BCB 130 - queen

[kath]

... and at the peak of this ubiquity is the bloody Live Aid performance, dragged out perpetually as evidence of some god-like genius, alongside the attendant narrative that EVERYONE LOVED IT. Well no actually, not everyone did and furthermore those that didn't are fed up of it being constantly shoved down their throat. None of which is to deny that Mercury was great at what he did.

don't you think yer being a lil... high drama here, g? for someone who's the face, you seem kinda over-fed-up and uber-throat-shoved.

just as an example, how many times on this board has anyone preached the glories of freddie's performance at live aid? i've been around here since 2006... and i'm struggling to remember more than three occasions, one of em being this thread.

i'll happily stand corrected, even though i think the gist of the point will still work. the artists regularly glorified and idolized around here on a grand scale as "standing the test of time" etcetc aren't suddenly any more justified in being so solely becuz you yerself happen to love em. mwhaha.

more to the point, if queen's performance at live aid sounds too up on some "pop cultural-level," i'd say it's becuz live aid itself was on that same pop cultural-level. that was the stage, pre-set. ya know?

[The Modernist]

When I talk about its ubiquity and the reverence attached to it, I'm not talking about this thread or even BCB in general ( although it been praised on here a number of times, I remember a big thread on it a few years back -I think started by Sensi), but the place it's taken up in the popular media. You see it referenced all the time. Young kids today think Mercury was as important as Lennon because that's what's fed to them. It's that glorification of them I'm fed up with.

[kath]

When I talk about its ubiquity and the reverence attached to it, I'm not talking about this thread or even BCB in general ( although it been praised on here a number of times, I remember a big thread on it a few years back -I think started by Sensi), but the place it's taken up in the popular media. You see it referenced all the time. Young kids today think Mercury was as important as Lennon because that's what's fed to them. It's that glorification of them I'm fed up with.

it truly must be a brit phenomenon, then. i have seen nothing of the sort.

[The Modernist]

It may well be. Their musical We Will Rock You was the most popular London stage production for about ten years. It feels like brainwashing.

I think that's the difference between us. You just think of them as a really good 70s rock band and can't understand the ire they attract, while I'm reacting against the cultural phenomenon...although that latter perspective is undoubtedly shaped by the fact I never liked them growing up.

[Bent Fabric]

When I say now, I'm talking of its wider place in the great pop firmament rather than this thread.

I think I just get fed up with the reverence attached to that performance.

Got it.

I can't tell you how to feel about this sort of thing (seriously, I spend an inordinate amount of time wondering how people can possibly say/think/believe the shit they do about any number of acts [between Facebook and BCB, I can promise you it will happen again before lunch], so...we're definitely singing from the same hymn book here).

But, yeah, I look back and see a rather patently unhip and decidedly unfashionable band (the era of "BoRhap" dominance or "Bites The Dust" ubiquity are long gone) coming into a not especially artist friendly scenario (fucking Macca can't get his vocal microphone to work in a solo scenario!) and just decimating the "artists of the day".

[The Modernist]

But, yeah, I look back and see a rather patently unhip and decidedly unfashionable band (the era of "BoRhap" dominance or "Bites The Dust" ubiquity are long gone) coming into a not especially artist friendly scenario (fucking Macca can't get his vocal microphone to work in a solo scenario!) and just decimating the "artists of the day".

Okay I will, grudgingly, give you that..but I still don't want to see another clip of it till the day I die.

[kath]

It may well be. Their musical We Will Rock You was the most popular London stage production for about ten years. It feels like brainwashing.

I think that's the difference between us. You just think of them as a really good 70s rock band and can't understand the ire they attract, while I'm reacting against the cultural phenomenon...although that latter perspective is undoubtedly shaped by the fact I never liked them growing up.

yep.

also, a thing turning into a cultural phenomenon is fueled all the more when someone so key to a band, so distinctive, dies. it's a common, human response. so is the reaction. if a person doesn't care for nirvana, the kurt worship seems sickening. but losing the last ramone somehow feels cataclysmic.

(okay, so insert yer own examples for the point if need be.)

[bhoywonder]

When I talk about its ubiquity and the reverence attached to it, I'm not talking about this thread or even BCB in general ( although it been praised on here a number of times, I remember a big thread on it a few years back -I think started by Sensi), but the place it's taken up in the popular media. You see it referenced all the time. Young kids today think Mercury was as important as Lennon because that's what's fed to them. It's that glorification of them I'm fed up with.

it truly must be a brit phenomenon, then. i have seen nothing of the sort.

