Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury made history as both a musician
and member of the LGBTQ plus community.
While many look back on the artist as an inspiration,
given his intense and high profile lifestyle, it's only naturally
many few enemies.
It's perhaps no surprise that Sid Vicious, the basis for
the notorious British punk band the Sex Pistols, wouldn't be
the biggest fan of Freddie Mercury or Queen.
Whereas the stadium rock queen hinged on theatrics and grand
gestures for their performances, funk focused on rawness and authenticity
and what was in many ways a reaction to how
arguably bloated rock music had become by the mid 1970s.
In addition to the fundamental ideological differences of their respective
genres, however, it appears that Vicious had a deep seated
personal dislike for Mercury.
In November 1977, Vicious gave an interview with BBC Radio
One in which he discussed an encounter he had with
the Queen singer.
He described how utterly unattractive he found the vocalist before
making fun of him for his voice and interest in
ballet.
He waffles away about who the ballet is falling good
this season.
He's absolutely awful.
I've never met anyone like him.
However, there was reportedly more to the meeting between the
two men than Vicious publicly admitted.
In 1977, both bands were recording separately at Wessex Sound
Studios when Vicious entered Queen's recording area.
Vicious sarcastically questioned Mercury about his love of ballet.
I'm passionate he was open about.
In interviews, Mercury then dubbed Vicious Simon Ferocious, prompting a
confrontation between the pair.
It climaxed with Mercury grabbing Vicious by the lapels and
throwing him out of the room, along with any chance
of a kinship between the artists.
Regardless of individual musical taste, it has taken his fact
that Freddie Mercury belongs at the top table of rock
front men as a performer whose immense charisma and stage
presence electrified their most memorable performances.
However, not everyone was impressed by Mercury's stage abilities.
In fact, even at his most popular, some of America's
most respected music critics were ambivalent to his performances.
The legendary journalist Lester Banks, for example, described Queen's 1977
performances at Madison Square Garden as Fantasia for dodos and
14 year olds in the Village Voice, while John Swenson
described Queen as the most pretentious metal band extant in
the same magazine.
Even worse criticism came from Bang's protege Dave Marsh, who
in 1979 penned a column for Rolling Stone in which
he made his hatred for Mercury and Queen plain.
Reviewing the band's latest studio album, Jazz, Marsh derided it
as a dull pastiche that highlighted Mercury's throat scratching vocals
and complained that through the penning of songs like We
Will Rock You, Queen's legacy may not just be innovative
performances, he wrote, Queen may be the first truly fascist
rock band.
The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge
these creeps and they're polluting ideas.
An early version of the progressive arena rock band Kansas
was formed in 1970, the same year Queen first came
together in London.
Though Kansas would go on to enjoy huge commercial success
later in the 1970s and for years thereafter, their emergence
was slow, only breaking into the mainstream in the mid
70s with a number of albums already under the belt.
Before that, they established themselves as a live act with
frequent support slots and featured on the same bill as
Queen numerous times.
In a 2003 interview with Get Ready to Rock, KS
vocalist Steve Walsh opened up about his memories of those
early days and what it was like mixing with some
of the biggest acts of the day.
While still laboring in relative obscurity.
He described the experience as generally positive, highlighting that many
of the bands they opened for, including Queen, were very
friendly.
However, he reserved some scorn for Freddie Mercury, saying he
was a prima Donna diva.
If you will, that's about having an ego.
Bigger than you are talented, bigger than you deserve.
The British Capital radio DJ Kenny Everett played an instrumental
role in making Queen one of the biggest rock acts
of all time.
Thanks to his full throated backing of Bohemian Rhapsody, they're
now considered a progressive rock classic, which remains a popular
radio song.
Queen's record label was anxious about the track's runtime.
In almost 6 minutes, Bohemian Rhapsody seemed unplayable for many
commercial radio stations, who delayed its release while they considered
other options.
It goes on forever.
6 bloody minutes.
Pity your wife if you think 6 minutes is forever.
However, the band themselves leaped the track to Everett, who
teased portions of the song to listeners before famously playing
it 14 * / 2 days, building excitement for its
eventual release.
Everett's and Freddie Mercury were also close friends for many
years and spent a great deal of time together enjoying
London's virgin and gay scene in nightlife.
However, in 1986, Mercury was the victim of a series
of exposes in the British tabloid newspapers that cast light
on his sexuality and cocaine use.
Shortly after, he and Everett, who was also a cocaine
user, had an argument over the drug and the pair
fell out.
As Mercury's former lover Jim Hutton recalled.
And Freddie Mercury that offended in biography.
They never made-up.
If we'd see him out and about around the gay
clubs, they never spoke.
All those newspaper stories about Kenny being at Freddie's bedside
were fabricated.
Another British musician who's made no secret of his dislike
of Freddie Mercury is Robert Smith, lead singer and songwriter
of the veteran British goth rock and post punk band
The Cure.
Smith is famously truculent in interviews and is happy to
attack elements of culture that he just doesn't vibe with.
In 2004, Smith's band was going through an upturn in
interest thanks to a new generation of indie bands emerging
from the UK who cited The Cure's 1980s and 1990s
work as their inspiration.
In response, veterans took several of them on the road
and released a new self-titled album.
At the same time The Cure was inspiring a new
generation, a new wave of Hard Rock bands like The
Darkness were plying their trade with Queen inspired theatrics and
charting in the UK.
Much dismissed dismay when asked by Rolling Stone what he
thought of The Darkness, Smith responded.
Well, I never liked Queen.
I can honestly say I hated Queen and everything that
they did.
To have that rehashed and reheated for a second time
around, it's pretty weird.
So no, I don't like The Darkness at all.
I think they're a comedy band.