Latest Posts by scrumptiousenemypeach - Page 3
“They were clearly soulmates: they’d often sit together, giggling”
-Jim Hutton (about Freddie and Roger)
THE MONKEES ON KDWB-AM IN 1967
To my knowledge this is the only complete recording of the Monkees taking over a radio station during their 1967 tour. Over four hours of them goofing off, insulting advertisers, trying to figure out how to work the equipment, and playing their favorite records of course. This is fascinating!
The Monkees were in the Twin Cities for a concert and broadcast from KDWB’s “Secret City” with a remote from the hotel where the band was staying. Featuring Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones.
The recordings feature candid, silly and serious moments from The Monkees - a wonderful collection of recordings during the two days The Monkees took over the radio station.
August 3, 1967 to 4 am on August 4, 1967: Starting with coverage of the Monkees’ airplane arrival at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport followed by Michael, Peter, Micky and Davy broadcasting from “Secret City” playing records, performing a skit, and some candid comments by Micky about criticism concerning the group not playing all instruments in their songs, thoughts about The Beatles, and more. Includes KDWB personalities Charlie Brown, Earl Trout, Tac Hammer, Bobby Davis and newscast by Robert Davis. #1 30 MB - #2 21 MB (provided by Curt Lundgren)
August 4, 1967 (3:00-6:00 pm) : Mostly featuring Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork spinning records with Michael having fun insulting KDWB advertisers including Dayton’s and J A Gerber Jewelers and Peter playing the banjo. Includes newscast by Don Miller. #1 16 MB - #2 23 MB - #3 19 MB - #4 8 MB (provided by Phil Kitchen and Jeanne Anderson)
Includes commercials for J A Gerber Jewelers, Durkee Seasoned Spices, Ray Conniff “This is My Song” album, Pedwin Shoes, Baskin-Robbins, Preparation H, Heileman Old Style Beer, Minnesota Dragways, NCC Drive-In Theaters, “The Big Mouth” with Jerry Lewis (movie), Dad’s Root Beer, Mobile, Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum, Schlitz Beer, Coca Cola (sung by Ray Charles), STP, Summer Blonde Hair Spray, Honda and Hamm’s Beer.
letting a classic folkrock fan dj is always a gamble because they’re either going to play the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard or some shit like your auntie grizelda
i seem to find pisces aquarius capricorn & jones in the wild a lot and every time i do i have to stop myself from obtaining another copy like i have THREE please don’t look at the adorable picture of micky on the back or you will feel bad and want to take another copy home… dont. turn. it. over.
Peter Tork onstage at Wembley in 1967; photo courtesy of Melody Maker.
Q: “Peter, starting with Headquarters in 1967, it seems you were one of the first guys to actually make the banjo a significant element of pop-rock songs.” Peter Tork: “I wasn’t even thinking about doing that. I just thought, ‘The banjo would sound good here.’ If I’m fond of my own work at all, it’s the opening lick to ‘You Told Me’ from Headquarters. The guitar starts off [mimics guitar] and then the banjo cuts in [mimics banjo] and suddenly, you’re in a whole new realm. To me, building those kinds of textures is what music is all about, and there are a couple of places where the banjo contributed nicely to the Monkees’ basic rock. It seems I’m a rocker who happens to play banjo, or a banjo player who happens to rock. I don’t know.” Q: “Was it pretty seamless when you first started working out your parts for Headquarters, or did the whole studio look at you and go, ‘Peter, what are you doing with a banjo?’” Peter: “It was seamless. Everybody knew I had a banjo, and so they knew it was part of what I brought to the table musically. Nobody was surprised.” - Guitar Player Magazine, October 2016 “[On ‘You Told Me,’] it really kills when the banjo comes right in the middle and then the band hits with that nice bass drop. That moment is really exciting, that’s what music is supposed to be.” - Peter Tork, Headquarters, 1995 liner notes
A Few of The Best Monkees Stories Ever
Inspired by A Few of The Best Beatles Stories Ever.
