Brian May on BBC Radio 2, 2 Dec 2018

The Real Wizard wrote:

runner_70 wrote:

We are still waiting for your evidence that Freddie got "dropped".

What label was Barcelona on?

I'll give you a clue - it wasn't Columbia.

He had signed a two album deal with them. It is well documented.

It was always said that Jim Beach bought him out of the contract. That may be untrue, but that is the information we have got. So please give us a source for your statement.

And again: Mr. Bad Guy did not bomb. It was a small success.

A05 wrote:

>I guess you guys missed my post about Mercury smashing a mirror >over his assistant's head, and the fact that there is only one brief >reference to cocaine in the film. The film was far too lenient >compared to what it could have been. I can only imagine what you >guys would be saying about the portrayal of those things - and they >actually happened.

You are totally missing the point here. We are all adults here AND we've read the books by David Minns where he desribed Freddie's rages and antics and by Phoebe who took it for granted.

It is not about facts, it is about ATTITUDE.

Whereas even David Minns said - ok, there were fights, but I was written the most beuautiful song for me... and Phoebe and Jim Hutton said - OK. Freddie could be furious and vicious, but he always made up for his tantrums or wrongs with generosity and grace.

This movie does not show it. It shows a completely lost wronged man with no dignity and grace at all who has to beg for all the wrongs he has done to his bandmates.

And it is not about who was dropped by what lablel. Maybe Brian May and Roger Taylor have not been on any label of this scale at all! (I do not know for sure please correct me if I am wrong) It is ok that 4 strong creative forces have fierce competition and discussions "who's worth more".

This is just not right to retailate in form of a "Biopic movie about our dear Freddie"....and stretch facts to fit the attitude.

Great post!!

Sealion wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

It’s ridiculous to brand Germany as irrelevant. How many German dates were on the European tours

It’s not irrelevant. But if an album or a song by an artist from the UK isn’t successful in the UK, that artist is doomed and going nowhere.

Success in Germany would have been considered as nice, but it wasn’t the relevant market.

With Freddie the only goal must have been worldwide success. That didn’t work. Ergo the artist got dropped. That’s how the business works. For every artist.

But Mr. Bad Guy was a success in the UK.
And again: Where is the source that Columbia has dropped him?

Sealion wrote:

The Real Wizard wrote:

runner_70 wrote:

We are still waiting for your evidence that Freddie got "dropped".

What label was Barcelona on?

I'll give you a clue - it wasn't Columbia.

He had signed a two album deal with them. It is well documented.

Runner won’t believe you, because he can’t bare it.

He has been mocking Lambert for months, because he thinks Lambert got dropped by his label. How would it look, if the same had happened to Freddie?
;)

Don't be rude!

Rami wrote:

Sealion wrote:

AlbaNo1 wrote:

It’s ridiculous to brand Germany as irrelevant. How many German dates were on the European tours

It’s not irrelevant. But if an album or a song by an artist from the UK isn’t successful in the UK, that artist is doomed and going nowhere.

Success in Germany would have been considered as nice, but it wasn’t the relevant market.

With Freddie the only goal must have been worldwide success. That didn’t work. Ergo the artist got dropped. That’s how the business works. For every artist.

But Mr. Bad Guy was a success in the UK.
And again: Where is the source that Columbia has dropped him?

There is no source. These things are usually not publicized. That’s why I could be wrong, but by evidence, it’s very likely, that they dropped him.

I think it is very likely that Jim Beach bought him out of the contract.

Rami wrote:

Out of the blue, everybody slams Paul Prenter, as he is needed as the big villain in the movie.

It's not out of the blue. Brian has been talking about Paul Prenter since the 90s.

Paul Prenter being rude to roadies is one thing (that had been documented before), but this hate against one person, making him the villain in the history of Queen, is ridiculous.

You weren't there. Ask people who were. Why are you trying to protect him?

What exactly happened in the smashing the mirror incident, we will never know.

I posted a quote from the very person it happened to. We know exactly what happened.

And what do you mean by emphasizing that there was only one brief reference to cocaine in the movie? This has got nothing to do with the way Freddie treated his band members and friends in real life vs the movie.

Some people are upset about Mercury being portrayed in a somewhat negative light. By the mid 80s he was a heavy coke user, which contributed greatly to how difficult it was becoming to work with him (it's why Michael Jackson took off). It hit a point where he wasn't even showing up to mixing sessions for his own songs. I mentioned the coke scene to emphasize how easy the film was on him, when it could've been a lot worse (aka more truthful). I brought up the mirror story from 1976 for the same reason.

As far as we know, Freddie was the driving force to go back into the studio after Live Aid. So perhaps he felt the need to show a sort of responsibility towards Queen after his solo album. But that is miles away from the begging scene in the movie.

Again, because you were there, right?

