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- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
Soundtrack's out today. I must say, I like the 20th Century Fox fanfare as re-recorded by Queen:
So, what do we reckon? Worth a watch?
The guy playing Brian May is eerily like the real thing.
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
Same. I can see this movie being a bit of revisionist history.
For starters, I recall when he died, of AIDS, there seemed to be a bit of confusion over it. AFAIK he wasn't known to be openly gay at the time, and it seemed a bit of speculation & hush hush. IMHO it never really came out until years later. I don't even think Elton John had fully come out by 90/91.
Secondly, Queen was, in the US at least, sortof a side/niche type band. Maybe like the Ramones, mixed with, I dunno, anthem type music like Journey. They were kinda relegated to the whole "We Will We Will Rock You" type chants that filled stadiums and kids sang, and the interestingly odd operatic Bohemian Rhapsoy. Vanilla Ice gave new life to a virtually unknown Queen song Under Pressure, I think it wasn't even on their Greatest Hits albums. Then Mike Myers re-popularized Bohemian Rhapsody. In my opinion Queen didn't become the solid force so respected until sometime after 2000. I just hope the movie reflects some of these points and doesn't make them out to be the biggest band of the 70s-80s until Freddy Mercury had to shut it down due to health concerns and the rock world was in shock. TBH, I recall it just kinda being announced overnight, 'Freddy Mercury of Queen has died", I think it came out like 2-3 days before.
It was a wierd time for AIDS, Rock Hudson, Liberace, Freddy Mercury. Then Magic came out & everyone thought he would pass away in 2-3 years.
- A Private Eye
- Rep: 77
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
I think it was announced he had AIDS only a day or two before he died.
Can’t speak for the U.S. but Queen were pretty big in the late 70’s as far as I can tell. Then they dipped a bit in the early 80’s and lost some relevance before the legendary Live Aid performance which catapulted them back back to the big time. They were a stadium band after that until Freddies illness.
I remember reading that there was a big backlash in the U.S. to the video for I Want To Break Free. It turned a lot of people off them at the time supposedly.
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
Thanks, seems about the assessment I was going for. I'm not sure they catapulted back into the big time in the late 80s in the US though. Maybe to the older (30ish) crowd who grew up with them. But in my mind the likes of Motley Crue, Poison, GnR, Bon Jovi, U2 & INXS were dominating.
Funny about the I Want To Break Free video. I don't recall that, either the story or the video itself. I looked it up on Youtube tho, seemed really bad I only made it about 30 seconds. Didn't want it to ruin my view of the song. There's a similar story of Billy Squier. He was big late 70s/early 80s, pre video. So when MJ was dominating the charts they thought lets put him up as some solo artists/crossover pop star. MTV made a big debut of his new video, assuming it would become a hit. It was terrible. People hated it and they barely ever played it or him again. I never heard the story but Yahoo ran an article about it recently. The song was 'Rock Me Tonight'
- A Private Eye
- Rep: 77
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
It’s possible their popularity trajectories were entirely different for the UK and US. The film is supposedly about their rise (70’s), fall (early 80’s) and rise again (Live Aid). As I didn’t live it I can’t really say but it’s like they lost relevance and then after Live Aid people remembered how good they were and went from almost ‘has beens’ to legendary over night.
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
Interesting angle. Probably alot of truth to it. I was 12 or 13 during Live Aid so don't really recall the specifics or reaction to Queen one way or the other. I remember Led Zep reuniting a bit, and Phil Collins playing both continents. I'd still they probably became more popular post 2005-2010ish than they were late 80s, but again I was a teen & more interested in newer bands.
I could see Live Aid being a comeback or 'surprising' people, and an overnight has beens to respected tho.
- TheSundanceKid
- Rep: 30
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
I wonder where Freddie is buried, his gf Mary Austin is the only one who knows and she inherited everything from him.
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
I think it was announced he had AIDS only a day or two before he died.
Can’t speak for the U.S. but Queen were pretty big in the late 70’s as far as I can tell. Then they dipped a bit in the early 80’s and lost some relevance before the legendary Live Aid performance which catapulted them back back to the big time. They were a stadium band after that until Freddies illness.
That's how I remember it. The "Flash Gordon" soundtrack took them down a notch because the movie was so negatively reviewed. "Radio Gaga" brought them back into the U.S. charts, but they never really toured North America at all in the 1980s. The band's Live Aid performance was cut short on MTV, so Americans never got to take in the full awesomeness of their set.
Axl's support of Queen, including the Freddie Mercury tribute concert and his comments about the band following the release of UYI, did a lot to bring the band back into popularity, and the inclusion of "Bohemian Rhapsody" - a song that NOBODY played on the radio - in "Wayne's World" cinched it. They're bigger now, in memory, than they ever were when the original quartet was active.
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Bohemian Rhapsody
They're bigger now, in memory, than they ever were when the original quartet was active.
In the US, at least – they were globally successful but never quite broke the US. Brian May attributed it to their dragging up in the I Want To Break Free video, which parodied British soap Coronation Street (and played on British traditions of the pantomime dame). Unfortunately, the USA reacted... badly to it. As you say, it was GN'R at the tribute concert and Wayne's World that really brought them into the spotlight in the USA.
The film plays fast and loose with the timeline for the sake of narrative convenience, from what I understand. In real life, Freddie found out he had AIDS after the 1986 Magic Tour, and didn't tell his bandmates until a year or two later; the film relocates it to immediately before their iconic 1985 Live Aid performance so that they can have a big redemptive moment where he defiantly struts out and owns the stage. And it glosses over the fact that Queen were in the doghouse with the public and press immediately before Live Aid, because they'd broken the musicians' boycott of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Still, that's film-making for you; it's not a documentary, and narrative truth is more important than strictly adhering to the chronology of actual events.
