Original subtitles

最近有好多謠言 說Queen要解散了 你們覺得呢

都是屁話

別管那些謠言 我肯定 我們要一起搖滾到他媽死為止

INTRO TO: "One Vision"

Hey!

沒那麼多性... 也沒那麼多毒品

今天你無法再那樣了

♪ One man

♪ One goal

♪ One mission... ♪

那一刻 我們好像擁有了世界

- 你們就不謙虛點兒? - 才不

♪ One solution... ♪

媒體從不了解 很多媒體不喜歡他們

♪ Yeah, one God... ♪

英格蘭覺得我們不酷

但我才不要那些傻逼評論家說三道四

你還不如在腦門上掛個靶子 說，"向我開炮!"

如果你一直都在上坡 剩下的就只有下坡路了

太陽城 - 真希望我從沒聽說過這個地方

♪ I'm gonna tell you there's no black and no white... ♪

當一支樂隊面臨這種壓力 接下來就是離隊，解散，劃清界限了

♪ One worldwide vision... ♪

那是個關鍵時刻 我們可能就此解散

這些爭論剛開始還算有建設性 後來就越來越情緒化了

他們這是羡慕嫉妒恨

他們都想看看 我的個人專輯會不會超過Queen的上張專輯

Freddie越來越向同性戀的方向行進 就好像David Attenborough 拍攝野生動物節目一樣

我只想投身生活 盡情享受人生

倫敦 帝國理工學院

來自50個國家的天文學家專用會場

那些能夠用自己的研究 推動航太探索新紀元的專家

吉他手是Brian May

我在這兒的本科專業是物理 不過我對天文一直很感興趣

所以我考了天文學的研究生 想借此讀博士

在校期間 我和我同學組了一個叫1984的樂隊

上大學後，主唱變成了Tim Staffell

我決定組一個新樂隊，取名Smile

鼓手是Roger Meddows-Taylor

這裡有個佈告欄，你可以釘東西在上面 好比樂手招募啟事

我就貼了個啟事，寫了"招募鼓手"

“我們需要 Ginger Baker和 Mitch Mitchel那種類型的鼓手”

我在爵士酒吧定了個房間 Roger帶了裝備箱 我則帶了一把吉他過去

那是我們第一次合奏

♪ When she was done

♪ She hung them up... ♪

當時彼此就有了火花 我們覺得“這旋律還挺特別的”

♪ Goodbye, April Lady... ♪

我們的音樂理念一拍即合

♪ Goodbye, April Lady

♪ You've done a lot for the folks in this town... ♪

主唱是 Freddie Mercury

Freddie來自殖民地區

他出生在Zanzibar(非洲小島) 在印度念的寄宿學校

1968年，我在Ealing藝術學校第一次見到Freddie

那裡有架鋼琴

Freddie會在鋼琴上彈些華麗的段子

技巧是不折不扣的古典派 但感覺又很特別 你從沒看過別人像那樣彈鋼琴

他第一次唱歌時 我的感覺就是 聲音太驚豔了

♪ The minute you walked in the joint

♪ I could see you were a man of distinction

♪ A real big spender

♪ Good-looking, so refined

♪ Say, wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind...? ♪

我那時候老跟著Smile 我們是朋友 我經常去看他們的演出

Freddie簡直在時刻準備著 時不時提些建議給我們，哪裡該怎樣處理之類的

他會說 “你們棒極了 不過你們該這樣，或者這樣...”

你對Brian和Roger 在Smile時代的音樂有什麼看法? 沒看法

我覺得他當時暗中 應該是想和我們合作的

Freddie滿世界的說他會成為一個流行巨星 不過沒人把這話當回事兒

他當時就坐在那裡 我走進來 看到他把頭埋進手心 看起來悶悶不樂

我問，“你怎麼了?” 他說，“我成不了流行巨星了”

然後他慢慢站起來，說

“我會成為一個傳奇”

♪ Hey, big spender

♪ Spend a little time with me... ♪

儘管幾場演唱會辦的都不錯 我們也經常在學校，酒吧

全國各地裡演出 但是，也就僅此而已，沒什麼大起色

Smile發行了一首毫無反響的單曲

然後我們的主唱Tim 從一個叫Humpy Bong的人那裡得到了一張合約

所以Tim就走人了

Freddie找到我們，說 “喂，可別放棄啊，我想當主唱”

所以我們就決定試試看了

也就是那時 我想出了Queen這個名字

為什麼叫Queen? 我哪知道 ，當時就這麼靈光一閃而已

這是大廳.

