Was it yesterday that would have been Freddie Mercury’s sixty-fifth birthday? Or the day before? I thought I saw something about it on NPR’s website in the last two or three days. Sometime over the weekend, surely.
You can tell how much I care. I actually had to Google to see how to spell “Freddie” properly; I thought it had a Y in it.
The truth is, I don’t like Queen, so Freddie Mercury’s birthday isn’t any sort of deal for me.
I can’t tell you why I don’t like Queen’s music. It comes on the radio, like “Bohemian Rhapsody” (which I utterly despise), and I change the channel. It’s automatic. It’s entirely possible, because my experience of Queen is largely restricted to FM radio, that I’m missing something important, like a deep album cut that explains why Queen is an important band. It’s a possibility.
Still, given what I’ve heard, Queen’s music just doesn’t click with me. I don’t know why.
With one exception.
“Under Pressure,” by Queen and David Bowie.
I like that song.
But I like it because of Bowie. And Grosse Point Blank. Not because of Queen.
*shrug*
Published by Allyn
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
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I am also unconvinced by Queen, with only a single-song exception. But for me, that single song is Bohemian Rhapsody, which I judge one of the ten or twenty greatest tracks ever recorded. Funny how things work out.
Radio Gaga was such a sure-fire hit during the 1980’s. I love all their music. I grew up listening to it on tapes and cd’s back when I was 7. Mom use to play a lot of it every day.