THEIR performance in Live Aid on Wembley in 1985 is one for the ages. Seeing over 80,000 people clapping, stomping and chanting “We Will Rock You”, having them hypnotized with a raised fist pump, gyrating hips and air guitar swing, that’s Freddie Mercury and his band Queen.
But what I am watching is the actual concert on YouTube, which is getting lots of views following the hit biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
I haven’t watched the movie, but I think I’m going to pass. I love movies and music. Queen has been part of my playlist in rock and roll. My first memory of Queen was seeing their MTV We are the Champions where Mercury struts in his harlequin suit. Everyone loves to sing Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga-Ga, We are the Champions, and We Will Rock You. My favorite is Under Pressure. That voice of Mercury is other-worldly. His stage performance flamboyant.
I’m not a fan of biopics. It’s no problem if you readers would want to watch it, with all the raves this movie is getting. You get a chance to know the band, its rise, and the life of Mercury. Actor Rami Malek is getting praise for looking like iconic Mercury on film.
But reviews have come out saying the movie is soft, it tweaks some facts and misses the internal conflicts of Mercury. This great singer kept his homosexuality, and his contracting of HIV a secret. The movie showed Mercury revealed his having HIV to his bandmates before their Live Aid show. But in truth, he discovered his ailment around 1987 or 1988. His bandmates bonded more to support him and guarded his condition from the public up to his death.
I imagine if the movie could have explored those themes. There are still a lot of misconceptions about gayness and HIV, especially in these times where HIV is rising here in the country.
To really get to know Mercury and his band, Queen, I suggest we go to documentaries. You get to see actual footages of concerts, music videos, behind the scenes of recording sessions and life on the road, how their songs were made. To hear the oral history told from the point of view of band members, producers and music scribes gives one a more intimate feel. Such documentaries, like The Montage of Heck on Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, or David Bowie’s Last Five Years draws you more on the lives and struggles of rock stars and make you see that they too are human, yet their music is immortal.
That’s also what we see in Freddie Mercury, an artist who lived and revealed everything on stage. He rocks it and his songs made us embrace a lot of things.
“Those days are all gone now but one thing's still true
When I look and I find, I still love you
I still love you” – These are the Days of Our Lives, Queen