1973年Queen曾在這裡演出

那是我們第一場有宣傳的正式演唱會

也就是那時 Rosemary Horide給我們首次攝影 那些照片後來用在唱片上了

從一開始 Freddie就颱風出眾

他的舞臺風格和我見過的任何一個都不一樣

Freddie從那時就很擅長和觀眾互動 叫他們吃他手裡的東西都行

他就像這樣翻翻手掌 然後再這樣 觀眾就站起來了

♪ I have sinned, dear Father

♪ Father, I have sinned

♪ Try and help me, Father

♪ Won't you let me in?

♪ Liar!

♪ Oh, nobody... ♪

那是我第一次覺得 “這是個重要的開始 我們開始嶄露頭角了”

他們剛入行時 正趕上denim搖滾運動

當時火的都是Status Quo 和Uriah Heep這樣的樂隊

我覺得Queen真的為搖滾樂 帶來了一股美妙的新鮮空氣

他們擁有出色的歌曲

Freddie Mercury 是個魅力四射的領頭人

♪ Liar... ♪

Brian May 是個優秀的吉他手 而Roger Taylor則是個非凡的鼓手

而且，貝斯手可是那傢伙啊

我們花了好幾年來找貝斯手 很難找到合適的人選

然後我們找到了John

然後我們找到了John

剛來的時候我還像個外人

我花了好些時間才融入這支樂隊

後來就找到家的感覺了

在我們和唱片廠牌簽約前 我們簽了Trident公司

那是Sheffield兄弟旗下的一家管理公司 它在索霍區中部有個錄音棚

錄製第一張專輯時 我們還是初出茅廬的大學生

可以用的時間很有限

因為錄音棚老是被別人預定了

有時我們淩晨兩點就得過去

然後早上六點收工 都是些別人不會去的時候

夜裡你能透過那些蕾絲窗簾 看到那些上班女郎

所以我們混音時 注意力老是不集中

專輯發行後有一定反響 但談不上轟動

當你剛出首張專輯時 你走進家唱片店就會覺得 “我們的歌可算進入市場了呢”

你走進去問 “你們這兒進了Queen的新專輯了嗎” 他們回答，“什麼?”很長時間都是如此

我不敢相信 我們對《Queen II》這張專輯下了多少工夫

我們覺得我們開始獨創自己的音樂了

我們首創了多音軌錄製法

它給你的音效製作創造了巨大的空間

你可以把我們三個人的合聲 弄出大型唱詩班的效果

♪ Voice from behind... ♪

我們可算出了成果 而且效果驚人

這首歌叫《March Of The Black Queen》

♪ I'll be a bad boy, I'll be your bad boy

♪ I'll do the march of the Black Queen... ♪

這首歌很長 總共由11個部分組成 繁複得令人吃驚

錄音帶幾乎都給磨透明了

這個十六軌，兩英尺的磁帶 上面的磁粉幾乎給磨光了

我們重來了無數遍 帶子幾乎透明了

♪ Walking true to style

♪ She's vulgar abuse and vile Fi-fo the Black Queen tattoos all her pies... ♪

在《Queen II》這張專輯 和《Seven Seas Of Rhye》這首歌上

我們有了突破

我們發現，想出一張熱門專輯 最簡單的方法就是

有一首膾炙人口的熱門單曲

這也是為什麼他們被邀請 參加《流行之巔》節目(英國音樂節目)

原定上節目的David Bowie中途退出 間接造成了這支單曲的走紅

第一次參加節目我們就不怎麼走運

這時候趕上英國廣播公司的罷工

♪ Fear me, you lords and lady preachers... ♪

所以節目只能在露天錄影棚拍攝

♪ I command your very souls, you unbelievers

♪ Bring before me what is mine The seven seas of Rhye... ♪

參加《流行之巔》節目的錄製很有意思 總之就這麼發生了

你會感覺 你終於進入公眾視野了

♪ I will destroy any man who dares abuse my trust... ♪

《流行之巔》很沒意思

那次節目就是垃圾 大家的表演都不在狀態

大概有75個少男少女在那兒當觀眾

一切都由一堆過時的DJ主持

“潘神一族”(英國舞蹈團)也在現場 有一群靚妹大舞特舞 超有意思

英國廣播公司準備了一套塑膠鈸 他們就不吵了

我想一切不言自明

對於參加《流行之巔》節目這事兒 我們感覺很複雜 因為這沒那麼酷

不過這有利於專輯大賣 所以你還有什麼說的?

這次節目影響不小 我們的專輯直接進入了榜單前十

換句話說，影響重大

♪ Storm the master marathon I'll fly through

♪ By flash and thunder fire and I'll survive I'll survive, I'll survive

♪ Then I'll defy the laws of nature and come out ali-i-ive Then I'll get you... ♪

我們這首歌叫《Seven Seas Of Rhye》 不過眾所周知 大多數樂隊解散

都是因為歌曲創作上的分歧 你寫的歌就像你的孩子一樣

寫這首歌的人往往會參與 這首歌前後的所有制作

從腦海中有這首歌的雛形開始 到最終成型，聲效和混音.

