TO THRILL YOU WE'LL USE ANY DEVICE

"We started the video boom remember!"

Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the first videos to get the kind of attention that videos get now, and it only cost about five thousand pounds. It's big business now, and it's a very good way of showcasing yourself.

We decided we should put Rhapsody on film and let people see it. We didn't know how it was going to be looked upon or how they were going to receive it. To us it was just another form of theatre. But it just went crazy, and since then everybody's been doing it. In the early days you would make an album, then you did a tour straight afterwards, but sometimes it was 4 or 5 months before you got to a country. We recognised that a video could get to a lot of people in a lot of countries without you actually being there, and you could release a record and a video simultaneously. It became very fast and it helped record sales greatly.

It now seems that videos are more important than radio. It's the downside of MTV. Every time you hear a song you automatically picture the video. You do get so much more insight into the song and you also get a feel of maybe how the artist wanted it. But, there is a danger that the buyer might be misguided. Once, when you heard a piece of music you used to have to conjure up an image for yourself, but the moment you make a video people are saying, "Oh my God, that's the way he want» to put it across." It really narrows it down.

Somebody once came up to me and told me he had a pre-conceived idea of what he thought I was telling him in a song, but when he saw the video it was totally wrong. He said that he'd totally lost all meaning of what I was trying to say. But there you go! I wasn't upset, but it's sad that they'll always be some people who are going to be disillusioned by the fact that the video is not cohesive with the song in terms of what they wanted to see.

Nowadays you have to look good in films, as well. You've got to have a good image. I think one of the nicest bands around are The Police. To me, they've captured it. They've got that image and I think that's what really started them going. I love them. They're very good.

Look at us, look at David Bowie... You have to have an image, but that doesn't sell records all the time. A strong image is very important for longevity. Today it's Boy George and Annie Lennox, and when we started there was Roxy Music and David Bowie, and various others. It was a very strong image for that time. Think what The Beatles started in their time. I mean, to have that kind of hair and that look, then, was the same kind of impact. It was just a different time and a different perspective.

Promotional videos might help song writing, actually. I think it's going to be try commonplace where people start recording, even writing, with the video in mind - which is wonderful. It's another dimension.

A lot of the time people make videos and expect musicians to act a certain role, and that's where it falls down. There have been a lot of times where we’d shied away from that. If you go into a little acting thing you've got to do it really well, and if you don't it just comes across as really crass. You've got to be very careful.

I think I Want To Break Free [1984] works because of the fun element ' lie comedy. It's so farcical. I can't think of another video where the four principals, as it were, are actually doing real comedy drag. So often Queen comes across as very serious, when there is actually a lot of tongue-in-cheek there that people miss. The music ability is always there, and we've always been humorous underneath, but maybe it doesn't come across through songs - and on stage when we're very aggressive. The humour element is always lost. That video was a good way of showcasing that side of us, and I think we coped quite well.

I was dying to dress up in drag. Doesn't everybody? It was just one of those things. I'm sure everybody thought it was my idea, but in fact it wasn't my idea at all. It came from Roger, and actually the other three ran into their frocks quicker than anything. It's obvious that that's something I would do, but because it was their idea it came across a lot better. If it had been me, it would have been that much harder for them to accept the role, and I don't think it would have worked.

It wasn't a literal take-off of Coronation Street, it just came from that era. But if somebody had put us together and put names underneath us, well then I realised I had become Bet Lynch. Actually I thought I was more Finella Fielding, to be honest. Really, that wig was superb. It was Finella, although I do like Bet Lynch. She's one of my favourites - and Hilda Ogden of course.

I think that's one of our best videos to date. In fact it still makes me chuckle every time I see it, and I've seen it a lot of times. I'm glad we did it. People were quite amazed by the fact we could fool around and drag up and still be good musicians. In America it wasn't accepted at all well because they still regarded us as the heavy rockers there - the macho thing. They reacted with, "What are my idols doing dressing up in frocks?" There's a big risk element involved with most things we do, and I think our staunchest fans will know that we can come up with all sorts of ridiculous things. Some of them will work, and some don't, but I think the rest of the group will take my view on this... that we don't give a damn. We do what we want to do, and it's either accepted or not.

