georg
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Post by georg on Nov 24, 2022 13:27:21 GMT
Feel free to use this as the all-encompassing Freddie Mercury remembrance thread – tell your stories, give good graces, whatever suits you. And check out Mercury Roadrunner’s thread, Remembering Freddie – it’s a great read. Thirty-one years ago tonight I was watching VH-1 (well, my mom was, I just happened to be in the same room) when this news report came on: I asked my mom who the strange-looking man in the star-shaped sunglasses, and she told me, and I said, “I’ve heard this song before! We sing this on the playground: We will we will rock you, sock you, pick you up and drop you. I didn’t know it was an actual song!” (I’m paraphrasing: I was 8 years old at the time and not remotely this precocious, and it’s been 31 years, I’m surprised I can remember this memory!) My mom told me what she could about this band, but had to get back to work, so she handed me a cassette with four bright squares on the cover, hand drawn faces of who I presumed to be the band members peering at me. I looked at the back of the cassette, went to my room, and put it in a drawer for two years, completely forgetting about Queen until my 10th birthday, when I got my first boombox and three cassettes: Eric Clapton’s Unplugged, Happy Anniversary Charlie Brown, and Queen’s News Of The World. I listened to all of them equally at first, but gravitated heavily towards Queen. Within a year, I had to replace the cassette from listening to it so much; by that point, I was probably halfway through purchasing their back catalog, and neck-deep in a wild obsession with this band. I irritated every adult I knew who could have potentially seen them live, or at least know about them enough that we could have a discussion… but, as I was a pre-teen I wasn’t exactly capable of intelligent discourse, so it mostly was a lot of breathless “ohmygoddidyoueverknowthisaboutthissong?!” Thankfully, the internet came along not soon after, and after visiting queen-fip.net on my friend’s computer, as we didn’t have internet yet, and stumbling upon Andy’s Queen Page and QueenZone and alt.music.queen when we did get the internet, and devoting countless hours to talking about Queen, listening to Queen, and learning about Queen. The story goes on, but it gets boring after that, so I’ll cap this now and simply say thank you, Freddie, for kickstarting this amazing journey through your music. It’s been quite a ride. |
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Post by fabiogminero on Nov 24, 2022 13:28:47 GMT
Hello everybody.
November 24th is a very sad date for us Queen fans, which we reluctantly remember annually for thirty-one years now. Today I would like to share with you a commemorative article for Freddie Mercury, published in the British newspaper The Times on Tuesday November 26th, 1991, two days after his passing. This is nothing new, as it is a short biography of Freddie, which traces the highlights of his life and career. |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Nov 24, 2022 13:56:48 GMT
I remember seeing his statement on CEEFAX, which was a BBC text service, the night before, but never dreamt I would wake the following morning to the news that he had died. It honestly felt like losing a family member, as I'd been following the band since 1974.
They played Queen music all day long on the radio. I'd never heard that before, not even for Lennon, and haven't heard it since. Thankfully Brian and Roger have kept Freddie's memory alive, and long may they continue to do so.
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baronlutenvank
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Post by baronlutenvank on Nov 24, 2022 15:29:40 GMT
He was already long gone when I came this world, but I never knew he was dead til over a decade after the fact (I was a wee little boy then) when my dad brought home a copy of the Tribute Concert. I remembered thinking "who are these guys? and where's the dude on the cover?" That's when my dad told me he died a long time ago from AIDS. Being a little kid, I thought he meant First Aid which confused me for a while.
31 years gone, but never forgotten.
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ted
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Post by ted on Nov 24, 2022 16:02:23 GMT
I made my first trip to the U.K./overseas in Nov. 1991, arriving in London on Nov. 27, 3 days after Freddie's passing. I can still recall having heard songs in tribute to him being played in music stores that I visited, i.e. the Virgin Megastore on Oxford St. Freddie was certainly one of a kind, a master showman and superbly talented singer and songwriter.
Ted
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Post by Retromusic on Nov 24, 2022 17:15:47 GMT
For me i got the news on Monday the 25th of November, i was a paperboy at that time.
On the Newspaper`s evening issue front page it said:Queen`s vocalist dead of Aids. I was shocked, and
and i sat down for a while and i thought i t was incredibily sad. i was 17, but i remember it clear as day.
