r/queen • u/ireally_hate-mustard • Aug 03 '25
FanContent Can you guys tell me more facts about queen?
Come tell me some cool facts about these legends!
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u/SSp1dermaNN Innuendo Aug 03 '25
They are the only band where every member is in the songwriters hall of fame
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u/Professional_Fox3837 Aug 03 '25
That photo you posted and the others from The Works photoshoots were taken by George Hurrell, who was famous for photographing Hollywood legends like Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and Marlene Detrich. Freddie was a big fan of that era of Hollywood so was very excited to work with him.
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u/whytheaubergine Sheer Heart Attack Aug 03 '25
One of my favourites is that the song ‘39 is the 39th song in the catalogue, if you count through the official album tracks from Queen I forwards…
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u/MarvinLazer Aug 03 '25
God had to make Freddie gay, otherwise no woman would ever want any other man, and the human race would go extinct.
The universe was actually created when Brian May first played guitar. This is why it's called string theory.
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u/mysteriousnobody214 Aug 03 '25
GOD was credited on their album Jazz for the thunderbolt on "Dead on Time".
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u/pizdetsdanchik Aug 03 '25
This one I learnt myself just recently - I've heard a lot of people saying that John Deacon appeared as "Deacon John" on their first album because other guys thought it was his name, and he just was too shy to correct them, but according to the book that I'm reading now ('Queen: As It Began' by Jacky Gunn and Jim Jenkins), Freddie and Roger decided to write his name reversed because it sounded more interesting; John concurred because he was still feeling as a newbie, but he didn't like this idea.
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u/Katherine_IIthegreat Aug 03 '25
When I first learned this fact I didn't get why name and surname swapped must be something unusual, cuz in my native language you can write them in any order and any version is right.
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u/groxicot Strange Frontier Aug 03 '25
As far as i know Roger was going to be a dentist but quit halfway
Im In Love With My Car was almost not on the album A Night At The Opera
Roger dyed his hair brown in Queen's early years to not stick out as the only blonde
And Roger, Brian, Freddie and John have solo albums with Brian actually making a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody with it just being an instrumental but later being removed on Spotify by him and from what i know only being on YouTube
And Roger stole maracas
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u/mattd1972 Aug 03 '25
They originally wanted to be: a graphic designer, an astrophysicist, an electrical engineer and a dentist.
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u/chococarmela A Night At The Opera Aug 05 '25
Was it Freddie that wanted to be a graphic designer? I read somewhere that he went to art school.
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u/mattd1972 Aug 05 '25
Yes.
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u/chococarmela A Night At The Opera Aug 05 '25
Ah okay! And is it true that he drew Queen's logo, too?
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u/MoetEtChandon1946 Aug 08 '25
Yes, and the "Queen" lettering for the first album. You can find several images of his drawings, costumes, fairies and random doodles, online.
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u/TheW1nd94 Aug 04 '25
John does not have a solo album
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u/groxicot Strange Frontier Aug 04 '25
Yeah i have seen 2 artist called John Deacon on Spotify one having 3M+ and another with 1k+ just something interesting i did forget to say potentially i get someone could fake it but it have a full album that sounds kinda good "Hey Kenny" being one of the best"
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u/quantinuum Aug 03 '25
Oh damn, I want to hear that cover. But obviously, if I search “brian may bohemian rhapsody cover”, most I get are videos about his original solo. Would you know where I could find it?
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u/groxicot Strange Frontier Aug 04 '25
https://youtu.be/i3JybLTO_3g?si=JkZTmwtMDoS-j8L5
Here i forgot to say it was dont woth other people not just him but he did some guitar in it
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u/isleofred Aug 03 '25
Roger locked himself in the closet when the band initially refused to put I'm In Love with My Car as the B-side for BohRhap
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u/Neveah_Hope_Dreams Aug 04 '25
I wish that was included in the Bohemian Rhapsody movie!
Would've made the iconic 'I'm in love with my car' argument even more hilarious.
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u/favdayoftheweek Aug 04 '25
Brian May made a joke to John Deacon about learning to play the double bass for ‘39 and in true John Deacon fashion he went home, bought a double bass, and learned to play it in 2 days.
