The steaming alarm clock you see at the beginning is a Teasmade. It makes Tea or Coffee in time for you to wake up. They were all the rage in the UK in the late 70`s/ 80`s.
Queen wasn't afraid to experiment with their music by crossing genres. This is probably why they're still so popular. Thank you for appreciating this band and their uniqueness. Please react to It's Late and Cool Cat. It's Late is such an amazing under-rated Queen song. Cool Cat is just so funky and fun. Here are some facts about I Want to Break Free. The video spoofs the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, as proposed by Roger Taylor: "We had done some really serious, epic videos in the past, and we just thought we'd have some fun. We wanted people to know that we didn't take ourselves too seriously, that we could still laugh at ourselves. I think we proved that." The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in women's clothes, a concept proposed by Roger Taylor, which parodied and was an homage to the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The single was certified platinum in the UK. MTV banned the video and some other US stations' minimal airing of the video played a role in the low US ranking. The video was included in 1991 on VH1's My Generation two-part episode devoted to Queen hosted by guitarist Brian May. According to May in an interview about Queen's Greatest Hits, whereas the video was understood and taken as a joke in the UK, the US audience failed to see the soap-opera connection and might have interpreted the video as an open declaration of transvestism and Mercury's bisexuality. According to Roger Taylor, MTV "was a very narrow-minded station then. It just seemed to be all fucking Whitesnake." In Canada, the video was in regular rotation on MuchMusic, Canada's answer to MTV. The video depicts Mercury as a housewife, loosely based on Bet Lynch, who wants to "break free" from his life. Although Lynch was a blonde, Mercury thought he would look too silly as a blonde and chose a dark wig. He wears a black wig, pink earrings, pink blouse with a sizeable false breast under it, black leather miniskirt, knee-high and heeled shoes. During the trials Mercury realized that he couldn't walk freely in high-heeled shoes and settled on 2-inch ones. May plays another, more relaxed housewife based on Hilda Ogden. Deacon appears as a conservative "grandma", while Taylor plays a schoolgirl, who like Mercury wants a different life. The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy, it was considered controversial in the United States. The composition was choreographed by Wayne Eagling, a friend of Freddie Mercury who had helped him with the choreography of the "Bohemian Rhapsody". Eagling was then a leader of the Royal Ballet which was involved in the video (one of the dancers was Jeremy Sheffield). Mercury shaved his mustache to portray Vaslav Nijinsky as a faun in the ballet L'après-midi d'un faune. The shooting took much practice, especially the conveyor rolling part. According to Eagling, despite being a natural performer on stage, Freddie Mercury could not stand performing any choreographed act himself, which is why he was mostly picked up and moved around in the ballet part of the video. The rehearsals with the Royal Ballet were organized by Eagling secretly from his superiors, something that placed him in serious trouble when discovered later. The "I Want To Break Free" music video was directed by David Mallet. It was shot on 22 March and 4 May 1984 at Limehouse Studios and cost about £100,000.
Cross-dressing for the video was Roger and/or Roger’s girlfriend’s idea... the “roles” were a spoof of a long-running British soap opera called “Coronation Street”. Unfortunately, MTV kowtowed to the Outrage™️ of a small but very vocal subset of humorless religious types, and banned the video. After that, their presence on tour in America came to an end, because Freddie refused to perform here any more in his lifetime. (Of course, the legendary legacy of Queen continues-and MTV has become the home of crappy “reality” shows and other assorted garbage. Freddie and Queen get the last laugh! )
Some other trivia: Freddie refused to shave his mustache and everyone thought that just added to the parody. The song always was embraced by a few South American countries who saw it as an anthem against political oppression; but they hadn’t seen this video, so when Freddie first performed the song in drag, there was a strong outcry against it since it seemed that he was trashing their “political” statement.
🙋🏾Mercurial Toys 💁🏾 I’ve said that b4...She should do something original and just go for their back catalogs from LP one on. I also suggested she’d do a 2 for 1 when it comes to some songs that were recorded and performed differently live such as “Love of My Life”, “You Take My Breath Away”, etc.
