Brian May exclusive interview: Queen, debauchery and Freddie Mercury.

Oscar J wrote:

Ha, nice post edit Wizard - I thought it was one of the most honest pieces written about Queen for quite some time? :)

Yep, I rethought my position. Like I said, the negatives came to outweigh the positives. Her need for hyperbole and editorializing ruined what could have been an excellent piece of music journalism.

But - look at who she's employed by.

vadenuez wrote:

My guess is that Brian must be a very naive man if he thought that after telling those things about Freddie's foot, dwarves and Bali, the journalist would rather write an article about one boring 3-D picture book.

If celebrities are smart, they gauge each interviewer they speak with on a case by case basis, and in this case Brian clearly felt safe enough with her to express himself as much as he did, which is why he feels betrayed.

Either way - the piece was meant to market his book. It's up to the publication to ensure that's what it is, and they more or less failed, turning it into a sensationalist tabloid style piece.

Shifting the blame to Brian is to exonerate the paper for producing this.

^^^ this

The Real Wizard wrote:

Either way - the piece was meant to market his book. It's up to the publication to ensure that's what it is, and they more or less failed, turning it into a sensationalist tabloid style piece.

That's what it was meant for from Brian's perspective. I doubt the publication had much interest in that in the first place. I think they probably got more or less what they wanted from the journalist.

The sentence about Freddie's foot is in the book. Literally!

As is much other information which is sadly overlooked in favour of the more sensational parts of the book...

Sebastian wrote:

Holly2003 wrote:

"a band that is now even more successful than it was during Mercury’s lifetime."

Not sure how that is measured.

Most likely, it is not measured. People just say whatever without any sort of research or logic. Some see through that, others simply believe anything they're told. That's how marketing works.

You always keep on about JD hating Hot Space, refering to -if i remember correctly- that interview he gave promoting The Works. Couldn't that have been some clever marketing too?

Maxïmo Razzamatazz wrote:

You always keep on about JD hating Hot Space, refering to -if i remember correctly- that interview he gave promoting The Works. Couldn't that have been some clever marketing too?

First of all, it's not just that interview. He also panned the album elsewhere.

Second of all, it's not the same case. It's silly how people try to use far-fetched arguments (and I know I've done it to, which doesn't make it any less silly) to gladly shout 'aha! I got you!' as if it were some sort of victory.

Let's look at the statements in question:

* 'John liked/disliked an album': For that one, John is the ultimate source, as he knows himself. John saying he disliked HS is far stronger an evidence than simply guessing he did because the album had R&B influence.

* 'Queen are/aren't more popular now than with Fred': Maylor are not the ultimate surce there, as they probably don't know for sure. What would be the ultimate evidence there then? Record sales, ticket sales, impact, etc. If those do confirm they're more popular now, then it's them (the statistics) who are to be accepted, not simply Brian's and Roger's word for it.

Claiming the second statement is true just because someone (with many good reasons to lie out of publicity) says so is closer to thinking John liked/disliked Hot Space just because I (or anyone else who's never met him) say so.

So, no, it's not the same case.

Sebastian wrote:

Maxïmo Razzamatazz wrote:

You always keep on about JD hating Hot Space, refering to -if i remember correctly- that interview he gave promoting The Works. Couldn't that have been some clever marketing too?

First of all, it's not just that interview. He also panned the album elsewhere.

Second of all, it's not the same case. It's silly how people try to use far-fetched arguments (and I know I've done it to, which doesn't make it any less silly) to gladly shout 'aha! I got you!' as if it were some sort of victory.

Let's look at the statements in question:

* 'John liked/disliked an album': For that one, John is the ultimate source, as he knows himself. John saying he disliked HS is far stronger an evidence than simply guessing he did because the album had R&B influence.

* 'Queen are/aren't more popular now than with Fred': Maylor are not the ultimate surce there, as they probably don't know for sure. What would be the ultimate evidence there then? Record sales, ticket sales, impact, etc. If those do confirm they're more popular now, then it's them (the statistics) who are to be accepted, not simply Brian's and Roger's word for it.

Claiming the second statement is true just because someone (with many good reasons to lie out of publicity) says so is closer to thinking John liked/disliked Hot Space just because I (or anyone else who's never met him) say so.

So, no, it's not the same case.

I was not arguing that it's the same case. The only point I was trying to make is that you can't rule out that JD (clever businessman he is) was just saying he disliked Hot Space. If you market The Works or any album after HS as a return to rock it might be better to fool your disillusioned fans and acknowledge that HS was a clunker.

It's the same 'clever' marketing as RT saying that AKOM features some of the best songwriting they've done. I don't believe it for a second.

Sebastian wrote:

Maxïmo Razzamatazz wrote:

You always keep on about JD hating Hot Space, refering to -if i remember correctly- that interview he gave promoting The Works. Couldn't that have been some clever marketing too?

First of all, it's not just that interview. He also panned the album elsewhere.

Second of all, it's not the same case. It's silly how people try to use far-fetched arguments (and I know I've done it to, which doesn't make it any less silly) to gladly shout 'aha! I got you!' as if it were some sort of victory.

Let's look at the statements in question:

* 'John liked/disliked an album': For that one, John is the ultimate source, as he knows himself. John saying he disliked HS is far stronger an evidence than simply guessing he did because the album had R&B influence.

* 'Queen are/aren't more popular now than with Fred': Maylor are not the ultimate surce there, as they probably don't know for sure. What would be the ultimate evidence there then? Record sales, ticket sales, impact, etc. If those do confirm they're more popular now, then it's them (the statistics) who are to be accepted, not simply Brian's and Roger's word for it.

Claiming the second statement is true just because someone (with many good reasons to lie out of publicity) says so is closer to thinking John liked/disliked Hot Space just because I (or anyone else who's never met him) say so.

So, no, it's not the same case.

I was not arguing that it's the same case. The only point I was trying to make is that you can't rule out that JD (clever businessman he is) was just saying he disliked Hot Space. If you market The Works or any album after HS as a return to rock it might be better to fool your disillusioned fans and acknowledge that HS was a clunker.

It's the same 'clever' marketing as RT saying that AKOM features some of the best songwriting they've done. I don't believe it for a second.

John also said he didn't like the album long before 'The Works', and also a couple of years since.

Of course, there's no way I can prove he wasn't lying, same way I cannot prove he was lying, same way I cannot prove Mack didn't sing 'Save Me' and credit it to Fred, same way I cannot prove there's not an ultra-violet flying elephant next to me right now. We cannot rule out that the drums on 'Brighton Rock' were actually a trumpet - even if we could (via recording footage, for instance), we cannot rule out hallucinations or forged evidence.