Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Everybody saw this coming.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Not all heroes wear capes.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

This blog will pay for itself.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Bark louder, little dog.

You are here: Home / Music / And Now For Something Completely Different

And Now For Something Completely Different

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I learned something new today.

I had no idea I could give folks time outs on the ‘tubes!

And that is my only comment on matters amply (that’s a capacious word) discussed below.

Also (too!)  to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kind of lost track myself of the critical milestone we should have been commemorating on this blog whilst both sturm und drang were paying us a visit. (Bonus points for the first to ID the obvious lift in this last sentence.)

That would be that today should have been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday — which I had noted this morning, and then forgotten until being reminded of it by a couple of folks trying to lighten up things around here.

I didn’t love every Queen track, but there are days when I think Freddie was simply the best male rock vocalist ever. YMMV

In any event, another one, taken far too soon — but not forgotten.

So, feel free to recall your favorite Mercury matters in the thread below (or to excoriate my taste in music, which is always fun).  To kick things off, in what is not intended as a metaphor for life around BJ just now, here’s a performance I truly love:

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  3. 3.

    srv

    I was fortunate to see many great artists in my life, but one of my biggest regrets was not ever seeing Freddie.

    And it’s been 21 years and a few days since Stevie went.

    I’m going to go dig some Woodford Reserve out.

  5. 5.

    YellowJournalism

    Both of my sons love to sing along to “Another One Bites the Dust”. They’re under the age of four. We also have family sing-alongs to “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Loves us some Queen.

  6. 6.

    John - A Motley Moose

    Whenever I try to watch a video on BJ I get an error message saying something about EMI Music Publishing and then a link to watch it on youtube. Anyone else ever had that problem in Firefox? I’ve got flashblock installed, but I’ve got bj whitelisted. This is the only place it ever happens.

  7. 7.

    Chad N Freude

    I owe you an apology. In the list of reasons I come to BJ in my uncharacteristically long comment in the thread below, I inadvertently omitted “Tom Levenson’s excellent postings, the sciency things he talks about, and his excellent taste in art.” I beg your forgiveness.

  10. 10.

    srv

    @John – A Motley Moose: I don’t know wtf is wrong with FF, but it won’t play lots of videos at news sites. And this has been months with updates. Youtube OK. Everything else, f’d up. Perhaps some adblocker leftover, but I really have no active plug-ins that I know of.

    I still have to use FF, IE and Opera depending on what site it is.

  12. 12.

    The Dangerman

    I’ll contribute the music video for “Another One Bites The Dust” because:

    1) It seems to fit in the theme of the prior threads;

    and

    2) It is slightly over 100 beats per minute (IIRC, it’s like 102 or 103), making it almost a perfect beat for CPR. Much easier to remember (and a better tempo) than “Staying Alive”.

  14. 14.

    eldorado

    i rarely comment as well, but want to second chad’s thoughts. tom’s posts are always my favorite

  16. 16.

    Gordon, The Big Express Engine

    I saw the Winn Brothers Band (link here) at a wedding in ’09 and they did a cover of Under Pressure that was killer. The lead singer has the same range as Freddie Mercury. Anyway, these guys play private functions almost exclusively it seems, but occassionally play live public shows in the DC area. Best wedding band evah…

  17. 17.

    Spaghetti Lee

    And yes, Holy Moses do I love Queen. The first side of “News of the World” is what you’d find if you distilled rock music to its core.

  19. 19.

    M. Bouffant

    Queen, like Bruuuuuuuce Springsteen, are the Broadway version of rock & roll. That is, they provide the illusion of rock & roll, but are not the real thing.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’ve kind of lost track myself of the critical milestone we should have been commemorating on this blog whilst both sturm und drang were paying us a visit. (Bonus points for the first to ID the obvious lift in this last sentence.)

    Reminds me of a fine New Yorker cartoon from about 50 years ago: guy is pawing through record bins looking at one LP after another. Top album is “Tristan und Isolde.” Sign on bin says “Stereo und Mono.”

