Queen Myths People Tend to Swallow

I think Freddie had a lot do with Hot Space, John also. I think Freddie wanted more creative freedom - wanted to try a few things - and that's why he (later) recorded Mr. Bad Guy on his own. More "Club music." He wanted to sing/write all kinds of music, not only rock 'n' roll (no wonder with That voice, IMO).

Excellent topic, nice one Seb.

My fav myth which frankly I have never either proved or disproved was in a newspaper article I once had in my collection. Not sure or can't remember the concert or location but the story went that one night on tour the boys had a massive argument back stage and during the show things got pretty bad between them... so about half way through the show, Freddie got so cross with Roger that he kicked the drum kit, roger was then meant to have thrown a stick at him so he went back and knocked most of the kit on the floor, at which point he ran off to the stage left dragging john with him. The show was then stopped and the didnt return to stage.

I am certain this was made up by some shitty journo who had a column to fill in the Sun, it must have been around 82 ish when I read it, I cut it out and kept it for a number of years but chucked it out a few years ago during a house move.

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]


I'm not a physician, but it could be due to different reasons (e.g., viruses in your bathtub). What cold weather could do to you, depending on the situation, is weakening your immune system and making your nasopharyngitis (which you probably already caught via droplets from another person) more noticeable.

[QUOTE]

Cheers! That cleared that up :)

.....well about 99% of it anyway......my nose is still congested :p

Btw guys, the "Elvis" version of CLTCL is by an Elvis impersonator, known as "The King". He is an Irish postman (true) who is apparently rated the best Elvis impersonator out there. He has two albums (I think), called "Graveland" and "Return To Splendour" - both of which are albums of cover versions, sung like Elvis. They feature stuff like Nirvana's "Come As You Are", AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie", Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" and so on. Here's CTLCL on Spotify:

https://play.spotify.com/album/3cyiPFnmD4onZ5f9yOThHq

My dad kinda liked it when he heard it on Radio one time, so I bought him the albums lol :)

It's just a bit of fun - not intended to "fool" anyone....

@Seb - u forgot your favorite (atleast used to be) myth about our Freddie's fav singer? (sorry Inu - i couldn't resist).

[QUOTE] [b]DLCVinnuendo wrote:[/b]

very godd text, the surprise for me is the part of bicycle race [/QUOTE]

Brian May himself claimed (IIRC) that it'd been in France, which is, again, an understandable mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Roger (whose memory's not perfect but is positively eidetic compared to Brian's) correctly recalled it'd been in Switzerland.

[QUOTE] [b]YourValentine wrote:[/b]

Please don't bring up Hitler[/QUOTE]

An on-line debate without mentioning him? Come on!

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

I'm not sure it's a myth to say Freddie's writing tailed off. It certainly did from a commercial aspect.[/QUOTE]

Yes but that applies to Queen's commercial success in general. ANATO, NOTW and The Game were their peaks in terms of sales. Works, Magic, Miracle and Innuendo couldn't top that; Made in Heaven did but it was a special circumstance (posthumous amalgamation of compilation and album).


[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

He went from producing prolific hit after hit to largely album filler.[/QUOTE]

He managed to be the chief composer of two title tracks, an OST's main theme, a medium-sized hit single... of course he also wrote album fillers but the same could be said about the others.

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

very little of his work in the last 11 years made much impact as a stand alone/singles contribution.[/QUOTE]

Innuendo was No 1 in Britain (something no song from Brian, John or Roger achieved, unless you count the 5ive cover of WWRY in 2001). It's a Hard Life was a minor hit compared to Ga Ga or Break Free but it sold far more than the likes of One Vision and Who Wants to Live Forever (so, technically, it should've been considered for the AG compilation ahead of those two, and SSOR as well) and far more than things like Breakthru, Invisible Man, Friends Will Be Friends, Hammer to Fall, Headlong...

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

The other three became the 'popular' song writers during that time. [/QUOTE]

Not really. Brian only wrote one big hit (IWIA) and it still sold far less than Flash and far less than the double-A singles of BR/FBG and WATC/WWRY (both of which were 50% Brian). John only wrote one big hit (IWTBF), which outsold YMBF but was far far less successful than AOBTD. Roger's output did grow in terms of success, scoring three big hits (all of which were largely arranged by someone else, though).

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

Most of the post-Hot Space 'hits' were written by someone, unless we include some of the re-worked tracks for MIH.

[/QUOTE]

Not including MIH and the Bo Rhap re-release as double A with either TATDOOL or TSMGO, Queen only had seven post-HS singles that sold over half a million copies worldwide: Freddie was the sole composer and lyricist on one of them, the chief composer on another, the chief producer and lyricist on another and the chief arranger on further three. I Want It All was the only post-HS big hit that Freddie 'only' sang but didn't write, co-write, produce, co-produce or co-arrange.

