melisa-may-taylor72: -THE HISTORY OF ROCK -1975 (Part 2) “We’re rock’n’rolle

melisa-may-taylor72: -THE HISTORY OF ROCK -1975 (Part 2) “We’re rock’n’rollers at heart” QUEEN work on a new album, featuring a song called “Bohemian Rhapsody” But has worldwide success gone to Freddie Mercury’s head?‘ “I’m thinking of being carried on stage by Nubian slaves,” he says. -MELODY MAKER MAY 24- THE TOKYO FANS roared as Queen swaggered across the stage ’midst flashing lights, smoke and dry ice. It was a curious cry, but roughly translated into English it meant “Get your knickers off’, and such debasement of the language was a direct result of coaching from one Freddie Mercury and his trusty intetpreter. Freddie was inspired to introduce his japanese fans to the art of coarse shouting when he attended a stripclub one night duringQueen’s recent highly successful tour of the land of the rising steel production. To his surprise, the buxom Japanese wenches were shedding kimonos to the swelling rhythms of “Killer Queen”, the hit song that has sent hearts pulsing throughout decadent western-style society. ‘We were shouting, ‘Get ’em off,’ and our interpreter asked what it meant. When we explained they fell about laughing, and translated into Japanese. Soon Queen »…[ ] …[ ] audiences found themselves encouraged to shout not only “Yeah, yeah” and expressions to the effect that they felt “all right”, but such diverse variations as “Shag out!“ Freddie chuckled at the memory as he sipped tea from a ceremonial bowl. He was clad in adazzling kimono, and sat cross- legged on the floor of his abode, decorated wit h Samurai swords and hand-made parasols, just down the road from Shepherd’s Bush. Rather like the Victorian explorers, he had brought home the lifestyle and artefacts of a foreign culture, and seemed anxious not to lose the magic of a country that had obviously made a considerable impression. “I loved it there, the lifestyle, the art… I’d go back tomorrow if I could,” insisted Freddie, shooing his catsTom and Jerry off a Led Zeppelin album that had been carelessly exposed. How has it been these last few months? Freddie seemed just slightly enervated, not quite the garrulous showman I first met on a dark night in Liverpool, on their British tour last autumn. “It’s been… fun. When we finished the English tour we went to Europe. We came back at Christmas and then we went to America, which was quite a bash. Two months. That’s when I came a cropper. I had voice trouble, these horrible nodules began to form on my vocal cords. "I went to see specialists in England and America, and they were talking about an operation, but fortunately they seem to have gone down now and it won’t be necessary. Thank God. In America they were talking about giving me laser-beam treatment. They just singe them off, but they still don’t know about the after-effects, which couId be dangerous. “I had experienced trouble before, and always thought it was just a sore throat. But in America it really started hurting, especially after we did six shows in four nights.A specialist told me I’d have to stop singing or I’d have no voice left at alI. And that really frightened me. So we had to cancel quite a lot of shows. We seem dogged by bad luck.” Freddie worked out that he had done some 80 shows in the past few months. Hadn’t this led to any protests’ twixt group and management? Freddie smiled his saturnine smile, and waved a gracious hand: “Well, there’s been the usual, ‘Are you trying to kill me?’, and we protested of course, but it didn’t really kill me, and we had a week’s holiday in Hawaii. And you have to gauge the work against the success we’ve been having. In Japan we’re quite a hit [Freddie has a way with understatement]. It started the moment we got there-riots at the airport, bodyguards, just like the old Beatle days. “The organisation was spellbinding, and we loved every minute of it. Yes we needed protection. You couIdn’t go down into the lobby of the hotel, it would be infested, but really nice people, waiting for autographs. “And I couldn’t believe the crowds at the concerts, all milling about, swaying and smiling. I learnt a few Japanese phrases. It took a lot of practice, but the fans couldn’t believe it. I used to eavesdrop and pick a few things up. You have to make it very fast and snappy.” Freddie broke off to issue a few fast, snappy instructions to his lady, in Japanese. I think he was asking her for some more tea and strawberries. How long had th is been going on in Japan? “Well, Queen II was the L.P of the year, and since then it just built up. We were given so many beautiful presents, dolls, lanterns, and they’re so into rock music. They’ve got some very good groups of their own. They start out by copying ours, and after a while they start to get better. We had a Japanese road crew, and they picked up the routine in two days.