I’ve combined all of your submissions and a few of my own to make a list of The Monkee fandom’s favorite Monkees Stories of ALL TIME.
I’ve been meaning to post this list for over a year, and it seems fitting to post it today in conjunction with thank-your-lucky-stars Monkees Awards question for today.
BEST MONKEES STORIES
Mike Nesmith yelling “that could’ve been your face motherfucker” and punching a hole in a wall, when Herb Moelis and Don Kirshner wouldn’t let the Monkees play their own instruments on their album.
Micky Dolenz gallantly making a tourniquet for Cynthia Plaster Caster after she sliced her hand while trying to open up a can of dental alginates to use to make Peter Tork’s plaster cast. (Unfortunately this injury made it impossible to cast Peter that day)
Peter Tork’s mile high orgies on their plane during the 1967 tour and his orgy organizer button which he wore during the second season of the Monkees’ television show.
Davy Jones plowing through the studio gate with his car when the guard refused to let him in because of his “long” hair/not believing Davy worked there.
Mike Nesmith’s Cincinnati (Cleveland?) prank with the elevator that almost got the guys trampled by thousands of fans until they jumped into a police car.
Peter Tork telling the draft board that he was gay to get out of going to Vietnam.
Micky Dolenz tripping balls in Hyde Park at 7 in the morning and singing songs to a couple hundred schoolkids until Jack Nicholson and Bob and Bert and the cops show up and when they finally make a run for it, everybody gets trampled.
Peter Tork and Davy Jones getting into a knockout, drag down fight on the set of the show, with Davy giving Peter a “nutter” and Peter subsequently punching Davy, who then had to get stitches.
Two Mexican federal agents handing Mike Nesmith a million dollars’ worth of marijuana in a brown paper sack as an apology after the agents took his camera away because he took photos of a student demonstration.
A member of the Monkees entourage hiding Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones in the Monkees’ hotel in England after he was busted for drugs.
Two seventeen-year-old girls bribing pizza delivery guys for their outfits to deliver pizza to the Monkees’ hotel room.
Mike Nesmith sending John Lennon a telegram that ended with “God is Love, Mike Nesmith.”
Davy’s salad story
When Mike had a party with a houseful of people and asked Davy if he wanted to go get a burger. Davy declined, but later learned Mike left his own party to hop on his private jet and fly to get his favorite burger just cos he had it like that.
The time when Micky was invited to the recording of Sgt. Pepper and he thought it was going to be some big psychedelic party so he shows up all crazy in paisley print bell bottoms and like tie-dyed underwear in the middle of the day, and he just finds the Beatles sitting all calm in folding chairs.
The game of “Killer,” that required the actors, producers, some of the inner-circle to play-act a spectacular death scene on demand.
The Monkees nearly sabotaging their own show before it could even begin, by invading the network affiliates’ dinner at Chason’s restaurant.
The pilot of the Monkees Express having to come on the PA system on the plane, asking some of the passengers enjoying the party-pit in the rear of the plane to please come forward so he could get the nose down.
Micky getting mobbed while doing his Christmas shopping.
Bert Schneider sitting in the audience at the Cow Palace, seeing his band on stage for the first time and not quite believing what he had created.Raybert scoring the lowest rated pilot in the history of the network—and figuring out how to fix it.
That girl that mailed herself to Davy
Davy flying to a hospital in Phoenix to visit two little girls who had been hit by a car when they were out buying Monkees albums
Spending a weekend locked in a hotel with Jack Nicholson and drugs to write Head.
Micky building that scale model plane in his living room, then having to disassemble it because he couldn’t get it out the door.
