John leaving the band even if Freddie was alive and well.

This is all speculation of course but seems to me that there is a possibility there that Deacon didn't leave the band only due to Freddie's death.
If things with Freddie's health was all right the extra bond that was created between the four of them during The Miracle and after wouldn't have been there.
So for me John 1986 and afterwards may have considered leaving the band anyways.He just seemed disoriented with that bussines (and the extravaganza that Queen became) long ago but then came the illness wich brought things to another level ( sticking to our guns/backs to the wall mentality)

It's nice to think that John was devastated by Freddie's passing but there is a possibility that he may left the band anyways, and i am saying this becouse his "silence" the last 15 years is so strong that somenone may think that Deacon has had enough with showbiz even when Queen were still all alive and kicking.

The thing that i always have with John is that i think that they might have gotten into an argument at some point...

It was so sudden that he dissapeared, everything looked allright during the `97 shows they did together, and after that BOOM he was gone, whilst Bri and Rog still worked/work together.

And to be honest, i really think that John thinks " They made the Queen name into a shame " Because of the colabborations with 5ive and Britney Spears and that Adam Lambert guy.

So i really doubt we will ever see him perform again with them, or even do an interview, its done, over, finito.

And, the sad thing about this all.

When Brian dies, newspapers and tv stations will tell, when Roger dies, same thing.
When John dies? None of the above.

Not because its "Just the bassplayer" or anything, but because he`s slipped into anonymous-ness...

I dont think that a lot of people will know him when you say "John Deacon" they know "Freddie Mercury" or "Brian May" or "Roger Taylor" but they dont know John...

IF John had stayed in the band from`97 onwards we wouldn`t have these silly collabs with shitty top-40 artists, i`m quite sure about that.

And offcourse John was sad about Freds passing, but so were Brian and Roger, and they still perform, right?

So i think that its not only the " John doesn`t want to be a part of Queen anymore because Freddie was like a brother to him "

I think its more of a " John disliked stuff that Brian did and because of that we got into an argument and John decided to leave the group "

I've always been convinced that John would have quit the band, he hated the limelight, and Queen just became an all consuming beast which impindged on his private life, sadly Freddie's passing was his escape route. I don't believe he misses the business or he would have formed his own band, playing the soul/funk music that he loves. Maybe, just maybe there was a falling out with Brian somewhere along the way too, we all have a fair idea of how he can be !

Cue the rumours of John having secretly given Freddie AIDS, as an excuse to leave the band.

I wonder if it had anything to do with Robbie Williams working with Queen as we know how John felt about that, i remember John sounding positive about Queen's future then he just retired, I think some are correct about arguing with Brian over other idiot singers fronting Queen.

Actually, John replaced Freddie with an anthropomorphic robot he built himself out of spare car parts and a broken amplifier, then infected the robot with BIV (binary immunovirus) and had it die of AIDS simply to engineer the Queen + every-broken-down-second-rate-pop-act-in-history thing because it would make him buttloads of money. The reason you don't see him is because ever since '97, he's been controlling Brian and Roger by IR-remote, which takes up all his time and effort. It is suspected that Brian's occasional ranting is caused by IR interference from old ladies at the retirement home nearby.

I don't ever remember John being positive on Queen' s future ? He said at the time of the tribute concert that they could never be Queen again !

It's such a shame that either with Queen or not, he never played publicly again. Even if he didn't want to play with 'Queen' again, it would have been great to see him play live and/or record in a soul/Motown type band, playing the music he really loved and played so well.

Thanks for your responses, but this thread is actually "investigating" the possibility of John's departure from Queen before Freddie's illness and death.
Of course its all speculation but i am trying to focus more into John's disorientation as things went around 1986/7 or even earlier but before Mercury's illness changed the scenery and therefore John's discisons and priorities (a.k.a. sticking to the band [partly?] for Freddie's sake).

[QUOTE] [b]andyb1968 wrote:[/b]

I've always been convinced that John would have quit the band, he hated the limelight, and Queen just became an all consuming beast which impindged on his private life, sadly Freddie's passing was his escape route.[/QUOTE]

I'd say that's pretty accurate.

He was already becoming depressed and disillusioned with the music business by the mid 80s.

I would say there was a discussion inside the band at some point in the early 80`s to split up. Brian mentioned something that their time here in Munich was "very emotional" and he was unsure to talk about it in an interview.
Of course it was an option for John to leave the band at that point. But after he decided to stay for another album, another tour and so on - it seems like he get around with the situation somehow. In 86/87 it`s really hard to say...it may leads to the "When did someone- knows something" question....
In 1987 all four go on a band vacation to Ibiza ( according to Jim Hutton`s book- John was in aware of Freddies health)...of course John was on board... not the classic sign that he wants to leave the band at that point....

I could go on with more far fetched speculations....but a lot of Queenzoners would hate mor for that :)

Couldn't it be the case that in (let's say) 1997 something in his private life happend (family wise or so), that at that point he knew what was the most important for him in life... His family... And that he didn't want to deal with the time-consuming Queen...

I think they going into the 90s would have wound down to one album every 4 years ish, with shorter tours anyway, so it may not have been an issue.

I don't think there's any way John would have left Queen once he knew Freddie's state of health, he'd have wanted to see the job thru. The big issue for John was that he felt like the outsider, being the last member to join the band, he said this on a few occasions.

Perhaps in the early days. I can't imagine he still felt like the outsider by the time of the Magic Tour?!