I've not seen much of the sort either. Sure, when people talk about Live Aid, it's generally the big thing mentioned, alongside Macca's mic failing and Status Quo opening with Rockin' All Over the World. And if Live Aid is being referenced and there's only time to reference one act at Live Aid, then Queen would be it, but I'm not sure I'd agree with G here about the level of reverence shown to their set as some sort of cultural watershed. I don't think that's accurate, really.

[naughty boy]

Yeah.

In FACT, now I think about it, Mercury and Queen were absolutely fucking fantastic at Live Aid. He had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

And, strangely, people don't talk about it much today.

[Bent Fabric]

okayyy, you bickering buncha bitches. BRING. IT. ON.

[clive gash]

Day-oooooo!

Day-ay-ay-ay-oo!

The 20 minutes that changed music.

['skope]

Day-oooooo!

Day-ay-ay-ay-oo!

The 20 minutes that changed music.

[kath]

When I talk about its ubiquity and the reverence attached to it, I'm not talking about this thread or even BCB in general ( although it been praised on here a number of times, I remember a big thread on it a few years back -I think started by Sensi), but the place it's taken up in the popular media. You see it referenced all the time. Young kids today think Mercury was as important as Lennon because that's what's fed to them. It's that glorification of them I'm fed up with.

it truly must be a brit phenomenon, then. i have seen nothing of the sort.

I've not seen much of the sort either. Sure, when people talk about Live Aid, it's generally the big thing mentioned, alongside Macca's mic failing and Status Quo opening with Rockin' All Over the World. And if Live Aid is being referenced and there's only time to reference one act at Live Aid, then Queen would be it, but I'm not sure I'd agree with G here about the level of reverence shown to their set as some sort of cultural watershed. I don't think that's accurate, really.

i'm glad to hear another take. i can understand g's fedupness more fully now (which is worlds better than someone just comin out with they suck), but it would actually be a lil depressing to me to think that that level of fedupness was a culturally widespread brit thing. the cramming and brainwashing. the queenly abuse.

meanwhile, g still needs to be healed. i'd go for a lil jazz immersion therapy at mardi gras, but that's just me.

wait... people dress up with much decadent pomp there.

... yeah. it just might work.

[kath]

okayyy, you bickering buncha bitches. BRING. IT. ON.

absofucquinlutely. mwhahaha.

[kath]

Yeah.

In FACT, now I think about it, Mercury and Queen were absolutely fucking fantastic at Live Aid. He had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

And, strangely, people don't talk about it much today.

of course, they don't. the youth of today... they are too busy tearing down their lennon posters and putting up freddie mercury instead.

but they're all talking about the fall.

[clive gash]

I've not seen much of the sort either. Sure, when people talk about Live Aid, it's generally the big thing mentioned, alongside Macca's mic failing and Status Quo opening with Rockin' All Over the World. And if Live Aid is being referenced and there's only time to reference one act at Live Aid, then Queen would be it, but I'm not sure I'd agree with G here about the level of reverence shown to their set as some sort of cultural watershed. I don't think that's accurate, really.

Live Aid is seen as as some sort of cultural watershed though, the day the Gordon Gekko-style artistes of the 80s got their asses off their Eames lounge chairs, popped on a Yamamoto shirt and saved the world. Every charity gig since references it and every generation gets their iteration of "Do They Know it's Christmas?".

[Bent Fabric]

[kath]

Live Aid is seen as as some sort of cultural watershed though, the day the Gordon Gekko-style artistes of the 80s got their asses off their Eames lounge chairs, popped on a Yamamoto shirt and saved the world. Every charity gig since references it and every generation gets their iteration of "Do They Know it's Christmas?".

true.

i ask you... is there anything more despicable than watershed moments which involve popular artistes sellin out to a charitable cause?

it dumbs us all down, frankly.

i expect more from culture. like, i dunno, shit gettin blown up.

[clive gash]

I'm not saying Live Aid was bad but.....Dancin' in the Street?

[kath]

I'm not saying Live Aid was bad but.....Dancin' in the Street?

okay. that was bad. really, really bad.