When it comes to videos I like to have fun in them. If you do that it comet across and people can relate to that. Basically it's just me having fun. 1 can't just sit in a chair knitting a blouse, or whatever, I have to go through all these horrible scenes and things which is what I'm all about. So in a funny way they are parts of my life that I'm just putting into picture»,

I Was Born To Love You [1985] is basically a romp through my house. That's what I do every night, so that came very easily. The dancing is quite heavy and some of the out-takes are even heavier than the parts you see. The idea in that story was that I had to slap the girl hard, and all that, but I was just going through the motions and she found she couldn't perform. I had to actually hit her, and kick her properly, and throw her around, so that she could come back at me and make it believable. When we saw it back I realised I couldn't have that it in my video, as nobody would show it, so we just used little snatches of it, but even so MTV found it hard to relate.

A lot of that video is on a set with me in front of all these mirrored images that were going to be static. Then I suddenly thought, "Why don't we have people stand behind them and just shake them a little, and see what kind of effect we get?" It was a very cheap way of getting the effect but sometimes these things just happen to be the best thing at the right time. So that wasn't actually thought out on paper. We had wanted static images of me, but then suddenly all this shimmering happened at the back, and it worked.

With I'm Going Slightly Mad [1991], I wanted to make that video as memorable as possible. I've always wanted to co-star in a video with a gorilla end a group of penguins. A little bit of Queen madness was required!

Most of the stuff I do is pretending. It's like acting... I go on stage and pretend to be a macho man and all those things. I think The Great Pretender is a great title for what I do because I am The Great Pretender! I've always had that in the back of my mind and that song is the one I've always wanted 1 Cover. I went into the studio [in 1987] and tried a few trials, and I liked it.

It suited my voice and it's a great song to sing. And, in my videos I go through

all the different characters and I'm pretending again.

I've always believed that in the end, in terms of videos, that no matter how good your image is, the song has to be good too. The song has got to be good because people buy the song. They don't buy the image all the time, because you're actually only doing all that to sell the song. You can only hype the public up to a certain point,

I think Boy George has got a great image, but it doesn't matter how good your image is or how wonderful the video is, if his songs weren't any good they wouldn't sell. Even if he wore a teapot on his head, which he keeps saying he will, it wouldn't matter.

Chapter eleven

TU VOZ PENETRA EN MI

"I'm not a star-fucker. How can I be a star-fucker? I am. a star!"

I listen to all kinds of music, from Jimi Hendrix and George Michael, to Liza Minnelli and Aretha Franklin, all the way back to Мае West.

Jimi Hendrix was just a beautiful man, a master showman and a dedicated musician. I would scour the country to see him whenever he played because he really had everything any rock and roll star should have; all the style and presence. He didn't have to force anything. He'd just make an entrance and the whole place would be on fire. He was living out everything I wanted to be.

1 think on stage you either have the magic, or you don't, and there's no way you can work up to it. Liza Minnelli just oozes with sheer talent. She has energy and stamina, which she gets across on stage, and the way she delivers herself to the public is a good influence. There is a lot to learn from tin,

I would say that Led Zeppelin are the greatest, and Robert Plant is one of the most original vocalists of our time. As a rock band they deserved the kind of success they got.

I love the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, above all other singers. She I hive one of the best voices ever and she sings like a dream. I wish I could sing half as well as she does. It's so natural and she puts her whole emotion into it. Each word she sings is so full of meaning and expression. I could listen to it forever.

I'd love Aretha to sing Somebody To Love, actually. That would be a nice thing. But as for me trying to sing with her? Well, she hasn't approached me yet!