The premise was a take off of the huge British series called Coronation street and also broaches the women's movement. The idea was John Deacon's, the dressing in drag was drummer's Roger Taylor's idea, the center part was a reference to his performance to perform and sing with the Royal Ballet for a charity event. All of this was unacceptable to the old powers that be with MTV and was blocked, so most in the US never knew it was such a huge hit in Britian and Europe where they enjoy the humor and talent.
I love Queen, always have. Freddie was the best frontman ever, I always thought he was just flamboyant 😂 it doesn’t matter to me his sexuality, he’s a musical genius. I thought the same thing, the drummer, Roger made a good looking woman 😂😂😂
A few of my favourite Queen songs - White Queen live at Hammersmith Odeon 1975, Somebody To Love live at Montreal 1981, Love Of My Life live at Wembley 1986, Seaside Rendezvous, My Melancholy Blues, Death On Two Legs, The Miracle, The Show Must Go On, Save Me live at Montreal 1981, One Vision live at Wembley 1986. I could list soooooo many more, but that will do for now. Also, check out Queen's 20 minute set for the charity concert Live Aid in 1985. Voted best live rock performance, Freddie (despite having a throat infection) has the crowd eating out of his hand.
This song was written by bass-player - John Deacon (who also wrote several of their biggest hits - including you're my best friend, and another bites the dust) - at the time of the video, the press all said it was Freddie's gay life that had them doing "drag" - and it was about his "gayness" -- but in fact, what nobody in U.S. recognized was that they band were playing characters from a very popular Brit soap opera called "Coronation Street" -- it was the drummer, Roger, who had the idea (and made a very cute girl, BTW)... "The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in drag, a concept proposed by Roger Taylor, which parodied the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy,it was considered controversial in the United States..." - so, there you go -- not as obvious as was thought...
There's more. John was dressed as the Grandma from Giles's newspaper cartoon family, complete with fox fur stole. The character also inspired the Monty Python team to do "Hell's Grannies". The ballet sequence was performed to a choreography for "Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune " by Claude Debussy. Quite an aesthete, our Fred! This video was made in 1984, the year of the miners' strike which effectively put an end to Britain's coal industry. Politicians and union leaders fought it out, while miners' pickets and demos were brutally put down by police. "I want to break free from your lies, you're so self-satisfied" sung amid a mass of guys in miners' helmets - a coincidence? Hmmm... The sequence is also reminiscent of the oppressed workers in "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang.
@@danlefou Thanks so much for all of this fascinating info! makes me wonder a bit about you - how you are so knowledgeable & well-spoken -- where you are? share if you like... (if you care to know, I'm an old lady in semi-rural Wisconsin -- but when I was young & cute, I used to "make the scene" lol)
@@GinMae Hi. I'm a retired aircraft museum curator living in North Wales, UK. I've just always been interested in a wide range of things. Studied French and German at Birmingham University, 1967-72. I don't just love music from that period, but the 60s to mid-80s were undoubtedly the best IMHO. I don't think I was ever cute, though... :-) Thanks for the kind words.
@@danlefou Oh, c'mon - I'm SURE you were cute - lol -- it's fun to know something about other commenters -- I appreciate your reply -- I was born in '60 - so most of my music experience was US "top forties" radio in the early to late seventies... It was only when I discovered Queen in 1976-77 or so that I began to understand that there was more out there... in the late 70's-early 80's I began to be interested in more genres than the typical US-midwest taste - which ran to "classic rock-heavy metal" -- I loved the Police, then Clash, REM, etc... still do...
The ballet scenes were inspired by the work of the divine Michael Bennett, an enormously talented dancer and choreographer who, like Freddie, we tragically lost in the early days of the AIDS epidemic 😢
Freddie was born in Zanzibar, just north of the Indian Ocean. His name at birth was Farrokh Bulsara. His family moved to London when he was a kid. He changed to Freddie Mercury in 1970.
Radio Gaga is one of my fav's of theirs. If you watch the live aid version it shows how Freddie could control a crowd. I saw them in '78, they were so amazing, no one else sounded like them!
Back then this video was banned from MTV and many stations in the US because they didn't like the drag thing. MTV also banned the video of the lead single "Body Language" from their previous album (the video to was "too sexy" and Freddie dancing with black girls in that video wasn't appreciated either), which pretty much killed Queen's popularity in the US in the early 80s. (They were still more popular than ever in the rest of the world.)