The Progression of Freddie Mercury’s Concert Fits
Flowing, wing-like things
teeny tiny shorts. Really really small shorts
1977, year of full-length body suits
Shirts? Never heard of her [enter mustache]
the tiny shorts strike back
LEATHER
tank tops go brrrrrr
Honorable mention: jacket with a lot of belts on it for some reason
he’s got it
Being in fandom spaces is so surreal-
Bc once your age hits a 'serious' number, you start to think - "damn, I should probably stop geeking and get more serious." But then you scroll and see a 34y/o woman writing fics after driving her kids to school, a 40y/o dude making fanart of his fav super heroes and you realize - "nah, I'm actually good"
rewatched fairy tale and forgot how bad they clocked him 😭😭😭
The Monkees and the Gorillaz walk into a bar
Someone finish this joke for me I'm gonna go take a nap
"guys we're so cooked" "it's wraps" "the end is near" shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up. i say that with love because you are probably saying it out of distress and hopelessness, but for your own well-being and for everyone else's, please stop saying this shit.
no we are not "cooked." and by saying that, by the way, you are giving more power to the neo-nazi oligarchy in charge.
they want you to abandon all hope of a better life. they want you to believe "oh well, it's over, we might as well stop trying to fight back and just resign ourselves to despair forever."
every time you get on tiktok and comment "guys we're so cooked haha it's over," you are feeding into the mindset of hopeless compliance. you are, unknowingly, spreading this infectious idea that just because we've lost one battle, we've lost the entire war.
your words matter. i am saying this out of love and concern for our future, but please stop choosing words of defeat.
figured it would be nice to wrap up this sketch this weekend! :-) 🌟💛
It is kinda insane how wild the Monkees are when you look into it. They were hired for a TV show but started an internal revolution where they kicked out their music supervisor to have control of their own music. They made a movie deconstructing their image and Hollywood in general. Their music spanned several genres including some very experimental stuff that would influence later music. They met and befriended the Beatles. They wrote and/or directed some of their episodes. One of them is the son of the woman who invented liquid paper (white-out) and then he would go on to basically invent MTV before he sold the concept to those who made MTV. They have some of the first music videos. They fucked. One of them even was known for his orgies. They sometimes hated each other but still loved each other as brothers. There is an FBI file on them allegedly spreading communist and anti-american propaganda at their concerts. They had a song that had to have its lyrics changed because it was too intensely political, even alluding to JFK’s assassination not being done by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1969. Their TV show was revolutionary in structure and content. Disney stars and boy bands would not exist without them. They had Jimi Hendrix open for them. One of them was a member of the Hollywood vampires. And that isn’t even all.
And yet most people don’t take them seriously.
I know that for nearly every queen song brian may is waiting at the 3 minute mark to perform the cuntiest guitar solo imaginable and thats what gets me through life.
can’t believe tiktok is actually getting banned, twitter is infested with bots and brainworm-infested musk bots, facebook is king of QAnon, instagram caught the plague from facebook and is dying a slow death in real time… and as the dust settles… only Miss Tumblr is left standing… failing upwards once again
Freddie Mercury
The fact that he’s giving an interview at all is close to miraculous. For years, the Queen singer has been at loggerheads with the press and has - justified or not - gained the reputation of being an arrogant sod. But Steve Lake found out that this isn’t always so, when he touched upon some hot button issues during an open discussion with Freddie: homosexuality, fascism, and the simmering rivalries within Queen.
ME/Sounds: The other day, Roger Taylor gave an interview describing THE WORKS as a conscious attempt to ‘give the Queen fans what they want’. Do you see it the same way?
Mercury: Well, we always try to give the fans what they want; but it doesn’t end there. Those were just a handful of songs that we wanted to make at the time. Okay, there was a bit of an attempt to get back to the basics. A number of people have claimed that Queen hadn’t released the sort of material that they had become known for in a long time. The question I’m asking myself then, is: ‘What are we known for?’ Okay, Bohemian Rhapsody, but since then we have done lots of different things, like Another One Bites The Dust.
Anyway, no, we didn’t have a concept for THE WORKS. It’s just that since we’re all writing, it’s bound to be quite varied. That’s why we called it THE WORKS, because they really are the works. We aren’t using concepts anymore. That ended with A DAY AT THE RACES or A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, that’s where we really had a concept.
