Freddie Mercury & Queen

 

Queen - Somebody To Love (1976)

Today, November 24, 2024, it is 33 years ago that dear Freddie Mercury died from pneumonia and AIDS. Freddie Mercury and Queen have left a deep mark on my life. Not only musically, but also with art, culture, film and poetry. Their first three albums "Queen I, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack" are full of art and poetry. Queen II is my absolute favourite album, it was also the first album I bought from them. I didn't even buy it for the music, I had never heard of Queen in 1974. I was a 6-year-old boy who had received some record vouchers for his birthday. The cover of Queen II especially attracted me at the time. It triggered something in me from a previous life, I discovered many years later. The pose that Queen has on that album resembles a Celtic cross. When I listened to the album, a world opened up for me and a lifelong love began between me and the music of Queen.

Freddie Mercury was a special man who had a dream and lived it. As he himself said, "I will not become famous, I will become a legend" and that is what he became. I have seen many concerts of them in different countries and they were always sublime. No artist could give such a show as Queen. Only the very greatest such as Bowie and Springsteen "who I have also seen myself" could come close.

Queen was and still is a special rock band with an enormously rich history. According to many, they are the fathers of the video clip and have made all kinds of music styles such as blues, jazz, speed rock, hard rock, rock, dance and pop. And as solo artists they also knew how to keep the quality high, as the solo works of Freddie, John, Roger and Brian testify.

Worldwide they have sold many millions of records and CDs and their concerts were always sold out. They also contributed to the film music of the cult films Flash Gordon and Highlander. And of course there was the iconic performance in Wembley Stadium for Live Aid in 1985 where Queen showed the world who they were and what a joy their music could bring.

For me that performance is equal to the coming of The Beatles in the 60’s. Something I did not experience myself, but I am an empathetic person so I can imagine it. That was also a bright spot in a dark time. And even after dear Freddie's death, Queen still managed to shine with Paul Rodgers as singer. I think the album "The Cosmos Rocks" is a fantastic album and has made Paul Rodgers even better when I listen to albums of him from after his time with Queen. I think the current singer Adam Lambert is a bit over the top. He is a great guy, good singer and performer, but for me he is a bit over the top. But I've become a little conservative in recent years.

Peter68 © ® 24-11-2024
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I sometimes wonder

I sometimes wonder how long I and many other people who see through all the veils and illusions still have to wait? Have to wait until the masses finally wake up? I have been waiting since the late 70’s / early 80’s. I have been disappointed many times, or perhaps my patience has been tested.

For example, I think back to the Occupy organization that caused a lot of furore in various countries around 2011 but quickly fizzled out. I visited them in Amsterdam where they were on the stock exchange square and in Arnhem. I was homeless at the time and wanted to share my knowledge about protests, but also the knowledge I had acquired in my 15-year political career.

Unfortunately, I met a weakling in Amsterdam where my knowledge fell on deaf ears. People were also not interested in my political knowledge, and so I left fairly quickly and went wandering again, disappointed. In addition to all the other problems I had at that time, it was not a good feeling that I had then. For the first time in years I was enthusiastic about something again, and maybe I could help them achieve their goals. That was of course idealistic and vain hope.

As a former politician I know how deeply rooted the financial institutions are in our society. They really do not let themselves be pushed aside by a few thousand people who want change. If they feel threatened in their power, they create more roots to penetrate even deeper into all systems. You will have to dig up the entire globe to eradicate the financial system root and branch.

During the Covid hoax, there were also protests in the Netherlands by people against all the ridiculous measures, for freedom and against a possible vaccination requirement. These were often brutally suppressed by the police pigs. No, I am not a fan of the police, they have only themselves to blame for that.

I will not elaborate on how or why, but if you, as a tough police officer, are going to knock a 6 or 7 year old child out of a tree with your baton, then you have ruined it for good with me. Then you can get the middle finger from me and I often gave them that at all the demonstrations I used to visit in the late 70s / early 80s.

I can only hope that humanity/the masses will wake up soon. Maybe then they can really start living. What we do now is nothing more than a stupid routine that we repeat daily/weekly/monthly/yearly. Soon we will have to go through that feast carousel again, Saint Nicholas, Christmas and New Year's Eve. I will be happy when February 1st arrives, then we will have all those parties and the nothing month of January behind us and we can slowly start focusing on spring.

Peter68 11/04/2024
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