  23. 23.

    Lysana

    I’m with the folks who feel you’re one of the brighter lights around here. Even if a certain other front-pager calls me part of ABL’s “PC hallelujah choir.” And yes, that one’s gonna keep me pissed until she does a front-page apology.

  24. 24.

    LT

    When I get a message that says that my comment is in moderation, that’s the timeout that yous guys are talking about isn’t it?

    I’m actually blushing I’m so proud!

  26. 26.

    karl

    Just came home from work and can’t believe no one cited your lift. Dirty Harry. Maybe they don’t care for fascist entertainment. And Queen sucks.

  27. 27.

    LT

    I started coming to this here ramshackle A-frame to see a couple of old cranky individuals talk about stuff, in surprisingly insightful ways! And they had nice dogs, too, and obviously loved them. I liked the combination of abstraction into politicis and down home kindness.

    Then all of of a sudden it was like all their idiot fucking nephews and nieces started traipsing through the living room at all hours of the day and night…

  29. 29.

    JScott

    Live on stage, I would be prepared to argue Mercury was likely the greatest front man of all time. Whatever Brian May and the band could throw out there, which was considerable on its own, would just wind Freddie up more. And then he could draw a near riot right into the most intimate ballad. Freakin’ magic.

  32. 32.

    Anya

    There’s a video of me at the age of five singing the Bohemian Rhapsody with some crazy costume — till I turned 18 years old (when I stole it and hid it) my parents used to play it for every freaking person who visited our house for the first time. That’s why I actually think putting videos of your kids on youtube should be declared as a form of child abuse.

    Tom Levenson, in light of the current craziness at the blog, let me thank you, Dennis G and Kay for not trolling this blog but focusing on substantive discussions or light uncontroversial posts like this one.

  33. 33.

    Paul W.

    I, like many seeking refuge in this thread, am happy to say that I come here for posts like this. Glib, light hearted, and topical.

    I’m happy to see agree with both the tone and content of your post! I think I’ll peek in to one of these other giant threads and see what the hoopla is about.

  34. 34.

    suzanne

    @asiangrrlMN: Hi! I’m glad you’re here. :)

    One time when I was a young teenager, I went to see the AIDS quilt. I must have seen 20 or so Freddie Mercury squares. I assume they were made by fans. I didn’t know much about Freddie at that point, but I remember thinking that he must have been an incredible artist to touch so many people’s lives that deeply. “The Show Must Go On” is very powerful.

    The most beautiful square that I saw, though, was rendered in brightly colored felt, of a picture of an open field, with a path leading to the end of a rainbow in the distance. On the path, the maker had written, very simply, “Wayne walked this way.” It still makes me cry to think about it, and I have a heart of stone.

  35. 35.

    The Dangerman

    Without trying to decipher what is Rock and what is Broadway (hey, it’s Rock; it’s all a show), watching some old Queen shows they stand the test of time. I pity today’s generation and their musical alternatives (i.e., Lady Gaga is going to age worse than 2 buck chuck).

    /ducks out quickly to avoid to flying shoes and similar projectiles

  38. 38.

    suzanne

    Another Queen memory: I remember being 18 and a college freshman and totally fucking stoned out of my mind, and my friends and I wanting to go to the campus movie theater to see a showing of “Wayne’s World”, even though the movie was like 8 years old at that point. We were so wasted that it took half an hour to get there, even though it was only a ten-minute walk max. So the theater was packed, and when we got to the “Bohemian Rhapsody” scene, everyone in the theater was singing along at the top of their lungs. Because I was stoned, it was HILARIOUS. I then fell asleep halfway though. Heh.

    Anyway, some cute.

  39. 39.

    gwangung

    @MattR: Ah, anyone who references Craig Shimabukuro is, at heart, an All Right Guy.

