Things You May or May Not Know About...Freddie Mercury

Everyone knows this high vocal, flamboyant front man for Queen. Some think they know all about him. Others have a casual knowledge of who he is. Here are some facts you may or may not know about Freddie Mercury.

1. He worked as a life model in art school

-Freddie had attended Ealing Art School in the 1960s. He was also hard up for cash. To earn some money to put towards a pair of Levi's, he worked as a life model for an evening drawing class. He recalls, during one interview "We were given a towel to protect our modesty. But I often think of all those old ladies who drew pictures of a half-naked Freddie Mercury."

2. He was a roadie for David Bowie
-April 1969 seen young Freddie Bulsara, as he was known in the days before Queen, working as a roadie for then unknown singer-songwriter David Bowie. When young David Bowie had played a lunchtime gig at the Ealing Art School, Freddie helped carry one of the amps and even helped design a makeshift stage out of tables.

3. He had more teeth than most people

-For one thing, people often make fun of him for his famous overbite. His trademark overbite was the result of having four extra teeth in the back of his mouth pushing the teeth in front forward. He refused in every sense of the word to have dental surgery to correct it. He feared it would destroy his incredible vocal abilities

4. He was responsible for the Sex Pistols
-Queen were scheduled to play a live gig on Tonight with Bill Grundy on 12/1/1976, in honor of their album A Day at the Races. Freddie had an appointment with the dentist, his first in 15 years and the band had to cancel. The replacement band was a then unknown punk band called The Sex Pistols

5. Bohemian Rhapsody was written by him while still a college student

-Using the school piano, Freddie had written and composed one of Queen's best known songs. It took him five years to finish this song. One classmate remarked "He called it ‘The Cowboy Song’. But he could never get beyond ‘Mama, just killed a man…'"

6. Brian May's guitar solos bored him

-With Brian's guitar solos lasting 10+ minutes, Freddie once went into the wings of the stage and declared "For God’s sake, let’s go shopping, get me out of here!"

7. He had female nicknames for friends and bandmates-except one
-John Deacon was too masculine, so he was exempt. Other than him, he called himself "Melina", Brian May was "Maggie", Roger Taylor was "Liz", Elton John was "Sharon", Rod Stewart was "Phyllis". Mary Austin, Freddie's former girlfriend was "Steve", after The Six Million Dollar Man actor Steve Austin

8. He once put Status Quo's Francis Rossi in a headlock

-There has seemed to always be a rivalry between Queen and Status Quo. Could it be because their music was considered too similar to each other? Who knows. The stand-off occurred backstage at Live Aid. Mercury and Rossi were joking around when Rossi made a joke about Freddie's sexuality. Mercury put him a headlock. "If he’d wanted to have me, he’d have had me. I couldn’t move." admitted Rossie

9. He sent a posthumous Christmas gift to Elton John
-In 1991, after he had passed, Freddie Mercury had sent a Christmas gift to his good friend Elton John. It was wrapped in a pillowcase and it was a painting Henry Scott Tuke, one of Elton John's favorite artists. Included was a handwritten note that read "Dear Sharon, thought you’d like this. Love Melina."

10. He never thought he would get old
-Everyone thinks that. Everyone who ends up being a musician dreads the old age bus hitting them head on. But it happens. In 1987, Freddie said in an interview "It would be so boring to be seventy. I’ve lived a full life and if I’m dead tomorrow, I don’t give a damn."

Things You Didn't Know About...Brian May

You could essentially Google this man and get 1,000+ search results for him. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, here are some things you may or may not know about Queen's guitarist, Brian May.

10
Some think he bears a resemblance to an alleged cousin of Conway Twitty
-T.E. Conway, an "alleged" cousin of country music star Conway Twitty, is said to look like Brian May.

