Today, when reading my portion of stomach turning politics on RAW STORY I noticed that one of the film ads looks suspiciously like it is talking about Queen, but Freddie Mercury was shot way too up close and the picture quality was way too good for seventies. So I looked closer. And I googled. And I found out that two of the living members – Brian May and Roger Taylor – are producing a movie about the band that is due to be released in November this year.
Now I wish I was living somewhere near a functioning cinema that would screen the stuff. My sister absolutely adored Queen when I was a kid, but I did not notice them much at that time. However later in life I found out that some of their melodies actually got embedded in my brain and to this very day Bohemian Rhapsody, Under Pressure or Radio Ga Ga are amongst my most favourite songs and Spread Your Wings is sure to bring tears to my eyes. All the more that since then I learned English and therefore can understand the lyrics, which makes it all the more powerful.
I do not listen to music much, because when I have the time (like when driving) I find it often distracting, and I rarely have time to just sit and enjoy it. But multiple Queen songs rank definitively near the very top of my personal “Top Ten”.
Maybe I should paint a picture again. I used to listen to music when painting. I miss that greatly.
I got mugged in the Memory Lane.
From what I’ve heard, the film erases Freddy’s bisexuality and the AIDS crisis as a “side issue” and is therefore probably not worth watching.
I agree on Queen. The man had a vocal range of 5 octaves (I manage one and a half, to my eternal dismay) and the whole band happily used musical material for a single song that others used for a whole album.
Interesting.
For me, music is ideal while driving because it actually doesn’t take much brain capacity and keeps me from thinking. I have a habit of trying to use that “empty time” (of which I still have more than enough) for thinking over problems or planning lessons and that is definitely too much. In the past I managed to drive to the wrong location because I was simply no longer paying enough attention. Thankfully that was the worst that happened. So i put on some music and sing loudly and wrongly.
I listen to a lot of music. In fact I can’t think of any task that I prefer to do without music, it helps me to focus, to stabilize my mood and makes me feel less tired. It absolutely has to be music I’m familiar with and love. Radio doesn’t work for me, a lot of songs just get on my nerves. Queen doesn’t, of course. :)
Giliell,
Oh, so I’m not the only one to whom that has happened. I once almost drove my poor cat to the university instead of the vet. I always turn off the music with the cats, and while the younger one meows loudly the whole trip and doesn’t let me distract from what I’m doing, the older one resigns herself to silence after the first two or three meows. With no meowing and no music, my brain just drifted away. That was a few years ago and I still feel bad about it, poor kitty.
Oh, that brings back so many memories. Freddie Mercury was an amazing talent.
I almost never go to live music performances. Freddie’s Queen is the one that I regret never being to see live.
Giliell
If you’re making a movie about music, of course everything else is a side issue! Even the things that made the main character who he was and defined his motivations and the context! MUUUSIIIIIC!!!
+++
I’m a big fan of music, and need it to quiet my brain sometimes. For this, familiar music works, or popular music, because it requires little attention and effort but the brain is distracted away from deep thoughts. For new music, or some of my favourite classical pieces, I need to turn everything else off and concentrate, because it’s the only way to enjoy it properly.
Late nights after late work shift? Any singalong music (I find Elton John, Billy Joel and Queen, among others, to be ideal), turn it up and belt it out. A lifesaver.
Giliell
The trailer does not seem to support these rumors. There is definitively what could be called an “intimate moment” between Freddy and another man, so it does not seem tha it erases his bisexuality. And towards the end of the trailer it looks like the AIDS crisis is looming nefariously in the bacground -- as it did in his real life.
So I will wait for the movie to be out to pass judgement on those two issues. Right now, it is all speculation about what will or will not be in it. The trailer makes me optimistic that it will be worth watching.
I do understand that Freddie Mercury was an important figure in recognition of bisexual people’s existence and in recognizing that AIDS is to be fought not swept under the carpet. So any movie about him should be also about those two issues.
But he continued to make music as long as he had the strength to do so, so the music should be really central. In my opinion.
I heard a Queen song on a radio station in Los Angeles, when I was a Junior in High School, in 1969. I went right to the local Record store, and bought a copy of the first album. I really wish I still had it, and equipment to play it on.
That voice, still captures me, when I hear it, decades later.