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

I also don't know how John not contributing as a writer that much to Hot Space proves anything. He never wrote that much. He only wrote one song on the previous and following album too.[/QUOTE]

Which proves he wasn't the mastermind behind 'Flash' or 'The Works'.

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

We know that Brian and Roger were against HS[/QUOTE]

Roger was, Brian wasn't - he's always defended the album, even going to the ridiculous length of claiming that without it there'd have been no 'Thriller.'

[QUOTE] [b]Snackpot wrote:[/b]

In a band that was supposedly democratic you'd have imagine that John at the very least was less hostile and more logically on Freddie's 'side' when it came to the album.[/QUOTE]

Freddie clearly stated (part of the interview's shown on the Great Pretender documentary) that he (Freddie) forced the other three to go in that direction and that they hated him for that because the album didn't sell. Plus, as I wrote earlier, Brian wasn't against the album. It wasn't his favourite or in his top three, but he's always defended it, even going to the ridiculous length of claiming that without it there'd have been no 'Thriller.'

John, on the other hand, has publicly expressed his dislike for 'Hot Space', and he was the band member who suffered the most from its direction, his bass playing being replaced by synths on three full tracks.

[QUOTE] [b]ParisNair wrote:[/b]

@Seb - u forgot your favorite (atleast used to be) myth about our Freddie's fav singer? (sorry Inu - i couldn't resist).[/QUOTE]

Nah I was expecting that to pop up anyways. Surprised Seb wasn't the one to bring it up himself ;)

[QUOTE] [b]ITSM wrote:[/b]

I think Freddie had a lot do with Hot Space, John also.[/QUOTE]

Freddie did, John didn't. Brian and Roger were more involved with 'Hot Space' than John was.

[QUOTE] [b]ParisNair wrote:[/b]

@Seb - u forgot your favorite (atleast used to be) myth about our Freddie's fav singer? (sorry Inu - i couldn't resist).[/QUOTE]

I kept my top ten to who-wrote-what, who-played-what, who-sang-what and (in the case of 'Bicycle Race') where-he-wrote-it. Outside those areas, there are loads of ridiculous myths as well, like 'Bo Rhap' having 180 vocal overdubs, 'Bo Rhap' being played fourteen times by Kenny Everett on his radio programme, 'Bo Rhap' being the first video ever, 'Bo Rhap' being rejected by the record company, 'Bo Rhap' being cut down from a much longer version, etc.

The drums from Days Of Our Lives are (Apart from the occasional cymbal/snareroll) sequenced on the Korg M1.

The one that bugs me most is people assuming The Show Must Go On was written by Freddie.
Granted, the lyrics could very well fit his situation at the time. But still, the viewpoint some seem to hold of Queen being Freddie Mercury... and some other guys... is fairly irritating.

[QUOTE] [b]BradMay wrote:[/b]

The drums from Days Of Our Lives are (Apart from the occasional cymbal/snareroll) sequenced on the Korg M1.[/QUOTE]

No, they're not. Drums on 'Headlong' and 'I Can't Live with You' are (partly) M1-generated, but the ones on 'Days of Our Lives' are real. Congas are programmed, though.

[QUOTE] [b]thefantasticdrowse wrote:[/b]

The one that bugs me most is people assuming The Show Must Go On was written by Freddie.[/QUOTE]

It is unfair indeed, but it happens the other way around too, with people assuming Roger composed 'Innuendo' and Brian composed 'Bijou', 'Was It All Worth It' and 'The Hitman'.

[QUOTE] [b]thefantasticdrowse wrote:[/b]

Granted, the lyrics could very well fit his situation at the time.[/QUOTE]

Which in fact doesn't prove anything, just like 'Was It All Worth It' having loads of guitar doesn't prove the guitarist wrote it.

[QUOTE]
[b]thefantasticdrowse wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE]
Granted, the lyrics could very well fit his situation at the time.[/QUOTE]

Which in fact doesn't prove anything, just like 'Was It All Worth It' having loads of guitar doesn't prove the guitarist wrote it.[/QUOTE]

Exactly -- hence it being a bad assumption to make.

I've encountered all the examples you quoted as well, and I think this (or at least the Bijou and Hitman assumptions) is mainly due to -- like you said -- assuming that guitar = guitarist.

Poor Brian: he's spent the last 20 years telling people that he wrote 'The Show Must Go On' and they still believe it's Freddie's.

How are you so sure on some of the post AKOM tracks as to which member wrote what? Some we know from interviews like TSMGO....but i was never aware people knew the true writer of Innuendo, and rumors suggested it was Roger.

Roger did 'write' Innuendo in terms of being the chief lyricist. Under pre-1989 arrangements he almost certainly would have been credited as the sole song-writer. Similar to how he was AKOM despite the fact Freddie played a large part in the (re)arrangement to make the track more commercially viable.