This is the Queen music video that MTV refused to air back in the day when MTV played music videos. It's also what killed the Queen phenomenon in the US.
I always thought, in the ballet instrumental section, where Freddie is laid out like an Egyptian mummy being passed over the top of swaying dancers; I can't help but think that must be symbolic of the body of the dead passing across the river Styx to the next world. As the swaying of the arms of the dancers clearly seems to be resembling waves of water, and Freddie is laid out in that way.
That instrument was definitely a Synth, most likely a mini moog playing some form of a sawtooth wave and sync lead hybrid with the pitch bend set at +2 (which is normal) but the down bend set to -12, which gives it the divebomb effect.
Freddie had friends in the ballet world & he was asked to perform with them for a charity event. He performed BoRap & Crazy little thing. That song would be another great one to react to live. That’s what that middle bit is from. Wembley 86 (Friday night performance) & of course live aid were fantastic performances.
The part of them dressed in drag was a nod to one of England's comedy shows if I'm not misraken. Roger's idea. Freddy loved the ballet, so the parts of them in ballet with all the dancers. This my favorite video. Roger ( the drummer) is so hot lmbo. Reactors always laugh good with this one. Innuendo is a good one. Best live besides 85 Live Aid, is Somebody To Love live in Montreal 81. That one will blow your mind.
The ballet sequence is a section from Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune (The Afternoon of the Faun) featuring Freddie and the dancers from The Royal Ballet Company...there is a video here on UA-cam of Freddie dancing with the Royal Ballet...by the way it was Roger Taylor’s (“pretty woman”) girlfriend who suggested that they dress up in drag.... the old lady in the hat...the bassist..John Deacon wrote this song...the concept was about women’s freedom🤩
I love that this song is about women’s liberation. I remember the first time I saw this video on MuchMusic I damn near peed my pants laughing. Such a great band.
It's a teasmaid. An alarm clock with a kettle and tea pot so you can have a cup of tea when you wake up. Very popular in the 50s to 70s. You can still get them
Freddie had the most beautiful voice. As for synthesizers, they didn't use them. They even posted inside the cover of their albums that no synthesizers were used. However they did start using them in later years.
Check out Lisa Stansfield’s great rendition from The Concert For Freddie Mercury after he passed away. Actually there are a ton of performances worth watching from that concert.
The thing at the start of the video is a teasmaid. Designed to make you a cup of tea just before the alarm went off. Although highly popular in the UK during the 70s and early 80s they made lousy tea as the water never got hot enough.
Freddie was and is an ICON! To be his own self mid 70's was extremely brave. Without Freddie Mercury we wouldn't have had Madonna, let alone Lagy GaGa (who actually chose her stage name from Queen's "Radio Ga Ga").
Freddie definitely had soul. He was a big fan of Aretha Franklin, and you can really hear her influence in his singing; especially when you watch the 1981 performance of Somebody To Love in Montreal.
Not sure if anybody's mentioned, but the alarm clock at the beginning is called a teasmaid (not sure on spelling), you could set it to wake you up when the tea was ready. They went out of fashion in the early 80s when people realized it took all of five minutes to just get up and make yourself a cup fresh instead of one that had been going all night.
More than the barriers, even if breaking or push the barriers was always something Queen tried to do (even if some people considered them "establishment" at the time), i think their greatest achievement is that they always did top-tier quality music while enjoying, reveling, thinking, suffering, innovating and searching with their own music over the different time-periods they went through... And i say this because i started to listen and enjoying Queen when i was 10... 3 years before i read the history of their band back in 1994.
the alarm clock is something called a "teas maid", which Im pretty sure is a uniquely British thing: it's an alarm clock that also has your hot tea water ready for you when it wakes you up. So thats the steam from the kettle.
Scribe, you would LOVE - Barcelona and One Nation. One Nation has a video of how they recorded it...you get to witness what perfectionist they were, its a must see for any Artist.
Queen was also one of the most popular bands around the 1980´s. Dont think all the bands got an equal amount of budget to them realize their vision. But MTV did play a bigger part back in the day than it probably does now.