ME/Sounds: A while ago, you conquered the Black market in America with songs like Another One Bites The Dust. Did that come as a surprise?
Mercury: Completely. I think, if we had consciously tried to write a song to get us into the Black market, we never would have succeeded. John came up with that song.
Afterwards I tried to consciously write for the Black market with Hot Space, but that didn’t work out so well. That’s how it goes. I don’t believe there is such a thing as the ‘Black market’. You just make a record and either it works or it doesn’t. You just have to take things as they come.
ME/Sounds: When you were trying to break the Disco market, did you listen to Chic and bands like that?
Mercury: No. The only things I consciously listened to at the time were older Soul singers. Aretha Franklin, I always liked her. Or Marvin Gaye. Of course since then, I have worked with full concentration on my Michael Jackson personification [embodiment?]. I have grown to love this music. I’m no longer writing multilayered harmonies anymore. I like those open, spacious Black funk things. I think they allow my voice to come out really well. Over the last eight years, I constantly had to try and get my voice heard through this barrage of guitars.
ME/Sounds: You’ve worked with Michael Jackson in the meantime, haven’t you?
Mercury: Yes. About a year ago. Nothing has come of it so far, because both of us are so busy. We have three unfinished numbers. One of them is called Victory - and now this guy has gone and called the new Jackson-album VICTORY. I don’t think the song is on it. But if it is, I’m going to yell ‘shit’ and sue the fucker.
ME/Sounds: Do you enjoy working with other singers? When I asked Brian May about working with David Bowie on Under Pressure, he let off quite a lot of steam.
Mercury: Interesting that you should ask about that. That really shines a light on the two characters. David is a good friend of mine. Brian’s comments are his business and are totally alright. No, I get along well with David. Of course, temper is always a difficult business when it comes to musicians. Egos clash. And it’s got to be this way, because when you’re working with other people, of course they’re not all going to dance to your tune.
The Under Pressure session was completely spontaneous, and that’s why it was so good. David and I are both people who get bored easily; we like to do things as they arise spontaneously from the situation. I just think that David and Brian have nothing in common - nothing apart from music that they would talk about.
ME/Sounds: The difference in personalities seems to me to be bigger in Queen than in other bands. When you look at interviews with different band members from the same time, you often find diametrically opposed points of view.
Mercury: Yes. I believe the reason for that lies in the fact that we all write songs. Because of that, there were rivalries within the band from day one. I think that’s healthy. And all of us have incredible egos, of course we do. There are no backbenchers, within the group everyone is playing a leading role. Even when we’re talking about the exact same topic, you’ll usually get four different opinions. We always have it out openly when there are differences. If I say something and one of the others doesn’t like it - shit.
ME/Sounds: Alright, there's this recent article about Queen in Los Angeles, about a party at Capitol Records, where THE WORKS was played for the first time. Brian May gets quoted as saying: ‘My only thought was how horrible I find what has just been played. I am ashamed.’
Mercury: Brian said that? (laughs) He must have had too many Gin Tonics. I remember that the playback in question was a raw mix. And it’s a fact that all of us are very nitpicky. I remember Brian being very angry. We played four numbers to give the record company an idea of what the eventual record is going to sound like. The songs weren’t even close to finished. At that time, half the guitar solos weren’t in the mix yet.
ME/Sounds: There used to be proud disclaimers that Queen albums don’t contain any synths. But of course, now you’re using them after all.
Mercury: That was at a time when synths made their first appearance and were used solely to imitate guitar and orchestral sounds. But we happened to produce all those orchestral effects with Brian’s one-of-a-kind guitar. The fact that we used nothing but guitars was something we told people just so they’d know. We wanted people to understand how brilliant Brian was. We never had any kind of strong antipathy towards synths.
ME/Sounds: At the moment, there’s a Back-To-Guitar trend, a new generation of guitar-bands.
