You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: Google honors Freddie Mercury with birthday tribute
Google honors Freddie Mercury with rockin' birthday tribute video
by Andrew Couts / Digital Trends
Today, September 5, would be the 65th birthday of British rock legend Freddie Mercury, the Queen frontman who died on November 24, 1991 from bronchopneumonia that resulted from a years-long battle with HIV/AIDS. He was 45-years-old.
To honor this musical genius, Google has created a 98-second-long animation, set to Queen’s 1978 hit “Don’t Stop Me Now,” which was written by Mercury. The Google Doodle appears on the Google homepage for many countries around the world — not the US, however, as we are celebrating Labor Day, not Freddie Mercury’s birthday.
Accompanying Mercury’s Google Doodle is a revealing and heartfelt blog post by Queen guitarist, Dr. Brian May, which appears on the official Google blog. A selection:
“To create with Freddie was always stimulating to the max. He was daring, always sensing a way to get outside the box. Sometimes he was too far out … and he’d usually be the first to realise it. With a conspiratorial smile he would say ‘Oh … did I lose it, dears?!’ But usually there was sense in his nonsense—art in his madness. It was liberating. I think he encouraged us all in his way, to believe in our own madness, and the collective mad power of the group Queen.
“Freddie would have been 65 this year, and even though physically he is not here, his presence seems more potent than ever. Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected. He gave people proof that a man could achieve his dreams—made them feel that through him they were overcoming their own shyness, and becoming the powerful figure of their ambitions. And he lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute. And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come.”
The Google Doodle is the work of illustrator Jennifer Hom and her team, who spent three months creating the intricate illustration.
“Considering how colorful Freddie’s career was, we wanted to create a doodle that was just as colorful,” Hom told NBC.
“We’re all really excited because it is such a big doodle,” Hom added. “It’s definitely not our normal doodle.”
In addition to the Google Doodle, the Freddie For A Day fundraising campaign has released the entire one-hour-and-36-minute video of Queen’s classic performance at Wembley Stadium in 1986, in honor of Mercury’s 65th birthday. Proceeds raised by the Freddie For A Day campaign go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity set up in Freddie Mercury’s name to help fight HIV/AIDS.
Re: Google honors Freddie Mercury with birthday tribute
You can see the video at - www.google.co.uk
Re: Google honors Freddie Mercury with birthday tribute
Yeah i've always been curious, and maybe Olorin could elaborate on this... is Freddie still like THE MAN over there?
'Cause us Americans have no clue. I love the guy, but Europeans seem to have a John Lennon-like appreciation for him.
Re: Google honors Freddie Mercury with birthday tribute
Yeah thats pretty accurate, I've actually just been watching a new documentary on him broadcast on uk tv tonight.
In general Freddie is loved, adored and greatly missed here, his death was as big a deal as when Princess Diana died, check out that Freddie Mercury tribute concert that GNR played - noone else's death could have spawned such a gigantic concert beamed across the world, mabye only Live Aid was bigger.
Basically he is one of the greatest rock n roll stars of all time and he died tragically young, so he's became immortalised. On the anniversaries of his death and birthdays there is usually a documentary or a Queen concert broadcast on one of the tv stations.
Freddie Mercury the man is probably still a mystery to most people, but Freddie Mercury the performer is the guy the whole world fell in love with.
- mickronson
- Rep: 118
Re: Google honors Freddie Mercury with birthday tribute
Yeah i've always been curious, and maybe Olorin could elaborate on this... is Freddie still like THE MAN over there?
'Cause us Americans have no clue. I love the guy, but Europeans seem to have a John Lennon-like appreciation for him.
There is quite, and with good reason. Freddie and Lennon are equal imo...Lennon is probably giving Freddie a bj right now, seeing as its his birthday 
Re: Google honors Freddie Mercury with birthday tribute
Yeah thats pretty accurate, I've actually just been watching a new documentary on him broadcast on uk tv tonight.
In general Freddie is loved, adored and greatly missed here, his death was as big a deal as when Princess Diana died, check out that Freddie Mercury tribute concert that GNR played - noone else's death could have spawned such a gigantic concert beamed across the world, mabye only Live Aid was bigger.
Basically he is one of the greatest rock n roll stars of all time and he died tragically young, so he's became immortalised. On the anniversaries of his death and birthdays there is usually a documentary or a Queen concert broadcast on one of the tv stations.Freddie Mercury the man is probably still a mystery to most people, but Freddie Mercury the performer is the guy the whole world fell in love with.
Thanks man for the info. I had a friend who asked me today, "what's the big deal with Freddie over there?", and I told them I thought it was practically a national holiday, Freddie's birthday, but I wasn't 100% sure.
Thanks for confirming. Although Queen was popular in the U.S., they were never quite the success and legacy in the U.S. as they were throughout the world. Which is a shame.
And btw, he wasn't ONE OF the greatest rock stars of all time - he was THE greatest rock star of all time.
Everything else... chicken feed babe