    @LT:

    Then all of of a sudden it was like all their idiot fucking nephews and nieces started traipsing through the living room at all hours of the day and night…

    I’ve felt that way, too, at times…of course, I then thought that I was probably considered one of the idiot nephews….

  44. 44.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Anon:

    That’s cool. Any wingnut screeds in response about Google shoving the Gay Agenda down our Virginal Throats? Because you know, that’s what they should do, because they’re not hated nearly enough-start bitching about one of the most popular rockstars of all time.

  45. 45.

    The Dangerman

    @suzanne:

    …even though the movie was like 8 years old at that point.

    You were around 10 when Wayne’s World came out? I suddenly feel very old (and get the hell off my lawn; damn, disrespectful youth these days).

  46. 46.

    Arundel

    My Mercury Memory: I can’t believe i’m writing this in 2011, it seems unbelievable to me now.. but in 1984 I went on a class trip to Italy. (My parents were far from rich, but we lived in a well-off community. They came up with the few thousand for me to have this opportunity, for which I am forever grateful. I was at a public high school. Hm. )

    Anyway, I was fifteen, and after doing our tourist thing, we’d end up every single night at some Italian disco. Venezia, Firenza, Roma- it didn’t matter, our teachers/chaperones brought us out every night, they’d been drunk since noon! and this gay boy looooved these discos. Tatty tourist places, I didn’t care, they were the height of glamour at the time, amazing pop music from the UK, some Jackson or Madonna, and the native Italo-disco. We could even drink alcohol if we wanted to, and some kids did, I was just loving the music.

    And Queen’s “Radio Ga-Ga” was the absolute Number 1 song in Italy the week we were there. Some of the discos had video screens, with the cool retro scenes from “Metropolis” , and the local crowd went wild. The dancing and chanting the song’s chorus on the dance floor, in Italy, was tremendous fun, like a soccer crowd. And today I can see..well it’s not that good a song- oh god, it was so so fun.

    I was keen on scanning the pop charts then, when I returned home I saw that “Radio Ga-Ga” was like, #75 on the US charts. I guess I sounded like Kurt on Glee when I chirped “This song is #1 in Italy!” as the bored record store owner groaned “Oh, really” as he read his newspaper.

    Anyway, my best memory of Mercury and of Queen. I’ve since appreciated their many other, better songs more, but this one really stuck with me.

  50. 50.

    burnspbesq

    @M. Bouffant:

    Queen, like Bruuuuuuuce Springsteen, are the Broadway version of rock & roll. That is, they provide the illusion of rock & roll, but are not the real thing.

    Aww, Christ, haven’t we already had enough holier-than-thou posturing for one week? Are you the Jade Jordan of rock crit? Or worse, are you Sasha Frere-Jones in disguise?

  52. 52.

    burnspbesq

    Freddie had a spectacular instrument, to be sure. But it takes more than that to be a great singer.

  53. 53.

    fleeting expletive

    Hello, and way OT. What music are you listening to? I just played Dylan’s Don’t think Twice. The lyrics don’t really help him, he sounds like kind of a dick. I thought I loved this song about leaving a relationship, but dayum, he seems to be the dick in the relationship

  55. 55.

    JScott

    I suggest Queen’s first two two albums, eponymous Queen (1973) & Queen II (1974), to anyone who thinks the band wasn't rock. As an oldster, I can testify that few of my friends could hang when I threw those on the table, way too intense. Before I run you kids off my yard, I'll just say there was an age when bands could be something no one had ever heard before. Queen was a change in the weather, and it was a hurricane.

  58. 58.

    scav

    Fascinating watching how many people seem desperate to bring petrol to a firefight around here, especially as it reaches some sort of critical mass and becomes a firestorm and sucks in people with previously unknown nyms from the exterior. They seem to be self-sustaining at this point. Wonder how many days we’ll be hosting the equivalent to an arsonists convention in TX.