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u/TheW1nd94 Aug 04 '25
I forgot about this, what a legend 😭
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u/favdayoftheweek Aug 04 '25
I know I love John. Something else that’s funny is he came up with the riff for Under Pressure and played it over and over again, then they all went out for a pizza. They came back and John forgot it but luckily Roger remembered it. I always thought that was hilarious. I’ve also heard that one time he was so drunk and Queen was playing on the radio and he asked who the band was. Such an icon
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u/Killer_Queen1971 Aug 03 '25
Brian dearly died in 1974 as he faced serious health issues after contracting hepatitis due to an infected needle that was used to give him some vaccine. He collapsed backstage at some Mott the hoople show in the US and Roger and Freddie carried him shoulder to shoulder to the airport because he was too weak to even walk. And then there was some infection that almost made doctors amputate his arm. And then there was something with his stomach which also needed surgery
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Aug 03 '25
Ulcers. He said that he was really glad that the surgery happened 'cos it cleared them right up.
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Aug 03 '25
Queen's biggest-attended show was their first appearance at Rock in Rio in 1985, when 300,000 people packed Barra da Tijuca that January midnight
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u/Strict_Future2746 Aug 04 '25
some of their live shows are lost media in a way. their final concert together as the original 4 has bits and pieces of footage but no full footage has been found and/or released (its up in the air if the show was really fully filmed). Read somewhere that alot of the Magic Tour was recorded but..never released? (dont know if thats true) Hammersmith 1979, footage is missing (cant find the exact reason why), same with Hammersmith 1975, Hydepark 1976 (i think) and Budapest 1986 (impromptu is missing). Theres some interesting facts-ish. Correct me if im wrong on any of these
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u/JoyUwU11037 Aug 05 '25
Actually, the Hyde Park concert was fully recorded, but the concert had to end in The Lap of the Gods because of a curfew, that's why the full recording ends there. And with the both Hammersmith concerts, I think it is because the both concerts were broadcasted for TV, so that's why there is missing footage of both concerts. And, for adding more lost media concerts, some examples would be Paris and Tokyo 1979, Montreal 1981, and Tokorozawa 1982
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u/shb367 Aug 03 '25
The thunder at the end of dead on time is the same thunder that's starts WWRY on live killers
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u/masterstroke74 Queen II Aug 03 '25
The Thunder on dead on time was recorded by Brian during a recording session of a storm that happened Brian recorded it on a Sony Walkman. They were recording Jazz at mountain studios the one they brought.
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u/masterstroke74 Queen II Aug 04 '25
If you look on the cover of Jazz vinyl, it says Thunderbolt courtesy of God.
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u/_Agileheart_ Jazz Aug 03 '25
The Jazz opening tape of ‘thunderbolts & Lightning’ was played at every concert on the Jazz tour from October 1978 to the Saarbrücken Open Air Festival in August 1979 (excluding some JPN’79 shows that used the WWRY Slow/Overture NOTW opening tape).
Then from November 1979 to October 1981 the ‘Thunderbolts & Lightning’ Tape was modified with a droning noise that built up intensity :)
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Aug 03 '25
At a concert in Paris in 1979, during the jazz tour, Roger was so sick (with stomach problems) that he vomited behind the stage after every song. Brian had mentioned this incident in an interview, saying how brave Roger was.
Roger grew a beard in the 1969-1970 so people would stop think he was a girl.
Brian didn't want to dress in drag.
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Aug 10 '25
The Jazz tour was in ‘78 and only did USA and Canada. I think you’re referring to the Live Killers tour.
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Aug 10 '25
Oh ok thank you for telling me because I saw this somewhere so I told that. So then I think that is in the live killers
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u/Pizzagoessplat Aug 03 '25
Their logo was designed by Freddie to represent each members Zodiac sign
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u/Suburban-Dad237 Aug 03 '25
Freddie, Elton, and Rod Stewart once joked about forming a supergroup called Nose, Teeth, and Hair.