“ How did Queen see their position during this breathing space between bursts of activity? “We’re in the process of seeing how much money we’ve got. I’ve been living in this flat for three years and I’d like to buy a house, but I’d still like to Iive i n London. This place holds a lot of memories. All the songs for the first albums were written on that piano.” A ghostly note struck as he spoke. Thomas the Cat had leapt on the keys and was knocking out an interesting improvisation. “Yes, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack were bashed out on that. This is kind of stock-taking, and this is the worst possible time for me. Where do we go from here? As far as tours are concerned, we’re going to start the album, do another American tour, finish the album and then do a British tour. Japan again next year, but I’d go sooner. “By the way,” (and here Freddie’s thoughts again turned away from the next L.P despite my holding up a large placard with ‘What’s the next LP like?’ slashed across it in red paint), “when we were in Japan we went to a tea ceremony, I ike the one the Queen went to (THE Queen). And you noticed how she pulled a face after two sips? WelI, it’s a thick green liquid, and it’s bitter as hell! You’re supposed to finish it in three sips. “We went to a reception. All the top Japanese businessmen were there, and the British Ambassador, and his wife. She told us: ‘We went to see Led Zeppelin, but he was so loud!” Very interesting, I rejoined, snatching up a Samurai sword and preparing to disembowel the singer, but what about the next LP? “So much has happened to us, all at the same time, and we are very fussy and particular about everything we do. We’ve been very successful worldwide, and that’s one thing I never did foresee, our success outside Britain. There has been pressure on us and we’ll have to stand up to it. We argue after every gig and there are rows in the dressing room. That’s because we’re temperamental and things go flying. “I get frustrated and row with my manager, and so many times he’s threatened to leave. No, I don’t cover it up, or hide anything. I used to seal it up and then explode all over the place. But success has made us see the Iight at the end of the tunnel. It was more frustrating in the early days, when the press were not very favourable towards us. I got very depressed as far as Britain was concerned. “And then came a time when I hought we were over-exposed in alI the papers. I was talking to…[ ] Robert Plant about this in New Orleans. We get an older audience in the States; it’s rock as opposed to pop. We get a lot of listeners. And in LA where we were told they were aII laid- back and stoned audiences, they were all rock’n'rollers. We had to cancel a lot of prestigious gigs because I was ill, but when we go back, we’lI be playing even bigger places.“ What made Queen so attractive to world audiences? “I believe it’s the music and not gimmicks. Yes, it’s our music actually.” Freddie said it with just a glint of steel in his casual glance up from the ceremonial teapot. “I just feel the music has something sufficiently different about it, some originality and versatility. Our record company in America weren’t billing us as the Next Big Thing. They just said, ‘Have a listen to this; this is British rock in the raw tradition’, not the newest rage. They also said our stage act was very good. “We do ’Killer Queen’, but only as part of a medley, and that’s because it is only one face to what we do, and to be honest, it’s very hard to recreate those harmonies. We have been thinking of revamping the show to provide two climaxes- I’m giving away my secrets. I was thinking of having the first part in all black and the second in white. We’ve learnt a lot doing a two-hour show. You have to pace it out, or you get whacked.” Did Freddie still maintain his onstage aggression and ferocity? “I feel aggressive during aggressive numbers, and subdued in subdued numbers. We’re rock’n’rollers at heart. We don’t want a lot of props on stage. We do a lot of dry ice and throw the odd flower. By the way, we don’t use steam. Was it your man in New York who said we used steam? I had visions of us all boiling kettles backstage.” You’d alI be scalded to death! I chuckled. “Gosh yes,” said Freddie without enthusiasm. “We’re learning all the time, and we’re all getting our show more polished. Many’s the time I’ve dashed offstage for a costume change and heard Brian finish his guitar solo abruptly, while I’m still putting my trousers on.  I have to rush on stage half-undressed. I’ve been caught quite a few times like that. All good fun, though.’ British fans will experience this spectacle once again next November, but meantime there is wild talk of Queen playing Empire Pool, Wembley, maybe at the end of August. “I’m wondering whether to wait and do the new LP first.” Ah yes, now about that album… ” We have been a long time away. The States and Britain want a single, y'know, and we won’t pull another one off an album. But we never go into a studio just to record a single. It always comes from a batch of songs. I always get depressed when it all stops for us. Then you have to will yourself back into the pace. “Yes, I’ve been depressed and upset lately. Suddenly you’re back home from a tour, and you have to make your own cup of tea again. And I’m used to being pampered and cossetted.. Re the LP recording scheduled to follow up Sheer Heart Attack… “Did I ever telI you about the time a girl pushed a dog into my arms while I was singing on stage in Toledo? ” Well, it was time to go, Freddie, thanks for everything,. “By the way, just one thing…” Yes, yes? "You must come down and hear us record the next album.” Chris Welch » THE HISTORY OF ROCK, 1975 ➡NEXT: PART 3  ⬅PREVIOUS: PART 1  https://melisa-may-taylor72.tumblr.com/post/685172080242720768/the-history-of-rock-1975-part-1-the-next Keep reading -- source link

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