A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It's a theatrical event.
"It will never be the same without Freddie. But it will be different
in a very challenging and entertaining way.“
(Brian May)"
"It was the perfect stage for Freddie. He could ponce about in front
of the whole world"
(Bob Geldof talking about Live Aid)
It's not a question of money anymore. I spend money like it's nothing. You know, I could be penniless tomorrow, but I'd get back, somehow.
Every molecule of Day At The Races - every iota - is us. No session men. We don't try to reproduce that onstage.
It's stupid to say there is no such things in boarding schools. All the things they say about them are more or less true. All the bullying and everything else. I've had the odd schoolmaster chasing me. It didn't shock me because somehow boarding schools... you're not confronted by it, you are just slowly aware of it. It’s going through the life.
Money may not buy happiness, but it can damn well give it!
Most of the songs I write are all love ballads and things having to do with sadness and torure and pain: at the same time it's frivolous and tongue in cheek. That's basically my whole nature, I guess.
My songs are like Bic razors. For fun, for modern consumption. You listen to it, like it, discard it, then on to the next. Disposable pop.
No one could ever replace the one of a kind Freddie Mercury. I'm coming
into this as myself, playing some of their material and some of mine.
(Paul Rodgers)
No, I live for tomorrow..!
Once, Roger squirted Brian in the face with hairspray in a tiny, steaming dressing room. They nearly came to blows.
One night Roger was in a foul mood and he threw his entire bloody drumset across the stage. The thing only just missed me - I might have been killed.
For God's sake, if I want to make big confessions about my sex life, would I go to The Sun, of all papers, to do it? There's no f**king way I'd do that, I'm too intelligent.
Onstage, I am a devil. But I'm hardly a social reject.
People are always asking me what my lyrics mean. Well I say what any decent poet would say if you dared ask him to analyse his work: if you see it, darling, then it's there.
People are apprehensive when they meet me. They think I'm going to eat them. But underneath it all, I'm quite shy.
People think I'm an ogre, you know.
Robert Plant was always my favorite singer-and he's said nice things about me, you know.
Rod Stewart, Eiton John and I were going to form a band called Hair, Nose and Teeth after the three of us. But it hasn't happened because none of us can agree on the order of the words!
Rog: How 'bout this? (short pause) How 'bout this? Freddie: Hang on! Rog: How about that?! Freddie: (looks at Rog's lyrics) One true religion... Yeah, that's good! Rog: smiles proudly
Talent will out, my dears
The bigger the better, in everything!
The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy.
The lavish presentation appeals to me, and I've got to convince the others.
The others don't like my interviews. And frankly, I don't care much for theirs.
The reason we're successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course.
They wouldn't let us into Russia. They thought we'd corrupt the youth or something.
Freddie can never be replaced - and certainly not by him. (John Deacon)
"This shitty guitar never plays the chords I want it to play. It only knows three chords, but let's see what happens... (Freddie Mercury: [introducing ""Crazy Little Thing Called Love""])"
We just thought that Freddie's blueprint for 'Rhapsody' was intriguing and original, and worthy of work. This was a well-planned project from Freddie, to which we contributed our best, but there were always changes along the way as tracks developed. (Brian May)
We played a theatre in New York with Mott and this particular chick (well, they notice everything down to the pimple on your arse, dear) wrote that she noticed that when I did a costume change I changed even my shoes and socks. She also added she was so close she could tell what religion I was, and that I wasn't wearing any knickers. She also pointed out that Ian Hunter had knickers on. Ian's going to die...
We've been slagged in the press for our flamboyant stage show. We think a show should be a spectacle.
We were always a sitting target in the press because we became popular so quickly.
We were disliked by the press in the early days because they couldn't put their finger on us, and that was the case with Zeppelin as well.
Freddie doesn't talk anymore because he's a little tired of Queen and himself being misrepresented. I think anybody who meets Freddie would be in for a bit of a surprise. He's not quite the Prima donna you might imagine. Obviously, he's a positive character, but so are we all. When all is said and done he we works damned hard and puts on a good show. (Roger Taylor)
We're a bit flashy, but the music's not one big noise.
We're a very expensive group; we break a lot of rules. It's unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear .
We're fussy and finnicky and have very high standards. If a song can't be done properly, we'd rather it isn't done at all.
We're going to be together until we fucking well die, I tell you.
We're the fussiest band in the world, and we put so much loving into every album.
Freddie's just his natural self: just a poof really (Roger Taylor)
We've all got massive egos, my dear.
We've gone overboard on every Queen album. But that's Queen.
What will I be doing in twenty years' time? I'll be dead, darling! Are you crazy?
When I look back on all that black nail varnish and stuff, I think 'God, what did I do?' I used to feel a need for all that on stage. It made me feel more secure. But now I don't... I've grown up a bit.
When I'm dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance.
When I'm dead, who cares? I don't!
When the whole point of Queen was to be original.
Why are you wasting your time doing this? You should do more original material. You should be more demonstrative in the way that you put the music across. If I was your singer that's what I'd be doing. ((FM to BM & RT prior to joining their band))
Fuck them darling, if they just don't get it
Years ago, I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name. But it's regal, obviously, and-sounds splendid.
Yes, but nobody wants to share their life with me!
