Were you surprised when Freddie announced he had Aids?

I was born in '86, so I don't remember Freddie when he was alive (although I do have faint memories of hearing his name in the early 90s). However I've been through Google's Usenet archives (the message boards of the late 80s, through to the 1990s), and sure enough people on the internet in 1990/91 (mostly connecting from US and European universities or IT companies, such as IBM) were discussing Freddie having AIDS - but I think this was more because of the press stories than because of how he looked. I think most people were in denial, and believed he was fine when they saw his gaunt appearance.

I had posted something on one of the several early 90s Usenet posts about Queen on this forum ([url=http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1345154/freddie-mercury-discussed-in-newsgroups-in-1991.aspx]http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1345154/freddie-mercury-discussed-in-newsgroups-in-1991.aspx[/url]). It's really interesting seeing what the few thousand people who were online in the late 80s and early 90s discussed - it's like going back in time. Google owns (through Google Groups) the whole archive of Usenet posts, which used to be the Deja Usenet archive - if you play around a bit, it will let you search post by date range.

In the Usenet post I talk about in the above link, one guy on 21st November 1991 wrote: "But if Freddie Mercury does die soon, I'd like to see if Queen has albums pressed in 20 years".

I friend of mine told me at the time that Freddie had AIDS and i didn't believe him. And less than 24 hours later when the news came that he had passed i was in denial that whole day.

I remember hearing the rumour from friends in early June (there were speculations in the media that made it to southamerica), and I refused to believe it.
So, yeah it took me by surprise.

Funny and hurtful how some of use the " i was denial" concept.
Denial syndrome hits when someone is very close to you and the case is too overwhelming to handle.
"In your cases" i think it was pure doubt about the bullshit occasionally spread by the press, or ''legitimate doubt" about how serious his condition was.
(we ve seen public figures taking down the road and still survive or even thrive years after)
But again, in a way, saying "i was in denial" shows genial love for the man.

...but you already knew all that, didn't you.

There was no internet like there is now, just The Sun/News of The World/Daily Star/The Mirror etc...I had seen the newspaper reports and saw Freddies appearance change in 1988 and as I knew someone close to the band and I asked him, is Freddie okay. He told me that it was nothing serious and I believed him at that time, I had no reason not to. However. as the years progressed into 1989/90 it was obvious that something was seriously wrong. As I am now a year older than Freddie was when he died, i think damn he died far far too young......but his memory will live on in his music :)

I became fan of Queen a little bit late, I think I became Queen fan the day Freddie died.
I never knew about his personal life or whatever (I knew a few songs, but I wasnt interested in them at the time)

I remember I read a very disgusting note about Freddie's death, which was really small, in a local newspaper (I think it was El Norte) with the headline "Freddie Mercury muerde el polvo" (translated as "Freddie Mercury bites the dust") and just included that he died "because of aids" just a fucking 20 words article or something like that.

For some reason I felt really angry with that note and started to read about AIDS and Queen, I couldnt believe how tragical his death was and how disgusting the press was (and sometimes still is) with Freddie.

[QUOTE] [b]Stelios wrote:[/b]

Funny and hurtful how some of use the " i was denial" concept.
Denial syndrome hits when someone is very close to you and the case is too overwhelming to handle.
"In your cases" i think it was pure doubt about the bullshit occasionally spread by the press, or ''legitimate doubt" about how serious his condition was.
(we ve seen public figures taking down the road and still survive or even thrive years after)
But again, in a way, saying "i was in denial" shows genial love for the man.

...but you already knew all that, didn't you.[/QUOTE]

I agree. I think there was a little bit of denial though - I mean, here was a guy who lead a homosexual promiscuous lifestyle, at a time when most promiscuous gay men were getting HIV. All the signs were there. Many chose to doubt the tabloid rumours, and this was a form of denial.

What I find to be an absolute crock of shit is the belief, perpetuated by people such as Brian May, that had Freddie "lived just a few more years" he might still be with us today. It's absolute rubbish. He would have had to live till at least 1996 to benefit from HAART, meaning 5 more years. That would be beyond impossible, and akin to saying "had he not contracted HIV, he'd still be with us today".

[QUOTE] [b]Costa86 wrote:[/b]

What I find to be an absolute crock of shit is the belief, perpetuated by people such as Brian May, that had Freddie "lived just a few more years" he might still be with us today. It's absolute rubbish. He would have had to live till at least 1996 to benefit from HAART, meaning 5 more years. That would be beyond impossible, and akin to saying "had he not contracted HIV, he'd still be with us today".[/QUOTE]

Agree. However due to wealth and status he could have entered those test groups and have benefited from the life-saving cocktail drugs sooner ( how sooner i cant tell) from the general population.

By the time he announced it, I was not surprised to hear that he had AIDS. I remember thinking for a few years before the announcement that he might have cancer, or some other illness. But AIDS was the most likely. It was obvious from 1989 onwards that something was seriously wrong with his health, and the fact that he didn't announce anything pointed to it. I was a little surprised that he announced it at all, although I like the theory that it was a final, 'up yours' to the British press, so the people who had been surrounding his house wouldn't get a scoop when he died.

Zamidoo...what made you think that Freddie had "cancer, or some other illness" before the announcement? Was it the Miracle videos or something earlier?

Paul Young(Sad Cafe)RIP, told me in 1990 that 'Freddie' had 'AIDS',he told me he was the talk of the entertainment industry,i nearly punched him,i just thought he was being nasty,i remember telling him to 'Fuck off',!

[QUOTE] [b]PrimeJiveUSA wrote:[/b]

Zamidoo...what made you think that Freddie had "cancer, or some other illness" before the announcement? Was it the Miracle videos or something earlier?[/QUOTE]

no i remember thinking much the same thing...i'd been working away from home loads from 89-92 so wasn't much up on any actual band "news" - but remember seeing that Brit Awards (feb 1990?) appearance and thought - "looks like that smoking has caught up with him - he looks like someone with lung cancer.
next thing i knew was driving to work on that monday morning 25th Nov 1991, and hearing all the queen tracks on the radio on my drive to london at 6:30am....pulled over when the news came on and couldn't believe what i was hearing. I really didn't know he was "that" ill.

[QUOTE] [b]PrimeJiveUSA wrote:[/b]

Zamidoo...what made you think that Freddie had "cancer, or some other illness" before the announcement? Was it the Miracle videos or something earlier?[/QUOTE]

In every photo or appearance (including The Brit Music Awards) from late 1989 onwards he looked, frankly, as though he was dying. That's what I thought when I saw him at the Brit Music awards - that he was seriously, seriously ill.

I remember thinking that he looked strange in a few of the Miracle videos prior to that, and that it was odd for a band that had always toured so much to be producing so much material and not going on tour with it, but it didn't register how ill he was until later.

That was still about two years before the announcement.

I went into the local CD shop to buy Innuendo, and the guy behind the counter told me to enjoy the album as Freddie had AIDS. I was shocked! Couldn't really believe it. Anyway I listened to that album that year in the grim hope that things were different, but stuff like The Show Must Go On and the soul searching in Innuendo tended to suggest differently. And then I got home one night and my flatmate just came out and said "Freddie Mercury is dead!" I felt sick! Couldn't listen to their music any more, for a day or too anyway. And I seem to remember a similar thing happened with Queen's Greatest Hits Volume 2. Sales slowed, before they came back stronger than ever.