Freddie Mercury interview with Dutch magazine 'Joepie', 12 July 1981
Mar 12, 2023 7:38:50 GMT
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Post by fabiogminero on Mar 12, 2023 7:38:50 GMT
Hi everyone.
Today's article is an interview with Freddie Mercury taken from the Dutch music magazine Joepie on July 12th, 1981; it was originally titled Queen Freddie Mercury Blikt Terug. "Kunst die niet verkoopt is waardeloos" (translated as Queen Freddie Mercury Looks Back. "Art that doesn't sell is worthless") and talks about some personal aspects of Freddie's life and his way of being an artist.
Below is a scan of the Dutch article and my English translation.
Enjoy the reading!
Enjoy the reading!
Queen Freddie Mercury Looks Back
"Art that doesn't sell is worthless"
"I have a strong personality," Freddie Mercury immediately begins confidently. "I like to have fun and my job is a good outlet, but it's still my job and that's why I take Queen seriously." Freddie is known as a difficult boy, but our conversation starts remarkably well.
"I'm a difficult one? No, that's not too bad," he says immediately. "But when you take your job seriously, people in the biz immediately think you want to be difficult. That is not true. I am not a court jester to be played with, but a king."
THE MASTER PLAN
When Queen was born ten years ago, you proclaimed that the group was the greatest rockband of England. Did you have a strategy for that?
"I would rather call it a master plan. We didn't start at random, that's right. We said, okay we're going to make music, let's get it professional right away. Each of us had enough talent to make it solo, so we never wanted to sign for second place. If we couldn't get to the top, we wanted to forget it right away."
Otherwise, there are plenty of groups that want to go straight to the top, but never succeed.
"It takes a lot of self-confidence, perseverance and perhaps enough arrogance to say: each one is much better than the others. Arrogance is the best asset you can have to get started."
Are you the leader of the group?
"Yes, but I'm not Rod Stewart. He has the audacity to proclaim that he always carries a pile of instruments with him and of course also some boys who can play on them. You don't hear me say that. But I am the artistic leader of the group, I say what can and cannot be done on an LP and we sometimes get endless diacussions about that, but in hindsight I'm right. I don't want to artistically decapitate the other Queen members. I gratefully accept a good song by Roger Taylor, for example. I also think it's great that he has made a solo record. But my criticism will not be mild for him either. If I don't like the record, I'll tell him right away."
SHY BOY
Your friends claim that you are in fact a shy boy?
"Who said that? I will no, something about it. On stage I am a different person than in private. As I said, my job is an outlet for me. After a performance I'm not going to be the beast in a pub. I prefer to go to bed then, so that I can get to work with a fresh head the next morning."
What do you want people to think of you?
"That I am someone who sings his songs well, that I am a good entertainer. I like the audience to feel relieved after a Queen concert, to forget their worries for a few hours. Just like a relaxing movie. When the lights come on, you're back in reality. but those hours you were able to escape from that will keep you going for another week. Queen wants nothing at all. prove or declare. We are commercial through and through and I am not ashamed of that. There is a great need for commercial music, otherwise the whole biz would have been on its back long ago."
So you don't believe that anyone starving for art will become a better man?
"No, I call that crazy. Art that doesn't sell is worthless. In fact, I believe that someone with the same talents, but with bread on the table, does a better job than someone who is starving."
FOUR LIMOUSINES
Do you have a lot of private contact with the other Queen members?
"None. Let me tell you that after ten years that is very annoying. We go our separate ways. After a performance there are four limousines for the artists exit. It's just a job. We get together, give a concert and disappear again. And honestly, the mutual understanding has never been better. We just know what to expect from each other."
And what if that job comes to an end?
"If you want to know when we're going to call it quits... I just don't know. You could have asked me that five years ago. It could be over tomorrow. I don't really care. I always had made, even without Queen."
So you don't have to do it for the money anymore?
"No, but money in the bank means nothing to me. I spend it as easily as it comes in. Maybe I'll be bankrupt tomorrow. What do I care. Then I start all over again."
Would you form a new group?
"Maybe. But that's not for tomorrow Queen's possibilities are far from exhausted and all four of us know that. Then why should we stop? Just look at South America, an entire continent is up for grabs there. And none of us thought about touring there. We're the uncrowned kings, man!"