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Bohemian Rhapsody


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A lot of the social media noise is centered on what elements of Freddie Mercury's life are in the movie, and which are not. The remaining members of Queen wanted a biopic about the music, and about the band. The Social Justice minded people and the soap opera fans wanted it to be all about Freddie's sexuality, his personal issues (like the one time he screamed at his boyfriend so much he couldn't sing the next day) and about the AIDS crisis.

Thing is... Freddie Mercury only publicly announced he had AIDS 24 hours before he died, after years of denials. He had been diagnosed in 1986, and probably could have done a lot for the cause, but he pretty much kept it private. He was a Victim of the AIDS epidemic, but really didn't actively take part in it, until after his death.

So, honestly, in a celebration of his LIFE and the glory years of Queen, it doesn't really have a place.

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I just hope it is a good movie.  Celebrate the music. Celebrate their lives. Celebrate their loves. Celebrate the band!

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23 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

A lot of the social media noise is centered on what elements of Freddie Mercury's life are in the movie, and which are not. The remaining members of Queen wanted a biopic about the music, and about the band. The Social Justice minded people and the soap opera fans wanted it to be all about Freddie's sexuality, his personal issues (like the one time he screamed at his boyfriend so much he couldn't sing the next day) and about the AIDS crisis.

Thing is... Freddie Mercury only publicly announced he had AIDS 24 hours before he died, after years of denials. He had been diagnosed in 1986, and probably could have done a lot for the cause, but he pretty much kept it private. He was a Victim of the AIDS epidemic, but really didn't actively take part in it, until after his death.

So, honestly, in a celebration of his LIFE and the glory years of Queen, it doesn't really have a place.

It's always been funny to me that people think they have a right to tell someone how they should have died, especially with a disease like HIV.  HIV took someone from my family about 25 years ago, and just dying with a shred of dignity was a full time job back before treatment regimes improved.  I don't think people who weren't alive before the AIDS cocktail made it a treatable illness really have the first clue how truly horrible it was. 

I don't know why Freddie didn't go public, but I don't feel like it was his job the de-stigmatize a disease that was handled with a complete lack of empathy for years by the powers that be.  The guy was a musician and wanted to make music until the very end I think, and being the life he was losing was his, that was his right.  

It was going to take a Magic Johnson to really make any impact on the public's perception of the disease I think.  While many would have been sad and it would have "raised awareness," I don't know to what end.  Freddie was a larger than life personality whose public persona seemed to revel in hedonism even if that didn't quite line up with who he was away from Queen.  As such, I can't imagine your average suburbanite in the States back in the late 80s saying, "Oh my!  Anyone can get this!  Even Freddie Mercury has it!"  

However, since that trailer came out, I've been shocked by how many people from how many walks of life truly love that band.  I had friends share that trailer on Facebook who I never would have expected to love Queen.  Hell, I didn't even know some of them liked music!  Damned near everyone I know doesn't have just a favorite Queen song, they have a Queen song that is one of their favorite songs!  Even today, when I tell students the story behind the vocal tracking for "The Show Must Go On" and play it for them, it always moves some of them to tears. 

I guess where I come down on it is that Freddie spending his final days as a martyr may have had some limited impact, but his spending them continuing to make music left something far more lasting as it all shakes out. 

 

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I had a few different favorite bands throughout high-school, and Queen was definitely one of them. Their ability to create eclectic music is one of the factors that appealed to me. Not to mention May's unique guitar tone.

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8 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

A lot of the social media noise is centered on what elements of Freddie Mercury's life are in the movie, and which are not. The remaining members of Queen wanted a biopic about the music, and about the band. The Social Justice minded people and the soap opera fans wanted it to be all about Freddie's sexuality, his personal issues (like the one time he screamed at his boyfriend so much he couldn't sing the next day) and about the AIDS crisis.

