Brian pulled it in consideration to leave Queen in Summer 1975

Hello...

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know this board knows EVERYTHING and many more already.

I`ve found an 1976 article from "Musik Express" wich claims that Queen ( Brian EXPRESSLY mentioned) splits for a short period in Summer 1975. It seems like Brian wasn`t pleased with the choice of the other three to pick Led Zeppelin`s wicked manager Peter Grant ( wasn`t mentioned, but who else ? )
The situation was not noticed by the press at that point.
Of course I `am basicaly aware of their situation at that point( in hindsight). But it`s new to me that Brian actually quit or pulled it in consideration to quit while the other three were interested in Grant`s offer.

Of course it`s just the press and fake articles and exaggerations is part of their business...yeah, yeah, yeah....

Anyone care to translate?

I'll give it a try:
"Who ever would think Queen were the "big earners" of the Rock-scene, would be wrong. The song "Death on two legs" indirectly tells the story about how Queen got cheated (financially) very bad. Queen signed a very bad contract with the productioncompany Trident. When Queen finally started to make money, that money went straight into the pockets of the Trident-management, leaving Queen in early 1975 with a debt of about 600.000 DeutschMark, payable to Trident. The band wanted to separate ties from Trident, and move over to a new, disreputably manager. Only Brian May opposed to the new manager, thereby causing the group, unnoticed by the press, to split up in the summer of '75. Finally the english record company EMI paid the debt Queen had and signed the band. Now only loosely connected to Trident, under new management by John Reid and finally debtfree, Queen recorded the Opera-night.

Das ist fiel scheizzer

Very interesting. ME was a pretty well-respected magazine of the time and the journos working for it were highly respected by the bands and their management. But, looking at the band's chronology, they were playing consistently in February, March & April with a TV appearance in May. By August of '75 they had signed with John Reid with planned August dates cancelled in the US whilst they began recording sessions in the UK.

queenlive.ca quotes Brian from 1977: "I think the band nearly split up as well, because we all had different ideas of the direction we should be going. We were all very worried about managers and stuff, and it was hard to agree within ourselves what we should be doing. And there's so much politics going on, we had no time to think about the album. We knew that this was the crucial album, and we had to make it a good one."

If a split DID happen, then I'd reckon it was merely a bit of a hissy fit from the curly-haired one.

[QUOTE] [b]Benn Kempster wrote:[/b]

Very interesting. ME was a pretty well-respected magazine of the time and the journos working for it were highly respected by the bands and their management.[/QUOTE]

That`s true !


[QUOTE] [b]Benn Kempster wrote:[/b]

If a split DID happen, then I'd reckon it was merely a bit of a hissy fit from the curly-haired one.[/QUOTE]

Not the first time I`ve heared that joke in a similar situation :)

[QUOTE] [b]NCC1701Q wrote:[/b]

I'll give it a try: translation
[/QUOTE]

Thank you !

Wow - what a fascinating thread !

Always neat to see new pieces of the puzzle all these years later.

The "disreputable" manager was Don Arden and it was Freddie who wanted to hire him and had already made a promise to DA (see Jim Jenkin's book). Only a few years ago Sharon Osbourne brought up this topic again - how Freddie had promised to hire Don Arden but went back on his word after the band objected.

Thanks for clearing that up. Any evidence that Brian was the one who opposed most against Don Arden ?

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

The "disreputable" manager was Don Arden and it was Freddie who wanted to hire him and had already made a promise to DA (see Jim Jenkin's book). Only a few years ago Sharon Osbourne brought up this topic again - how Freddie had promised to hire Don Arden but went back on his word after the band objected.[/QUOTE]

Thansk god they didn't. He was a bit silly to 'give his word' when that word was only worth 25% of the overall vote!

"Give his word" sounds like an exaggeration.

According to "As It Began" Queen met Don Arden during their first headlining tour in the USA in spring 1975. Arden offered to help them to end their contract with Trident and there was a written agreement between DA and Queen empowering DA to negotiate with Trident on behalf of Queen offering DA a later managemnet contract after cutting ties with Trident. However, the American record company Elektra Records objected because of DA's "mafia reputation" and Queen retracted their consent. Apparently Freddie finally phoned DA and explained why they had to end the relationship. The story about short-time break-up of the band seems to be about their complete frustration about all the money and mangement issues at the time. I do not believe there was an actual break-up, just an overall sense of despair in the band.

Back then, it could've made sense for them to think that was it. They'd had a hit and a successful international tour and still there was no money and loads of debts, so perhaps they did fear or suspect there would be no fourth album. Considering Brian had been educated to a high level (and was about to complete his PhD at the time) and he also had enough connexions to try again as a musician, it'd probably make sense for him to at least entertain the idea of leaving.

Sebastian, re:

>Considering Brian had been educated to a high level (and was about to complete his PhD at the time) and he also had enough connexions to try again as a musician, it'd probably make sense for him to at least entertain the idea of leaving.

Isn't there the odd live show circulating where Freddie makes comments to the effect that there were rumors about Brian joining XYZ but wasn't going to?