Queen And Freddie Mercury: Band Analysis

Queen’s Freddie Mercury is the one true artist that showcased a great musician which made him and Queen one of the greatest bands in rock history. The band truly changed the face of Rock Music and Aids forever. Freddie Mercury was a huge influence in rock music because of him embracing characteristic, rock and roll persona and musical skills of rock music. The show my point, I begin by talking about Mercury living a life that involves music, love, drama, family, and sacrifice. Including the story that expresses Freddie’s emotions from his general life and what made him the musician that he is today. Secondly, Freddie showcasing his musical attributes and persona within performing and the records that Queen worked on in the studio and the success they had through their career. Finally, I will discuss and talk on the legacy Queen made after Freddie’s death.

Freddie Mercury used to be a singer-songwriter and musician whose records reached the pinnacle of the U.S. and charts around the Seventies and 1980s. As Mercury is the frontman of Queen, he was one of the most gifted and modern singers of the rock era. His real name was Farrokh Bulsara. Mercury studied piano in a boarding school in India. During his time there, he then made friends with many musicians at London’s Ealing College of Art.

Bomi and Jer Bulsara were Mercury’s parents that lived in India. They had two children named Farrokh. Better known as Freddie Mercury. Six years later, they had a daughter named Kashmira. Farrokh was born on 5th September 1946, in Zanzibar. At the age of 8, Mercury’s mother and father sent him to a boarding faculty in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. At this place he studied piano and spent his free time with his aunt and grandparents. The Hectics was the very first band that Freddie ever joined in. But later in 1963, he went back to Zanzibar. In 1964, the Bulsara family flew to London. Freddie went to an Arts school called the Ealing College of Art. He would buddy up and make friends with a range of musicians.

The adopted surname Mercury was modified in 1964 as he wanted to commence to pursue his music career as his family and himself moved to London. Bandmate from Queen, Brian May, said in a 2000 documentary interview, from what (Levine 2019) has stated, “What I think about Mercury changing his name was part of him assuming this different skin. When he appeared in public, he was going to be this different character, or this new personality, this god”.

Mercury then joined a group called Ibex in 1969, as their lead singer. He performed with other different bands before becoming a member of and joining forces with his bandmates from Queen. Offstage, he was very open about his sexuality, but he stored his relationships private. He was once engaged to Mary Austin which he wrote the ballad “Love of My Life’ for her. He also had a seven-year relationship with Jim Hutton until his premature death. The two of them remained really close friends and Austin tended to Mercury after his AIDS diagnosis. (McMamara, 2019) noted in his research that Mercury was born with 4 more extra teeth in the lower back of his mouth, inflicting his now-famous bucktooth grin. He also noted that Mercury’s vocal range… covered a full three octaves.

Mercury met his Queen bandmates, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, around the time he moved down to London. They all met up with the bassist of the band, John Deacon in 1971. The four members, which Mercury entitled the group as Queen, performed their first gig together in the month of June. The band in 1974, recorded their first album in over just one month. This album was the first style that debuted the band’s signature harmonies and musical styles.

Through the few years of three releasing albums in their music journey, Queen had a really high hit in the following year with their fourth album. The album was called, A Night at the Opera (1975). (Rolling Stone, 1992) stated in their article about Freddie and Brian working together through music and the record-making progress saying in an interview, “Freddie looks like a megastar and acted like a superstar even when he was penniless,” says May. “He had this little stereo and performed me some Hendrix. Freddie said, `This man clearly makes use of stereo,’ so we went from one speaker to the other, discovering out how he produced these sounds.”

(Rolling Stone, 1992) noted about Freddie talked about Queen in a 1977 Rolling Stone interview saying, “I’d had the concept of calling a crew Queen for a lengthy time,” “It used to be a very robust name, very common and very immediate; it had a lot of visual achievable and was once open to all varieties of interpretations.”

(The Freddie Mercury Story: Who Wants To Live Forever, 18:21) noted in their documentary about Freddie’s roadie, Peter Hince saying in an interview, “In 1979, Crazy Little Thing was stunned when we were at the end of a tax exile year. The song was from the album called ‘The Game’. It became their biggest album ever. Number 1 singles in America, triple-platinum album, huge tours, and that’s when they were, the biggest band in the world.” Queen was packing stadiums and releasing records that made major hits. Such as “Somebody to Love” and “We Are the Champions.” But it’s no match to their hits in the album Jazz (1978) which the company ‘Rolling Stone’ described the album as “fascist.” Mercury knew how to entertain audiences. At times, Mercury never publicly mentioned whether he was gay or straight. One factor he answered with the response, “If I am, so what?”

(Ladiero, 2019) stated on her website article about Freddie’s health issues saying, In the late 70s, Freddie was struggling a disorder referred to as AIDS/HIV. Authors Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne said in their bio, “He had secretly considered a health practitioner in the city for a few weeks. Mercury was formerly struggling from a white lesion on his tongue between 26th July and thirteenth August 1982.”

At this time, he was still doing shows. Especially at one of the largest stadiums to operate in. By the early 80s, Queen was once the band to see live. They over and over broke records. Even for the greatest paying target audience for a band anywhere in the world. Music Journalist Rosie Horide stated in an interview from (The Story of Queen: Mercury Rising (41:12), 2017) Documentary, “I don’t assume I’ve met anybody who was once upset with a Queen Concert. Their enormous gigs were unbelievable. They held a better audience better than anybody I’ve viewed earlier since.

During the making of the music video of ‘The Great Pretender’ the recording producer of the tune named Mike Moran talked about Freddie in (The Story of Queen: Mercury Rising (1:00:12), 2017), saying, “If you look at the video, solely Freddie was the one who could only make an entrance like that. It’s extraordinary. He loved it… it was once him.” Queen sold about 300 million albums and spent extra time on charts than the Beatles.

On November 24th, 1991, Mercury died from the disease of AIDS at age 45. To honour the memory Freddie, Queen, and a few other artists held a tribute concert for him and for AIDS Awareness. It was held in April 1992 at Wembley Stadium. A various range of rock acts carried out to rejoice Mercury and boost the combat in opposition to the disease that took his life.

In 2018, the movie Bohemian Rhapsody was released, Queen’s songs became even more popular after decades of their remaining studio album. The group’s tune ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ shot from 87th place globally on Spotify and one week later hit the Billboard 100 for the third time.

(Rolling Stone 1992) article stated that David Bowie spoke about his thoughts about Freddie saying, “I assume the fact that he used to be so beloved – straight or gay – will centre of attention some humans on the fact that AIDS knows no boundaries,” says David Bowie,

Even in a research paper, authors (Fouche, Paul, 2018) said in their main headline, “On stage, he used to be a ‘great pretender’, unique followers to compensate for his own sense of mistrust, inferiority, position confusion and need for love. (Fouche, Paul, 2018).

Freddie Mercury used to be an influential icon in the rock industry due to the fact of him embracing his characteristic, rock and roll persona and musical competencies of rock music. The story expresses Freddie’s common lifestyles and what made him the musician that he is today. This comes from the close friends he had throughout his life. He had such innovative musical techniques as he performed. Freddie’s story is an overall journey through music, dealing with wealth and fame, and having a great legacy that will live on for a very long time.