Mercury: Yes, I quite like Big Country, for example. But that Heavy-Metal-business - to be honest, I can’t stand those groups. Heavy Metal had its day, you know; and the old bands simply were the best at that genre. People like Led Zeppelin. I probably sound like an old man saying that. But now I prefer people like Culture Club. That’s a new kind of music, a new form. Duran Duran are alright. The Eurythmics are wonderful.
ME/Sounds: Are lyrics important to you?
Mercury: Of course, but I find them really hard to write. Melodies are much easier. Thank God it’s usually the melody that sells a song. It only happens very rarely that I have the lyrics finished first. Usually I already have the entire structure before the text is finalised.
ME/Sounds: A song like Man On The Prowl! for example, with lines like: “I'm gonna take a little walk on the wild side / Go crazy, driving in the fast lane” (Freddie is squirming a little while I read that to him). Aren’t you feeling comfortable with your own lyrics?
Mercury: No, I’m not. Look, for me, lyrics are just completely escapist. I don’t think it’s in my nature to write any kind of deep ‘messages’. For me, a Queen song is something you listen to and then throw away - like a kleenex. I go to the cinema and forget about my problems for one and a half hours. I’m not here to proclaim, ‘Change your life, listen to a Queen song’. I don’t want to change people’s lives. John Lennon was able to write songs that had a message. Stevie Wonder. But they also lived their lives according to that. With them, you can be sure they mean it when they write a song about peace. I’m not like that. I enjoy writing a nice song, with a good melody, that’s it, and then go on to the next.
ME/Sounds: What are your thoughts on groups that present themselves with a pronounced gay or transsexual image? Groups like Dead or Alive or Frankie Goes To Hollywood or Culture Club or Marilyn.
Mercury: Some images are good, other images are poor. I like Boy George a lot. His role is bloody difficult; it’s brave of him to do that - and it’s wonderful that it works. And he believes in what he does!
Okay, so anyone can slap a ton of powder and make-up on their faces. But Boy George doesn’t just have an image - on top of that, his songs are great as well! Culture Club had hits in America before anyone had even seen them. The image and the songs together are a monster-combo. The element of shock is essentially positive. But it doesn’t work for everyone and can come off as a bit vulgar. It depends on the individual.
ME/Sounds: Do you feel that Queen played with this shock-value as well?
Mercury: Oh, I do think so. We started together with Roxy Music, right in the middle of the Glam Rock era. The same direction as today, only done by different people. Of course, Boy George is very daring, but he can build on our experiences. When I started out, the audience was used to bands that wore jeans on stage. When they were suddenly confronted with Freddie Mercury in a Zandra Rhodes gown, with make-up and black nail polish, that was outrageous. Boy George is more like a transvestite-prince. But with a similar kind of impact, for sure.
ME/Sounds: Of course, in England, especially in papers like The Sun, there’s a lot of interest in the sex lives of those flamboyant characters [lit: birds of paradise]…
Mercury: Yes, I'm aware. You’re probably about to ask me about this story in The Sun, that I’m supposedly gay. As far as I’m concerned: I fuck whoever I want, whenever I want. The papers always wrote whatever they wanted about Queen - let them! I’m not going to lose much sleep about that.
But this article was quoted completely wrong, utterly unsubstantiated. Am I supposed to tear at my hair and say: ‘Oh my God, I have to get them to correct this’? The woman who wrote that story wanted a total scoop from me and didn’t get anything. I said: ‘What do you want to hear? That I deal cocaine?’ So she just wrote that I had admitted that I’m gay. I’m not stupid enough to say something like that! I’m too intelligent for that.
ME/Sounds: I find it surprising that more hasn’t been made of your sexuality so far - considering the stage-image, the band name and so on…
Mercury: I’ve always been put into the gay pigeonhole. First they said I was bisexual, then it was the androgynous look; I also said some things that made good headlines. If you’re alluding to my sexual preferences: I’m simply doing it with everyone I like. There are no pigeonholes. (He sighs.) My private life is private. I’m prepared to talk about pretty much everything, but the last thing I’d ever do in the world is to walk up to The Sun and say: ‘Yes, I admit it, I confess, I’m gay.’ That doesn’t make sense. If it did, I’d have done that years ago.