I'm mad that George Michael did a duet with her. I could have done it better! Mind you, having said that, I think George Michael has a very good voice, too. He's one of the singers that I like.

I also liked Tears For Fears, because they wrote music I could really relate to. They had a lot of rhythm and at the same time a lot of aggression. Flo & Eddie were simply a riot, I liked them. I enjoy Joni Mitchell tremendously, and am constantly awed by her vocal phrasing as well as the amazing things she writes. Frankie Goes To Hollywood were a tremendous act, and so were Spandau Ballet, while Barbara Valentine fascinated me because she's got such great tits!

I think the Human League are one of the best bands around, and The Police -1 think they're very good. They're an excellent band and they've got the ingredients that you need. I didn't like the Thompson Twins though. I don't know the real reason why, it's just one of those things.

It would be nice to see a bigger influx of British acts, actually, taking over America like they used to. I think nowadays bands come up at a rapid рас» and then fizzle out at a rapid pace, which is a bit sad. Some of the newer bands seem to want to get up there very quickly, and think they've made К over night. What they don't realise is that after they've conquered England, Ш be an international success, you've really got to slog in America too. You ma» be number one in England, and you're the bees knees there, but probably America hasn't even heard of you.

I think the standards in music are sо high these days and the competition is so great. But 1 like that, because otherwise people like me too complacent. Every couple of years there's a sifting process and the really good bands stay, and all the crap gets left behind. That happens all the time. But if you ask me what shape it's all going to be in in the future, nobody can tell you that.

Boy George has great talent. I like him very much. We became good friends. That boy's so brave - he did such a lot to make society more tolerant about sexual preferences. When I started, rock bands all wore dirty jeans, and then suddenly there I was in a Zandra Rhodes frock and make up. It was totally outrageous. Boy George just updated the whole glam rock bit, but he did it in his own individual way.

He has got staying power, which is a heavy ingredient that you need to have. I think he is going to be here for a long while. You can always tell when someone is going to stay, and Boy George is going to stay. A lot of people blow out because of the pressure one gets from being in the public eye like that, but the one thing I do know about George is that he does love publicity. He just wants publicity at all costs and even seems to thrive on adverse publicity. Well that's his thing, and I just hope he comes through it ok.

I have friends in the music business and I like being in that company now and again, but I don't go out of my way to go to every reception just to be seen. No no no. My God, no! There was a time when I used to do that kind of thing because it was part of learning the career, and you have to go through all that. It's something that you'd be a liar to say you didn't do.

When you start off you want to be a star, so you want to be associated With bigger stars. It's a growth process that has to happen. But I found out it can be empty, it can be cruel, and it can be rotten. You learn by your mistakes, but it's up to you to opt out or you just carry on being like that until you burn yourself out. It's something that didn't agree with me, and I just learned that there arc other things in life besides just being seen out with a superstar on each arm.

I've never been very good at it anyway. When I was introduced to Prince Andrew I was wearing a white scarf and holding a glan of wine. I was so nervous I didn't realise my scarf was dangling in the drink. There I was trying to be really cool and suddenly the Prince said, "Freddie, I don't think you really want this getting wet." And he squeezed out the scarf and that broke the ice between us. I said, "Thank goodness you've put me at ease... Now I can use the odd bit of dirty language." Then we both burst out laughing. He really got into the spirit of things and even had a dance. He's really quite hip in those situations and I have a lot of respect for royalty. I'm a tremendous patriot.

I'm very close with a lot of people - like David Bowie and Elton John. Elton's a good old cookie, isn't he? I love him to death and I think he's fabulous. To me he's like one of those last Hollywood actresses of any worth. He has been a pioneer in rock'n'roll. The first time I met him he was wonderful, one of those people you can instantly get on with. He said he liked Killer Queen and anyone who says that goes in my white book. My black book is bursting at the seams!