I grew up in the 80’s... and this video.... hahah had this ole country girl stunned!! I had never seen anything like this! Nothing even close! Haha ❤️Tennessee
Freddy singing "Barcelona" will send some shivers down your spine. Also, "The Show Must Go On", which was one of the last things he recorded. It will destroy you.
The song was about the woman's liberation movement, The Bass player wrote the song and the Drummer's Girlfriend said dress as women. The characters were loosely based on people from UK TV Series Coronation Street, It has nothing to do with Freddie's sexuality
I can't remember if the cross dressing homage to Coronation Street was Roger's idea or Deacon's but it was one of the things on Freddie's bucket list to perform with the Royal Ballet so this video checked that off his list.
Queen: Somebody To Love - HD Live - 1981 Montreal a legendary live performance with passion and power to devour.
Agree this is a vocal and instrumental bonanza. At the end I swear they are jamming for the pleasure of seeing where the music takes them.
Do the live aid appearance and watch Freddie Mercury hold 2 billion peopeople in the palm of his hand.
andy431431 yes he did. lovehim
It’s a good thing he used his power for good instead of evil! Can you imagine if he went into politics?
Roger was prettier than most women! Yes! But he was quite a ladies man.
Patricia Downing I think they where all prettier then most women, because not all women are “pretty” 😂
Roger was quite fetching all frocked up, you can also see him and Freddie frocked up in Freddie’s The Great Pretender video.
I'm straight and when we did those "what if" tests, I said he looked hot. He could kill it as a lass for at least 10 seconds
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Freddie Mercury described as a “ladies’ man.”
😝
I hate to break it to you...
@@frankiebowie6174 I'm sure she was referring to Roger.
This song was written by bassist John “Deaky” Deacon (in this video “Grandma Deaky”)
Yes, Roger is very pretty, as a woman and as a man !
The steaming alarm clock you see at the beginning is a Teasmade. It makes Tea or Coffee in time for you to wake up. They were all the rage in the UK in the late 70`s/ 80`s.
Just found out they are still made.teasmade.com/pages/heritage
My friends parents got one of the first made as a Wedding Gift. He was an engineer. He took it apart to see how it worked on their honeymoon.
Somebody To Love live 1981 Montreal and anything from the Live Aid set is a must watch :)
“Don’t Stop Me Know” make it your next Queen song. I promise you will not be disappointed!!
Queen wasn't afraid to experiment with their music by crossing genres.
This is probably why they're still so popular.
Thank you for appreciating this band and their uniqueness.
Please react to It's Late and Cool Cat.
It's Late is such an amazing under-rated Queen song.
Cool Cat is just so funky and fun.
Here are some facts about I Want to Break Free.
The video spoofs the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, as proposed by Roger Taylor: "We had done some really serious, epic videos in the past, and we just thought we'd have some fun.
We wanted people to know that we didn't take ourselves too seriously, that we could still laugh at ourselves.
I think we proved that."
The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in women's clothes, a concept proposed by Roger Taylor, which parodied and was an homage to the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
The single was certified platinum in the UK.
MTV banned the video and some other US stations' minimal airing of the video played a role in the low US ranking.
The video was included in 1991 on VH1's My Generation two-part episode devoted to Queen hosted by guitarist Brian May.
According to May in an interview about Queen's Greatest Hits, whereas the video was understood and taken as a joke in the UK, the US audience failed to see the soap-opera connection and might have interpreted the video as an open declaration of transvestism and Mercury's bisexuality.
According to Roger Taylor, MTV "was a very narrow-minded station then.
It just seemed to be all fucking Whitesnake."
In Canada, the video was in regular rotation on MuchMusic, Canada's answer to MTV.
The video depicts Mercury as a housewife, loosely based on Bet Lynch, who wants to "break free" from his life.
Although Lynch was a blonde, Mercury thought he would look too silly as a blonde and chose a dark wig.
He wears a black wig, pink earrings, pink blouse with a sizeable false breast under it, black leather miniskirt, knee-high and heeled shoes. During the trials Mercury realized that he couldn't walk freely in high-heeled shoes and settled on 2-inch ones.
May plays another, more relaxed housewife based on Hilda Ogden. Deacon appears as a conservative "grandma", while Taylor plays a schoolgirl, who like Mercury wants a different life.
The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy, it was considered controversial in the United States.