  59. 59.

    fleeting expletive

    @ 55, JSScott, I give you a good loud Amen on that. I collected a most amazing and yet distilled collection of vinyl in those years, and had the Advents, the B + O turntable, I forgot what needle I had, way past Shure, and also the Tuner, and I can’t remember that either. Ah, the seventies. Single, no kids, livin’ it up on 1500 a month, as I recall.

  62. 62.

    suzanne

    @Dangerman: Yeah. I was born in the 80s. I think I was 11 or so when it came out?

    @asiangrrl: THX! I’m great, how are you? Mnem mentioned on another thread that you weren’t hanging around these parts anymore, so I’m happily surprised to see you. How’s yer dood?

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    Tom: agreeing with Anya and others re your blogposts. Yours (if on science) are sometimes over my head, but I love that you, Dengre and Kay are here and taking the time to craft posts that reward reading.

    If I ever act up, though, I will take being banned (temporarily) to having to read McMegan. Or Bobo.

    Felt churlish not reading your wonderful post; maybe sometime else.

    The William Blake painting rocked.

  64. 64.

    handy

    @JScott:

    I think rock had a great run right about the time when the Beatles broke through to the late 70s, right up through the burgeoning new wave scene–Talking Heads, Devo, Public Image, those bands.

    To think all that had come up to that point, from Bowie to the Stones, Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols. Even the art rock stuff from ELP, Yes, King Crimson. That’s the stuff.

  67. 67.

    YellowJournalism

    @suzanne: The AIDS quilt came to WSU when I was a junior, if I remember correctly. The minute you walked in to see it, you were surrounded by this heavy, gut-wrenching silence that was broken only by murmurs and sobs. You could feel this crushing weight from all the emotions as you walked through the building. I was afraid to speak the entire time my friend and I were there, and while I don’t remember too many squares specifically, the Freddie Mercury ones stick out in my mind.

    I bought a magnet in support of the quilt, and one of my favorite memories was how my very Born-Again Christian roommate with a naive “love the sin, not the sinner” attitude toward homosexuality looked at that magnet the first time she saw it stuck to our fridge. I was worried she would ask me to take it off, because there was no way in hell that would have happened and our apartment deposit was non-refundable. (I have to add that we were both pretty accepting of each other’s religious and political leanings, and we only got into one argument over freedom of speech pertaining to flag burning the entire year we lived together.)

  71. 71.

    Lockewasright

    We are all so lucky to have ever had a chance to hear his voice. His vocal talent cannot be overstated.

  72. 72.

    fleeting expletive

    I hadn’t known the “stone the builder refused” reference in the opening credits for “Boondocks” Dayum I luv me some Boondocks.

  73. 73.

    JScott

    @Linkmeister

    More a contrast or compare than an argument perhaps. Daltrey nor Plant were as athletic as Mercury – and, while thoroughly charismatic, neither worked the ecstasy of the crowd the way Freddie did. I’d say if I had to that I prefer The Who and Led Zeppelin overall musically, but for insane showmanship I gotta score the extra point to Mercury.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @asiangrrlMN:

    See, now I feel silly for saying we never see you around here anymore.

    And if you feel the urge to investigate the two threads below, just listen to this song until the urge passes.

  75. 75.

    MattR

    @Amir Khalid: You do know that Paul Rodgers fronted Queen for a few years when the rest of the band got back together to go on tour about 10 years ago, right?

    EDIT: from wikipedia

    In late 2004, after a successful live television performance, two of the four members of the British rock group Queen proposed a collaboration with Rodgers, in which he would sing lead vocals on a European tour. Rodgers thus joined Brian May and Roger Taylor (former bassist John Deacon retired in the late 1990s), with the group billed as Queen + Paul Rodgers and they subsequently toured worldwide in 2005 and 2006. The participants clearly stated, including on Brian May’s own website, “that Rodgers would be “featured with” Queen as: “Queen + Paul Rodgers”, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury”.
    __
    …
    __
    On 14 May 2009, Rodgers announced he was ending his five year long collaboration with Queen, although did not rule out the possibility of working with them again.