ME/Sounds: If you want to be cynical about it, it’s a good time to be gay. Good for business.
Mercury: It really is, isn’t it? But for me, it would be wrong to be gay now, because I’ve been in the business for twelve years. In this industry, it’s good to be gay or in some way outrageous if you’re new. If I went public about this now, people would say: ‘Oh God, now Freddie suddenly proclaims himself gay because it’s trendy to be gay.’
That’s not my thing. I leave that kind of stuff to people who feel like that’s something they’ve got to do. The only thing that means something to me is the music. When the music stops selling, I’ll simply stop doing it.
ME/Sounds: Which leads us to the inevitable question about the life expectancy of a group: Is there a point after which you won’t be able to be on stage any longer?
Mercury: The only indicator is the album. What the press say doesn’t matter. But if you don’t sell the record, then that’s it. At the moment, I’m bored by the live shows. I want to do different things. I want to play places I have never played before. At the moment, we’re thinking about going to South Africa; this will cause a bit of a fuss politically, but I don’t give a fuck about that.
I’m making music for the people. We were one of the first groups to go to South America. A great experience. Two weeks after we were there, Great Britain and Argentina were at war. But that shouldn’t be a decisive factor for a musician. Music is for everyone.
I’d like to go to Russia one day. We wanted to go there three or four years ago, but they had a look at our album covers and thought it was too salacious and that we would lead their young people astray.
What I have absolutely no interest in is to go back to North America and play the same old stadiums again. That’s the worst that can happen; you see it with a lot of bands right now who are past their prime, but still go on as if everything was okay, and they play, say, Madison Square Garden. Two years ago they played there and sold it out three nights - this time they’re only playing once. What a blow to the ego that must be!
ME/Sounds: But you still think that audience acceptance is a true indicator of musical quality?
Mercury: Yes!
ME/Sounds: Really?
Mercury: Absolutely. The only way to rate your success is by being number one.
ME/Sounds: That way you might be able to evaluate how successful you are, but that doesn’t say anything about the value of your music, does it?
Mercury: Oooh… What a load of crap!!
ME/Sounds: A load of crap???
Mercury: I know what you’re trying to say: That you can be a wonderful yet obscure musician. So what? What does that matter? Talent means knowing how to push it on people. Talent means being in the right place at the right time. You have to know how to get to people. Talent is image.
ME/Sounds: But sometimes there are factors blocking the way. For example, you’re saying that you like Black music. But if you are actually Black, you’re not getting on the American cable networks. In that case, there is no right place and time.
Mercury: You’re on to something there. At least Michael Jackson is getting on there.
ME/Sounds: Michael Jackson got surgery in order to look whiter.
Mercury: Oh, stop it! Don’t exaggerate, darling!
ME/Sounds: Well, it’s true. You aren’t going to deny the racist influences at work in the American pop business, are you?
Mercury: Of course they exist, but it’s not as extreme as you make it sound. It’s just that Michael Jackson understands that you have to appeal to a cross-section of the record-buying public to get a number one hit. Because the Black community alone simply isn’t big enough to land you a hit.
ME/Sounds: I think it was Chairman Mao who said: “All art is political.”
Mercury: Alright, yes, I do have a problem when politics gets involved, but in the end, you can’t prevent that from happening. That’s exactly what Elton said: That music and sports are the most influential messengers right now. Am I talking a lot of rubbish?
ME/Sounds: I just remembered a Rolling-Stone article about Queen in Argentina, which described Queen as ‘the first truly fascist rock band’. Does that mean anything to you?
Mercury: Oh dear, oh dear. Nooo... Okay, explain it to me. What does that mean?
ME/Sounds: I was asking you.
Mercury: A whole lot of journalists came from all over the world to see us play in Argentina. In Sao Paulo we played to 120,000 one night, and 130,000 the next night. It was new to them and it was new to us - not like North America. There was no such thing as organisation. It could have turned out to be a totally uncontrollable crowd, so they had the Death Squad doing the security.
