Regular readers and followers of my blog will know how much I love the band Queen, how much I love Freddie Mercury and how many times I saw “Bohemian Rhapsody” at the cinema when it was released last year. Since it was released on digital download, DVD and Blu-Ray earlier this year I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve watched the film in total. Rami Malek does an incredible job at bringing Freddie Mercury to life, as do the rest of the cast, and the awards and “Best Actor” Oscar he won for portraying Freddie was well deserved.

The other day while watching “Bohemian Rhapsody” for the umpteenth time, with my husband gritting his teeth at it being on our TV yet again, I realised that there are quite a few life lessons contained within it. Whether you like Queen and Freddie Mercury or not, I’ve identified these things from the film that could help us all live a happier and more fulfilled life:

Life Lesson 1 – Fortune favours the bold

In one scene in the film, Freddie and the rest of the members of Queen are in a meeting with their manager, lawyer and Ray Foster, an executive from EMI Records. Ray wants the band to come up with another album like “Sheer Heart Attack” and single like “Killer Queen”. “Formulas are good,” he says. “I Like Formulas”.

Freddie however has ideas of making the band’s next album a “musical masterpiece” based heavily around opera. “No. Don’t misunderstand, darling. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll record, with the scale of opera, the pathos of Greek tragedy, the wit of Shakespeare, the unbridled joy of musical theatre. It’s a musical experience rather than just another record. Something for everyone. Something – something that will make people feel belongs to them. We’ll mix genres. We’ll cross boundaries. We’ll – we’ll speak in bloody tongues, if we want to,” he says excitedly.

Everyone else is less than impressed, except for their future manager Jim “Miami” Beach, who when asked what he thinks replies, “Fortune favours the bold.”

Sometimes in life it pays to be bold and do things that are different, out of the ordinary, that are innovative and that will change things for the better. It is also good to challenge the status quo and do things that are different. If you do things in the same way, you will get the same results. By mixing things up and trying different things, you stand a chance of changing the world and being successful as a result. This is exactly what happened to Queen when they wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody” and released their “A Night At The Opera” album in 1975.

Life Lesson 2 – Make an impression, darling!

In another scene in the film, Freddie joins the rest of the band before they meet their new manager John Reid for the first time.  Freddie is wearing a white scalloped jacket, shades and skin tight trousers, and he walks into the venue as if he owns it. “Wow,” says Brian May while looking incredulous. “I didn’t realise it was fancy dress Fred! You look like an angry lizard!”

“I’ve got to make an impression, darling,” replies Freddie.

This is another life lesson that comes through in the course of the film. It is okay to be different and to stand out from the crowd. We are not all the same, we are unique, and we should celebrate that uniqueness. Freddie knew he was different, that he was unique, and he played up to this rather than fighting against it. He always knew how to make an impression, and he did make an impression wherever he went.

Life Lesson 3 – We should all take more risks

While trying on clothes in Biba, Freddie is joined by his future girlfriend and fiancée Mary Austin. “Are you even allowed to be in here?” he asks. “No not really,” she says, and then proceeds to see what he will look like with some eyeshadow and eyeliner on.

“You have such an exotic look,” she says. “We should take more risks.”

This these runs through the film constantly. Queen as a band took a huge risk with releasing “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a single, as at the time in 1975 all the radio stations would not play any records that were more than 3 minutes long. With “Bohemian Rhapsody” clocking in at 6 minutes, they knew they had a battle on their hands to get it played on the radio. Enter one Kenny Everett, who played it a few times on his show on Capital Radio, and the rest is history. “Bohemian Rhapsody” spent an impressive 9 weeks at number 1, breaking every record imaginable and was even number one again for a second time after Freddie died.

Taking risks moves humans forward. Nothing can change, develop or grow without them. But taking risks often feels, well, quite risky. We stay in our comfort zones, or we keep doing the same things just because “they’ve always been done that way.”  But if we learn to take more risks, especially calculated ones, we really can change the world and move things forward – for the better.

Life Lesson 4 – We’re a family….

Just before Queen’s infamous Live Aid concert Freddie makes contact with the rest of the band to talk about returning to Queen and picking up where they left off having spent some time in Munich writing his solo album “Mr Bad Guy”, which was a flop compared to much of what he had done with Queen.

While apologising to the rest of the band and saying that while he got what he wanted when making “Mr Bad Guy”, it wasn’t the same as Brian’s ridiculous rewrites, John’s looks or Roger’s sniping at him. He missed all that and said, “We’re family.”

Families are often very complicated things, but when all else fails, quite often they will always be there. We tend to lose the balance between work and family, with work often coming before anything else, and then when the work isn’t there it is too late and quite often the family has gone or moved on. If you are lucky enough to have a good family, treasure them, for they are everything.

Life Lesson 5 – Not with those teeth mate!