You are the last person I'm talking to, so you will probably get the best interview, darling, now. I don't want to change the world, to me happiness is the most important thing - if I'm happy, then... it shows in my work. In the end, all the mistakes and all the excuses are down on me. I'd like to feel that I am just being my honest self... and as far as I'm concerned I just want to pack in as much of life and fun and having a good time as much as I can... within the years I have. Well there you have, you have it on tape. Use it.Well, that's the nearest I've come to a lot of passion in terms of interviews. How much more have you got, I'm getting bored!
"You know something? There's been a lot of rumours lately, about a certain band called Queen. The rumours are that we're going to split up, what do you think? audience yells ""No!"" and Freddie points at his ass] Freddie Mercury: They're talking from here! My apologies, but I say what I want. You can forget those rumours, we're going to stay together until we fucking well die, I assure you. "
You know, I designed the Queen crest. I simply combined all the creatures that represent our star signs-and I don't even believe in astrology.
A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It's a theatrica! event.
After Sheet' Heart Attack, we realized we'd established ourselves. We felt that there were no barriers, no restrictions.
Fuck today, it's tomorrow.
And, we have no such thing as a budget anymore. Our manager freaks when we show him the bill. We're lavish to the bone, but all our money goes back into the product.
Back in the old days, we were often compared to Led Zeppelin. If we did something with harmony, it was the Beach Boys. Something heavy was Led Zeppelin.
Brian has got to look after himself in future. We all want to make sure something like that never happens again. So he'll have to eat the right things and steer clear of hamburgers. (Freddie (on Bri's Hep attack in 74))
But, you know, we spent two years putting our act together.
For God's sake, if I want to make big confessions about my sex life, would I go to The Sun, of all papers, to do it? There's no fucking way I'd do that, I'm too intelligent.
Have I got upper class parents who put a lot of money into me? Was I spoilt? No. My parents were very strict. I wasn't the only one, I've got a sister. I was at boarding school for nine years so I didn't see my parents that often. That background helped me a lot because it taught me to fend for myself.
I always knew I was a star And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me.
I bought a house in London which I'd only seen in photographs. I know that 's absurd, but I had no time to go house-hunting.
I do deliver sex appeal. It's part of modern Rock. I sell sex appeal with my body movements on stage.
I do get annoyed when up- and-coming journalists put themselves above the artist.
I don't care what the journalists say, we achieved our own identity after Queen II.
I always knew I was a star And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me.
I dress to kill, but tastefully.
I got my diploma from Ealing College of Art, in graphics and illustration.
I guess I've always lived the glamorous life of a star. It 's nothing new-I used to spend down to the last dime.
I have a nervous energy that needs to be doing something. I can't relax in bed all day and just do nothing. I think it's a waste of time.
I have a perfectly clear idea of what was in Freddie's mind. But it was unwritten law among us in those days that the real core of a song lyric was a private matter for the composer. (Brian May)
I have fun with my clothes onstage; it's not a concert you're seeing, it's a fashion show.
I have stopped having sex and started growing tulips, dear
I just feel I'm not a very good partner for anybody and I just think that's what my love is. I think my love is dangerous, who wants their love to be safe? Can you imagine writing a song 'My Love Is Safe'? It would never sell!
I learned to fend for myself in boarding school. All the bullying - I had the odd schoolmaster chasing me. I was considered the arch poof.
I like leather. I rather fancy myself as a black panther.
I like people to go away from a Queen show feeling fully entertained. I think Queen songs are pure escapism, like going to see a good film.
I like the cabaretish sort of thing. In fact, one of my early inspirations came from Cabaret.
I like to be surrounded by splendid things.
I like to browse around art galleries, but I'm a hard-working lad and I never have the time.
I like to ridicule myself, I don't take myself too seriously. I wouldn't wear these clothes if I was serious. The one thing that keeps me going is that I laugh at myself.
I think my melodies are superior to my lyrics.
I thought we would be huge - and we were.
I want my privacy, and I feel I've given a lot for it. It's like Greta Garbo, isn't it? Virgo, same star sign.
I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.
I was never too keen on the British music press. They've called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn't write our own songs.
I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend.
I'd like to be carried on stage by six nubile slaves with palms and all.
If I tried that on, people would start yawning, 'Oh God, here's Freddie saying he's gay because it's very trendy'
If we're weird onstage, I don't know what you'd call the Tubes.
I'll sing until my throat is like a vulture's crotch!
I'm a man of extremes, you know, I sort of change from day to day like a chameleon and each day is different to me and I look forward to that. I don't want to be the same person every day.
I'm a man of extremes. I have a soft side and a hard side with not a lot between. If the right person finds me I can be very vulnerable, a real baby, which is invariably when I get trodden on. But sometimes I'm hard, and when I'm strong no-one can get to me.
I'm a very hated person, but I hate the Press as well. So that goes both ways, but to me I think I've learned to live with it.
I'm hopeless with money; I simply spend what I've got.
I'm just a musical prostitute my dear
I'm not into business at all.
I'm so powerful on stage that I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man
I'm the first to accept fair criticism. But the dishonest reviews-where people haven't done their homework - I just tear them up.
I'm very emotional; I think I may go mad in several years' time.
I do deliver sex appeal. It's part of modern Rock. I sell sex appeal with my body movements on stage.
In the early days, we just wore black onstage. Very bold, my dear . Then we introduced white, for variety, and it simply grew and grew.
Interview? Oh, don't be ridiculous!
Is Billy Idol just doing a bad Elvis pout, or was he born that way?
It destroys the soul to hear that you're all hype, that you have no talent, and that your whole career has been contrived.
It was OK, but we had our various fisticuffs. (Freddie Mercury about 'The Miracle')
