h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Im shocked that theres never been an entery on Queen, but hope the community does the band justice.

Heres what I know off the top of my head.

Bohemien rapsody initially reached something like number 7 in the charts. When it got to number one he video helped it stay there (was the first music video, and a lot of the effects were created on the days. The video itself cost £8k)

It then reached number one on its re-release after Freddies death.

Theres a statue of freddie murcury in Montreuax (i think his home town) in front of a house he was going to buy to live out the rest of his days. The statue is of his famous fist in the air salute from the wembly gig. It looks out onto lake geneva (and I beg the blob people to have this image for the entery, its rather beautiful to say the least).

Nearly every Queen song has become an anthem in its own right, and many have been used in films. Most notibly Highlander (who wants to live forever was the title iirc) and Flash Gordon (guess the name lol). Others have used there songs as soundtracks, and many of my generation know Boheimien rapsody because of Waynes World (where the video is parodied, but i dont need to tell you that), however in more recent years films like Shaun of the dead (cantremember the song) and A knights tale (We are the champions, sung by Queen and Robbie williams)

Between 1973 and 1980, the band made 10 albums - at least one a year, but this dwindled in the 80's.


Thats all I can think of atm.

Shaun of the Dead featured Don't Stop Me Now as a soundtrack to beating up a zombie barkeeper with poo; cues.

I totally agree that the Montreaux statue should be at least considered as a blob for this entry... It's a very iconic and defining image- the same pose is used in the logo for the MErcury- Phoenix trust, set up originally to process and distribute funds rasied by the tribute concert and other related AIDS awareness ventures.

Am I right in my belief that Bohemian Rhapsody is the only song ever to have hit the number one spot twice, 20 years apart? First in 1973 (or 1971... I can't remember...) and second in 1991.

TK[1]

lol, damn my inability to type... that should be /pool/ cues, rather than /poo/ cues. Made me chuckle, at least.

TK[1]

Bohemian Rhapsody at No. 1 in the UK is covered here: F1990068?thread=565376&latest=10

RF

No george harrison also did it after his death I think.

Although I think it knocked something off the top spot second time round like a band aid or a red nose day or something important.


Am currently smelling of fire so meh

Anyone for a game of poo? Sir TB has the cues.

RF

"Am I right in my belief that Bohemian Rhapsody is the only song ever to have hit the number one spot twice"

It was, for many years, the only number one hit to be reissued and return to number one... then George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" did the same thing when it was reissued after his death, and of course one Elvis Presley has just done the same thing twice in two weeks, with reissues of "Jailhouse Rock" and "One Night".

Am I right that Freddy Mercury lived in India until he was 17?

My brother told me he's British, and I suppose he would get a British-English accent growing up in an English speaking part of India, but he just sounds so American to me.

Also, I remember hearing or reading an interview with Freddy Mercury where he says that people ask him what Bohemian Rhapsody's about, and they expect a really great answer but truthfully he doesn't know what it's about himself. Someone told me it was about him giving a guy HIV and the guy dying, and it seems to make sense. Discuss.

And one last question. What's the Freddy Mercury/Rocky Horror connection?

'Also, I remember hearing or reading an interview with Freddy Mercury where he says that people ask him what Bohemian Rhapsody's about, and they expect a really great answer but truthfully he doesn't know what it's about himself'

That's about the only accurate bit from that last post I'm afraid

Bohemian Rhapsody was written about 10 years before anyone had heard of AIDS so that bit about AIDS is your mate talking cobblers.

Freddie Mercury has no connection to the Rocky Horror show at all that I've ever heard of.

He was born in Zanzibar which is an Island off Africa.

First things first... "Freddie", please, not "Freddy".

I have heard rumours that Freddie was one of the people being considered for role of Dr Frank N. Furter (played in the end by Tim Curry), but I wouldn't give any testament as to the accuracy of those rumours.

And I'd just like to add further qualification to the response to the comment about Bo Rhap being about AIDS- Bohemian Rhapsody was released in 1975 (And therefore written some time before this date), whereas AIDS was not publically known until the mid 80's- indeed, even the world's healthcare professionals didn't really catch on until around 1980, and there are hardly any records relating to AIDS/HIV before this time. I think this 'theory' is very much a retrospective one- the song is so ambiguous that it can quite easily be applied and molded to many different situations, similarly to reading your horoscope after an event.

Half the reason why music and song lyrics are so popular is that we can develop personal meaning from them despite the fact that in most cases we've never even met the person who wrote them.

I've seen many different explanations as to what Bohemian Rhapsody means, but the one I like the most is Freddies own admission, after saying he doesn't know himself- he says it's whatever /you/want it to be about.

TK[1]

Thanks, I wasn't claiming accuracy to any of that.


Anyway, the reason I was wondering about the Freddie Mercury/RHPS connection was because of the amount of times he's mentioned in the little "add-on" script people do, but once I tried to google him with Rocky Horror and nothing came up.

Also, I know he was born on Zanzibar, but he grew up in India.

One of the many sources: http://www.freddie.ru/e/bio/