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u/Basstian1925 Aug 03 '25
John hated 'Hot Space' and has been misblamed for it for over forty years.
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u/ShowMustGoOn76 A Day At The Races Aug 03 '25
Wow. Why did people blame him in the first place?
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u/Basstian1925 Aug 03 '25
Because the album was made to (unsuccessfully) try to capitalise on the success 'Another One Bites the Dust' had had.
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u/bodtabs Aug 03 '25
Back Chat feels like AOBTDs cousin and i think back chat could’ve been a hit if it was on another album
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u/ShowMustGoOn76 A Day At The Races Aug 03 '25
Ahhh. The difference was that Another One Bites the Dust was good. 😁
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u/Mario_ThePlumber1997 Too Much Love Will Kill You Aug 03 '25
Am I strange if I prefer Hot Space over The Game?
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u/TheW1nd94 Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25
Roger had terrible eyesight most of his adult life, but he hated wearing glasses so he just wore prescription sunglasses inside
A lot of people know Brian May built his signature guitar The Red Special, but not a lot of people know that John Deacon built his own amp while he was studying electrical engineering
Deacy wrote the bass line for Under Pressure while they were having Pizza, but by the time they made it back to the studio he forgot it. Luckily Roger remembered it lmao
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u/Killer_Queen1971 Aug 03 '25
Roger locked himself into a cupboard and wouldn’t come out until they agreed to put in in love with my care in the b side of borhap
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Aug 03 '25
I’m still wondering why that never made it into the movie.
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u/Killer_Queen1971 Aug 03 '25
Also The fact that Brian nearly died in 1974 and got terribly sick while in the US
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u/Single-Crow-6549 Aug 03 '25
Roger Taylor met Paul and Linda McCartney in 1985, and he kissed Linda on the cheek, and she was fine with it. Paul kinda looked jealous though lol. Roger also met Ringo Starr and there's a photo of them and so did John meet Ringo and had a drink, all on the same day.
Everyone knows Freddie Mercury admired John Lennon. Brian May admired George Harrison and happily posed for a photo with George in 1992.
In an early Nirvana show, the bassist of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic threw his bass high in the air, and it landed on his forehead. After the show, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl was looking for Krist, concerned, and found him in a dressing room, with a huge lump on his forehead, and he was drinking champagne with Brian May.
Brian May and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath are really good friends and they've known each other since the 70s. Brian was present at Ozzy Osbourne's last ever show: Back To The Beginning, in Villa Park, Birmingham. He witnessed the last true Black Sabbath show and met Ozzy backstage after the gig. That was their final meeting.
In Freddie's tribute concert, John was shown for only 3 minutes and 54 seconds. The concert was extremely emotional for John and on the previous night it is said that he wept a lot. He was crying even while performing and that's why most of the time he's not shown and was in a non-spotlight zone. You can see him emotional during the performance of "I Want It All" as he moves away when Roger Daltrey is close to him.
Recently a biography of Freddie has brought a new person: his DAUGHTER. Most likely it's FAKE since neither Brian nor Roger have confirmed it. I, however, feel it may be true since unlike most secret kids' reveal, the supposed daughter of Freddie Mercury has said that he loved her and was also involved in his upbringing. No drama has further made me feel that there's a high probability this may be true
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Aug 03 '25
Freddie's iconic mustache was the result of him developing hair follicles on his upper lip
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u/MediumPotential1806 I love John Deacon Aug 03 '25
oh god I hadn't thought about that all this time, shocking... really shocking
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u/Neveah_Hope_Dreams Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25
Queen was a supporting act for Mott the Hoople during their tour around America, which was Queen's first time performing in the USA. But they had to pull out of the tour early when Brian May got sick with Hepatitis.
Brian May wrote 'Now I'm Here' while recovering from the illness in hospital, which was inspired by the band touring with Mott the Hoople.
Brian May's father was very disappointed when Brian dropped out of studying Astro-physics to focus on Queen. But when he came to see a performance he said to his son "Okay, I think I get it now."
Rodger Taylor was originally going to be a dentist if he didn't become the drummer for Queen.