9
He assisted Black Sabbath
-For those who may or may not know, Tony Iommi, guitarist for legendary British doom metallers Black Sabbath, is one of Brian May's best friends. May assisted the band on the 1989 album Headless Cross, specifically the track "When Death Calls". He played the guitar solo on this track

8
He teamed up with Soundgarden
-Brian played guitar on the Soundgarden track "New Damage". He would, once again, work with Soundgarden on the track "Someone to Die For", which made an appearance on the soundtrack for Spider-Man 2.

7
He works with other musicians frequently
-He worked on a new version of "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd. Only this new version of the song was a cover song by The Foo Fighters for the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack

6
His most irritating question revolves around Freddie Mercury
-He has been asked the question "What was it like to work with Freddie Mercury?" so many times it nearly gives him migraines. He has every ounce of respect for his former bandmate. He just feels that "Queen has cast a long shadow", according to a recent interview

5
He has a PhD in astrophysics
-Originally, gazing at the stars is what held young Brian May's attention before the music bug ever bit him. He attended Imperial College in London to obtain a degree in astronomy. He had dropped all interest in that to become a musician. Three decades later, in 2007, he returned to complete and receive his doctorate in astrophysics

4

His famed "Red Special" was built by hand

-Because he was not affluent and could not afford the Fender Stratocasters Gibson Les Pauls he wanted as a teen, he and his father hand built a guitar from scratch. It was made of mahogany wood, thus the reddish color and thus being dubbed the "Red Special". This guitar is very near and dear to him as it has become the trademark instrument he has played many a Queen song and more on

3
He had a side band called Star Fleet
-This side project featured Eddie Van Halen, Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon and Roger Taylor of Queen. The group had written a track called "Let Me Out". This was inspired by Brian's son Jimmy, who was a fan of a series called Star Fleet.

2

He is the proud owner of a CBE

-2005 saw Brian May receiving a high honor-Commander of the Order of the British Empire. This high honor is bestowed upon anyone who makes a valuable contribution to any field. In Brian May's case, he was thanked for his "services to the music industry".

1
3-D captures his attention
-When he was growing up, cereal boxes were often the place to find stereo cards. These are most likely similar to prizes found in other cereal boxes, like toys and games. Brian has been collecting them since he was a child. 40 years ago, he joined the Stereoscopic Society, dedicated to all things three dimensional and after Queen concerts would visit these shops in search of new and unusual items.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

ATTENTION!
THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF QUEEN, YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!

That's right, if you read this and you're a fan of the band Queen, you must see this movie! This movie is the perfect movie for anyone who loves the men who wrote such legendary songs as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Somebody to Love", "Tie Your Mother Down", "Radio Ga-Ga" and more!!!

Summary
-This movie is the story of how one of the most iconic and yet underrated bands in music history came to be. Four men from different walks of life-astrophysics student Brian May, electrical engineering student John Deacon, dentistry-turned biology degree student Roger Taylor and Heathrow Airport baggage handler Farrouk Bomi Bulsara, aka Freddie Mercury, come together and form the iconic band known as Queen. Like all bands, this band will have its ups and downs, but they will make it through and play one of their most successful concerts-Live Aid.

Cast

Rami Malek: Freddie Mercury

Lucy Boynton: Mary Austin

Gwilym Lee: Brian May

Ben Hardy: Roger Taylor

Joseph Mazzello: John Deacon

Aidan Gillen: John Reid

Allen Leech: Paul Prenter

-Tom Hollander: Jim Beach
-Mike Myers: Ray Foster
-Aaron McCusker: Jim Hutton
-Meneka Das: Jer Bulsara
-Ace Bhatti: Bomi Bulsara
-Priya Blackburn: Kashmira Bulsara
-Dermot Murphy: Bob Geldof
-Neil Fox-Roberts: Mary's father
-Matt Greenwood: Young man at medical clinic

Did You Know?
-Bryan Singer, who directed the movie, was fired by 20th Century Fox after getting into a fight with the film's lead actor, Rami Malek. Reportedly, Malek threw something at singer when Malek complained to the studios about Singer's repeated absences
-During the Live Aid scene, there are two guys up in the rafters jamming to the music. They look and are very reminiscent of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar from the Wayne's World movies.