大多數時候 我都很清楚一首歌整個的脈絡

我會有很多考慮... 比如Roger的鼓點部分

Brian的吉他該怎麼走... 一切都很明瞭

我以前大概從沒提過這個 不過《Seven Seas Of Rhye》一開始是Freddie的主意

他創作出了美妙的鋼琴部分 中間八小節都是我的功勞

所以這首歌是我們合作的 不過到專輯發行時 Freddie說 “這歌是我寫的”

而我們說 “行啊” 好像沒什麼大不了的

Freddie說 “歌詞是我寫的 主意也是我想的，所以這是我的歌”

從此就有了個不成文的規定 誰想出這個點子的 誰就有權創作這首歌

這首歌的版稅也就歸誰

到很久很久之後 我們才意識到這一點

♪ Here I stand Here I stand

♪ Look around, around

♪ Around, around, around... ♪

我們很幸運地認識了Mott The Hoople 我們成了他們的暖場嘉賓

♪ Now I'm here Now I'm here... ♪

我們跟著他們跑遍了全國 一直合作的不錯

♪ Now I'm there Now I'm there... ♪

然後Mott The Hoople的成員問 “你們想在美國試試水嗎?”

♪ Just a new man

♪ Yes, you made me live again... ♪

幾場演出下來，我感覺有些不舒服

我身體哪塊兒肯定出了毛病 我不確定是頭還是哪兒 但感覺越來越難受

然後有天早上，我在波士頓醒來 那時候巡演就要進入高潮了

我醒來後發現自己面色蠟黃 醫生診斷後說，“你得了肝炎 得回家休養了”

當時在紐約甘迺迪機場 我們得穿過移民隊伍，把他護送回去

這個可憐蟲站都站不穩了

我是被架上飛機的

巡演不得不臨時中止，大家都沮喪極了 這可是我們第一次來美國

少了一個人 ，我們還是繼續進棚錄歌

我花了很長時間才恢復健康

病好了後 我看到Freddie把我不在時錄的東西都淘汰不用了

我想 我還沒恢復到開工狀態呢 那時真的開始擔心了

♪ She keeps her Moet et Chandon

♪ In her pretty cabinet

♪ "Let them eat cake" she says just like Marie Antoinette... ♪

《Queen I》和《Queen II》都是徹頭徹尾的搖滾專輯 讓旋律變得動聽討巧一點 只是時間問題

《Sheer Heart Attack》的出現印證了這點

Mercury的出色嗓音在《Killer Queen》這首歌中 發揮到了極致

♪ She's a killer queen Gunpowder, gelatine

♪ Dynamite with a laser beam

♪ Guaranteed to blow your mind Any time... ♪

我記得我對《Killer Queen》的確是持過保留態度

我想 “為了商業考慮 我們是不是把音樂做輕佻了?”

但那張專輯的每一個細節都精緻無比

都是靈光一閃的產物

RINGING SOUND # In conversation she spoke just like a baroness

♪ Met a man from China Went down to Geisha Minah

♪ Then again incidentally if you're that way inclined... ♪

《Killer Queen》是首特別的歌 它很精緻成熟，典型的Freddie風格

隨著專輯製作的進行 歌曲創作也亦步亦趨 我們開始在不同領域進行大膽嘗試

♪ Dynamite with a laser beam Guaranteed to blow your mind... ♪

我喜歡嘗試創作不同風格的歌曲 我們討厭自我重複

它有點Noel Coward的風格... 有那種元素在裡面

當你注意歌詞部分時 你會想 “妙極了！” 因為寫的實在太有靈氣了

♪ Drop of a hat, she's as willing as Playful as a pussycat

♪ Then momentarily out of action Temporarily out of gas

♪ To absolutely drive you wild

♪ She's all out to get you

♪ She's a killer queen

♪ Gunpowder, gelatine Dynamite with a laser beam

♪ Guaranteed to blow your mind Any time

♪ Oh, recommended at the price Insatiable an appetite

♪ Wanna try?

