it is absolutely true that Taylor is notorious among drummers for the "Pea Soup" faux pas M of T describes.
― veronica moser, Sunday, 18 May 2014 22:54 (ten years ago) link
I don't know Queen albums well, but Brian May definitely strikes me as a genuinely interesting guitarist. His sound is very unique.― timellisonFor me Freddie is maybe the least annoying thing about Queen - May is a good guitarist but his tone drives me crazy... ― Master of Treacle
― timellison
For me Freddie is maybe the least annoying thing about Queen - May is a good guitarist but his tone drives me crazy...
― Master of Treacle
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:09 (ten years ago) link
(cf. "Toniiiiight / we are yoooooung")
― That's So (Eazy), Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:33 (ten years ago) link
I was also thinking about the "fascist" accusations. From the very beginning, Queen produced what i'm tempted to call triumphalist cheese. Their music seems to strive for this sense of soaring (yes) supremacy, proud and erect atop a mountain's peak, the wind flowing through our golden hair. The vibe is intrinsically collective, it invites us into a shared feeling: "Here, comrade. Stand with us atop this mountain in joyful unity. The view is incredible." The appollonian strain of prog often seem to reach for this, a sense of almost superhuman majesty in acheivement, optimistic, insistent on excellence, truly olympian - and Queen took that theme further than any of their peers.
I can see why some might see in this an echo of fascist triumphalism, especially when turned to singalong pop, but the key difference is that it isn't fascist. It's not dedicated to the eradication or suppression of anything. No group is damned or othered, no obedience enforced. I suppose it could conceivably be put to use by fascists, but that's true of a great many not-particularly-offensive things. Some people enjoy the feeling of minty-fresh athletic ecstacy invoked, while others don't. Iused to reject this sort of music on general principle, insisting on filth-dripping nihilist vulgarity, but I was never tempted to view Queen-style operatic grandeur as evil. I just thought it was sort of gross, too easy, lacking the violent thrill of negation.
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:38 (ten years ago) link
it seems unlikely that Hitler would have considered Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) to be a "white guy"
Well, yeah, tbh, it's particularly striking that the first South Asian man to become this successful as a musician in the Empire's language should be charged with things like "Aryan/Nordic supremacy", especially at a time when so many actually white rock musicians were playing with explicitly racist or fascist ideas.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:46 (ten years ago) link
For me Freddie is maybe the least annoying thing about Queen - May is a good guitarist but his tone drives me crazy, and Taylor's habit of opening the hi hat on the snare provokes a similar reaction.
Unique to Queen, no doubt, but not for me
― Master of Treacle, Sunday, May 18, 2014 10:36 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
It's one of my favourite things about his drumming. Couldn't imagine 'Brighton Rock' or 'Liar', to name two, without it.
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:52 (ten years ago) link
I never knew May was a Vox AC30 guy! Apparently, he went from using nine of them on stage to using twelve in the early '80s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyyTBeAmZIc
― timellison, Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:53 (ten years ago) link
The influence thing is a red herring - people like Pat Smear were devotees. And the likes of Shudder To Think are probably more obvious but even so, I would suspect you would find a lot of Queen fans in bands without an obvious trace of Queen influence.
― Master of Treacle, Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:54 (ten years ago) link
sund4r otm
― ۩, Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:58 (ten years ago) link
That NME "Is This Man A Prat?" interview circa '77 makes for some great reading. There's hostility there from both sides.
"Darling, if everything you read in the press about me was true then I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today, because I would be so worried about my ego. Actually, if it was all accurate, I would have burnt myself out by now. I really would have."But you do appreciate the mystique which has developed around you. "I think I need it. I like all that. It's my character. Certainly I'm a flamboyant person. I like to live life. I certainly work hard for it, and I want to have a good time. Don't deny me that. It might not come again and I want to enjoy myself a little.""I hope," he adds, tilting his head and quietly smirking, "that when you better yourself in your profession you enjoy yourself too."
But you do appreciate the mystique which has developed around you.
"I think I need it. I like all that. It's my character. Certainly I'm a flamboyant person. I like to live life. I certainly work hard for it, and I want to have a good time. Don't deny me that. It might not come again and I want to enjoy myself a little."
"I hope," he adds, tilting his head and quietly smirking, "that when you better yourself in your profession you enjoy yourself too."
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:04 (ten years ago) link
― Master of Treacle, Sunday, May 18, 2014 7:54 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i totally agree. Fugazi, for instance, worship Queen.
― some dude, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:05 (ten years ago) link
http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/interviews/freddie-mercury-1/is-this-man-a-prat-/
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:06 (ten years ago) link
As incredible as it is to believe, the indie band Field Music are massive Queen fans. In the inlay to their second album, Tones Of Town, there's a picture of them sitting around their studio. On the floor is a copy of Queen's Jazz.
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:07 (ten years ago) link
i think it's probably impossible to come off as Queen-influenced unless you have a really skilled/bold singer who can pull off even a hint of what Freddie does, and/or a guitarist who's unafraid to rip off May's distinctive tone. without one of those 2 things, you can pretty much pillage Queen songs for ideas and influences without anyone noticing it or pointing it out.
― some dude, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:07 (ten years ago) link
All this talk of influence and this obvious one hasn't come up?:http://www.queenzone.com/articles/open-letter-to-brian-from-joe-elliot-def-leppard.aspx
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:08 (ten years ago) link
I dunno, man, Muse's 'United States Of Eurasia' features a very obvious Queen rip!
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:09 (ten years ago) link
well, Muse are a good example of a band who use enough Queen-style vocal and guitar sounds to make it obvious
― some dude, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:12 (ten years ago) link
I heard a ton of Queen in Jellyfish's music.