Rod Stewart, Elton John and I were going to form a band, once upon a time, called Hair, Nose and Teeth - after the three of us. We'd meet up from time to time at parties or dinners, and we just thought that we should sing together. But I think that getting three people like us in a studio would be like throwing in a bomb and waiting for it to explode. It's nice when you've had a lot of wine and you talk about it and say, "Yes, let's do it," but the next day, when you're sober and Eiton says, Tm not gonna sing with Rod," and Rod says, "I'm not gonna sing with Freddie," and I say, "Well, I'm not gonna sing with Elton!' you realise it's never going to happen. Besides, none of our egos could agree on the order of the words! Naturally I would went it to be called Teeth, Nose and Hair, and the others would want it the other way around. So there you go! But if it ever comes about, I will buy the album,

I'm very fond of Rod and Elton. They both came to my last birthday perty and sang happy birthday when the cake was wheeled in. I shouted out» "This is probably the first time the two of you have sung without being paid for it"

When we were in Los Angeles working on the Queen album The Works, Rod was in town and he came in and we just sturted jamming. He sang on a song I'd written*. It was all done on the spur of the moment in the same way that David Bowie and Queen did Under Pressure. He just came in the studio and we were fooling around, and it snowballed, and eventually turned into a song. So these are things that you can't plan, because if you tried they would never happen.

I think all the other Queen members would agree that because we have been working together for so long, we know each other instinctively now. I even write songs in terms of Queen. I know exactly what the bass player is capable of, and the guitarist and drummer, and things like that. But to work with another established artist, like when we did our thing with David Bowie, you're working from stage one, and that's a great challenge. You don't know which way to write, you don't know what kind of aggression you're going to get, what kind of compliment you're going to get, or what kind of rapport you're going to achieve. So when you're working with other people the best way is just to go in there and do it. If it sparks off, you've got it, otherwise you just forget it.

I'm always quite interested in working with other musicians, people like Michael Jackson. Although she's a worry. All that money and no taste, my dears! What a waste! We had three tracks in the can, but unfortunately they were never finished. They were great songs but the problem was time - as We were both very busy at that period. We never seemed to be in the same Country long enough to actually finish everything completely. One of the longs was called State of Shock, and Michael even called me to ask if I could Complete it, but I couldn't because I had commitments with Queen. Mick Jagger took over instead. It was a shame, but ultimately a song is a song. As long as the friendship is there, that's what matters.

I'd like to release something with Michael because he is a really marvellous person to work with. He has been a friend of ours for a long while. He used (0 come and see our shows all the time, and that is how the friendship grew. We were always interested in each other's styles. I would regularly play him the new Queen album when it was cut and he would play me his stuff. We kept saying, "Why don't we do something together?"

· This later became Let me Live on Queen’s final album Made in Heaven, 1995, without any of Rod Stewart’s vocals.

Just think, I could have been on Thriller. Think of the royalties I've missed out on!

Michael and I grew apart a bit after his massive success with Thriller [1983]. He simply retreated into a world of his own. We used to have great fun going to clubs together but now he won't come out of his fortress and it's very sad. He's so worried someone will do him in that he's paranoid about absolutely everything. I get worried myself, but I'll never let it take over my life like that.

He's the biggest thing ever in terms of sales, and that brings a very different kind of pressure because he has been singled out as the best. That is hard for even me to relate to. I think he's an enigma, and that makes him a God-given gift to the media because they can write anything about him because it all fits. He's very shy and all I can say is that at the time when I knew him he was a very nice and sweet guy, and very talented. That's it.

I have my friends and I don't care where they come from or what they do for a living. I don't go out of my way to say my friends should only be musicians because I enjoy all sorts of characters. We don't have to talk about music, I just like interesting people who actually have more to talk about than just music. I can talk about all kinds of things - like dirt and filth.

I think I get on with most people. I'm sure I'd even get on with King Kong very well. We're the same age. Mind you, I've climbed higher buildings than that!

Chapter twelve

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 785