-One of the first radio DJs to ever play the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" was Kenny Everett. He truly believed in the song's success and he would hype it up, play it on the radio station without consent and put it on heavy rotation. He ended up becoming a good friend of Freddie Mercury. Soon they became more than friends as Everett and Mercury would end up both becoming drug addicts. They also both became diagnosed with AIDS. Everett tested positive for HIV in 1987 and died in 1995 from AIDS-related complications

-In real life, Freddie Mercury did not learn that he was HIV-positive before Live Aid. He learned he was positive between 1986-1987. He let the band know first and expressed concern about focusing on the music and keeping the news private. He also had no clue the band was rehearsing for a last minute, squeezed-in gig at Live Aid

-Ray Foster, played by Mike Myers, complains that "Bohemian Rhapsody" is not a song that kids can bang their head to. This is a reference to the film Wayne's World, in which the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" had gained even more popularity with Myers banging his head to the song

-Joseph Mazzello, who plays bassist John Deacon, had to wear five different wigs throughout the movie to simulate the various hair styles over the years

-Freddie Mercury's best friend, Mary Austin, is the only person who truly knows where Freddie's ashes are buried
-In December 2017, director Bryan Singer was fired for repeated absences and clashes with crew and cast members and to finish the film, Dexter Fletcher was brought in

-Joseph Mazzello, who plays bassist John Deacon, starred in a miniseries called The Pacific, playing a character named PFC Eugene Sledge. Rami Malek, who played front man Freddie Mercury, also starred in this miniseries, playing Merriell "Snafu" Shelton, alongside Mazzello.

Joseph Mazzello

Rami Malek

-The song "Love of My Life" was dedicated to his good friend Mary Austin, who he was deeply in love with. Freddie Mercury entrusted a good portion of his estate to her, she is the only one who knows where his ashes are buried and even though he told her that he felt he might be bisexual, she still stayed a close friend of his

-When Malek was cast as Freddie, he had only a casual knowledge of Queen. He had to undergo intense choreography and lessons in moving like Freddie in addition to learning how to talk with prosthetic teeth

-Despite John Deacon appearing to play bass at their first American concert in 1970, he actually didn't enter Queen until 1971. He was their fourth bass player

-Joseph Mazzello said the first song he downloaded on Napster was "Bohemian Rhapsody"
-During one of Freddie's parties, girls in hot pants are seen on bicycles, a reference to "Fat Bottom Girls" and "Bicycle Race"

-When John Reid started managing Queen, he was only 29. Aidan Gillen, who plays him in the movie, was 49 at the time

John Reid and Freddie Mercury

Aidan Gillen

-To celebrate the movie's release, Rami Malek appeared on the Egyptian launch release of GQ Magazine because Egypt is his ancestral home
-On Oct. 20, 2018, Chrissie Mullen, Brian May's first wife, was said to be unhappy with how she is portrayed in the movie. Producers cut her out altogether despite her protesting to ex-husband May
-Rami Malek underwent 50 hours of costume work, from Lycra outfits, skintight spandex and satin pants, 4'' platform shoes, etc

-Lady Gaga (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) took her stage name from the Queen song "Radio Ga-Ga"

-When Rami Malek first met with Queen at Abbey Road Studios, he was running late. As he was racing up the stairs, he passed a picture of Freddie Mercury, who Rami felt had been staring at him, saying "Don't do this". Rami felt "it was really inspiring"
-Despite not being mentioned in the movie, Paul Prenter (played by Allen Leech), died of AIDS in 1991, the same year Freddie Mercury died of the disease
-All except "Another One Bites the Dust", the music in the movie are backing tracks with the cast playing like a real band

-Queen was not happy about having such a short timeslot at Live Aid. So they got creative and ended up doing an over 20 minute slot there. With Freddie's expert showmanship, he got the crowd up and moving. One of the members of Bob Geldof's band, The Boomtown Rats, said, annoyed, "Thanks, Bob. Now we have to follow that!"