  76. 76.

    JScott

    @handy

    …Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Spirit, Captain Beefheart, et alia, with some breaks for Firesign Theater. And looking out at the world through the windowpane.

  77. 77.

    sb

    Was out all day today, enjoying the sun before I start at the high school with a new batch of students. Came home and curled up with one of Elmore Leonard’s works and I’ve had worse times, I can tell you.

    So… what did I miss?

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    I never paid that much attention to Queen, save for radio play. My loss.

    Freddie Mercury was unique. Very odd to think he’d qualify for his own Medicare scooter, this very day.

    Tom: thanks for posting.

    I feel churlish for not reading your fine climate change post earlier today.

    McMegan is just not on my diet. Nor Bobo.

  79. 79.

    fleeting expletive

    also, too: CSNY, Joe and the Fish, a little Santana? I confess I have one album of Bread, a lot of Cat Stevens,

    I won’t admit any more.

  80. 80.

    BillinGlendaleCA (aka 10amla)

    @ Tom Levenson

    While I grew very attached to Queen during college, the best voice(pure voice) was Roy Orbison. He was getting new exposure in the late 80’s with the Traveling Wilburys just before he passed away. :(

  81. 81.

    Spaghetti Lee

    In non-dead rock star news, I’m taking a History of American Journalism class now and one of my assigned readings is an article by Michael Barone (strike 1) written for AEI (strike 2) called “The Return of Partisan Journalism”. (Yer outta there!) Of course, I’m appalled, but given what I’ve learned here about Beltway journalism, I think I could report on it without having to actually read the damn thing.

  82. 82.

    fleeting expletive

    Simon and Garfinkle was my college pillow and blanket. Stones were fine for partying and whatnot, but Sounds of Silence carried me for the first year or two. Now, I don’t even know I like Willie Nelson and What is it–Gorgo Bordello? Something like that.

  83. 83.

    fleeting expletive

    In the earlier thread about Labor songs, I can’t believe no one mentioned Gogol Bordello “We comin’ rougher” . It’s an awesome song about immigration and workin’ jobs. I’m proud to know of this group and their songs.

  85. 85.

    Arclite

    Yeah, Queen was pretty fucking awesome, and Freddie’s vocals were the best part of Queen: that range, that control, that emotion.

    I also love listening to Brad Delp, although Freddie was probably technically better. Brad had the benefit of being paired with the outrageously talented Tom Scholz, whose guitar work could blow away anything Brian May could do. Also, the geek in me luvs that Tom built his own guitar effect boxes from scratch.

    Speaking of outrageously talented vocalists: Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden (also backed up by an awesome band). Great range, emotion, and power. He has a tremolo that sounds like it was done on the autotune, but of course, there was no autotune in in 1982. Bruce’s performances are even more amazing when you consider he was self-taught. Speaking of talented, Dickinson placed nationally in fencing in Great Britain, and is also a charter pilot who flies 757s. He has flown some interesting missions, including Brits out of Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and RAF pilots out of Afghanistan.

    Which reminds me, this is a great article in which a classical voice teacher critiques metal vocalists. I love what she has to say about Ozzy.

  88. 88.

    Arclite

    Jesus H. Fucking Christ on a stick, what that hell happened on this blog over the weekend??? I was away camping, and just got back, only to see salvos and return salvos and a peacemaker on the front page…

  89. 89.

    James E. Powell

    @Arclite:

    Tom Scholz, whose guitar work could blow away anything Brian May could do. Also, the geek in me luvs that Tom built his own guitar effect boxes from scratch.

    I cannot recall a time when anyone on the internet was more wrong. Also too, Brian May built his own guitars.

  90. 90.

    James E. Powell

    @bin Lurkin’:

    Steve Marriott of Small Faces/Humble Pie had one of the great voices of rock but never got the real big name success of some other vocalists.

