Were you surprised when Freddie announced he had Aids?

When you looked at the Magic Tour and after that all the way to lets say... Innuendo, did you already had a feeling there was something wrong?

I remember that i was listening to Innuendo the first time after hearing songs like One Vision and I Want To Break Free, and the first thing that struck my mind was "Damn, his voice sounds thin! "

After that i watched vids from The Miracle and i was already familliar with Wembley and Live Aid, and i thought that he had lost alot of weight but i wasn`t really thinking anything else behind it (Since losing weight also changes your vocal tone/strenght a bit)

It wasn`t until 2006 i learned that he had HIV/Aids from `87 onwards, and that explained alot to me, the change in vocal power from `89 onwards, the drastic change in performance (From a very animated Freddie at Wembley/Budapest, to an almost static Freddie when he performed at La Nit in `88) And of course the drastic change in looks, compare Scandal to The Miracle, and compare Breakthru with Headlong ...

Anyways, i was born in 1990 so i`m not really into speculating since i knew because of internet, but... The people that were born in lets say, 1970 or whatever, did you already knew in... 1986/87/88 that there was something wrong with Freddie and that he was on borrowed time?

Well, the drastic change in performance is surely because he adjusted to the music. What was he supposed to do while singing opera stuff?

In '88 he still looked rather healthy I think, take a look at The Great Pretender performance from somewhere in Germany - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x68nOHYX6LU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x68nOHYX6LU[/url]

^that performance was in spring87`

I think I didn't want to face the truth, but when I saw Freddie's thin & gaunt appearance I knew his life was coming to an end, I just selfishly hoped he had recorded loads of material to keep the Queen legacy going. Its sad to reflect that had he lasted a few more years the cocktail of drugs would have been available to prolong his life.

I think he hid his illness very well physically up until the point of late 1989 for The Miracle video. There was a photo shoot of the band in the fan club magazine for that track. The close up of Freddie in that photo just looked odd to me. I just thought it was age up until that point (he was 43 at that point)
But the comments he made on Radio 1 (Queen for an hour) about touring made me think something might be wrong well before The Miracle song video.Then there was his appearance at The British in Feb 1990. I was 18 and still living at home and my Mother remarked 'Gosh, that's a very slim looking Freddie..............oh dear, he doesn't look very well'. Then, for me, that's when I knew something was wrong. Although you don't want to believe iit when these things happen.

[QUOTE]

[b]musicland munich wrote: [/b] ^that performance was in spring87`[/QUOTE]

I stand corrected.

Still, in those Barcelona performances he looks fine.

That was before the spread of the internet and I had no access to the British media then, so I really could not see that coming. I think I was too naive at the time, because I could not even understand that he was in what was then called a risk group. It was a terribly sad loss. Still hurts.

Cheers,

Ogre-

[QUOTE] [b]Chief Mouse wrote:[/b]

Well, the drastic change in performance is surely because he adjusted to the music. What was he supposed to do while singing opera stuff?

In '88 he still looked rather healthy I think, take a look at The Great Pretender performance from somewhere in Germany - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x68nOHYX6LU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x68nOHYX6LU[/url][/QUOTE]

Agree about the abjustment to opera music.

For the second however i have my doubts. He seems buffed up from the coctail drugs or something. He is energetic but in a way, "this is my 4 minutes i ll give my all". That kind of energy wouldn't help him pull of a tour, or anything. He just focused and boom.
However its a long way from healthy fitness Freddie we knew.

It was extremely shocking and disturbing for many people. THOUGH the haters in particular would say SEE that's what happens when you live that lifestyle and are GAY! So it was traumatizing in a number of different ways...

No, I don't think I was surprised. Upset, disappointed, but not surprised.
The combination of him becoming more of a recluse and his increasingly gaunt appearance over those last few years suggested something might've been wrong.

This is how I remember his appearance going downhill... all said from the perspective I recall of the teen I was back then. (I was born in Sept 74, so in October 1987 when Barcelona came out I would've been 13, and 14 when The Miracle album came out and 16 when Innuendo came out)....

I don't remember too much about The Great Pretender video, though I wouldn't say he looks unhealthy in it, just a bit chubbier. But I remember watching Barcelona (the La Nit performance included) and thinking that he didn't look as great as he used to - aside from him putting on weight (and the removal of his mustache seemed strange after being used to him with it) he somehow looked as if he'd lost his spark. The weight increase wasn't totally unexpected as I'd previously seen his most recent interviews on the Magic Years docs.
I also remember my dad at the time looking at the 12 inch cover of Barcelona and saying "That's a terrible photo. He's put it on too. That's middle age spread!"