-Rami Malek was chosen to play Freddie Mercury because his jawline reminded people of Mercury in Mr. Robot (2015)

-For the role of Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek was fitted with a set of prosthetic teeth to imitate Mercury's famous overbite. After filming was finished, Malek kept the teeth as a memento

-When the producers were looking for an actor to play the iconic singer, Rami Malek sent in a video of him singing Queen songs. But the actual band members had not downloaded the video properly and gotten a chance to watch it. But Malek blew away the band members when he finally got to meet them and sing in person

Ronnie Wood has a cancer scare

If you don't know the name Ronnie Wood, no matter. He's a guitar player, formerly of The Faces but now The Rolling Stones. He's recently had a major cancer scare.

Back in May, it was discovered that a cancerous lesion was found on the lung of former Faces but current Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. He had the piece of his lung with the cancer in it removed for safety. He was lucky that the cancer was detected early and that no chemotherapy treatments were required. He still worried that if it wasn't discovered, he might not survive.

"There was a week when everything hung in the balance and it could have been curtains – time to say goodbye,” he told Event. “You never know what is going to happen"

It was discovered during a mandatory physical in preparation for next month's European tour. He says what followed that discovery "a week of tests. They needed to know if it had set up encampments and spread to my lymph nodes. If that had happened it would have been all over for me. … I was prepared for bad news but I also had faith it would be OK. Apart from the doctors, we didn’t tell anyone because we didn’t want to put anyone else though the hell we were going through. But I made up my mind that if it had spread I wasn’t going to go through chemo, I wasn’t going to use that bayonet in my body"

He said that one particular reason for not wanting to go through chemo was "I wasn’t going to lose my hair. This hair wasn’t going anywhere."

He says that even he is not shocked that it was discovered. The last time he had a chest X-ray was in 2002 in rehab and years of smoking cigarettes, which he had quit a year before the birth of his twin daughters.

"I had this thought at the back of my mind after I gave up smoking a year ago. How can I have got through 50 years of chain-smoking – and all the rest of my bad habits – without something going on in there?" He credits his wife, Sally Humphries, for helping him through

Later on, he said "Did I think I’d ever make it to see this? Hell no! Someone up there must like me. And luckily someone down here likes me too."

There is hope for all Led Zeppelin fans...

There are rumors abound of a possible Led Zeppelin reunion...

A recent message on Robert Plant's site is sparking interest in the possibility of a Led Zeppelin reunion. This latest rumor is of them reuniting and supposedly playing the 2017 Desert Trip, a weekend music festival. Until there is more proof of this, don't get your hopes up. But wouldn't it be nice to celebrate the fact that Zeppelin have been one of rock's top names for close to 50 years with a nice little reunion?

Unfortunately, these rumors have been going for a while. In 2014, there was a reunion rumor going around. Plant flat out said "You’re going back to the same old s—. A tour would have been an absolute menagerie of vested interests and the very essence of everything that’s s—ty about big-time stadium rock. We were surrounded by a circus of people that would have had our souls on the fire. I’m not part of a jukebox!"

So, if there are any chances of Led Zeppelin reuniting, let's keep our hopes up and prayers alive!!