    Steve Marriott is my favorite rock voice, but it’s hard to say ‘greatest’ when there are so many great ones.

    I have to put in a mention of Paul McCartney, whose done so much to embarrass his rock n roll self that many forget, or never knew, how great he was.

  91. 91.

    hamletta

    @James E. Powell: Hear, hear! I was a teenage Queen freak, and I had a fan biography that took 2 or 3 chapters to interview May’s father on the construction of his main guitar.

    It was dull, but I was such a fangirl, I read it all anyway.

  92. 92.

    Yutsano

    @YellowJournalism:

    The AIDS quilt came to WSU when I was a junior

    Not for nothing, but at the time I was one of the assistants of the lady who made that happen (I wanna say 1998 but don’t quote me) and she was very proud that she could get a piece of reality to our little hick town college. Of course she was a lesbyterian having kids before that kind of thing was cool too. She’s all kinds of win.

  94. 94.

    Arclite

    @James E. Powell:

    Wait, wait, WHAT? You are saying that Brian May is a better guitar player that Tom Scholz? That Brian’s sloppy riffs (as good and interesting as they are) can even be compared to the synchronized harmonic perfection that is Boston??? Don’t get me wrong, I love Queen, and I love Brian May’s work, but c’mon, dude. Without Freddie, you don’t even know Brian May’s name. Without Brad Delp, there would still be Tom Scholz and Boston.

    You did get me with an Also, Too. Nice one. Didn’t know that about Brian May.

  96. 96.

    burnspbesq

    Ninety-three comments into a discussion of great rock singing, and every single person mentioned has been male.

    I give you, in no particular order, Janis Joplin, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Lydia Pense, Maggie Bell, Susan Tedeschi, Bonnie Bramlett, Joss Stone, Linda Thompson, Deborah Harry, Alison Moyet, Annie Lenox, Susanna Hoffs, Exene Cervenka, Kathleen Edwards, Lucinda Williams, Grace Slick, Sandy Denny, Sheryl Crow, Sharon Jones, Jackie DeShannon, Dusty Springfield, and I’m sure I’m forgetting many others who are worthy of inclusion.

  97. 97.

    burnspbesq

    Any discussion of great rock singing that doesn’t include a shout-out to Peter Case, Phil Alvin, or Cesar Rosas is seriously deficient.

  98. 98.

    burnspbesq

    And lest we forget, there is still, and always will be, a fat man in the bathtub. With a rocket in his pocket. Looking to skin it back. With his Dixie Chicken. Beneath the Spanish moon.

    So put on your sailin’ shoes and have a teenage nervous breakdown.

  99. 99.

    Arclite

    @burnspbesq:

    Dude, two things:

    1. You’re flirting with a Time Out by infecting a male-vocalist-thread with female vocalists. You’d better watch it, bub.

    2. While all of them are fine vocalists (and there are a couple in there I’m not familiar with) would you say that any (with the probable exception of Janis Joplin and possibly Grace Slick) are the equivalent of Freddie Mercury?

    If so, who and why? If not, I am really interested in people’s opinions of who the female Freddie is. JJ is the closest I can think of. Perhaps a 70’s era Ann Wilson?

  100. 100.

    Arclite

    @burnspbesq: True, True. Little Feat was no little feat. Even Lowell George’s solo stuff is fantastic. Such a waste that he left us when there was so much more he could have written and played.

    However, he was a great musician and songwriter, not necessarily a great rock vocalist. A bit apples to oranges, I’d say.

  102. 102.

    James E. Powell

    @burnspbesq:

    With respect, the original post spoke of Freddie Mercury as the best male rock vocalist ever.

    And while nearly every singer on your list is good or pretty good, only a few would be considered great rock vocalists.

    And how to miss Pat Benatar?

  103. 103.

    drunken hausfrau

    Wow. I come here everyday… but, being in London, it tends to be early in the am BJ time. So… I missed all the kerfuffle yesterday! You people are all in need of a large drink, a nice massage, and a good screw. So much anger… directed at the wrong quarters. Work on GOTV and flipping Congress.