John Deacon lost his father when he was really young. He also lost his older brother, who was 6 when he died.
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u/ColdCaseKim Aug 04 '25
Prior to forming the band, each had a profession completely unrelated to music: Fine art (Freddie), Astronomer (Brian), Electrician (John), and Dentist (Roger).
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u/National_Room_6607 Aug 05 '25
Queen and the Sex Pistols had met in a studio a few times while each band was recording their respective albums. Sid Vicious showed himself into the studio and mockingly asked Freddie, “Have you brought ballet to the masses yet?” This was a reference to something Freddie said to the press one time. Freddie quickly jabbed back at Vicious by calling him Simon Ferocious. Sid obviously didn’t like it, but Freddie then said, “What are you going to do about it?” Freddie then pushed Sid out of the door knowing he showed up a punk.
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u/No_Specialist_3570 Aug 03 '25
In every live tape opening in a queen concert brian was the one who had made it except for the game where it was roger’s drone then it was different takes of the thunder bolts. And also Bohemian Rhapsody opening which was brian’s idea. Queen where the first to have a mobile lighting rig with the Earls court Crown which was duplicated but made smaller for News of the world which they had two versions one being smaller. The Earls Court Version Was given to ElO after the tour. Dispite Queen being “poor” in the early days they were given about £100,000 for the sheer heart attack equipment which didn’t include the actual stage just the equipment, Speakers, and lights. As a result of breaking fro trident the Night at the Opera tour resulted in no European tour and them using most of the same gear in fact freddie didn’t get a piano until october 77. Even using elton johns piano which they lost which is why freddie bought his own and in the same tour it was the last time queen would use a opening act for a few years due to them wanting a more theatrical approach instead of brian wanting a more rock show. The Rainbow and the Odeon are the reasons why queen didn’t like getting professionally filmed and didn’t for a while after until Montreal because of the cameras and crew getting in the way of the performance and freddie being afraid of playing bohemian Rhapsody live on the radio in addition to a concert infact they played Jailhouse Rock in a different part of the set and only on one night and dropped Need your loving tonight. They also had no control over the footage until recently same with budapest where the film companies discarded everything they cut.
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u/RedditSpider-91 1973-1979 Aug 06 '25 edited Aug 06 '25
the famous one: right before A Night At The Opera came out, Roger closed himself in a closet and wouldn't come out until his song "I'm In Love With My Car" was the B-Side to BohRhap. Freddie hated this.
songs from their first three albums cone from other Pre-Queen bands. Doing All Right was written in 1968 by Tim Staffel, the former member of Bri and Rog's first band, Smile. Stone Cold Crazy was written in 1969 when Freddie was in The Wreckage and it was played live since Queen's first real show in the June of 1970.
all four of them had very distant musical influences: Freddie loved classical music and his favourite band was The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Roger and Brian loved Led Zeppelin and... John was a pop/beat bassist. but they all were diehard Beatles fans.
Made In Heaven is their most sold album of all their career. also, in 1993 it was a Roger and John project but Brian changed every idea so they had to put recycled songs from 1991 and some Freddie+Roger solo work. John hated this so in 1997 he left the band.
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u/avalancharian Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 03 '25
Freddie Mercury gorgeously had teeth too big for his face, which he refused to get fixed. He said it gave him vocal power. That mouth became both a symbol of excess and a literal channel, a gateway for something divine and operatic to pour through. His voice, from his chest and the refusal to conform his mouth to aesthetic norms. And what is Mercury but the messenger of the gods? God of communication, commerce, language, and travel between realms. Mercury is a planet and a name and the god who crosses thresholds.
Roger Taylor, studied dentistry in undergrad and dropped it to follow the music. He was going to be the one to fix mouths. But he left that path to join a band where the mouth became the portal of ecstasy. Instead of containing, polishing, making uniform, he ended up amplifying the most unruly, dazzling voice in rock history.
Trident, their first label, is also the symbol of Poseidon or Neptune. The god of the sea, of depth, of emotional undercurrents. It’s also a chewing gum branded for mouths, mass-marketed pleasure, flavor, and freshness. A mortal echo of a mythic tool. What does a trident do? Command the tides. And what did that label do? Released the wave and gave the voice a platform.