♪ You wanna try... ♪

我們在日本和美國舉辦了很多場大型巡演

那時候我們已經聲名大噪 成績出色 唱片銷量也非常高 但是卻拿不到錢

我們決定不再和唱片公司合作 直接和製作公司合作

我們的想法就是 讓製作公司 負責把專輯賣給唱片公司

這差不多是我們最糟糕的決定了

他們的付出無法獲得物質回報

他們意識到了這點

並以此為題材創作了《Death On Two Legs》

♪ You suck my blood like a leech

♪ You break the law and you breach

♪ Screw my brain till it hurts

♪ You've taken all my money

♪ And you want more... ♪

我每次去採訪他們時 總會帶上幾瓶葡萄酒

酒錢是我掏的腰包，因為他們沒錢

我們沒奢望一夜暴富 但是總不能一個子兒不拿吧

Roger打鼓時太用力 弄斷了好多鼓槌

管理說，“別再搞壞鼓槌了" ” 我們沒錢買新的

管理層裡的一個人有次開了輛勞斯萊斯 我們想 “等等 這事不對頭”

這件事對Freddie衝擊很大 他一針見血地說

“我不幹了，沒辦法做了”

長話短說，我們隨即找到了John Reid

他當時是Elton的經紀人，非常成功

我記得我這麼說的

你們只管把專輯創作好 生意上的事交給我

我們和John合作非常順利

他暴躁又固執，不過我們也一樣 我們才不怕他

那是我第一次和Freddie一起吃晚餐

我說 “這麼說吧 我和其他人都坦白過了 我希望你知道我是同性戀 希望你別介意”

然後他把刀叉放下來說 ，“我也是!”

我第一次見到Freddie時 他還沒跟其他成員坦白他的取向

因為他自己內心也還在掙扎當中

Freddie來自一個非常 非常傳統的索羅亞斯德教背景

我想他十分在意家人的感受

我記得我們錄製《A Night At The Opera》時 那感覺就是，成敗在此一舉

我們不僅窮 還欠了一大筆債

聲效燈光公司 以及隨行工作人員的薪水都沒付

所以那是個決定成敗的時刻 這張專輯不成功的話可能我們就得解散了

這張專輯製作費用十分之高昂

就是現在 我都無法想像當時是怎麼做出來的

那是一種近似饑渴的創作欲 我們想傳達的東西太多了

所有想法都被收納了進去 所以我們有各種風格的歌

《Bohemian Rhapsody》最初像是三首獨立的歌曲 但我把它們並在了一起

我想很多歌曲最初的靈感 早在Freddie伊令學院時期就出現了

Freddie做出了很多歌曲片段 我們負責把它們串聯起來

其中一個片段 我記得原本來自《The Cowboy Song》 是這麼唱的，“Mama, I just killed a man”

♪ Mama

♪ Just killed a man... ♪

我第一次聽到的是Freddie彈奏 "Mama, just killed a man..."

“你覺得怎樣？”“我愛死它了，棒極了” 我這麼說，儘管只聽了這個開頭

我們用了六個錄音室錄完了這首歌

因為他們這裡錄點兒 那裡錄點兒 所以你不知道這歌的全貌

你可能在一個錄音室裡錄吉他部分 另一個裡錄主音部分之類的

♪ Galileo

♪ Galileo

♪ Galileo, Figaro... ♪

Freddie會忽然冒出來說 “我要多加幾句Galileo進去”

為了聽完整首歌 我們輾轉好幾個錄音室

♪ Thunderbolt and lightning Very, very frightening me

HIGHER PITCH: ♪ Lightning, very, very frightening, very, very frightening me... ♪

只有Fred清楚這歌該怎麼往下走 我們一邊進行錄製 他一邊往里加新花樣

我想，“我要按我自己的意思來”

♪ Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me... ♪

和聲的層次越多越好 做到極致為止

說著容易，不過 “我打賭你做不到”

♪ He's just a poor boy from a poor family

♪ Spare him his life from this monstrosity... ♪

但唱片公司作為大多數的代表 跟我們說 “別這麼幹，這首歌太長了 沒人會放它的”

當時我把它放給Elton John聽

他說，“你瘋了嗎? 那玩意兒電臺不會放的”

我說，“要麼保留這整首歌 要麼乾脆不要它”

在這千鈞一髮的時刻 有個叫Kenny Everett的年輕人進來了

他很愛這首歌 於是偷了一卷樣帶 在他自己的電臺節目上播放

Kenny一整個週末把它放了14遍 當然，引起轟動了

我記得接下來出現的 就是史上第一支真正的MV了

♪ We will not let you go Let him go! Bismillah!

♪ We will not let you go Let him go! Bismillah... ♪

我覺得MV這東西前無古人

MV把Queen提升了一個層次

他們終於有一覽眾山小的感覺了

♪ Mamma mia, mamma mia Mamma mia, let me go... ♪

《A Night At The Opera》是一張里程碑般的專輯 也奠定了他們的地位

那個時候 你終於有這個資格在海德公園開演唱會什麼的

♪ So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye

♪ So you think you can love me and leave me to die... ♪

Richard Branson告訴我們 “我們覺得可以讓你們來海德公園演出”

非常感謝 各位晚上好

CHEERING

歡迎來到九曲湖邊的野餐

我當時就想，“太好了! 我們在世界樂壇終於有一席之地了”

