Original drawings by Freddie Mercury. I had no idea he designed the Queen crest (last image, below). The others are fashion drawings and portraits of his hero Jimi Hendrix, Liz Taylor, and Paul McCartney.
Iām old enough to remember LIVE AID. I was a wee kid, but it was a big thing then: and it became an even bigger thing on the day itself. You could feel it growing almost. This was something special. Many big artists had miscalculated the scope of the eventāthe impact of itāand faltered on stage: Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Duran Duran. Queen however, eager as ever, came well-prepared, and they came to kill. It wasĀ a masterclass in show-stealing really. They came, they saw, they conquered, and were crowned.
Itās often said that LIVE AID was a kind of comeback for them. Could be, but their previous record had spawned several big hits, all of which I really liked as a kid. When I hear āRadio Ga Gaā, Iām right back at my old family home in front of the television. I can remember I was taking swimming lessons at the time. I hated them: I hated having to leave my safe and comfortable house, my toys and my drawings, my world, to spend a horrible dark hour in a bleak and impersonal factory hall with splashing alien kids. Eventually I whined so much about it that my mother said I didnāt have to go anymore if I didnāt want to. Victory. I had mastered the art of whining.
Around the same timeĀ I had a glittery sticker with Freddie Mercury on it. The 1980s were the era of stickers and slogans.
After LIVE AID, Queen remained on my radar. I likedĀ āBreakthruā, from THE MIRACLE (1989). A friend had it on CDāthat was actually the first time I saw a Compact Disc. It seemed so shiny and futuristic, like a UFO. I still associate that record with a kind of awe. I had seen the world of tomorrow, even though its sharp reflections had blinded me.
Freddie Mercuryās death, two years later, made an impression you canāt really imagine in this age. Today, when a celebrity dies, you are immediately overwhelmed by other peopleās opinions and tweets and memories and tributes and top tens of greatest moments and quotes, so that your own feelings might get lost in the shuffle a bit sometimes. Youāre washed away by the flood. Back then, you shared the news with some family and friends, but mostly it was just you and your inner reflections, especially when the news dried up.
I can remember my French teacher the morning after: the first thing she did when starting class was saying,Ā āDid you all hear the news about Freddie Mercury? Terrible, isnāt it.ā I always find those last Queen videos hard to see, particularlyĀ āThese Are the Days of Our Livesā. Itās music from the afterlife.