The composition was choreographed by Wayne Eagling, a friend of Freddie Mercury who had helped him with the choreography of the "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Eagling was then a leader of the Royal Ballet which was involved in the video (one of the dancers was Jeremy Sheffield).
Mercury shaved his mustache to portray Vaslav Nijinsky as a faun in the ballet L'après-midi d'un faune.
The shooting took much practice, especially the conveyor rolling part. According to Eagling, despite being a natural performer on stage, Freddie Mercury could not stand performing any choreographed act himself, which is why he was mostly picked up and moved around in the ballet part of the video.
The rehearsals with the Royal Ballet were organized by Eagling secretly from his superiors, something that placed him in serious trouble when discovered later.
The "I Want To Break Free" music video was directed by David Mallet. It was shot on 22 March and 4 May 1984 at Limehouse Studios and cost about £100,000.
🙋🏾 M R...💁🏾 Nice breakdown ✌🏾!
so glad to see a melinial appreciate this.Thank you for taking the time and listen to this.So nice to see a melinial this is appreciated.
Cross-dressing for the video was Roger and/or Roger’s girlfriend’s idea... the “roles” were a spoof of a long-running British soap opera called “Coronation Street”.
Unfortunately, MTV kowtowed to the Outrage™️ of a small but very vocal subset of humorless religious types, and banned the video. After that, their presence on tour in America came to an end, because Freddie refused to perform here any more in his lifetime.
(Of course, the legendary legacy of Queen continues-and MTV has become the home of crappy “reality” shows and other assorted garbage. Freddie and Queen get the last laugh! )
lol....Freddie moved to America this same year.....lol.....Queen had no problem playing Apartheid Sun City for a set of ten dates tho!!....
I’m Weak For Deaky funny how large groups kowtow to the loudest minority ( on both sides)
@@TANTRUMGASM The video was banned in the USA. Europe loved it.
@@drakulkacz6489 Canada loved it as well.
Some other trivia: Freddie refused to shave his mustache and everyone thought that just added to the parody. The song always was embraced by a few South American countries who saw it as an anthem against political oppression; but they hadn’t seen this video, so when Freddie first performed the song in drag, there was a strong outcry against it since it seemed that he was trashing their “political” statement.
ROGER IS A GORGEOUS WOMAN IKR
With Queen you might as well start at the beginning with the song "Keep Yourself Alive" from 1973
🙋🏾Mercurial Toys 💁🏾 I’ve said that b4...She should do something original and just go for their back catalogs from LP one on. I also suggested she’d do a 2 for 1 when it comes to some songs that were recorded and performed differently live such as “Love of My Life”, “You Take My Breath Away”, etc.
Somebody to Love by Queen is an incredible song that you will love. The live version is mind blowing!
It’s a tea maid, it’s a alarm clock with a brew maker built in.!
The premise was a take off of the huge British series called Coronation street and also broaches the women's movement. The idea was John Deacon's, the dressing in drag was drummer's Roger Taylor's idea, the center part was a reference to his performance to perform and sing with the Royal Ballet for a charity event. All of this was unacceptable to the old powers that be with MTV and was blocked, so most in the US never knew it was such a huge hit in Britian and Europe where they enjoy the humor and talent.
Please, for Queen, do “White Queen”, Live at The Hammersmith Odeon , 1975. It’s beautiful !
I love that song/version - especially for the interplay between piano/guitar/Freddie/Brian!
Hi. A very short ballad from QUEEN ll ... 'Nevermore'. The voice. HIS VOICE... Freddie's voice voice voice. oMG. Check it❗💛
J Mart freddie. is the. greatest singer of all hey. hey. hey I like. it. as. freddi would. say. love hime
Somebody to Love live in Montreal 1981 will really give you an idea of his amazing vocal abilities, along with Roger’s (drummer)...
A great one from Queen is Somebody to Love live from Montreal in 1981. Legendary performance! 🔥
You don't have such a bad voice yourself. Anyway, I'd love to see you do Somebody to Love, live in Montreal.
Another one bites the dust,
Somebody to love ( live in Montreal 1981) ,
I love Queen, always have. Freddie was the best frontman ever, I always thought he was just flamboyant 😂 it doesn’t matter to me his sexuality, he’s a musical genius. I thought the same thing, the drummer, Roger made a good looking woman 😂😂😂
The March of the Black Queen! Honnestly, you'll be wowed by the harmonies.
