Mercury by Amanda Ward

Freddie Attends St. Peters

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:27:46 UTC

Freddie was sent to St. Peters for college, known to be very strict with their punishments, as well as the conditions being severe. One of these was the fact that there was only hot water running for baths on Wednesdays and Saturday lunchtimes, while the rest of the week it ran could. This was very hard on his parents due to the expense and their poor nature as a family. This also caused Freddie to feel very privileged and a little guilty, with attachment and homesickness on top of that due to how close he was with his family. This hit both sides, but it hit eight year old Freddie to an unbearable amount. “He would cry himself to sleep at night in his narrow dormitory bed, surrounded by a quivering bunch of nineteen other new boys”(43).

Freddie gets into Jimi Hendrix

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:35:01 UTC

During college, Freddie discovered Jimi Hendrix, the “African American from Seattle”. He found his work and techniques to be admirable, and they were a huge inspiration to him. “I would scour the country to see him whenever he played because he really had everything any rock ‘n’ roll star should have: all the style and the presence. He didn’t have to force anything. He’d just make an entrance and the whole place would be on fire. He was living out everything I wanted to be”(55).

Freddie meets Brian May

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:35:36 UTC

Brian grew up very similar to Freddie. He was a studious only child, living in a very modest home and with a close relationship with his father. One of the things they did together was carve his very own Red Special guitar using a discarded mahogany fireplace as well as cuts of oak. Little did he know that this guitar would accompany him all over the world someday.

Freddie meets Roger Taylor

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:36:18 UTC

Roger Taylor, with his long blonde hair and deep, ocean blue eyes was almost too beautiful to be male. Roger had been playing in a band before meeting Freddie; his group winning fourth prize in the local Rock and Rhythm Championship, attracting the attention on the Cornwall circuit.

The genesis of Queen

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:36:54 UTC

The beginning formation of Queen was truly by Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Tim Staffel with the predecessor band, Smile. Brian May and Tim Staffel were the creators of such band, them being highschool friends. After placing an advertisement, they then recruited drummer Roger Taylor.

Queen releases their first single

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:37:22 UTC

The band tried to get their foot in the door by releasing their first single through Mercury Records through St. Anne’s Court entitled “Earth/Step on Me”. However, because of lack of promotion, it sank completely with zero exposure. However, with the label not being willing to let such a talented group with much potential go to waste, they suggested an idea of an EP which was then released in Japan.

Freddie learns guitar

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:37:48 UTC

Through his great admiration of Jimi Hendrix, and inspiration from Brian May’s homemade guitar, Freddie decided to try and learn how to play guitar. He started this by going out and buying Teach Yourself manuels. Though Freddie wasn’t exactly the best guitarist out there, this didn’t dissuade him due to the fact that this really wasn’t his objective. His real objective was to simply know enough guitar to be able to play the chords. And though his first attempts were… clunky… he soon learned to take a more abstract approach, and to experiment with universal themes.

Freddie comes to terms with his sexuality

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:38:12 UTC

Ever since Freddie was a child, he’d always had the subconscious notion that he might be gay. However, due to the culture around him, he had never acted on it nor knew he even could. This stuck with him even as an adult, and he was still rather squeamish and uncomfortable at the idea of dating a man, even though it was his true desire. Self conscious of his impression of looking “gay” to other people, he would often time to time revert into his shell.

The naming of Queen

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:38:45 UTC

The name of the band, Queen, came from Freddie Mercury himself. The other option was the Grand Dance which Brian May says “...I don’t think would have been very good…” (78). This name was a bit dicey around this time, where the word “queer” was thrown out at any man who did something deemed even a little feminine, like putting on moisturizer. This was also the time where Freddie adopted Mercury as his last name rather than Bulsara, his original last name

Queen meets John Deacon

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:39:08 UTC

By this time, they decide to recruit John Deacon, who had done band work since the age of 14, and was an electronics graduate. He didn’t speak much, but made up for it by his electric sense of rhythm and restless brain. Furthermore, Roger says “We thought he was great. We were all so used to each other, and we were so over the top, we thought that because he was quite he would fit in with us without too much upheaval. He was a great bass player too- and the fact that he was a wizard with electronics was definitely a deciding factor”(82).

Queen gets their first major exposure

wardama001 — 2024-04-05 21:39:32 UTC

In 1973, Queen’s debut album written by Brian May, was released on July 6th 1973 with the opening single, “Keep Yourself Alive”. Initially, they were rejected by national Radio 1’s playlist compilers five times. However, they had sent their disc to the OGWT’s production department. However, the people neglected to put any type of representation on who had sent the disc, or even who the artist was. It was simply a blank disc. However, due most likely to fate, Appleton decided to try and put it on. Being so impressed by what he heard, he decided to put Keep Yourself Alive on the radio. This encouraged an avalanche of intrigue and enthusiasm from fans, begging to know who this band was.