At the start of the film, original lead singer Tim Staffle quits to join a band called Humpy Bong. Just after this event, Freddie joins Brian and Roger and offers to replace Tim as the lead singer of the band.

“Er….not with those teeth mate!” replies Roger.

Freddie then does an impromptu audition of the song “Doin’ Alright”

“I was born with 4 additional incisors. More space in my mouth means more range,” says Freddie. “I’ll consider your offer.”

We all have things about us and our looks that we don’t like, but Freddie famously channelled his overbite into something positive with the additional vocal range he had. If we have something about ourselves that we don’t like, we should try to find something positive about it and embrace it, just like Freddie did. Freddie was not the “classic” good looking band frontman, but he still embraced his unique looks and had a stage presence and charisma that no other lead singer matched, and no-one has matched Freddie to this day. We are all unique, and we should celebrate the things that make us unique and embrace them.

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“Bohemian Rhapsody” is available on DVD, blu-ray and digital download here.

More albums followed – “A Kind of Magic”, “The Miracle” and the last one before Freddie died “Innuendo”. I was desperate to go and see Queen on their “Magic” tour in 1986, but I was just too young then. I even loved all of Freddie’s solo work, his album “Mr Bad Guy”, his recording of the song “Time” from the musical, his recording of “Barcelona” with Montserrat Caballé who passed away a few weeks ago and his cover of “The Great Pretender” by The Platters. So apt was that song for Freddie and the lyrics were especially poignant as I suspect he “pretended” his entire life, keeping the real Freddie hidden. I can relate to that a lot.

As a teenager I got into heavier metal such as Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Poison, Motley Crue and Kiss. Thanks to my ex-boyfriend Nick (not his real name) I also got into thrash metal which I loved and still love to this day such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Exodus, Cathedral, King Diamond…I could go on. But I never, ever lost my love of Queen or Freddie Mercury. They were still top for me, no matter what else came along.

Rumours had been circulating for a while about Freddie’s ailing health, and although I had heard of AIDS I was too young to fully understand what it was. As I grew older I did understand it and the impact that it had on the lives of so many. Then I saw Queen and Freddie on the Brit Awards in 1990 and he looked extremely ill and frail, and I was very worried for him.

The day he died, 24 November 1991, is a day I will never forget. I woke up to the news that he had passed away age 45 and I was inconsolable for days. I was 17 years old and it honestly felt like a member of my family had died. I am beginning to feel my own mortality a bit as I turned 45 on 14 October this year, which is the age that Freddie was when he died.

I remember watching the Freddie Mercury tribute concert on 20 April 1992 with Brian May saying as it opened, “Good evening Wembley and the world. We are here tonight to celebrate the life, and work, and dreams, of one Freddie Mercury. We’re gonna give him the biggest send off in history!”

And what a send-off they gave him! I remember seeing George Michael singing “Somebody to Love” with the rest of Queen, It wasn’t as good as Freddie, but I’m sure Freddie would have loved it. There were also stellar performances from Def Leppard and Metallica to name but a few.

No-one could replace Freddie Mercury in Queen for me, and in a way I’m glad the rest of the band didn’t try to replace him. Even when they did tour again with Paul Rogers of Free and Adam Lambert, they never, ever said they were replacing Freddie, which was the right thing to do. Freddie was unique with a voice you could listen to for hours and a stage presence that no-one else before him or since him has possessed.

I did go and see Queen and Paul Rogers perform live twice, once In Hyde Park in London in 2005 and once in Birmingham in 2008, but it just wasn’t the same. But what I do remember the most about those gigs is Brian May coming out onto the stage with an acoustic guitar which was empty except for him. He sat on a chair to sing “Love of my Life” and next to him was another chair that was empty – for Freddie. I was in floods of tears both times! I also love the recordings that were done as “Queen and Paul Rogers”, “The Cosmos Rocks” is another of my favourite albums.

Sadly, bassist John Deacon was so affected by Freddie’s death that he retired completely from music bar a handful of small performances in the 90’s, leaving only Brian May and Roger Taylor to carry on Freddie’s legacy and keep his memory alive for new generations. Photos have surfaced recently of John looking old and gaunt, but he rarely if ever appears in public today.

This photo is my Freddie, the Freddie who I remember so vividly from my childhood. The Freddie who I was so drawn to and captivated by.

From what I have read Freddie Mercury was as flamboyant in real life as he was on the stage. He was outrageous, he partied hard, he lived hard and he lived fast, and sadly that was ultimately his downfall. But I also think he was sad, lonely, tortured by confusion over his sexuality and was desperate for love. So many people all over the world loved and adored him, and I hope he knew before he died just how much he was loved and adored by fans just like me. I think Freddie lived more in the 45 years he was here and gave more to the world in those 45 years than many of us ever will.