I'm glad you said what we were all thinking with that "he makes a really pretty woman" comment about Roger 😂
4:06 Hahahaha "she" is known as Rogerina, and yeah, she's cute xD
Please react to.Somebody To Love live from Montreal. 💞
A few of my favourite Queen songs - White Queen live at Hammersmith Odeon 1975, Somebody To Love live at Montreal 1981, Love Of My Life live at Wembley 1986, Seaside Rendezvous, My Melancholy Blues, Death On Two Legs, The Miracle, The Show Must Go On, Save Me live at Montreal 1981, One Vision live at Wembley 1986. I could list soooooo many more, but that will do for now. Also, check out Queen's 20 minute set for the charity concert Live Aid in 1985. Voted best live rock performance, Freddie (despite having a throat infection) has the crowd eating out of his hand.
You picked the best ones...
This song was written by bass-player - John Deacon (who also wrote several of their biggest hits - including you're my best friend, and another bites the dust) - at the time of the video, the press all said it was Freddie's gay life that had them doing "drag" - and it was about his "gayness" -- but in fact, what nobody in U.S. recognized was that they band were playing characters from a very popular Brit soap opera called "Coronation Street" -- it was the drummer, Roger, who had the idea (and made a very cute girl, BTW)... "The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in drag, a concept proposed by Roger Taylor, which parodied the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy,it was considered controversial in the United States..." - so, there you go -- not as obvious as was thought...
There's more.
John was dressed as the Grandma from Giles's newspaper cartoon family, complete with fox fur stole. The character also inspired the Monty Python team to do "Hell's Grannies".
The ballet sequence was performed to a choreography for "Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune
" by Claude Debussy. Quite an aesthete, our Fred!
This video was made in 1984, the year of the miners' strike which effectively put an end to Britain's coal industry. Politicians and union leaders fought it out, while miners' pickets and demos were brutally put down by police. "I want to break free from your lies, you're so self-satisfied" sung amid a mass of guys in miners' helmets - a coincidence? Hmmm... The sequence is also reminiscent of the oppressed workers in "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang.
@@danlefou Thanks so much for all of this fascinating info! makes me wonder a bit about you - how you are so knowledgeable & well-spoken -- where you are? share if you like... (if you care to know, I'm an old lady in semi-rural Wisconsin -- but when I was young & cute, I used to "make the scene" lol)
@@GinMae Hi. I'm a retired aircraft museum curator living in North Wales, UK. I've just always been interested in a wide range of things. Studied French and German at Birmingham University, 1967-72. I don't just love music from that period, but the 60s to mid-80s were undoubtedly the best IMHO. I don't think I was ever cute, though... :-) Thanks for the kind words.
@@danlefou Oh, c'mon - I'm SURE you were cute - lol -- it's fun to know something about other commenters -- I appreciate your reply -- I was born in '60 - so most of my music experience was US "top forties" radio in the early to late seventies... It was only when I discovered Queen in 1976-77 or so that I began to understand that there was more out there... in the late 70's-early 80's I began to be interested in more genres than the typical US-midwest taste - which ran to "classic rock-heavy metal" -- I loved the Police, then Clash, REM, etc... still do...
The ballet scenes were inspired by the work of the divine Michael Bennett, an enormously talented dancer and choreographer who, like Freddie, we tragically lost in the early days of the AIDS epidemic 😢
Freddie was 40 years ahead of his time. We miss you Freddie. x
Somebody to love 1981 Montreal, you’re gona explode watchin that.😅
Freddie was an INCREDIBLE singer. His voice UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! Death on 2 Legs and I'm in Love with my Car!!!!!
ironmann1013 so. true
Freddie was born in Zanzibar, just north of the Indian Ocean. His name at birth was Farrokh Bulsara. His family moved to London when he was a kid. He changed to Freddie Mercury in 1970.
Radio Gaga is one of my fav's of theirs. If you watch the live aid version it shows how Freddie could control a crowd. I saw them in '78, they were so amazing, no one else sounded like them!