    Listen to more Queen… but definitely have a drink or two, and that slow comfortable screw. Seriously. You all are going to have group aneurisms if you go on like yesterday! Then where would I go for my grade A snark, pets, food pron?

  105. 105.

    James E. Powell

    @Arclite:

    Wait, wait, WHAT? You are saying that Brian May is a better guitar player that Tom Scholz?

    Well, yeah, I think May is better than Tom Scholz, but don’t see the point of arguing such a subjective thing. Neither one is a top ten of all time player, so why bother?

    What prompted me to respond to you was your claim that “Tom Scholz, whose guitar work could blow away anything Brian May could do.” That’s just silly.

  106. 106.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @James E. Powell: Well, I have no idea why this Queen shit is so popular anyway? Awful fucking bubble gum music if you ask me (which you didn’t). Give me some Quicksilver.

  109. 109.

    burnspbesq

    @Arclite:

    I am not a Queen fan. That said, giving credit where it is due, I allowed as how Freddie had a great instrument. By that criterion, no one in the history of rock music, either gender, is on the same level as Linda Ronstadt. Name a single male rock singer who could have credibly done Gilbert & Sullivani at a high professional level. Linda has the best pipes, and no one else is close (well, maybe Aaron Neville, but that’s a whole other conversation).

  111. 111.

    cleek

    @burnspbesq:
    i saw Sebastian Bach (formerly of Skid Row) do “Jeckyll and Hyde”. he was surprisingly good. that guy can sing, and man can he wail when he wants to.

    no, he’s no Ronstadt. but he was pretty good.

  112. 112.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    I guess it depends on your definition of rock and roll. James Brown was the greatest I EVER saw live, and I’ve seen most of the great ones–Mercury included. Oh, and Sam Moore of Sam & Dave also, too.

  114. 114.

    Hal

    Also not a Queen fan, but I do recognize the talent and what they brought to the music world. Plus, there’s a version of Under Pressure with David Bowie and Annie Lennox I think is great.

    Also, very, very disappointed in some of the threads below. One, I always thought only knee jerk reactionary conservatives called people PC to hide behind their racism, sexism, homophobia; kind of like saying “I was just joking you damned feminazi!” But also because I always thought of this place as somewhere where divergent ideas could be aired in a relatively respectable fashion.

    Yes, there are trolls, yes, some people seem to live to do nothing but insult everyone else, and yes, in my admittedly somewhat biased opinion, much of the counter points to anything defending any aspect of Obama seem to start and end with OBOT! OBOT!, I still think this is the best place for politics on the internet. At least the best casual place for politics, and that’s what I love. Hopefully that doesn’t change, but as the election draws closer, somehow I don’t have much optimism of a kinder, gentler BJ prevailing.

  115. 115.

    Ash Can

    @burnspbesq: I’m not a huge fan of Linda Ronstadt’s voice in her earlier pop stuff — there’s something about her higher registers that kind of hurts my ears — but that pales in comparison to my enormous respect for her as a musician. I just love how she’s taken on all the genres she has, and has been utterly serious about each one and worked hard at doing them well (which she does). She clearly loves music — really loves it — and is neither afraid nor dismissive of the demands it places on the artist.

  116. 116.

    Alex S.