I know I am not the only one who he touched through his songs and albums, his charisma, his stage presence and persona, and I know that Queen will be “my” band until the day I die. I have already decided that when my time comes there should be at least one Queen song played at my funeral, and this has been documented in my funeral wishes. I’m not sure which one yet, possibly “The Show Must Go On”, but maybe something a bit more uplifting.

When I first had my heart broken as a teenager I listened to Queen non-stop, and particularly to the song “Who Needs You” from the “Jazz” album. When my ex-husband and I had our first dance on the day we got married in August 1996 it was to “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. We didn’t have a slow song to dance to, but we moved to the rock n’ roll beat of Queen. When I got married to my second husband I remember Queen playing at the lunch we had in a local pub after the ceremony. I didn’t ask for Queen to be played, but played it was. These are just a few examples of how they have always been with me.

Thank you, Farrokh Bulsara AKA Freddie Mercury, and thank you Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon for being such an integral part of my life. “Bohemian Rhapsody” the film has given me the chance to revisit all these memories, many of them happy ones, and bring them to the forefront of my mind again.

There was no-one like Freddie Mercury and no band like Queen before them, and there has been no-one like Freddie or Queen since. I doubt there ever will be, and they are firmly cemented in history forever. “Bohemian Rhapsody” the film has given me the chance to see Queen in all their glory, bringing them all to life for me in a way that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. Rami Malek is as captivating as Freddie Mercury was, and gives a stellar performance in the film. I’m sure I will be watching it many, many times to come.

For me, despite what I’ve been through and what challenges life has thrown at me, the show must go on. One thing I do know for sure is that Queen and Freddie Mercury will be with me wherever life takes me – always.

#QueenForever
#FreddieMercuryForever
#BohemianRhapsody
#AlwaysReadyForFreddie
#MrFahrenheit
#MrBadGuy
#FreddieForever
#OnlyTheGoodDieYoung

What are your memories of Queen and Freddie Mercury? Did he and the band inspire or touch you in some way over the years? Please leave your memories in the comments below.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a huge fan of Queen and Freddie Mercury. So it was with huge excitement on my part that I went to see the new biopic about the band and Freddie “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

At the time of writing this news entry I have seen it twice, and I am sure that I will see it another couple of times while it is in the cinema. I would like to share a couple of posts that I wrote for my blog “Cyber Geek Girl” about my memories of Queen and Freddie Mercury and what the band and Freddie means to me, and a review of the film “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

They can be found here:

“Bohemian Rhapsody” Review
https://www.cybergeekgirl.co.uk/review-bohemian-rhapsody/

My Memories of Queen and Freddie Mercury: Inspired by Seeing “Bohemian Rhapsody”
https://www.cybergeekgirl.co.uk/memories-of-queen-and-freddie-mercury-inspired-by-seeing-bohemian-rhapsody/

I hope you all enjoy them, and for more reviews visit my blog www.cybergeekgirl.co.uk.

Ironically Mike Myers who created and played Wayne is the actor who plays Ray Roster in the film, and when presented with “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a potential single from Queen’s new album “A Night At The Opera” he says: “No-one is going to be head-banging in the car to Bohemian Rhapsody.” A definite reference to the iconic “Wayne’s World” scene if ever there was!

Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro…

When presented with “Bohemian Rhapsody” Ray Foster from EMI Records, played by Mike Myers, really doesn’t know what to make of the track. “Scaramouch? Fandango? Bis-what?” he asks the band.

“Bismillah,” replies Freddie.

“Bismillah….bulls**t!” he shouts. “Mark these words, no-one will play Queen.”

How wrong he was. We then see Freddie on Capital Radio with Kenny Everett, and Kenny plays the single live on his show. We also get a glimpse into the close friendship that Freddie and Kenny had together as they flirt with each other and raise their glasses to “Bohemian Rhapsody”. From then onwards “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a huge hit.

Fortune Favours The Bold

Not only do we see Queen’s rise to fame in the film, we also get to see the sadness, loneliness and desperation that Freddie goes through as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality. We see the end of his relationship with Mary Austin, although they do remain life-long friends, and we see the debauchery, the drinks, the drugs and the parties that were the stuff of legends with all manner of weird and wonderful things in them. Dwarves, fire eaters, S&M were all a big part of these parties, but when everyone had left all you see is Freddie, alone, sad and desperate for someone to love him. Brian, Roger and John all have wives and families to go home to, but the film depicts Freddie as having no-one as he sits alone in his large house in Kensington London when all of the partgoers and revellers have gone.

Freddie was very much under the influence of Paul Prenter, his personal manager, and Paul was beginning to succeed in alienating Freddie from everything and everyone, including the rest of Queen. He convinced Freddie to take the offer of a two-album solo deal with Columbia Records, and Freddie goes to Munich with Paul to write the material for the albums. Eventually, thanks to Mary Austin, Freddie fires Paul and asks the rest of Queen to forgive him. This leads them to getting back together and to that legendary performance at Live Aid.