但是此前英國觀眾還不買我們的賬

而這場演出好的難以想像 我們終於感覺衣錦還鄉了

THRASHING GUITARS

♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah, ahhh... ♪

和家鄉的歌迷有這種互動 感覺就是這麼振奮

當要創作《A Day At The Races》這張專輯時 我們想“我們要按自己的風格來”

我們在《A Day At The Races》裡面 加入了更多自由的元素

因為我們總算走出了往日的陰影 賬都理清了 我們也不欠人錢了

我們不用為維持溫飽而掙扎了 所以更多感覺到的是自由和愉悅

♪ Ca-a-an

♪ Anybody... ♪

It was almost like we were still making A Night At The Opera. We just loved it. We revelled in it.

♪ Somebody to lo-o-ove... ♪

Freddie came up with a magnificent, little sort of foray into white Gospel, if you want to call it that.

♪ Ooh

♪ Each morning I get up... ♪

We really worked our harmonies on Somebody To Love.

♪ Take a look at yourself Take a look in the mirror and cry... ♪

Freddie's great inspiration for Somebody To Love was Aretha Franklin.

He absolutely loved Aretha.

He would like to have been Aretha Franklin!

♪ Somebody! Somebody! Ooh, somebody! Somebody!

♪ Can anybody find me somebody to love...? ♪

From that point of view, OK, Bohemian Rhapsody, a big hit,

but a song like Somebody To Love is in my estimation a better sort of...

from the writing aspect, a better song.

♪ I work till I ache in my bones

♪ At the end At the end of the day

♪ I take home my hard-earned pay all on my own

♪ I get down on my knees and I start to pray

♪ Till the tears run down from my eyes

♪ Lord, somebody! Somebody! Ooh, somebody

♪ Can anybody find me... ♪

We were using the studio to its maximum capacity, painting a picture like on a huge canvas.

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Find me somebody to love... ♪

We had a gift. We had three voices which really blended instantly.

♪ Find me somebody to love... ♪

Freddie has this wonderful, crystal-clear, sharp vocal sound.

♪ Find me somebody to love, find me somebody to love... ♪

Naturally, I've got the powerful high voice.

He's got the dog whistle pitch, a very high voice.

♪ Find me somebody to love... ♪

And I had quite a warm sound.

♪ Somebody! Somebody! Somebody! Somebody!

♪ Somebody! Find me... Somebody find me somebody to love

♪ Can anybody find me... ♪

Put the three together and you have something which sounds sort of Panavision.

♪ Find me

♪ Somebody

♪ To-o-o love

♪ Find me... ♪

To keep their attention, you've got to really tempt them.

Like, "You can have a break. Have a coffee and biscuits."

While they're in a good mood, grab them and do another 50 million overdubs!

♪ Anybody find me somebody to love Somebody to love... ♪

We used to call it the sausage factory in the end

because we got so good at it, we could just bang 'em out.

A Day At The Races,

as the follow-up to Night At The Opera, was clearly... It had a hard act to follow.

People who wanted to have a go at Queen could quite readily say, "It's not as good as the last one."

A lot of the press took against them.

Maybe if you got too successful too quick,

there was a resentment there that they hadn't made you, therefore they wanted to break you.

♪ Oh, take my breath away... ♪

Shortly after I started to manage them,

I had told all the band one of the ground rules is don't do any press without clearing it with me.

You open yourself up to all kinds of things. Usually, they turn on you.

I went out to dinner with Freddie in The White Elephant in Curzon Street.

Casually, he said, "I did an interview with David Wigg from the Express today."

I said, "I told you no interviews without clearing it with me." "Oh, never mind."

I said, "Well, fuck you! If you don't work within my rules, you don't work with me."

I got up and left and I left him there.

I came home, I went upstairs, turned on the TV and the next thing I knew,

a brick came through the window.

And I looked outside here and there's Freddie standing in the street, hands on his hips,

"Don't you ever fucking leave me in a restaurant..."

I said, "You'd better come in."

Queen didn't have particular respect

from the critics during the '70s, which is when they had so many hits.

And then punk happened in the late '70s,

which made the standard rock group seem passe.

♪ God save the Queen

♪ We mean it, man

The punk stuff, as opposed to what Queen did, they were coming from two different points of view.

It was anarchy on one side and monarchy on the other.

NME was one of the most vocal proponents of punk.

We were taking, if you like, music icons at that time

and we were rubbishing them, basically.

It was thought we should interview Freddie Mercury, in particular,

and they asked me to go over to a house in Knightsbridge owned by John Reid

and there's Freddie sitting on the patio.

The whole house was very ostentatious, it must be said.

We did an interview here with the NME

and, you know, we were very nice to the guy.

I had a butler, we gave him lunch.