ME/Sounds: The Death Squad?
Mercury: The heavy, heavy police who will kill people at the drop of a hat. They were called in to protect us. We were actually taken from one place to another in armoured vehicles that are used for riots.
And when the journalists watch that it becomes political. The music’s got nothing to do with it. Before we came on stage, the whole military was standing in front of it with bayonets. Just in case…
In South America, things work very differently. They thought that if anybody could get such a vast audience it could become political. They pleaded with me not to sing ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’. They said they were very worried that I would turn the concert into a political rally.
ME/Sounds: How do you feel in the middle of a scene like that?
Mercury: Oh, very powerful, very powerful. You feel like the devil himself. You understand that you could actually stage a revolt with all these people. Someone with a different mentality could really use it to their political advantage, or disadvantage.
ME/Sounds: What does this give you, being on stage - and having thousands of people chanting your name?
Mercury: It’s wonderful. The adrenaline kicks in. Absolutely wonderful. You feel incredibly powerful. But personally, I get completely caught up in the music. I just want to make sure we give them a good show and have fun. I don’t suddenly think: ‘Now I’m having all this power, now I can DESTROY!’ There’s nothing destructive in it. I’m too good a person for that.
ME/Sounds: Do you think that you deserve all that adoration?
Mercury (laughing): No, no. That kind of adoration makes me feel a bit embarrassed, to be honest. I don’t want to sound humble, but sometimes it seems curious that all this should be happening to me.
ME/Sounds: Alright… What’s next then?
Mercury: My solo project, which I’m working on right now. One of the most exciting things that ever happened to me. I put it off for such a long time because I wanted to wait for the right moment. I didn’t do it, because I was always very content in the band, even if everyone else seems to think that there’s trouble brewing in our camp.
The curious thing is that the rivalries within the band, that everyone is trying to get his songs on the album, create the tension that keeps us together. All those fights and arguments are still happening, perhaps more than ever, but some weird kind of chemical reaction keeps us creative and makes us want to stay together. Perhaps the reason is that there’s enough room in the band for our different roles. Looking at it like that, we’ve always had solo careers within the band.
ME/Sounds: Hmm. I’ve heard rumours about John disappearing to Bali while you were recording the latest album…
Mercury: Yes. He was fed up and left. I think that if you’re together for twelve or thirteen years, you’re always close to cracking. We all have our little moods and just want to get away from it all for a while…
ME/Sounds: How will your solo project be different from the Queen concept?
Mercury: I think the main difference is that I’m starting to do things I’d never dare on a Queen album. On a Queen album, I’d never dare to play the guitar, because Brian is just that good.
ME/Sounds: Will the music be less ‘baroque’ than with Queen?
Mercury: I know what you mean, that’s putting it quite well. I’d say that the baroque Queen-image only comes through in a couple of songs; but it’s true that this is a feature that won’t be found on my album. It will be ‘Blacker’.
ME/Sounds: How important is producer/engineer Mack for this project?
Mercury: He is a pearl. He is very important to me, he was very important for the Queen-records, and when it comes to my project, he’s a gem. We learned to work together very instinctively. I always work very fast because I get easily bored. I lose interest quickly. So Mack has to capture everything very quickly or it’s lost. I lose my inspiration when I have to hang around waiting for some engineer to get the sound right.
ME/Sounds: You say you like being spontaneous at work, but the recording dates for the Queen albums tell a very different story. THE WORKS took six months to get finished, for example. That doesn’t sound terribly ‘spontaneous’.
Mercury: Yes. Ha, ha, very good. But see, you’re talking about four band members again. Oooh, I’m going to get in trouble for this. Look, I get my songs together much faster than any of the others. Brian likes to take a lot of time. I prefer to try out some ideas, and then - (claps his hands) - there has to be a decision. Brian can work on the same song for a year.
I come into the studio every day and start with a new song, from the very beginning, and when the day is done, it’s not completely finished, but there’s a sense of the whole structure. That’s the goal I have set for myself at the moment.
