America turned away because of Prenter?

[QUOTE] [b]FunLovinCriminal wrote:[/b]

Regarding Paul Prenter: Freddie was intelligent enough to have Prenter get in the way of him communicating with the band and its management.[/QUOTE]

Plenty of people who were there would say otherwise.

Prenter had Mercury in the palm of his hand. He introduced Mercury to the gay club scene, giving him the freedom he so deeply craved. Even the band came second place to it. It tore them apart for years.

The band finally had an intervention with him after Live Aid, saying "it's him or us", and we all know which one he picked.

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]FunLovinCriminal wrote:[/b]

Regarding Paul Prenter: Freddie was intelligent enough to have Prenter get in the way of him communicating with the band and its management.[/QUOTE]

Plenty of people who were there would say otherwise.

Prenter had Mercury in the palm of his hand. He introduced Mercury to the gay club scene, giving him the freedom he so deeply craved. Even the band came second place to it. It tore them apart for years.

The band finally had an intervention with him after Live Aid, saying "it's him or us", and we all know which one he picked.
[/QUOTE]

Can you please elaborate on this and provide a reference?

I have wondered whether the fear of AIDs or a positive HIV test had helped prod Freddie to suddenly abandon Munich and settle down with Jim at the Garden Lodge.

I'm very sorry for having forgotten a NOT: Freddie being intelligent enough to have Prenter NOT geting in the way...

btw, nobody gives one any freedom. Either you take it yourself or you're having none of it.
The "him or us"-intervention is news to me. Can someone send a reference, please?

Well, Queen were again famous in USA in 1992 with Bohemian Rhapsody (for wayne's world) charted number 2, Classic Queen charted 4 and Greatest hits red charted 11.
I spoke about that with Peter Paterno. BR, CQ and GHR are facts.
Also, in the recent years, by "artists" like Lady Ga Ga or Lambert Queen is again on the radar.
Chris Cornell said to me, Freddie Mercury was the best singer of rock. Well, Chris Cornell was, and is a legend in USA. Rest in peace Chris.

And also we can say, Stranger things, the most famous serie of this last two years, aired a song of Queen.

Apo-darko- Yes in 92’ that movie put queen back on the USA map with a new generation who didn’t know much about Queen at a young age. And yes today there are queen songs everywhere you turn around here. But the forum was about the lack of popularity in the 80’s after the game album and the reasons for it.

OK RadioDaDa, sorry!

No need to get snippy. Just speaking about the facts

[QUOTE] [b]Panchgani wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]FunLovinCriminal wrote:[/b]

Regarding Paul Prenter: Freddie was intelligent enough to have Prenter get in the way of him communicating with the band and its management.[/QUOTE]

Plenty of people who were there would say otherwise.

Prenter had Mercury in the palm of his hand. He introduced Mercury to the gay club scene, giving him the freedom he so deeply craved. Even the band came second place to it. It tore them apart for years.

The band finally had an intervention with him after Live Aid, saying "it's him or us", and we all know which one he picked.
[/QUOTE]

Can you please elaborate on this and provide a reference?

I have wondered whether the fear of AIDs or a positive HIV test had helped prod Freddie to suddenly abandon Munich and settle down with Jim at the Garden Lodge.

[/QUOTE]

I wish I remember where I read this. It was years ago. But it was someone pretty close to the band who told the story. That much I remember.

Also - look at the 1986 crew photo. No Prenter. He was there from 77-85. The timeline adds up.

I was fortunate enough to have seen Queen at Madison Square Garden. From up high in the rafters, we were poor newlyweds at the time, but we were there. As a Queen fan from Texas who was in the key demographic, I guess you cld say, at the time (grad from high school in 77, from college in 82 (five-year plan lol) - I was surprised to read that Queen apparently fell out of favor in America in the early 80's -?? Huh?? Not with my friends! I do remember the "new" Freddie with the moustache was not popular with some. In my memory, the rumors of Freddie being gay and his new look were simultaneous, and the particular look Freddie chose was equivalent, at least in America, to saying "I am gay." And not only gay, but "women need not apply," was the understood purpose of adopting that particular look. Freddie being gay, by itself, I can assure you, would have been a non-issue. There was already David Bowie and Mick Jagger, who we all assumed slept with everything that moved, which, if anything, enhanced their images, at least with my (Dallas area) crowd. If Freddie had allowed himself to be known as bisexual or gay, but kept either his earlier Killer Queen look, or his later 70's shorter hair/no moustache look, Freddie being bisexual or gay would have had zero negative impact on love from the TX college crowd, and, as I say, might have even enhanced love from the TX college crowd. I still loved Queen and Freddie, moustache or not, we spent money we didn't really have to travel and see them, I loved Freddie's voice, energy, the music of Queen, the Freddie-ness of Freddie. I did like his pre1980 look better, but Freddie was and remains Freddie to me (and to most, but not all, of my friends at the time). So I am always surprised when I read that Freddie tried to "hide" his sexuality - to us, his moustached look, that particular style of moustache combined with that specific haircut - he might as well have been wearing a t-shirt saying "I'm Gay" - it was exactly the same thing and, again, the trouble with some in the fandom was not that Freddie was gay, it was that that particular look was interpreted as "I'm gay, and all you women out there, you need not apply" - that was more the problem. It meant Freddie didn't want half of the fanbase, the problem was not (ever!) that half of the fanbase didn't want Freddie, if this makes sense. And again, I didn't feel that way, I ate pb&j for dinner for a month to see them.

I saw the Live Aid show (on tv), and I remember at the time thinking, with some bewilderment, is Queen trying out their new stuff during their Live Aid show -?! Although by the time of Live Aid I was immersed in the early years of corporate jungle-gym climbing, I didn't that I was *that out of touch. I remember thinking what was all this "ga ga, goo goo" just what the heck is going on?? I very specifically remember thinking, stop playing this, and start playing Seven Seas of Rhye (my second fav Queen song), while we were all clapping along anyway lol. And what song was in my head after - that's right - Radio GaGa. Queen Forever!

@9kat5 He DID wear the t-shirt: Mineshaft. :-)

I always remember Jim's description of Prenter being shifty and always darting his eyes around the room watching everyone who walked in.

No wonder he gave him the creeps. You could see just how obsessed with Freddie he was at the Munich birthday party.

bump

It's interesting how often comparisons are drawn between Hot Space and Thriller. I'm nowhere near liking Jichael Mackson, but there is just no question that a lot more work and quality-control went into the making of Thriller. Hot Space sounds cheap and half-assed compared to Quincy Jones's monumental production. Thriller's songs are cheesy, for sure. But the songs on Hot Space are much worse. Body Language, anyone? It's just cheap. I also can't hear the blabla over and over again that Hot Space was music made for gay clubs. Music in gay clubs at that time was moving towards samples, loops and Electronica. There was certainly no use for the kind of pseudo-funk that Queen was coming up with.