Hi Daniel,
Purchased your book in the summer of 2003. I was looking to track you down at the Dallas convention. Unfortunately, you weren't there. I know exactly how you feel. I think we are the same age, 36. I too got into Queen in the fall of 81 as I was entering the 8th grade. Queen was still riding high w/ the success of the Game. The original Greatest Hits & Under Pressure was still 2 months from being released. Also, based on reading your book and all the footnotes listed, I know you grew up in the Delaware Valley. I did as well. Going through the release of HS and the Works while in high school was less than fun. I know how you felt because I definately felt like the only Queen fan in the US. I knew more were out there. I saw them at the HS concert at the Spectrum. But in a time of heavy metal, Madonna & Phil Collins along with countless other bland "music artists" I felt I was on an island! We have faced the "Dark Ages" for Queen in the country & survived. All the young fans of today could never comprehend how bleak it was back then. Much like they could never comprehend a world w/out remote controls or cable TV or the internet.
Thanks so much for writing. I agree with you -- really don't think people know how bleak it was in the 80s for American Queen fans. I mean, looking back, it was *comically* bleak. If there was the web back then, we probably would have hung out, us being in the Delaware Valley! Instead, we both fought it out ourselves.
So when I hear the wiseass tone of some of these Queenzoners, especially the young Americans, it's hard for me to hold back. They think the subject of Queen belongs to them and only them. We 36-year-olds have rights, too.
Sorry to miss you in Dallas. I was all booked, and then a family emergency came up. Thanks for getting the book, too--a labor of love it was.
So when I hear the wiseass tone of some of these Queenzoners, especially the young Americans, it's hard for me to hold back. They think the subject of Queen belongs to them and only them. We 36-year-olds have rights, too.
Too true. The young of America tend to not care about what happened in the times before they were born, BECAUSE they were not born yet. They seem to think that they own everything, from cars and bikes to music, and they won't let it be accepted in the upper age groups (by that, I mean anyone older than them), which causes the disturbance. I personally do not know what it was like in the 80s, and never will, but that doesn't mean that people who are older than me (or younger than me)don't have the same rights and such as I do.
As one of the young of America, I apologize to you, Daniel, and all of the others out there, and hope that you understand what I'm trying to say... I just can't seem to get the right words out.