WE'RE GOING TO SEE DEEP PURPLE AND ALICE COOPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the weekend, my sister looked into tickets for the Deep Purple/Alice Cooper concert that is set to take place at the Riverbend Music Center here in Cincinnati, OH in September. There were still a lot of tickets left, which is shocking considering the acts playing there that night. It's on Sept. 10 and of all tickets that we managed to snag, we got pit seats. At Riverbend, there is an area right in front of the stage called the pit seats. WE HAVE PIT SEATS!! My sister is going to blow a blood vessel being that close to Alice Cooper. She is a huge fan!!!! The looks on her face when he sings "Feed My Frankenstein" is going to be priceless. Not only that, it's Deep Purple!! I CAN'T WAIT!! My sister bought the tickets, which were $195. I know that sounds like a lot of money and it is. But, I paid my sister back for my ticket and I figure it this way-how many times are we going to get to see these guys before they stop touring??? Probably none after this, lol!!

Day 10-Favorite idol

I have to be a smarty pants, lol!!

Day 09-Favorite song

This is going to be a long list. IDK if videos are required, but I can add some. I'll break it down by artist. These are just some of them. I didn't want to list everything otherwise you'd be here for a while reading, lol!!

This is going to be a long list. IDK if videos are required, but I can add some. I'll break it down by artist. WARNING: there are going to be some long lists under some names

Judas Priest

Turbo

-Turbo Lover

-Private Property

-Parental Guidance

-Out in the Cold

-Reckless

-Hot for Love

The Essential Judas Priest

-Breaking the Law

-Hell Bent for Leather

-Electric Eye

-Beyond the Realms of Death

-A Touch of Evil

-Metal Gods

-Living After Midnight

-Freewheel Burning

-Night Crawler

-Hell Patrol

Ram It Down

-Heavy Metal

-Come and Get It

-Johnny B. Goode

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden

-Charlotte the Harlot

-Iron Maiden

-Sanctuary

-Running Free

-Prowler

Piece of Mind

-Flight of Icarus

-The Trooper

-Die With Your Boots On

-Still Life

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

-Can I Play with Madness?

-Infinite Dreams

-Only the Good Die Young

The X Factor

-Man on the Edge

-Lord of the Flies

Virtual XI

-The Angel and the Gambler

-Futureal

The Number of the Beast

-The Number of the Beast

-Run to the Hills

-Children of the Damned

-Hallowed Be Thy Name

-Total Eclipse

Fear of the Dark

-Be Quick or Be Dead

-From Here to Eternity

-Afraid to Shoot Strangers

-Fear is the Key

-Childhood's End

-Wasting Love

-The Fugitive

-Chains of Misery

-Judas Be My Guide

-Fear of the Dark

Brave New World

-The Wicker Man

-Brave New World

-The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

-Ghost of the Navigator

-The Mercenary

-Blood Brothers

The Final Frontier

-Satellite 15...The Final Frontier

-Mother of Mercy

-El Dorado

-When the Wild Wind Blows

The Book of Souls

-If Eternity Should Fail

-Speed of Light

-The Red and the Black

-The Man of Sorrows

-Empire of the Clouds

Somewhere in Time

-Wassted Years

-Sea of Madness

-Deja Vu

Powerslave

-Two Minutes to Midnight

Killers

-Wrathchild

No Prayer for the Dying

-Bring Your Daughter...To the Slaughter

Dance of Death

-Wildest Dreams

-Rainmaker

-Age of Innocence

Bruce Dickinson

The Best of Bruce Dickinson

-Broken

-Road to Hell

-Accident of Birth

-The Chemical Wedding

-Bring Your Daughter...To the Slaughter

-Man of Sorrows

-Tears of the Dragon

-The Tower

-No Way Out...Continued

Tattooed Millionaire

-All the Young Dudes

-Born in '58

-Gypsy Road

Black Sabbath

Paranoid

-War Pigs

-Iron Man

-Paranoid

Born Again ( I want to get this album next!)

-Hot Line

Master of Reality

-Sweet Leaf (it makes me laugh because I know the coughing at the start is from Tony Iommi)

Seventh Star

-Seventh Star

-Danger Zone

-No Stranger to Love

-In for the Kill

-Angry Heart

-Turn to Stone

The Dio Years

-Heaven and Hell

-Lady Evil

The Eternal Idol

-The Shining

-Ancient Warrior

-Glory Ride

-Born to Lose

Headless Cross

-Headless Cross

-Devil and Daughter

Aerosmith

O, Yeah!