There was a butler, there was a bodyguard.

There was probably other people going round with feather dusters and what have you.

Then the story slagged off Freddie.

Freddie Mercury, when the whole of the punk new wave movement was going on around him,

had focused in on something that was kind of a bit of an alien concept in some ways which was ballet.

I just feel that there are sort of balletic moments in our repertoire.

One of the things that he said to me

was that his mission in life was to bring ballet to the masses.

Well, when the NME piece came out, Freddie was furious.

They called him "a prat".

You'd be furious.

I think we realised that talking to the press gets you nowhere.

You might as well paint a target on your head and go, "Shoot me."

We all have our ups and downs and our limitations and we know there are certain things you can't do,

but I don't want some arsehole critic to tell me that.

I love posing.

That's for the press.

Well, we met The Sex Pistols in Wessex Studios

and, uh...

I thought it was fascinating.

Can you imagine it just a whole thing about punk rock

And anti establishment... under one roof.

Sid came in. Sid was a moron. You know, he was an idiot.

And he called in to the room, "Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?"

I called him "Simon Ferocious" and he didn't like it. I said, "What are you going to do about it?"

He hated the fact that I could even speak like that. Right. Then...

So we went... I think we survived that test.

♪ Well, you're just 17 All you wanna do is disappear... ♪

I thought when we went into News Of The World, we couldn't reinvent ourselves as a punk band,

but we wanted it a little bit more simple.

We thought maybe these really grandiose things weren't quite what was happening then

and to be more of the time, we made a more straightforward record.

Once we had our audience, we felt so confident that they would be there for us

and not require us to be anything that they'd seen before.

Do a twirl?

They were very open-minded, Queen audiences, so we never felt constrained.

We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions had a very sort of definite genesis.

The way I remember this story is Bingley Hall.

We played this great hall in the Midlands and it was heaving.

Those gigs that you love, it's all sweaty and hot, everybody is jumping up and down.

And they were singing along.

♪ She's a killer queen Gunpowder, gelatine

♪ Dynamite with a laser beam Guaranteed to blow your mind... ♪

In those days, it was really new. You just didn't go to concerts where people sang to rock bands.

But on this particular occasion, they didn't stop.

And when we went off stage, they sang You'll Never Walk Alone to us.

I'd gone to sleep thinking, "What can an audience do?"

They're all crammed in there. They can stamp their feet, clap their hands and sing.

So I woke up with We Will Rock You in my head.

We went into Wessex with these ideas and that happened to be..

some boards lying around, strange enough and I thought, "What does this sound like?"

And we multi-tracked it a lot of times to achieve a sound of a big throng of people stamping and clapping,

a huge sort of rally of people.

♪ We will, we will rock you... ♪

♪ We will, we will rock you... ♪

I came up with We Will Rock You and Freddie with We Are The Champions. His thinking was very similar.

Basically, it is a participation thing.

I've been really cool and I'm just thinking in terms of the public/group thing.

♪ I've paid my dues

♪ Time after time... ♪

We had no idea it would become a universal, worldwide sports anthem.

Both of them did - Rock You and Champions.

In football or whatever sport, you've got two opposing teams.

Both can sing We Are The Champions, but in a rock show, there's only one team.

♪ I've had my share of sand kicked in my face

♪ But I've come through... ♪

It could be construed as a rather elitist thing.

♪ We are the champions, my friends... ♪

But it was really "we", the collective "we".

But if I were you, before we find out, let's get the sound... Let's get a real sound on the drums.

It's definitely a song of great unifying power.

♪ We are the champions

♪ No time for losers

♪ Cos we are the champions... ♪

Here we've got four tracks of vocals, one with the solo guitar, then that's the end bit solo.

I've listened to them. That's the only way we can do it.

Fred was very cheeky. It was about Queen being the champions

in a sense, the arrogance for which we were famous.

♪ We are the champions

♪ We are the champions

♪ No time for losers

♪ Cos we are the champions. ♪

APPLAUSE

Only Queen could come up with the title "We Are The Champions". Where's the modesty gone?

Well, there isn't any. No modesty whatsoever.

After the slaggings-off we get from the English music press, who cares? We've got nothing to lose, you know?

Anyway, it's only a song, isn't it? Fuck 'em!

In those days, it was do the album, do a video, tour America.

One, two!

It was regarded as the sort of grail of the rock scene.

America was meaning more and more to us,

and when you smell success in America, you go for it.

We looked at what was going on in the States at the time.

The music was very much dominated by the cool West Coast

kind of rock with The Eagles and Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac.

And to some extent, Queen, I guess, didn't fit that mould.

They were bigger, more glamorous, more extravagant than,

I think, anything that existed in the States at the time.

They really didn't know what to make of them.