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NathanH
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Post by NathanH on Nov 24, 2022 17:53:46 GMT
Does anybody have any recordings of radio or TV coverage of the 25th November when the news of Freddie's death was being reported? I can imagine the day being incredibly sombre because it's so sad even to this day but I don't have any idea of what it would've been like on the day. To see it from a public, generic aspect instead of from a fan.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Nov 24, 2022 18:00:30 GMT
Does anybody have any recordings of radio or TV coverage of the 25th November when the news of Freddie's death was being reported? I can imagine the day being incredibly sombre because it's so sad even to this day but I don't have any idea of what it would've been like on the day. To see it from a public, generic aspect instead of from a fan. There's plenty on YouTube, I expect. Let's not have them all posted on here though. The world is depressing enough at the moment! |
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kosimodo
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Post by kosimodo on Nov 24, 2022 18:47:28 GMT
Yeah… 31 yrs already. I went to work like i normaly did. Buying a newspaper.. bus train.. work.. it was a small headline frontpage.. oi managed to arrive at work where the radio played borhap.. one of my colleagues popped in.. if i had heard… i managed the morning.. returned home.. returned to work after new years…
Tbh.. still not over it.
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Post by Brian's Wig on Nov 24, 2022 19:13:02 GMT
I was at Dover harbour on the morning of the 25th, waiting for a ferry to Holland, when I saw the newspapers.
The colours in the dawn sky were unbelievable and it was easy enough to believe that Heaven had welcomed a new angel. I wish I'd had a camera.
It was a crap week, and even though I never learned dutch, I found it reasonably easy to get the gist of all the reports in the dutch papers.
It was on MTV Europe on the monday night that I saw "These are the Days" video for the first time.
It was also that week I found "Blue Rock" on CD in a dutch record store. It wasn't available in England for some reason.
Frankly it was a day (week) I'll never forget.
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Post by fabiogminero on Nov 24, 2022 19:27:12 GMT
I had never heard of Freddie or Queen before 2003. I was a child at the time, not yet 10 years old; I already liked music back then, but I always listened to the same 3 or 4 CDs and different classical music (Strauss was my favorite classical composer - and still is). One day that summer, my dad walked into my room and said " You should listen to something different now" and he handed me a CD that I had never seen before: it was 'Greatest Hits' by Queen. I still remember that it was burned to a blank CD and that it came in a yellow sleeve with the title in black type...no pictures, no titles, no cover. (Many years later I found out that it was a pirate copy!) I decided to follow my dad's advice and started listening that CD. The melody of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' suffused me and blew my mind, so much so that I listened to it about 4 or 5 times in the same day...it may seem a bit obvious, but THAT's when I fell in love with Queen. At the time there were no social networks, smartphones and even less YouTube, and the use of the internet had not yet reached today's levels, so I asked my dad for information on who was singing those beautiful songs. Although he did not remember the names of the other musicians (  ) he clearly remembered the singer's name: Freddie Mercury. My older brother also remembered him very well, just as he remembered the many tributes that Italian television paid him after his death. This was my first meeting with Freddie (and with Queen) and, although I was only a child, I remember that late summer day with joy...and also with a little sadness, as I immediately learned that Mercury was now dead for more than ten years. I saw his face for the first time some time later, with the arrival of internet at home; he was perhaps one of my very first searches online. Since that day, my love for Freddie and Queen has never waned...in fact it has increased, and it increases more and more every day. |
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Post by Mercury Roadrunner on Nov 24, 2022 19:28:13 GMT
I was 5 years old when Freddie died - strangely enough during this last November's days 1991 I caught pneumonia and I got better exactly on 24th - that's why I vividly remember how my parents saw the news on the TV that Freddie died and my late father said 'such a loss... he's so young...' - all I remember is Freddie's smile and moustache, glimpses of The Show Must Go On video. Four years later I rediscovered Fred with Made In Heaven - and it impressed me so much I became musician myself - so actually, Freddie, it was you, who gave me the direction of my life, changed it for better, taught me how to sing, play piano and write songs - it would have been all a different life without you, I think of you no less as a close soulmate and my guardian angel, and to this day sometimes I cry that I've never met you in real life, but who better than you then know the difference between the fantasy and real life, right? To put it simple: you are the main man in my life. Thank you for being with us, and for staying with us no matter in what worlds you are now - I know that you smile at us with your wicked smiles as we discover the third verse in Breakthru, or different bits in I want It All, or Miracle's different coda... or when we have to face it all alone. The whole world loves you and misses you. Mister Mercury, Mister Bad Guy, Freddie, darling, Freddie, dear - you didn't die, it's just that you work a lot on your new songs, and they are that great, that they lifted you up to heaven. Sleep in heavenly peace, dear Freddie, and may God rest your beautiful soul in a Garden of Eden where you plant your new pomegranate trees. I know that by the time I die one of those who I would think about would be you. And it's so good to have such a nice man as you to think about at such an uncertain time like dying. And to enjoy living this life, listening to your voice that makes it all so much better and easier. I love you, Freddie, I love you, Melina, and I always will. God bless your wonderful spirit in eternity. Bismillah.