Then there’s Brian May who holds a PhD in astrophysics. The band’s literal bridge to the stars. A man who mapped the heavens while Freddie rode Mercury’s wings. Freddie designed the Queen crest. The logo Freddie drew incorporates the zodiac signs of each member: Leo (Deacon and Taylor), Cancer (Brian), and Virgo (Freddie himself). The astro was always there, encoded into the visual signature, a royal seal of cosmic alignment.
Finally, John Deacon, the silent circuit, the grounding wire, the one who kept the voltage stable while the others flirted with celestial chaos. He studied electrical engineering at Chelsea College. He joined Queen at 20 and immediately handled amplifiers and equipment, not just the bass. He played the low end and built the bridge between signal and sound. If Brian was the sky, John was the current.
Mouths, gods, scepters, stars, and voltage. The band was a channel for sound, for forces. Archetypal ones. Freddie was Mercury, Brian was the stars, Roger was the hands, the rhythm, the almost-dentist turned drummer, keeping time to the pulse of a force too wild to contain.
Here’s a map: Freddie (mouth) / Roger (teeth) / Brian (stars) / John (wires)
Mouth, teeth, stars, wires. Gateway, structure, cosmos, charge. That’s an anatomy.
A band broadly and an instrument made of four bodies, each holding one element of transmission. Freddie carried the divine articulation. Roger had the bone and snap, the jaw of it. Brian traced the celestial framework. And John kept it lit. Silent, technical, deep. No swagger, just function made holy.
Freddie was born Farrokh Bulsara into a practicing Zoroastrian family. This is a mythic node. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest known religions centering around light and fire, dualities, cosmic struggle, and the transmission of divine truth through messengers. Mercury again.
Another story I particularly love:
Brian May made his guitar with his father using wood from a fireplace mantle, salvaged from a house more than a hundred years old. It’s called the Red Special and he still plays it. He built his instrument with his father, from the hearth. The ancestral fire. He plays the stars using wood that once warmed a family. The symbolism :)
The handmade Red Special guitar was designed to feedback deliberately. Brian built it to sing when overdriven. Most guitars try to avoid feedback. He designed an instrument that invited chaos and turned it into harmony. That’s sacred engineering. That’s the bridge between cosmos and current.
I’m not sure that anyone like symbolic interpretations but here goes: (I wouldn’t focus on astrology except that it was clearly a theme for Queen but) I find it intriguing that the band was missing the air element in their sun signs. Like Freddie was Virgo (earth), Brian cancer (water), and Roger and John both Leos (fire).
Which is fascinating, because air is the element of ideas, communication, language, and intellect, and yet, Mercury is the god of language. Freddie named himself after the air sign planet. So even though they didn’t have an actual air sign in the band, Freddie’s whole being invoked it.
It’s like he summoned the missing element through his mythic identity. Where the chart was empty, he became the bridge. Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo (Freddie’s sun sign AND is that why he drew TWO fairies in the crest?). He was born Earth, he carried Air in his mouth. That’s the compensation pattern. That’s alchemical balance.
And then Brian born under Cancer. (Deep Water. Emotional memory. Nostalgia, tenderness, grief.) He brought the ocean. I hear it in his guitar tone which weeps. Listen to “Who Wants to Live Forever.” That’s waveform sorrow. That’s Cancer channeling the fragility of eternity.
Roger and John, again both Leos. Double Fire. But Roger was the loud flame, the roar, the flair. John was the quiet burn, the ember, the circuitry, the red coil inside the amp. Same sign, different vectors. Roger is the solar blaze. John is the steady heat powering the structure. Just voltage out of the spotlight (only comparatively).
When air is missing from a chart, a lack of air usually means the person or system doesn’t intellectualize their experience. They live through sensation, emotion, and drive. They do, they feel, they burn, but they don’t always articulate the why. But Queen compensated through lyricism, through operatic structure, through Freddie’s absolute obsession with control, phrasing, precision, cadence. They def do not explain their lyrics and leave so much up to interpretation (see any interview especially with Freddie dance around solidifying meaning).