Why would you call your band Queen

when there's obviously four guys in it?

That was puzzling.

We were all in one station wagon,

then we were all in one limo, then it was two in one limo

and two in another, then it was one each.

But it was really only because the entourage grew,

it wasn't anything to do with not wanting to talk to one another.

We did stay pretty connected,

we didn't disappear to our dressing rooms.

Generally, we found a big place where we could all get ready together

and we would kind of joke around. We had a good kind of camaraderie.

This is called a miracle, folks!

I've lost my shoe!

Oh, but I don't do my own.

Dave! Do, do, do!

I went to see the Queen show and I had never seen so much luggage

and crew and amps and lighting.

And I said, "This is not rock'n'roll, this is a show.

"This is a production. This is Broadway".

MUSIC: "We Will Rock You"

The audience participation elevated the shows to something really special.

And I think we put a bit of distance between us

and some of our contemporaries like that, because it was such a great two-way event.

This was a coronation for Freddie Mercury in this town.

♪ We will, we will rock you tonight

♪ We will, we will rock you

♪ Buddy you're a young man, hard man, shouting in the street

♪ Gonna take on the world someday

♪ Mud on your face, big disgrace

♪ Waving your banner all over the place

♪ We will, we will rock you... ♪

It had always surprised us that it took so long

to break Queen in the States.

It sounds like it happened quickly, but it didn't, it happened over a period of about eight years.

We worked very hard at it.

At no point did you think, "We've made it," cos we hadn't.

This is, um, a Mercury composition

from "A Night At The Opera"

and it's something which a few people asked us to do last time.

So this is for those people. This is "Love Of My Life".

The 1977 US tour was pretty much a sell-out. And midway through,

we actually played two nights at the legendary Madison Square Gardens

in New York, which is a sort of landmark for any artist.

It was a watershed for me.

It was a mythical place, of course, big deal for us to play.

And my parents, from the beginning... Well, my dad, really.

My dad had really been against the whole business of me being a rock star.

It's curious, because he helped me build the guitar.

If it hadn't been for my dad slaving hours and hours making this homemade guitar,

I probably would never have got to this place.

He really felt that I'd thrown my education away.

I mean, I was educated to a high level. So to suddenly to go off and join a rock band

with apparently no future, my dad really could not compute it.

He was kind of in tears, really, he just felt I'd thrown my life away completely.

♪ You don't know what it means to me... ♪

But anyway, we were playing Madison Square Garden and I said,

"Look, Dad, this is a big one for us, playing America,

"it's New York, it's the first time we've played this amazing place. Come over."

So I said, "Dad, you'll go on Concorde",

you know, it was my dad and my mum. And they came to the gig

and I remember to this day, this feeling that our feet

weren't really on the ground, there was so much electricity in this place.

♪ You don't know what it means to me... ♪

And we came off thinking, "Wow, that was really something,"

and then I went back with my dad

and my dad said, "OK." He said, "OK, I get it now."

♪ Oooh. ♪

Thank you, Madison Square Garden.

What's happening when we go back to London?

You're one of the few bands that actually haven't left Britain.

We're sort of an English band in a way, we've always lived there.

Well, London particularly. We've always recorded in England.

It doesn't change the fact that the taxman still takes a lot of your money!

I think at the time, we were paying 83%,

and plus, if you had any money in the bank which was earning interest,

another 15%, which makes 98% tax.

So we decided to record the next album, which was "Jazz", in France.

So that's what we did. In a tiny little village called Super Bear,

we started the process of making this album.

♪ Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle

♪ I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle... ♪

Lots of sort of local colour got put onto that album.

♪ I want to ride my bike... ♪

We were sitting there and the Tour de France cycle race came through

and inspired Freddie to write "Bicycle..."

and for some strange reason, inspired me to write "Fat Bottomed Girls".

Although there might have been other inspirations there.

♪ On your marks, get set, go! ♪

Sadly, we weren't there for the filming.

I thought it was a hugely amusing idea.

♪ Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle... ♪

I remember the huge disappointment that none of us could be at the photo shoot.

Because we were exiled from England, so we couldn't go back in to see it!

I don't think you'd be able to do that now, would you?

Yeah, I don't think we would go there these days.

♪ Bicycle race! ♪

When it came time to launch the "Jazz" album,

we had the idea of having a massive party in New Orleans.

♪ Oh, you gonna take me home tonight... ♪

It was the so-called launch of that album,

and we had lots of girls and things,

there was a New Orleans band, it was a very over-the-top party.

♪ Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin' world go round... ♪

We had a bit of a spiritual connection with New Orleans.

A lot of our friends came, of all sexes.

It was definitely fun.

When I opened up the door of my suite,

on the bed was a complete case of Dom Perignon.

And it was downhill from there.