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JackG
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Post by JackG on Nov 24, 2022 19:37:52 GMT
Does anybody have any recordings of radio or TV coverage of the 25th November when the news of Freddie's death was being reported? I can imagine the day being incredibly sombre because it's so sad even to this day but I don't have any idea of what it would've been like on the day. To see it from a public, generic aspect instead of from a fan. You better not listen to the RAI UNO italian reportage on his death. Truly disrespectful! |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Nov 24, 2022 19:46:20 GMT
Freddie and Queen were talked about on (UK) Channel 4's Countdown quiz show this afternoon. They always seem to mention him on this day, and on his birthday. I'm struggling to think of another artist who is still quite such a legend so long after their death. You don't hear constant mentions of Elvis, Bowie, or even John Lennon. Freddie was one of a kind and there will never be another.
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dysan
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Post by dysan on Nov 24, 2022 20:03:40 GMT
Melody Maker and NME reporting the news 30th Nov 1991 (I love David Quantick's little side bar):   |
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Post by angusscrimm on Nov 25, 2022 1:13:06 GMT
It honestly felt like losing a family member... ...Thankfully Brian and Roger have kept Freddie's memory alive, and long may they continue to do so. This and this. I can remember it as clearly today as when the news broke on the Monday morning of November 25th 1991. I wasn't a proper Queen fan at the time (that didn't come until MIH in 1995) but I remember feeling very sad. My mum and dad loved Queen and I had fond memories of my dad getting The Works for Christmas of '84 and me going around in my vest with a brush, miming to IWTBF. Still not a huge fan, as I say, but his death seemed to affect me. It hung over me the entire day, a horrible feeling that I couldn't shake off. When I got into Queen properly and realised exactly what I was missing, I couldn't get enough of them. I bought every album I could, got every video I could, and every bootleg too. There wasn't enough Queen to satisfy my hunger, and I've lived, breathed and worshipped them ever since. With Queen now being a big part of my life, and as much as I was captivated by what had gone before, the sadness of no more Freddie never really drifted. It's funny how you don't know someone, yet they are with you every day - and yes, it feels like a family member is gone. He was - is - the greatest of all time. No bias, just saying it like I see it. It still hurts. It effing hurts. All we can do is be thankful for what we got, having the privilege to know his voice and talent, and to have the memories preserved forever. Cheers Freddie! I hope you're having champagne for breakfast! |
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Post by macduff77 on Nov 25, 2022 1:55:27 GMT
I had just begun to get into Queen.
I had found a couple of records at the local flea market and played my mom’s Live Killers album so much it began to skip. Not much internet back in 91, so I was enjoying figuring out the back catalogue and different avenues to get my hands on their albums. Hollywood Records had just launched their back catalogue (or were about to) and I was finally able to easily collect the rest.
I had no idea Freddie was sick. And I remember reading the teletext on my TV stating he had announced he had AIDS. Then so soon after reading the announcement that he had passed.
I hadn’t really listened to music growing up, although my family did. I’d finally found a connection to music and felt that torn away with his passing. I had recently moved from Scotland to Canada in 1989 and realized that the last song I had heard on UK soil was “I Want It All” so I found that fitting.
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Post by saintjiub on Nov 25, 2022 2:46:33 GMT
I found out by seeing a brief "footnote" story, at the end of the local 10:00 PM TV news, a few days before the US Thanksgiving holiday. Other than a few minor hits, Queen bit the dust in North America in 1980. I kept buying all of Queen's albums, but I was quite clueless about Queen in the 80's.
When Queen finally got "rebirthed" with new record deal in North America in 1991 for their out of print back catalogue, Freddie's death came as a complete shock for me, as I was entirely clueless that he was ill. |
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Nov 25, 2022 16:20:51 GMT
for me it was the first day of my promotion - which involved a daily commute from the Midlands to London.