― a lot of really bad records changed my life (staggerlee), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:12 (ten years ago) link
Jellyfish were well known Queen fans
― ۩, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:15 (ten years ago) link
I'd wager Redd Kross were too
I hear a hint of Queen in some Smashing Pumpkins' tracks, too.
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:17 (ten years ago) link
Totally. Also, obvious, but Lady Gaga is named after "Radio Ga Ga" and certainly picks up (sometimes) on the kind of collective-redemption-through-joining-a-pop-anthem thing that people are articulating here.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:34 (ten years ago) link
re: high profile queen fans and 'influence'
http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Features/2a/da/92/dj.tkzccjcu.227x170-99.jpg
― balls, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:38 (ten years ago) link
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, May 18, 2014 8:34 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
she also had Brian May play on a top 10 single
― some dude, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:40 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9YMU0WeBwU&feature=kp
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:41 (ten years ago) link
so yeah, queen
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:43 (ten years ago) link
Yeah re, smashing pumpkins "Thru the eyes of ruby", the main riff anyway is very soaring brian may style
― brimstead, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:51 (ten years ago) link
yeah but Queen didn't influence anyone shh
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 May 2014 00:53 (ten years ago) link
Citing Mercury's ethnicity as if it is some evidence that the band could not possibly have engaged in fascist aesthetics is nonsensical. Aesthetics exist to be appropriated and used by anyone. Whether or not they are employed well or not is the issue. I find Queen's employment of them creepy and troublesome, both because of the response they invoke in the audience and the sort of nausea that comes with seeing something employed in the service of genocide and oppression repurposed as something to be blithely enjoyed and accepted as "fun" or "theater".
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 00:58 (ten years ago) link
Many xposts
And this isnt mel brooks we're talking about here. Champions/Rock You is not about taking the piss out of the self-proclaimed champions.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:00 (ten years ago) link
I didn't dispute that part of your argument. I just wanted to point out that it's a little more complicated than "Queen are white guys." I also wanted to point out that if you're going to invoke Hitler, it's probably worth mentioning that Hitler maybe wouldn't be supportive of a gay man of South Asian descent.
― intheblanks, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:04 (ten years ago) link
That said, I don't necessarily agree with your argument. My goal wasn't to bring up Mercury's ethnic identify as a slam-dunk point against your argument, but rather as a noteworthy fact that I think does stand in contrast to "Queen are white guys whose music invokes fascism"
― intheblanks, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:07 (ten years ago) link
Do I need to point out there were gay nazis, the swastika is south asian, parsis are technically aryan etc. All this is beside the point really but whatever.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:07 (ten years ago) link
What is important is that we all agree that Ernst Rohm would have loved Queen shows.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:08 (ten years ago) link
Joeks
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:09 (ten years ago) link
And I guess my question is: what response did they invoke in their audience? I feel like the argument is actually moving away from actual evidence here. If Queen concerts were notorious for hate crimes and riots, then yeah, I think you'd have a great point there. And if that happened a lot and I'm just unaware of it, I'm happy to be learn more.
― intheblanks, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:11 (ten years ago) link
well, to be fair, freddie mercury DID have a moustache.
― fact checking cuz, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:12 (ten years ago) link
As a Jew I find it just a little unnerving to see crowds of Europeans screaming We Will Rock You to the rhythm of marching jackboots. Mercury could say that it wasnt his intention for it to sound threatening til the cows came home, all that would mean is that they were comfortable playing w alienating forms without a care for their implications. Which goes back to the narcissusm, monomania etc.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:16 (ten years ago) link
"killer queen" obviously about gay nazis.
― fact checking cuz, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:18 (ten years ago) link
haha how did i forget to bring up Yoü and I, i am definitely one of its bigger stans around here
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:18 (ten years ago) link
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130329111113/glee/images/4/4f/Cas-shake-head.gif
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 May 2014 01:25 (ten years ago) link
how come this is the only fuckin band that ever gets their pomp and grandeur called "fascistic" though? maybe maybe zeppelin gets it some but it's real fishy that Queen is like NOPE I HEAR ME SOME FASCISM when that's just the stadium rock feel: giant, triumphalist tunes aiming for a communal, gigantic feeling. it's like, is Ibiza also fascist? whole lotta people hittin' those peak music moments together and shouting at the same time!
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 19 May 2014 01:27 (ten years ago) link
Be happy to label some other bands aesthetics as fascist if itll make u feel better. This thread is about Queen tho.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:29 (ten years ago) link
Ibiza stuff is more pagan than fascist. Does that stuff even have lyrics?
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:30 (ten years ago) link
oh for god's sake
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 May 2014 01:30 (ten years ago) link
Alfred otm.
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 19 May 2014 01:31 (ten years ago) link
"bohemian rhapsody" obviously a wagnerian epic celebrating hitler's annexation of bohemia.
― fact checking cuz, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:32 (ten years ago) link
yeah but it's not just you. Queen got this rep hung on them back then when others didn't. Def Lepperd sold more records with a way more fascistic sound but Queen's the band who OH NO STOMPING JACKBOOTS. When, like...the music of fascism is rather more the Carpenters than Queen.
Ibiza stuff is more pagan than fascist.
ha, this is exactly the point of what I'm saying. you'll re-cast Ibiza to your liking, but Queen - genuinely bacchanalian by all accounts, long, generous concerts and afterparties that dragged on for days, sentimental balladry at the piano amidst the pomp, and resolutely cross-pollinating musically, incorporating disco into their supposedly fascist groove - nossir, that's fascism straight down the line all right
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 19 May 2014 01:34 (ten years ago) link
Oddly one of the only other examples I can think of with the marching boots as rhythm thing is Lennon's Power to the People. Which is more socialist I suppose what with the lyrics.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 May 2014 01:34 (ten years ago) link