It’s 12 Noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia, and Around the World it’s Time for Live Aid

I cannot get over just how well the Live Aid sequence in “Bohemian Rhapsody” has been done. I can hardly see a difference between the original Live Aid footage of Queen and the scene in the film. Every detail is spot on, right down to all the Pepsi-Cola cups on Freddie’s piano.

Apparently the footage for this sequence was shot in a field in Hampshire where the Live Aid stage from Wembley Stadium was recreated in front of over 70,000 extras comprising the crowd. By now Rami Malek has got Freddie down so perfectly you can almost believe that it IS Freddie in this sequence. I’m in awe of him and how he got Freddie’s moves absolutely bang on, the way he teased one of the cameramen and the way he moved across the stage exactly like the Freddie on the Live Aid stage. Based on that 12 minute segement alone Rami Malek should get an Oscar next year.

Timeline Inconsistencies

Although the film follows the timeline of Queen’s rise to fame pretty much spot on, some creative liberties have been taken for the film. There are a couple of inconsistencies that as an eagle eyed Queen fan I picked up on straight away:

• In one scene Brian May tells the band about his side for a song that the audience can perform, which is of course “We Will Rock You”. Freddie has short hair and a moustache in this scene, but “We Will Rock You” was released in 1977. Although Freddie had cut his hair then he hadn’t transformed into the short haired, moustache adorned guy with tight jeans and T-shirts at this point.
• Freddie is seen being given his diagnosis of AIDS just before the Live Aid concert and telling the others that he had “got it”. However, Freddie wasn’t diagnosed with AIDS until almost a couple of years after Live Aid took place in April 1987.

However, I will let those go as overall, I enjoyed the film very, very much.

The Show Must Go On – And It Does

I realise that I am a bit biased by saying this, but “Bohemian Rhapsody” has firmly cemented itself as one of my favourite films of all time. The chance to see Freddie and Queen brought to life, and brought to life so spectacularly well, has been amazing. The show must go on, and go on it does. At the time of writing this review I have seen “Bohemian Rhapsody” at the cinema twice, and I am sure I will see it another couple of times. Sure, quite a few creative liberties have been taken in this film, the script is a bit naff in places and there are a few inconsistences, but for the chance to see Freddie on the big screen where he belongs I can forgive all that.

I for one am also very glad that the film chooses to focus more on the band and their rise to fame, rather than solely on Freddie and his lifestyle. Freddie was an enigma and by doing this some of the mystery about him is still there, and some of the more outrageous things about his life and lifestyle have still been kept hidden. I think this was the right thing to do, as Freddie isn’t here any more to speak up for himself, or give his side of the story. I loved the focus on the band, seeing how they got together and their rise to fame which firmly placed them as the most successful and iconic band in history. For me, it was just the right mix of focus on how the band came to be, how they created “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the backlash against the song and Freddie’s life and flamboyancy.

Some have said that the film shouldn’t have stopped at Live Aid, that it should have shown Freddie in his later years before he died, but I think it was right that they didn’t do this. It is a chance to remember Freddie how he was before he was so ill and frail from AIDS, and before he was on the Brit Awards in 1990 as a shadow of his former self. The film could have gone on and ended with Queen’s “Magic” tour in 1986, but to end on the high note of their historic Live Aid performance still worked really well.

There is one final thing that I want to say. Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury will rock you – and then some. He is the champion of the world in “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and I am looking forward to seeing him hold an Oscar next year for his performance.

My Favourite Lines from “Bohemian Rhapsody”

“Fortune favours the bold” – Jim “Miami” Beach, Queen’s manager.

“Roger, there’s only room in this band for one hysterical queen” – Freddie Mercury.

“I pity your wife if you think that 6 minutes is forever” – Freddie Mercury to Ray Foster at EMI Records.

“How many more Galileo’s do you want??” – Roger Taylor.

John Reid: “So, tell me. What makes Queen any different from all the other wannabe rockstars I meet?” Freddie Mercury: “I’ll tell you what it is, Mr. Reid. We’re four misfits who don’t belong together, playing for other misfits. They’re the outcasts right at the back of the room. We’re pretty sure they feel that they don’t belong either. But we belong to them.”

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I asked some of most prominent female speakers at Corinium Global Intelligence how they find it in an industry that is often still male dominated, and if they have come across any challenges or barriers as a woman in the data and analytics industry. I was very proud to work on this piece and talk to women who have broken through a male-dominated world to become pat of the C-suite in data and analytics.

Read their insightful answers here, and download this “Women in Data and Analytics” report that I researched, compiled and wrote – http://bit.ly/2trb0OT.