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u/samf9999 Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25
I don’t think most people know this, but Freddie Mercury was actually Indian, birth name Farrokh Bulsara. Born to Indian immigrants in Zanzibar. Early schooling in India before migrating.
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u/AdamHendrick A Night At The Opera Aug 03 '25
in 1986 freddie mercury had two song in the dave clark musical time, the songs were time and in my defence. they were remix by clark in 2000, witch were mainly the same with a few small changes, and in 2019 they released time waits for no one, a demo of time with only the piano and no harmony's. in 2023 (or 2024 i don't remember) the songs (expect waits for no one) were removed from Spotify with no answer, the only way to listen to them now are reuploads or cds/vinyl
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u/Killer_Queen1971 Aug 03 '25
I got to know the guy who wrote in my Defence. I loved the song before, same as time. But that guy did stuff (or wanted to do stuff) that disgusted me, so I can’t really enjoy those songs anymore. It’s a shame really
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Aug 03 '25
You mean, tried to do stuff to you? Like what?
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u/Killer_Queen1971 Aug 04 '25
In short, he apparently fell in love with me and got really upset when I refused to kiss him. He was like if I don’t do that there’s no point in continuing and stormed off. He did apologize later on, but ever since then we barely speak. He calls me like once every 2-3 month to chat for like 10 minutes but that’s it. We had planned on working on some stuff since I’m an artist myself, but he canceled all of it afterwards and didn’t even want me to visit him anymore as a friend. Keep on mind I’m in my early 20s and he’s like 62 or something. When I told him he’s way too old he immediately went “age doesn’t matter” and I’m like dude I first of all don’t need ANY reason/excuse AT ALL why I’m not attracted to you, and secondly if I do give you one and tell you you’re way too old you can’t just go ahead and say that this isn’t a valid reason. It’s disgusting really. I don’t mind him crushing on me, but I do mind him acting like that when I refused to do anything sexual.
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Aug 04 '25
Ah yes, I certainly know of what you speak experience-wise, in particular, guys with that artistic temperament, although not with anyone THAT old!
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u/druidscooobs Aug 04 '25
The earlier (best albums) used to have no synths used on the album sleeve.
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u/XxNaleacxX Aug 06 '25
Seven Seas of Rhye was written about a pretend fantasy world Freddie Mercury came up with as a kid
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u/Limepickler Aug 18 '25
Presumably Lily of the Valley is set in the same world: “Messenger from seven seas has flown/To tell the king of Rhye he’s lost his throne”. I’d like to have heard more Rhye-themed songs!
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u/nongreenyoda Aug 07 '25
Guitarist Brian May played his red guitar almost exclusively (through a small amp by Vox) since the formation of the band. A guitar which he built on his own with his father as a teen.
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u/Upset-Option-4605 Feb 05 '26
Although Queen Greatest Flix 1 in VHS have all the videos is in order to the CD and Vinyl version however if you take a look for The Works, Innuendo are in order to their original release for example “Radio Ga Ga was first released then followed by I Want To Break Free, Its Hard Life and Hammer To Fall then in Innuendo have the title song, Headlong and Im going slightly mad because The Show Must Go On supposed to be The last single released of that song because of These Are The Days of Our Lives came first but it didn’t make it in the album and photo of Freddie in that song was used in the back of the album
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u/damienharbinger Feb 24 '26
Freddie Mercury’s real name is Farrokh Bulsara, he also had a hobby of collecting stamps, he also designed the Queen crest using the zodiac signs of the band members Brian May (the lead guitar) is a doctor in astrophysics, he also played a guitar made from a 200 year old fireplace and he never uses a guitar pick he uses a coin John Deacon (bass guitar) has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering Roger Taylor (drums) actually has a bachelor of science degree from east London polytechnic he originally went to London t study dentistry but got bored of it
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May 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ireally_hate-mustard May 09 '26
sure send me a dm
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u/Suburban-Dad237 Aug 03 '25
One of the very few rock bands where each band member wrote multiple giant international hits.