Thing is... Freddie Mercury only publicly announced he had AIDS 24 hours before he died, after years of denials. He had been diagnosed in 1986, and probably could have done a lot for the cause, but he pretty much kept it private. He was a Victim of the AIDS epidemic, but really didn't actively take part in it, until after his death.

So, honestly, in a celebration of his LIFE and the glory years of Queen, it doesn't really have a place.

I can understand friends and band mates of Freddie's not wanting all of the ancillary topics (AKA: anything that's not music-related) to be the topic of conversation when speaking about him or making a movie about him, but the fact is he was a public figure. He was the very flamboyant front man of a very popular rock band and unfortunately this comes with the territory.
We won't get into a celebrity's "obligation" to help others without a voice - regardless of which side of that topic one might fall - but he dies almost 17 years ago. I think this story, warts and all, is long overdue.

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I dunno... I can't remember seing many great movies about an artist or a band. Usually they just cover a lot of silliness and the actual heavy, deep and interesting stuff is hollywoodized and sugarcoated.

I found Miles Ahead, the recent film about Miles Davis to be okay. Don Cheadle did a good Miles. But it just covered a very short time in his life and I did not get any wiser about Miles the man.

Born To Be Blue, about Chet Baker, was better. Ethan Hawke did a great Chet. And the story was moving. Not nearly as good as the Chet documentary Let's get Lost though.

La Vie En Rose from 2007, the movie about Edith Piaf, is absolutely brilliant. I doubt the Freddy movie will touch it by a mile.

Straight outa Compton was better than I expected. 

Anton Corbijns Control, about Ian Kurtis, was a let down.

The Runaways, the movie about The Runaways was good.

One of my favourite music movies will always be Almost Famous. I just love it. It has the atmosphere of being on the road right on.

The ultimate RnR movie is, and will always be, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane - Rock N Roll Detective! 😂

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The movie has been announced for November in Germany. Before that, I’m going to see them live in Cologne in a few weeks and listen to my newly acquired half-speed mastered Innuendo and what else I have on vinyl and CD. They are still living for me as long as they are touring.

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12 minutes ago, gorch said:

The movie has been announced for November in Germany. Before that, I’m going to see them live in Cologne in a few weeks and listen to my newly acquired half-speed mastered Innuendo and what else I have on vinyl and CD. They are still living for me as long as they are touring.

"They"?  "Them"?

I have some bad news for you...

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51 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said:

Queen albums are good enough to speak for the band.  They really need to be heard as complete albums, not individual songs. 

really depends on the album, imho.  Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A day at the races, and A night at the opera are the albums I feel are the most unified in concept. Queen II of course is the only album where the songs literally flow together. 
 

I definitely do need to get more of the 80's Queen albums. I have their first 9 albums, and various greatest hits collections. I don't seem to connect as well with the 80's era Queen though, just like I don't connect with Rush after Moving Pictures, but love everything before that.

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1 hour ago, Steve Haynie said:

Queen albums are good enough to speak for the band.  They really need to be heard as complete albums, not individual songs. 

"Radio Ga Ga" and "Flash" should stand alone ... in a corner ... far away from their other work.  I can't say that I like all the songs on all of Queen's albums.  Then again, jaws was never my scene and I don't like star wars.

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3 hours ago, kizanski said:

"They"?  "Them"?

I have some bad news for you...

Let me know. I can‘t wait...

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3 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

really depends on the album, imho.  Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A day at the races, and A night at the opera are the albums I feel are the most unified in concept. Queen II of course is the only album where the songs literally flow together. 
 

I definitely do need to get more of the 80's Queen albums. I have their first 9 albums, and various greatest hits collections. I don't seem to connect as well with the 80's era Queen though, just like I don't connect with Rush after Moving Pictures, but love everything before that.

I am not a big Queen fan. I like some songs here and there. And A Kind of Magic is the Queen album I like best from start to finish. All other albums have two many ups and downs, down to down right silly stuff. Then again, I like most of the stuff Rush did after Moving Pictures, ha ha.

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