The tale of Bohemian Rhapsody part I

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 00:06:37 UTC

Bohemian Rhapsody is by far one of the most listened to and well known songs in all of music, let alone rock. The song took hours and hours of tedious work however. The song was 24 tracks and many things had to be trickily and perfectly cued and executed. Then, finally, they had the perfect run through. Everything was going completely and utterly perfectly, until the very end when the lights went out and in walks Jill with a huge cake singing happy birthday to Freddie which forced them to start all over again

The tale of Bohemian Rhapsody part II

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 00:07:02 UTC

At first, many people didn’t really like the track very much, most probably due to them hearing absolutely nothing like it before, and therefore not being used to it. However, David Hamilton was one of the first who heard it, and it completely blew him away with the sheer innovation and novelty. Tommy Vance, one of the biggest names in rock broadcasting described the song as “the rock equivalent of the assassination of JFK”(144). This song then catapulted them into stardom. Being equivalent to Elton John in star status.

Peter Freestone

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 21:54:17 UTC

Freddie met Peter at the Royal Opera House during preparations for his ballet debut. Peter was a young wardrobe assistant and dresser who became Freddie’s personal assistant until the very end of Freddie’s life. Freddie sang “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”, first coming out in leather gear, and then reappearing covered in sequins. Peter said “I remember his very being there was a performance”(180).

Under Pressure

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 21:54:45 UTC

There was a pub on the main street called the White Horse, in which everyone went to, including Queen, and as it just so happens, David Bowie. One night, David had wandered into the pub, had dinner with the band, and then went back with them to the studio. They started just by playing other songs, when David said “This is stupid, why don’t we just write one?” (208) and out birthed Under Pressure. It was a very spontaneous and quick endeavor, but it caused everyone involved to be incredibly overjoyed by the resulting masterpiece

The Embassy

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 21:55:13 UTC

The Embassy was one of the most prominent clubs in London’s gay scene, offering sexually ambiguous fantasy realms, cross dressing, drag queens, divas, you name it. “For gay men, the dance floor was truly a place of liberation” (223) says Jeremy Norman. It was a paradise of sex, which seemed to everyone like a great thing, though this turned out to have horrible repercussions.

A star dims

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 21:55:36 UTC

During this time, America was in the grip of the AIDS epidemic, mostly with young victims. Freddie his entire life was rather… promiscuous… so it unfortunately wasn’t a huge surprise when his health started slipping. It started off with little things, like loss of appetite and mood swings. Everyone wasn’t completely sure that he had AIDS until one night when he found out that one of his early sexual partners had died of the disease. “He knew from that moment that his days were numbered”(230).

Live Aid

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 21:56:11 UTC

The grand show with some of the biggest names in rock history completely deafened by the raw power of Freddie Mercury and Queen. It had 1.5 billion watchers worldwide. “Maybe Bowie was good, but no one else stands out much in the memory. Bono jumps off the stage, so f*cking what. It was Queen’s day, no question”(255).

A star always burns out

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 21:56:45 UTC

Freddie’s final gift was on his 45th birthday, a set of Irish crystal champagne glasses. “That birthday was his quietest ever. I was very sad. He was coming to terms with the fact that his life was running out fast, and of course he wasn’t happy about it” (303). Freddie had given up and had accepted his undeniable death. He stopped taking medication, started to cut people off, and had generally stopped caring about living. On November 23rd, on his deathbed, Freddie made his last ever statement, admitting to the world that he had AIDS. 24 hours later, Peter Freestone made a call to his parents. Their beloved son, Farrokh Bulsara, had passed away.

wardama001 — 2024-04-07 22:08:16 UTC

Jones, Lesley-Ann. Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury. Touchstone, 2012

Aftermath

wardama001 — 2024-04-08 05:33:54 UTC

Freddie's death was very hard for many people, though life did need to go on without him. John resorted to a very quiet life, publicity of him being very rare. Brian now has his second wife, Anita, as well as three adult children and being into the preservation of foxes. Roger married his girlfriend of three years, and had five children. Brian and Roger still have music as their priority to this day. "I feel that Freddie is still here, in some ways, because his music is still here" says Freddie's sister, Kashmira. "He was my brother, but a megastar, too. Simply speaking. I don' know what it was like to have an ordinary brother. That's because my own brother was so extraordinary" (322).