ME/Sounds: So you’re saying that you come in cold, with no music or lyrics prepared in advance?
Mercury: Yes. I spontaneously create a song every day, spend one day getting it together, and if it isn’t any good at the end of the day, I throw it away. But I’ve already created four or five songs with that method that could turn out really well. I want as many hits on this solo album as I can get. That’s the name of the game.
ME/Sounds: Do you think you’re being overpaid?
Mercury: Well, you can make a lot of money in this game. No, I’m working hard for that money. Nothing was just handed to me. It wasn’t presented to me on a silver platter. I worked for it. I don’t want anything just handed to me.
ME/Sounds: Why did Queen always get such a rough treatment from the press?
Mercury: That started in the early days, when really, we were fighting them. It went so far that I said ‘fuck the press’ every night. They got wind of that, of course - and that’s how it came about. I believe that in the early days of your career, the press is very important. But afterwards, when you’re standing on your own feet and you’re being successful, it all depends on the audience. Really.
At the moment I’d prefer it if there were no press at all because the songs are speaking for themselves. But once you’ve profited from the press in the past, there’s no going back. Generally speaking, I don’t think highly of music critics. That’s why I barely ever give interviews. Why am I even talking to you?
[Textbox about the interview:] It took months of back and forth and a number of cancelled appointments (once because he almost choked on a fishbone and couldn’t talk) until the interview finally took place at Musicland studios in Munich, where most Queen albums were recorded and where their singer is currently working on his first solo album. While producer/engineer Mack is working on a re-mix for the EP of I Want To Break Free, we chat in the back of the studio.
Mercury’s initially shy demeanor doesn’t fit at all to his macho-image (skimpy vest, tight jeans, lots of muscle and hair), but he relaxes a lot over the course of the interview and talks with surprising openness. The whole time, he drinks Pimms No. 1 with cucumber slices and smokes lots of Marlboro Lights.
After the interview, he plays a selection of unfinished songs from his new album to me: still raw mixes, but clearly targeting the dancefloor - with a heavy drum machine beat and Reggae, Disco and Hip Hop influences. “They all sound like hits, don’t they?” Freddie chuckles. It wasn’t easy to contradict him.
~~~
Musikexpress/Sounds, Juni 1984. My translation. Feel free to share, but please don't remove the source and contextual information.
Scans of the original article in German with pictures of Freddie can be found here on @natromanxoff's blog.
If parts of it sound familiar, that because an article in Melody Maker took some of Freddie's quotes and pretended they were from a press conference in October 1984 - I wrote more about that here.
I don't feel like adding this onto someone else's post, but:
Sometimes I think about how Freddie actually did use the band for Mr. Bad Guy, but just hired other musicians to sound like them for the final cut of those songs, and this upset Brian for decades, if a post on his old Soapbox blog is anything to go by
It's fun when you can tell things about people by what colours they like to surround themselves with. Someone who likes wearing and decorating all their stuff with green is usually a calm, chill, down to earth kind of a person. They don't usually even notice how much of all their things are green, they just see a green thing and think "oh, pretty" and don't even put together just how much of their stuff ends up unintentionally being green.
Someone whose clothes and stuff are predominantly purple is something else, that's a Distinct Kind Of Personality who enjoys having a distinct colour scheme and goes out of their way to get it. Purple is too unusual of a colour to just accumulate unintentionally. A person whose belongings are mainly purple enjoys knowing that the people who know them probably first think "oh, That Person would probably like that" whenever they see something purple.
But someone who specifically enjoys the combination of purple and green? Yeah that's a harder than average herb wizard.
These posts are cousins to me.
every time i see the taylor swift tour shit in toronto i think of that post where somebody said eras tour is shen yun for white women and i lose it
*smashes you over the head with a potion bottle but it was a healing potion and it heals you for the exact amount of damage i dealt you* oh… uh. hm. do you think you could just lay on the floor and pretend to be unconscious