I was headed out toward the M42 to catch the 06:00 train from B'ham Intl to Euston. I used to prefer to listen to cassettes in the car in those days, but for reasons unknown to me I had the radio on and after Queen song after Queen song (no DJ talk) my only thought was WTF?
As the 05:30 news came on the mystery was solved.
To be honest, I had no idea Freddie had HIV/AIDs and I was a huge Queen fan of 17 years at that time. The previous couple of years had almost passed me by (birth of my son and then 18 months of working all over Eng & wales) for HM Govt.
One thing I have to say, I honestly don't know how it affected me at the time. I never really saw the band like a friend - it was the music that was my attachment.
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onedunpark
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Post by onedunpark on Nov 25, 2022 17:43:10 GMT
The entire weekend was dark for me.
In truth, I had already been stepping away from the band after the Magic Tour. I had taken a girlfriend to the Wembley 12/7 gig, promising it would be the greatest thing she had ever seen. We got crushed at the start and it blighted the entire gig for both of us, tbh. We broke up a while later and that put the tin-lid on Queen for me at the time. Bought The Miracle and that did absolutely nothing to tempt me back.
Having been fanatical about band since 1974, I still can't quite understand how I never realised Freddie was gay. I just didn't. The Montreal gig (those shorts!!) brought hoots of derision from my Dad and I manfully presented Mary as the absolute evidence in my/our defence. Even the stories in later years didn't really shake my conviction. I had a boss who died of liver cancer in 1988 and that was what I believed was wrong with Freddie - there being no way of denying he was extremely ill from the few pictures and last video appearances we did see.
All that said, I was out my friends the night it was confirmed Freddie was ill and it was very much the main talking point, for a while anyway, particularly as it swept away any defence I had presented of Freddie through the years. Friends in that situation can be merciless.
The night of his death, we were all out again and (all this being entirely pre-social media and mobile phones) I returned home to my folks house quite a bit the worse for wear and, for the moment, in blissful ignorance of the news. While squinting at the keyhole and trying to open the door, my sister opened it from the inside, very much to my surprise. She was normally a very early-to-bedder.
"Come in and sit down" she said and proceeded to put on Teletext for me. She had waited up to make sure I had a friendly face and a hug. The news sank in and I absolutely burst into tears. She went to bed and left me on my own sitting in my Dad's chair in stunned disbelief. Eventually, I went to bed and I awoke the next morning to my radio/alarm confirming the horrible news yet again.
My mother shouted upstairs to check I was OK. She got no response and on coming into my room just held me while I sobbed my wee heart out.
27 years old and absolutely no effort on my part to hold it back......
Eventually, I had to go to work and the rest of day passed in a blur.
As much as I had stopped listening to them on any regular basis, it truly was like losing a member of the family. I was utterly bereft the night of his death and the following morning.
They were the soundtrack to my youth - first girlfriend, exams, first job, just about every significant life event for that 20-odd years, even though my fanaticism had dimmed quite a bit latterly. A musical date-stamp to my life at that point.
I raise a glass of whisky every 24th November (which, bizarrely, I don't even do for my much beloved grandfather who died the year before).
Their 70's output still grabs me in a way no other music can and that glass will continue to be raised for many years to come.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Nov 25, 2022 18:00:18 GMT
That's a lovely sentiment, ODP. 🙂
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Post by fireplace on Nov 25, 2022 19:48:51 GMT
I had a gig that Monday night. Muddled through it in a daze and couldn't remember a single thing afterward. No alcohol involved though. Then I had most of the week off to get used to the idea that the music had stopped for good (his music anyway). I don't believe it has ever completely sunk in.
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Post by soxtalon on Nov 26, 2022 5:12:17 GMT
I had been a Queen fan without knowing at the time. I had a few really sharp memories of Queen growing up.
- I loved Flash Gordon and remembered watching it constantly when it was on HBO
- I had a jukebox in my basement (my father owned a few bars and this was an older one he took for our basement) and it had Another One Bites the Dust on it
- I knew WWRY / WATC from various sporting events
- I had a friend who often had listened to Don't Stop Me Now.
I remember seeing the report on MTV that he had passed and I felt a tremendous sense of loss despite not really knowing why. It wasn't til a bit later...a combo of three things: Wayne's World, Extreme (who had been my current darlings) being at the Freddie Tribute concert, and an older friend who loaned me Greatest Hits and I realized how much I knew...
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) he clearly remembered the singer's name: Freddie Mercury. My older brother also remembered him very well, just as he remembered the many tributes that Italian television paid him after his death.
