it still is.

In much of the world, unfortunately.

I ought to write up something like that...

It is very sad that people are still anti-gay.

I became a fan 20 years ago also. Actually, it's kinda funny you bought ADATR and Hot Space on the same day. Those were the first two Queen CD's I ever owned. Can you think of two other Queen albums more diametrally different?

I remember thinking how diverse they were and found it cool that they had a song in Japanese and one (partially) in Spanish.

What did you think listening to these two back to back?

I detest all conservatives....

1992 was quite a year for you! I love tales like this. I could probably remember all mine in order, but not the dates!

It started with GH1 sometime in 1983 or 4 listening to Flash Gordon repeatedly (I was very little) and finally exploring the rest of the record, my interest being started by the madness of Seven Seas Of Rhye. Which, by a masterstroke of tracklisting, has a similar dynamic to Flash. Without that song being programmed after FG I doubt I would've got into them. Lets face it, to a 7 year old, AOBTD just doesn't do it.

This thread reminded me of an ancient thread, and I quote myself from there...http://www.queenzone.com/forum/1057336/queen-fans-how-you-became-a-fan-and-what-led-to-it.aspx?page=1
[QUOTE]We had just 1 (maybe 2) TV channel out here in India back in 1991, and my entire family used to sit and watch "The World This Week" - a weekly round up of news from around the world.

They showed footage of King Mercury from the Magic Tour (probably Wembley) and they said he had died of AIDS. I was 10 years old, understood very little English and had zero knowledge of western/rock music. But I remembered the name because they said this guy was of "Indian origin", and this was also the first time I had heard of the disease.

In 1993 my uncle came visiting from abroad and gifted me his collection - Boney M, ABBA, Michael Jackson. I still did not know anything about Queen but got some exposure of western music, eventhough what I was hearing was alreday outdated (did not know that at the time).

I started tuning in to FM radio stations and one of the those had a daily 1-hour western music show. I liked what I heard, and they also played Queen numbers like Ga Ga and Magic. They never forgot to mention Fred's name and his India connection :)and I really liked the numbers.

The late 90s saw the introduction of cable TV, and I had at my disposal an entire TV channel that played western music 24/7 - MTV. What MTV did was that it opened me up to a lot of contemporary western music, and I developd a liking for the harder stuff. They hardly played any classic videos, but I do remember being shocked once watching 4 men dressed in women's clothes and incredibly it was Queen again. I felt the need to hear more from this band but was not a fan or anything, not yet.

Come 2000, I got my first PC and guy who set it up for me also put a lot of mp3s, and that included WWRY, WATC(I had heard these before, but did not know that they were Queen numbers), IWTBF, TMLWKY. I realiased that I had liked every song of this band that I heard, and that was a first. I started working soon, so purchased some CDs (very difficult to get their material over here in Mumbai) and soon I was a hard-core fan.

There are very few Queen numbers that I find boring, and I like their lesser known numbers more than the popular ones. I prefer hard rock today, which causes me to drift to GnR, Led Zepp, but for me its still Queen on one side and all others on the other.
[/QUOTE]

I have gotten bored of GnR and never truly got into Led Zep, eventhough I appreciate them. I find myself listening a lot to Don Henly solo and Martika (!).
I am also surprised that I started liking Rolling Stones lately, and I could not stand them earlier!

"Toys Soldiers" Martika?! Yeah! I've always LOVED that song since I was ten years old or something...now I'm 35. Lol. Amazing song...I think it is written by Prince under a psuedonym or what have you...I think.

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]
1992 was quite a year for you! I love tales like this. I could probably remember all mine in order, but not the dates!
It started with GH1 sometime in 1983 or 4 listening to Flash Gordon repeatedly (I was very little) and finally exploring the rest of the record, my interest being started by the madness of Seven Seas Of Rhye. Which, by a masterstroke of tracklisting, has a similar dynamic to Flash. Without that song being programmed after FG I doubt I would've got into them. Lets face it, to a 7 year old, AOBTD just doesn't do it.[/QUOTE]

I created this thread because I was re-organizing my Queen CD collection and buying the current remasters and remember where I was when I first heard each album. If I hadn't had the illegal dub of Queen's Greatest Hits (the original US Elektra/Asylum edition) who knows if I would have become a Queen fan.

[QUOTE] [b]Dubroc wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]NOTWMEDDLE wrote:[/b]
Let's see, my interest in Queen began early on but my mother (may she Rest In Peace)DETESTED Freddie Mercury and assumed all of Queen were gay because of Freddie (which we know was not true).
[/QUOTE]
Detested? Really?
Your mom was anti gay?
[/QUOTE]

She was heavy into rock and roll (Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Billy Squier, Journey, Heart, Styx, Bob Seger, Skynyrd, Allman Brothers) but I think didn't like Freddie's flamboyant stage presence nor "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love", "Another One Bites the Dust". I think she was slightly homophobe (referred to Freddie as Freddie Faggot (I just laughed it off (I thank Christ I have Autism/Aspergers to prevent me from getting pissed off))).

My mother used to mock Queen lyrics (why I'll never know). What I do know is she liked David Bowie, Rob Halford and Judas priest and some hair metal bands who wore makeup than your average woman but why her disdain for Queen I'll never know.

[QUOTE] [b]Wiley wrote:[/b]
I became a fan 20 years ago also. Actually, it's kinda funny you bought ADATR and Hot Space on the same day. Those were the first two Queen CD's I ever owned. Can you think of two other Queen albums more diametrally different?
I remember thinking how diverse they were and found it cool that they had a song in Japanese and one (partially) in Spanish.
What did you think listening to these two back to back?[/QUOTE]

I put Races on my Walkman in the car while my older brother hogged my mom's car radio listening to rap and by the end of Side 1 I was saying "this may be better than Opera". What spurred me to nabbing it was "Somebody to Love" and "Tie Your Mother Down". Then on the VH1 US airing of Magic Years documentary heard a bit of "Drowse" and part of "Teo Torriate" as that was on the Days of Our Lives Documentary made in 1991. The rest of the album blew me away and managed to wear the cassette out in two months flat.

Then after finishing Races, I got home and my CD player was back from the repair shop (my brother used to slam on disc player door like a gorilla and I'd get pissed about it) and I took the stereo downstairs (to my room) and put on Hot Space and I said "this is different but good". Only having known "Body Language" and "Under Pressure" I said "let's go for broke". Then I heard a snippet of "Las Palabras" on the VH1 US airing of The Magic Years and liked and another reason why I nabbed Hot Space. The drum machines and synthesizers were different but I liked nevertheless.