There was an intervention after Live Aid. The other three members said to Mercury, point blank - "it's Prenter or us." They shifted around the timeline for the film, but this happened. If you need proof, then spend a decade or two in the music business and you'll eventually run into the right characters who will confirm it happened. Not everything was written in books or mentioned in interviews.

I think it is very likely that Jim Beach bought him out of the contract.

...which is as good as being dropped. That's just a matter of saving face and beating the label to the punch.

And again: Mr. Bad Guy did not bomb. It was a small success.

Mercury said his goal for Mr Bad Guy was to create his Thriller. He wrote about 15 songs, 11 of which ended up on the album.

500 songs were written for Thriller, and Quincy picked the best 9.

Mr Bad Guy only went gold in the UK after The Works had gone 2x platinum, and it didn't hit the US top 100. Considering the money that was invested into it, it was a colossal failure. There's no way to spin this as a positive.

Sealion wrote:

Rami wrote:

But Mr. Bad Guy was a success in the UK.
And again: Where is the source that Columbia has dropped him?

There is no source. These things are usually not publicized. That’s why I could be wrong, but by evidence, it’s very likely, that they dropped him.

Precisely.

Good PR is everything in the entertainment business. Statements are carefully crafted as necessary. It's what literally every player in the game needs to do. It is as important a skill as their artistic skills.

Many Queen fans have somehow become convinced that May and Taylor suddenly became PR savvy after Mercury died, turning the band into a brand, harming their legacy, etc. The reality is - they were a hits band already by 1980, and literally from day one they were wise enough to keep their internal and business affairs as private as possible.

But then when they tell one new story in the biopic, fans get their knickers in a twist because they can't deal with the reality that their favourite singer wasn't a model human being or constantly successful.

While it sometimes makes for entertaining forum discussions, it's kind of disappointing to see how myopic and completely unaware of the workings of the music business so many Queen fans are.

Looking forward to being branded as a Mercury hater or something of that ilk, as is the norm around here.

AlbaNo1 wrote:

It’s ridiculous to brand Germany as irrelevant. How many German dates were on the European tours

Chart success in Germany for a solo artist whose band toured Germany is completely irrelevant to the American record label who invested six figures of money into an album that peaked at #159 in the charts.

The Real Wizard wrote:


There was an intervention after Live Aid. The other three members said to Mercury, point blank - "it's Prenter or us." They shifted around the timeline for the film, but this happened. If you need proof, then spend a decade or two in the music business and you'll eventually run into the right characters who will confirm it happened. Not everything was written in books or mentioned in interviews.

According to "Is This the Real Life" by Mark Blake ...

As recalled by Queen’s former roadie Peter Hince, Prenter threw a party at Freddie's residence, and the place got trashed. “So Freddie sacked him,” Hince recalled. “Paul started ranting, ‘I'm gonna do this!’ and ‘I'm gonna do that!’ And that's exactly what he did.”

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/queen-bohemian-rhapsody-movie-fact-vs-fiction/

Did Freddie fire John Reid?

It's just a movie.
Some like it, some don't like it. This movie is just one version of the many that could have been made. They wanted to do it like this and so did it.
My opinion is that they should have kept the facts, especially the facts that can be easily checked, for example - timelines.
I also think they don't shown Freddie as a real person as he was, that they exaggerated with Mary and that they didn't give Jim the space he deserved.

It doesn't matter is Brian a good man or not, he has the right to say what he wants but as I said, I have the right to doubt in every word which he will say or what said in past about Freddie.

About Mr. Bad Guy album, I like songs from that album and I don't really care what success Freddie had with it.

Vocal harmony wrote:



. . ..I believe that the record company had the next Micheal Jackson signed up and ready to go. . . . .

In my rush to type that post that line should have read.,.

I believe that the record company thought they had the next Micheal Jackson when they signed Freddie to that solo deal.

sorry

The Real Wizard wrote:

Sealion wrote:

Rami wrote:

But Mr. Bad Guy was a success in the UK.
And again: Where is the source that Columbia has dropped him?

There is no source. These things are usually not publicized. That’s why I could be wrong, but by evidence, it’s very likely, that they dropped him.

Precisely.

Good PR is everything in the entertainment business. Statements are carefully crafted as necessary. It's what literally every player in the game needs to do. It is as important a skill as their artistic skills. . . .

. . . But then when they tell one new story in the biopic, fans get their knickers in a twist because they can't deal with the reality that their favourite singer wasn't a model human being or constantly successful. . . .

Can you imagine if they'd gone down a darker and more honest path in the film and had him shagging anything with a moustache preceded with lines of Bolivian marching powder.

The people complaining about the way he's portrayed in the film would still be up in arms.

There are those who live life in a child like fantasy world in which their heroes have to be painted whiter than white no matter what.

To be honest it wasn't only Freddie, listen to the pacing of some of the Jazz shows, it's evident from that Mr Taylor may have shared a mirror or two!

That doesn't deminish the fact that Freddie by the early to mid 80's was embroiled in a scene that effected him and therefore the band badly