So first, here's my contribution to the notice board list:
1. Never returning to USA for concert tour.
2. Not crediting songwriting to all four from the beginning.
3. Wrong singles from Hot Space, and wrong order of the ones chosen.
4. Wrong order of singles from The Works.
5. Draining of creative juices and good songs for solo projects, 1981-1985 on Roger's, Freddie's, and to a lesser extent Brian's part.
6. Cheesy, dated production on Hot Space, The Works, A Kind of Magic, and The Miracle, and increasing in cheesiness in that order.
7. Lyrics written by committee, post The Works.
8. No double albums released when they could have in the late 70s.
9. Not appearing on live US television except for Saturday Night Live.
10. Freddie not coming out as a gay man, as Elton John et al. did and [many others] continue to do.
Most of this is Queen fan wonkiness, to be sure. Lots of my fellow fans agree with me on numbers 1-9. But nobody but nobody seems to agree with me about #10, to the point where people will say that Freddie, because he had a girlfriend once, is technically bisexual.
There's also a debate over whether Queen playing Sun City in 1984, when there was a United Nations international cultural boycott
, was a mistake. I mean, it definitely was publicity- and career-wise; even the band members begrudgingly admit themselves. The message board then turned away from that main point, as many message boards do, to the larger question of whether artists should get involved in politics at all? Many Queen fans don't think so. Which, of course, is a shame, and to my mind wrong-headed.
And once again, at least in the world of Queen fans, I am thrust into the role of the accidental activist, fighting for gay rights and the rights of the artist to engage in politics. And I find myself debating a 17-year-old Brazilian about the finer points of Bob Dylan. As a white, heterosexual, largely apolitical artist, you could say I have no vested interest in either gay rights or apartheid. But it enrages me that Queen fans will spout off about such things.
Why do I adopt such an aggressive persona over at Queenzone and am such a wuss here on my own site? Maybe I care about Queen more than myself. It's entirely possible.
Labels: God Save My Queen, Queenspotting