Valerie Boyco freddie. is amazing
So nice to watch you, we can actually se the music express in your face. And you have a good voice!
I just subscribed... More Queen please.... So many Queen fans will follow... We are a massive group... 😂 👍
Kelley Spangler millions. of. fans
You are crazy. And I like it! Keep it up!
Love your reaction it's so real
Back then this video was banned from MTV and many stations in the US because they didn't like the drag thing.
MTV also banned the video of the lead single "Body Language" from their previous album (the video to was "too sexy" and Freddie dancing with black girls in that video wasn't appreciated either), which pretty much killed Queen's popularity in the US in the early 80s. (They were still more popular than ever in the rest of the world.)
This is the Queen music video that MTV refused to air back in the day when MTV played music videos. It's also what killed the Queen phenomenon in the US.
The Show Must Go On, Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Queen is on my top 5 of greatest bands of all time: that is high! They were something else.
I always thought, in the ballet instrumental section, where Freddie is laid out like an Egyptian mummy being passed over the top of swaying dancers; I can't help but think that must be symbolic of the body of the dead passing across the river Styx to the next world. As the swaying of the arms of the dancers clearly seems to be resembling waves of water, and Freddie is laid out in that way.
You got to smile at this video. Watch Freddie's 2 step and they all look good in drag.♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
That instrument was definitely a Synth, most likely a mini moog playing some form of a sawtooth wave and sync lead hybrid with the pitch bend set at +2 (which is normal) but the down bend set to -12, which gives it the divebomb effect.
Your face!!🤣🤣🤣🤣
You are precious!! I love watching you- your reactions are great!!
Freddie had friends in the ballet world & he was asked to perform with them for a charity event. He performed BoRap & Crazy little thing. That song would be another great one to react to live. That’s what that middle bit is from. Wembley 86 (Friday night performance) & of course live aid were fantastic performances.
They often have some crazy props like that alarm. Another example is the radio in 'Radio Ga Ga'.
You're not wrong. Rodger Taylor was a very cute girl in this one. I love this song and the video is just great. Artistic to the max.
The Video for Bohemian Rhapsody started videos being made for singles. Basically started MTV.
I love u and your energy and your reactions
Girl, you got a nice voice there yourself! Love that you love Freddie and the boys.
The part of them dressed in drag was a nod to one of England's comedy shows if I'm not misraken. Roger's idea. Freddy loved the ballet, so the parts of them in ballet with all the dancers. This my favorite video. Roger ( the drummer) is so hot lmbo. Reactors always laugh good with this one. Innuendo is a good one. Best live besides 85 Live Aid, is Somebody To Love live in Montreal 81. That one will blow your mind.
The ballet sequence is a section from Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un
Faune (The Afternoon of the Faun) featuring Freddie and the dancers from The Royal Ballet Company...there is a video here on UA-cam of Freddie dancing with the Royal Ballet...by the way it was Roger Taylor’s (“pretty woman”) girlfriend who suggested that they dress up in drag.... the old lady in the hat...the bassist..John Deacon wrote this song...the concept was about women’s freedom🤩
I love that this song is about women’s liberation. I remember the first time I saw this video on MuchMusic I damn near peed my pants laughing. Such a great band.
It's a teasmaid. An alarm clock with a kettle and tea pot so you can have a cup of tea when you wake up. Very popular in the 50s to 70s. You can still get them
So, you've been introduced to Queen. Thats Awesome! Time to start going a bit harder into rock.... Check out AC/DC Thunderstruck.
Now I’m here at the Rainbow theatre London way back when. Fantastic and unrefined.
You truly see it, for the artistic masterpiece that it is. Not everyone does
Freddie had the most beautiful voice. As for synthesizers, they didn't use them. They even posted inside the cover of their albums that no synthesizers were used. However they did start using them in later years.
Somebody to love from Queen ;)
Bohemian Rhapsody, We are the Champions, Killer Queen and more good songs
Check out Lisa Stansfield’s great rendition from The Concert For Freddie Mercury after he passed away. Actually there are a ton of performances worth watching from that concert.
Yes. My favorite is Bowie and Annie Lennox singing Under Pressure.
Fantastic seeing someone seeing this for the first time.