The next thing I recall was the I Want It All video. I thought he looked pretty rough in that video, and again, that cheeky Freddie spark had gone. I recall feeling a bit disappointed (sounds terrible to say that, but that's how it was at the time).

However, when the Breakthru video was shown on Top of the Pops I thought he looked better again, he'd lost weight and seemed to be in a good mood. I loved that video at the time.

The Miracle and Scandal weren't great though. He just looked worse.

I recall seeing him with the rest of the guys, picking up the award for Best band of the 80s and being surprised at his appearance.

As for the Innuendo videos ..

It was hard to tell with the I'm Going Slightly Mad video - as he was fairly disguised... but I remember thinking how thin and fragile he looked in Headlong. That one was a bit of a shocker for me too.

At some point (a bit later I think) I recall walking into a newsagents and seeing a copy of The Sun - the one with the headline "The tragic face of Freddie Mercury" with a photo of him looking gaunt.

Then there was the disappointment of him not being in the Innuendo video, though it was still a great video all the same. Same with The Show Must Go on, being a montage of old footage.

Some of the lyrics on those last two albums were also a hint that the end was coming - Was It All Worth It and The Show Must Go On. Though, with the former, it seemed more like Queens days might've been coming to an end, due to age, rather than Freddie dying.

Then of course, came the announcement that he had AIDS. I recall being out with my mates and and buying the newspaper with that on the front.
Then the day he died - the day after the press announcement - I recall being woken up by my dad, telling me that Freddie had died. The radio was on in the house all day that day playing Queens songs.

Then just after (was it the same day or the next day?) the video for These Are the Days of Our Lives was shown on TV at the end of a documentary. That was saddening.

But no, I wasn't surprised by his death (or if I was surprised, it was only a little bit). Surprised by his appearance going downhill yes, that gave warning I guess, but not so much by his death, oddly enough.

When i saw the video for Headlong i thought that he was ill, i was around 15 or 16 then, and it started to show on the other video's at well, only a year or so later i wrote a letter to the fanclub, i must have sent it on thursday the 21st of November 1991, so they probably got the letter after his death.......
I heard the news on the 25th of November...

Most American fans(including myself) were starved for a lot of Queen-related ANYTHING during the late '80's/early '90's and it was hard to see new videos(I saw I Want It All and he looked fine)... the Innuendo was obscured with animation and old footage. In fact, my first impression of the Innuendo album was that Freddie sounded *better* than he had in ages with much of the clarity and range restored to his voice. In retrospect I *do* notice the thinness in his voice.

In short, the announcement followed the next day by his death was a total shock and a devastating punch to the stomach. The announcement made me feel like he still had years left...but then the next day...

:(

I wasn't surprised after the revelations were published in the U.K. Newspaper 'The Sun' where his personal assistant Prenter outed Freddie offically to the world with intimate photos of Freddie + partners. Also his crass quips about his wild and gay lifestyle away from Queen sleeping with everybody at a time where Aids was feared like the plague and was a huge stigma. At this time also Aids racked Hollywood matinee hero, Rock Hudson was vilified for kissing Linda Evans on the lips and the hysteria around this may have also added to Freddie's hermit like status.
I know Freddie smoked like a chimney during the Industrial Revolution, but his voice was weak and rough during the Magic Tour, compared to the Hot Space Tour of 82 where he and the Band where absolutely brilliant live and the best Band I have heard live as subsequent releases testify to that fact. There was also the report Freddie was advised by his GP to skip Live Aid due to throat problems during 85, who knows the Aids Virus may have started to take control of his immune system, but this is only speculation on my part.
I must admit growing up Freddie was a real hero of mine for his musical talent and when he died in 1991 it felt like the end of an era in music and i felt at that time I will never see the likes of Freddie's musical talent again he was that unique.
Most of all I was gutted for the band losing Freddie in his prime.
Sorry Adam you might be good but not as good as Freddie.

"Sorry Adam you might be good but not as good as Freddie."

That kinda goes without saying...

After all these years it still hurts, these guys played the soundtrack of my life, not just my youth, and I'm so glad they are back out there, makes us all feel young again, and for that alone we should all be grateful to Adam Lambert.