-Walk This Way

-Same Old Song and Dance

-Fallin in Love is Hard on the Knees

Devil's Got a New Disguise

-Rag Doll

-Dream On

-Sweet Emotion

-Love in an Elevator

-I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing

The Big Ones

-Walk on Water

-The Other Side

-Deuces are Wild

-Cryin'

-Angel

-Eat the Rich

-Blind Man

-What It Takes

-Amazing

AC/DC

Highway to Hell

-Highway to Hell

Back in Black

-Hells Bells

-Shoot to Thrill

-What Do You Do for Money Honey

-Giving the Dog a Bone

-Let Me Put My Love into You

-You Shook Me All Night Long

-Have a Drink on Me

-Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

The Razor's Edge

-Moneytalks

Iron Man 2

-Thunderstruck

-T.N.T

Blow Up Your TV

-Heatseeker

High Voltage

-It's a Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock and Roll

Rock or Bust

-Play Ball

-Rock or Bust

Who Made Who

-Who Made Who

Motley Crue

Greate$t Hit$

-Looks That Kill

-Too Fast for Love

-Shout at the Devil

-Kickstart My Heart

-S.O.S. (Same Old Situation)

-Sick Love Song

-Too Young to Fall in Love

-Girls, Girls, Girls

-Home Sweet Home

-Wild Side

-Saints of Los Angeles

-If I Die Tomorrow

-Smokin' in the Boys Room

-Dr. Feelgood

-Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

Bad Company

Straight Shooter

-Shooting Star

Run with the Pack

-Run with the Pack

-Honey Child

10 from 6

-Rock and Roll Fantasy

Foreigner

No End in Sight

-Feels Like the First Time

-Double Vision

-Long, Long Way from Home

-Cold as Ice

-Blue Morning, Blue Day

-Dirty White Boy

-Head Games

-Night Life

-I Want to Know What Love Is

-Heart Turns to Stone

4

-Girl on the Moon

Genesis

Turn It On Again: The Hits

-Turn It On Again

-Invisible Touch

-Land of Confusion

-Throwing It All Away

-No Son of Mine

-Jesus He Knows Me

-Mama

-I Can't Dance

-Follow You, Follow Me

-Hold on My Heart

Genesis

-That's All

-Home by the Sea

Phil Collins

No Jacket Required

-Long Long Way to Go

-I Don't Wanna Know

-One More Night

-Don't Lose My Number

Van Halen

The Best of Both Worlds

-You Really Got Me

-(Oh) Pretty Woman

-Panama

-Jamie's Cryin'

-Dancing in the Street

-Right Now

Best of Vol. 1

-Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love

-Running with the Devil

-Dance the Night Away

-And the Cradle Will Rock...

-Unchained

-Why Can't This Be Love

-Dreams

-Poundcake

-Me Wise Magic

-Humans Being

Kiss

Destroyer

-Do You Love Me

-God of Thunder

Crazy Nights

-Reason to Live

-Turn On the Night

Smashes, Thrashes and Hits

-Let's Put the X in Sex

-(You Make Me) Rock Hard

-Tears are Falling

Animalize

-Thrills in the Night

Creatures of the Night

-Creatures of the Night

-War Machine

Kiss Icon 2

-Beth

-Strutter

-Hotter Than Hell

-Christine Sixteen

-Love Gun

-Calling Dr. Love

-Heaven's on Fire

-Hide Your Heart

-I Was Made for Loving You

-Psycho Circus

Monster

-Hell or Hallelujah

-Take Me Down Below

-Eat Your Heart Out

-Outta This World

-All for the Love of Rock and Roll

-Last Chance

-Freak

Love Gun

-I Stole Your Love