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Freddie_mercury_a_life_in_his_own_words_

Chapter one

I HAD THIS PERFECT DREAM

 

I’m not going to be a star, I'm going to be a legend!

I want to be the Rudolph Nureyev of rock and roll!"

In the beginning I was quite prepared to starve, which I did, and just make a go on it. You have to believe in yourself, no matter how long it takes.

When Queen first formed all of us were aiming for the top slot and we weren’t going to be content with anything less. You have to have a lot of confidence to get on in this business. It's useless saying that you don't need that. If one starts saying, "Maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I'd better settle for second place," then forget it. We were full of confidence. You've got to have that. You have to have a kind of arrogance and lots of confidence and absolute determination, as well as all the other obvious skills, like music. Arrogance is a very good thing to have when you're starting, and that means saying to yourselves that you're going to be the number one group, not the number two group. We just had it inside us. We all had a very big ego, as well.

We were so stubborn about it. We wanted people to know that we were a band to be reckoned with. And also we had all these ideas to show originality.

You have to start with something outrageous, that's the best way to actually let the public know that you're on the scene. You have to try and get in the public eye – outrage and shock value has always been there. We had our album cover with no clothes on, lots of make-up, black fingernails, and all those things. At that tune it was as shocking as anything.

FE, IN HIS OWN WORDS

Image is always a very integral part of build-up, I think. Whether it's contrived, or whatever, in the end you form your own instincts about it. It's either a gimmick that hasn't worked, or something that you can play upon. It's all strategy. A certain amount of arrogance and ego, it's all got to be there.

When we first got our band together I think most people were really shocked because they thought pop groups usually consisted of ex-truck drivers of very little brains, who were fed up with being on the dole and had decided to become top of the pops instead. We were one of the bands who were going to take a piece of the action. We were going to do it. We knew

we could do it.

We weren't just playing with the music scene. We said, "Ok, we're going to take the plunge into rock and we're really going to do a job of it - no half measures." We were still in university and we all had potentially good careers and we weren't prepared to settle for second best if we were going to abandon all the qualifications we had obtained in other fields. We wanted the best. It wasn't a question of wanting world domination, although I know it probably came across as capitalism.

We aimed for the top slot and we were not going to be satisfied with anything less. None of us wanted to get tied to a 9-5 job. I definitely knew that we'd got everything in terms of the music. We were original enough and we started proving it. We weren't the kind of band that would say, "Ok, we're going to do this, but if it doesn't work out we will follow what someone else does." No. That's the wrong way to do it. We weren't going to enter into the music business if we weren't serious enough to go the whole hog. We decided to finish our courses first, which meant one and a half years wait, and if we were still together then, it meant we were serious.



At that time we said, "Let's make it interesting. Let's try to incorporate all the different backgrounds that we've acquired." We weren't snobbish, but we were very careful. We wanted to appear tastefully. Even though we weren’t anybody, yet, we felt we should appear that way. I suppose it was snobbish really. We didn't want Queen to be just everybody's band, but for just a select few to start with.

At the start I knew we were going to be huge - and we were. There was never a doubt in my mind. Never. I just knew we would make it and I told everyone who asked, just that. You have to have that kind of confidence in this business. If you like the icing on top, and all the trimmings, you've got to have the confidence to go get it.

I'm the only one in the band from the artistic field. The others are all scientists; Roger from biology, John from electronics, and Brian from physics. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined someone like Brian, an infra-red astronomer, would pick up a guitar and be a rock and roller - so there you are!

I went to art school with the impression of getting my diploma, which I did, and then becoming an illustrator - hoping to earn my keep as a freelance. Music was always a sideline, and that sort of grew. When I'd finished with the illustrating course, I was sick of it. I'd had it up to here. I thought, "I don't think I can make a career of this because my mind just wasn't on that kind of thing." So I thought I would just play around with the music side of it for a while. Everybody wants to be a star, so I just thought that if I could make a go of it, why not?

And then after a while there is a decision-making time, where you've got to take the plunge; you've either got to say, "I'm gonna go and do this, and concentrate on this," or not. And we finally did that.

We had to wait a long while - it wasn't just me making up my mind. People l John and Roger had big degrees to consider. So, some very vital and important decisions had to be made. This is a full-time occupation, not (I wey it was a very good inspiration; we just thought we've left (t qualifications behind and now we're going to do this. So... there you are». I’m certainly not complaining.

My parents were outraged when I told them what I was up to, but now they see we’re making money they seem quite happy about it.

 

Chapter two


Date: 2015-02-03; view: 2060


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