The thing at the start of the video is a teasmaid. Designed to make you a cup of tea just before the alarm went off. Although highly popular in the UK during the 70s and early 80s they made lousy tea as the water never got hot enough.
Freddie was and is an ICON! To be his own self mid 70's was extremely brave. Without Freddie Mercury we wouldn't have had Madonna, let alone Lagy GaGa (who actually chose her stage name from Queen's "Radio Ga Ga").
Love seeing your reactions to this great song & video classic
Freddie definitely had soul. He was a big fan of Aretha Franklin, and you can really hear her influence in his singing; especially when you watch the 1981 performance of Somebody To Love in Montreal.
Not sure if anybody's mentioned, but the alarm clock at the beginning is called a teasmaid (not sure on spelling), you could set it to wake you up when the tea was ready. They went out of fashion in the early 80s when people realized it took all of five minutes to just get up and make yourself a cup fresh instead of one that had been going all night.
You are not only watching the video you become part of the video love it
MTV refused to play this in the US
They even asked the band to make an other video for USA but queen just refused.
More than the barriers, even if breaking or push the barriers was always something Queen tried to do (even if some people considered them "establishment" at the time), i think their greatest achievement is that they always did top-tier quality music while enjoying, reveling, thinking, suffering, innovating and searching with their own music over the different time-periods they went through... And i say this because i started to listen and enjoying Queen when i was 10... 3 years before i read the history of their band back in 1994.
ty baby girl! have a great week!
Somebody to love live at Milton Keynes Bowl 1982.
When the video came out, it was banned in the USA
Queen - gimme the prize
the alarm clock is something called a "teas maid", which Im pretty sure is a uniquely British thing: it's an alarm clock that also has your hot tea water ready for you when it wakes you up. So thats the steam from the kettle.
Teasmaid 1 word eva1 had them in 60's 70s n 80's
That my dear is a teasmaid , alarm goes off with a cup of hot tea 🤣
Scribe, you would LOVE - Barcelona and One Nation. One Nation has a video of how they recorded it...you get to witness what perfectionist they were, its a must see for any Artist.
It's a Hard Life is another great Queen song
The solo at 6:50? The man's guitar run through a wah wah pedal. And the concept as with everything artistic in Queen, was Freddie's idea.
It's based a huge show in UK called coronation street and they are actors of the show. All for womens liberation in the uk!
For the next Queen video you should check out :In The Lap Of The Gods (live at the rainbow) is a tranquil song but is freaking beautiful :3
Roger rocking the school girl look!
This video concept wasn't Freddie's. I forgot which band member it was. What sucks this video was banned in USA
Queen was also one of the most popular bands around the 1980´s. Dont think all the bands got an equal amount of budget to them realize their vision. But MTV did play a bigger part back in the day than it probably does now.
6:05 Freddie's dressed as the Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in the ballet "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"
That is a 1980s Teasmaid they were an alarm clock that brewed you a morning Beverage in the morning
I grew up in the 80’s... and this video.... hahah had this ole country girl stunned!! I had never seen anything like this! Nothing even close! Haha ❤️Tennessee
Queen for ever
The alarm clock on fire is a 'Teas Made', very popular in the UK back in the late 70's early 80's.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teasmade
Their popularity in America dropped after this video. It was a bit too outrageous for middle America and MTV at the time.
So many budgets lol.......your so genuine I really enjoy your rock reactions
Video was a parody of a British soap opera, "Coronation Street," and was the idea of Roger Taylor (the drummer).
Freddy singing "Barcelona" will send some shivers down your spine.
Also, "The Show Must Go On", which was one of the last things he recorded. It will destroy you.
Yes! Roger Taylor is so pretty!
That's a teasmade that's on fire at the beginning.
Only Freddie can dress like a housewive and still be the coolest freaking dude on the planet.
The song was about the woman's liberation movement, The Bass player wrote the song and the Drummer's Girlfriend said dress as women. The characters were loosely based on people from UK TV Series Coronation Street, It has nothing to do with Freddie's sexuality
I can't remember if the cross dressing homage to Coronation Street was Roger's idea or Deacon's but it was one of the things on Freddie's bucket list to perform with the Royal Ballet so this video checked that off his list.
All the additional people in this video is a dance troupe back in England
millinials from the 2020 are still shocked when Freddy does his thing lol