    I wouldnt call Freddie the best frontman of all, but he was in the small group of people who may lay claim to this title, along with Robert Plant, Michael Jackson and a few others. I wish he had confessed to his illness a little sooner than the day before his death. He could have raised the awareness.
    Anyway, he was among the few artists to survive the 70’s and to live through the 80’s as a megastar. Counterculture died in 1980/81 with the Reagan/Thatcher spirit and all the old soul/funk/prog-rock/fusion stars either waned or transformed into boring commercial acts (Bowie, Jackson, Genesis, and Dylan went evangelical). It also happened to Queen to some extent, but they continued to be outrageous and subversive even if it hurt them in America (I want to break free). Queen’s hymns still remain popular among younger people, some of them are rather simple, of course (the hymns, not the people), whereas other musical giants are doomed to be a one/two-generation phenomenon (especially the singer/songwriters like Dylan or Mitchell). So in Queen’s work and especially Mercury’s persona there is a path to the time when difference and extravagance were cherished and actually beneficial to an artistic career (just as an example, in 1972 Bowie could pretend to be gay to boost his sales, but after 1980 any young, upcoming star would have dreaded such a revelation). When I read comments on Queen videos on youtube, I get the impression that Freddie’s skill and status makes people overcome their prejudices. He was simply too good to be ignored.

  120. 120.

    Mino

    @Linkmeister: Robert Plant voter, here. Though I had a Dutch rabbit who would attack her cage when I played LedZep. Everybody is a critic, it seems.

    Annie Lennox for female.

  122. 122.

    Ash Can

    @Mino: A beautiful song that I’d have preferred to hear someone else sing. But she did it with real feeling, and hit every note, so I enjoy her version of it despite what to me is a slightly harsh edge to her voice.

    ETA: I should also note that she’s softened that harsh edge in her voice over the years, so I bet I’d enjoy a Blue Bayou sung by her now even more.

  126. 126.

    Quarks

    It never fails. I say, ok, I’ll read a good book instead of catching up on comment threads on Balloon Juice one evening, and all hell breaks loose.

    Allow me to take a moment to savor this ridiculous, meretricious feeling of power.

  128. 128.

    Samara Morgan

    sooooo

    would you have timed me out when i deconstructed freddies last post that you thought was so fab?
    if you had known you could?

  129. 129.

    burnspbesq

    @Ash Can:

    “there’s something about her higher registers that kind of hurts my ears”

    That’s a fair criticism. She did have a tendency to belt when a little subtlety would have been a better choice (compare her version of “Lose Again” to Karla Bonoff’s for a good example of this). But when she resisted the temptation, as on “Ooh Baby Baby” and “Don’t Know Much,” the results were very special.

  130. 130.

    Mino

    And there is a difference between appreciation of a voice and the material they sing. By that criterion, Queen, over all, would be higher than LedZep and Bonnie Raitt would edge out Annie Lennox.

  131. 131.

    JCT

    Tons of great vocalists on this thread — I wasn’t a major Queen fan during their heyday, but you couldn’t miss the quality of Freddie’s instrument or the way he interacted with large audiences — pretty singular.

    One of the *only* music “arguments” that I won with my eldest was over Freddy. I mentioned over dinner that I thought he had one of the greatest voices in rock and she immediately started giving me crap over Queen. She’s a trained vocalist with perfect pitch (and I, of course, am tone deaf) — so I challenged her to at least argue from an informed position. To her credit, she hit iTunes and came back and agreed. I should have bought a lottery ticket that day.

    And I was an avid concert-goer from 1977 -1986, but never heard Freddy live. Mistake.

  134. 134.

    RosiesDad

    @James E. Powell:

    I cannot recall a time when anyone on the internet was more wrong. Also too, Brian May built his own guitars.

    Also too, although Tom Scholtz has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, Brian May has a Ph.D. in astrophysics and currently serves as the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

  137. 137.

    burnspbesq

    @Mnemosyne:

    Impressive, but not extraordinary. Any reasonably trained musician can sight-read just about anything. Understudies step into lead roles several times a year at every major opera company; I think it’s a rule of the divas’ guild that every diva must be mysteriously “indisposed” from time to time.

  139. 139.

    JG

    haven’t read all 137+ comments above and have to leave to go play tavern-trivia in a minute, so not sure if this has been mentioned — but for the type of hard rock and roll and for few years we had him, BON SCOTT of AC/DC has no equal.

    Shot Down in Flames!

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