♪ Heap big woman, you made a bad boy out of me... ♪

I remember I felt quite ill the next day.

There was a lot of acts..

There was a man, he was actually a person of restricted growth,

who did lay under meats.

When asked what he did, he said, "I lie under meats."

And he's covered in sort of cold cuts and sort of, um,

chopped liver and stuff like that. You couldn't see him.

So people would approach the trestle table

and as they just reached out to scoop their meat,

he would just move, like that.

And that was his act!

♪ Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time

♪ I feel ali-i-i-ive... ♪

It wasn't a pretence, we actually did live the life of a rock band.

Sort of living on the edge, in a sense.

♪ Turning inside out, yeah

♪ Floating around in ecstasy

♪ So don't stop me now... ♪

"Don't Stop Me Now" is a whole different trip, really.

It's become one of the most popular Queen songs of all time.

♪ I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger

♪ Defying the laws of gravity

♪ I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva

♪ I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me

♪ I'm burning through the sky, yeah... ♪

It's a song of sort of unfettered joy.

♪ ..Mr Fahrenheit

♪ I'm travelling at the speed of light

♪ I wanna make a supersonic woman of you... ♪

I've been quoted as saying I don't like the track.

I kind of do like the track, but I had mixed feelings,

because in a sense, it represented a sort of separatism.

It was very much Freddie's world

and reflecting what he was going through.

Freddie took to the gay scene in New York

like David Attenborough making a wildlife programme.

He'd report on what he'd seen with that kind of "Hey-hey!" attitude that he had.

There was this one particular place called The Anvil,

which seemed to have invented new uses for parts of the human anatomy!

He was never shocked.

He was eager to be involved in everything,

it was like he was a social field worker.

♪ I wanna make a supersonic man out of you... ♪

As far as I'm concerned, I just want to pack in as much of life

and fun and having a good time as much as I can.

♪ If you want to have a good time, just give me a call

♪ Don't stop me now Cos I'm having a good time.

♪ Don't stop me now Yes, I'm having a good time

♪ I don't wanna stop at all

♪ Da-da da-da dah

♪ Da da da-ha

♪ Da-da-da ha-ha-hah

♪ Da-da-dah... ♪

The album "Jazz" was not a complete flop,

it got to number 6 in the chart.

But "Don't Stop Me Now", which is a big favourite in Britain to this day,

in America, only got to the 80s.

The review in Rolling Stone was notorious.

And it shows you that Queen were not respected.

We were confused by that title.

Why would a rock band call their album "Jazz"?

It had a couple of great tracks on it,

but it had some weaker stuff on it.

Queen was maybe viewed

as the Indian meal that had gone cold in the refrigerator.

What's going to happen in '79 for Queen?

We're going to make more records, tour even more.

It's difficult to say. This has been our hardest working year.

We'd heard that there was this great studio called Musicland

in Munich, and we'd heard there was this great engineer called Mack.

And we got into this rather kind of indulgent way of just

bowling into the studio with no ideas, or very few ideas,

and just doing it from scratch.

"What you got?" "Well I dont know, I've got this."

MUSIC: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

♪ This thing called love... ♪

First thing we did was "Crazy Little Thing ...."

Fred did write the song in the bath, in about ten minutes.

♪ Crazy little thing called love... ♪

Next, he said, "Tell them I'm coming over and we've got to go straight into the studio."

♪ Like a baby In the cradle all night... ♪

I was very quick, had everything set up in pretty much no time,

and they put it down, and then the best bit was,

"Quick, let's finish it before Brian gets here, otherwise it takes a little longer!"

♪ There goes my baby

♪ She knows how to rock and roll

♪ She drives me crazy

♪ She gives me hot and cold fever

♪ She leaves me in a cold, cold sweat... ♪

That was the first number 1 across the board in America.

Billboard, Cashbox and Record World, I think.

We were still making a record,

we hadn't even nearly finished the album,

and we were going out in Munich and somebody came up and said,

"It's gone to number 1 in America." We were going, "Yeah! More drinks!"

So, "Crazy Little Thing..." completely cracked the charts in America.

But it wasn't easy to find the follow-up.

"Play The Game" charted outside the US Top 40.

But the next single was something very different.

One thing I always liked about Queen was they were four individuals,

all of whom brought something to the table, musically and in terms of songwriting,

and that includes the bass player, John Deacon.

MUSIC: "Another One Bites The Dust"

I'd always wanted to do something that was more sort of disco-ey,

which was very uncool at the time.

I mean, funk wasn't really in the vocabulary.

Let's go!

John was pulling us strongly in that direction, sort of funky direction.

And John got Roger to play

with tape all over his drums, which is exactly what Roger hated.

Roger hated his drums being made to sound dead.

I didn't really want to get into dance music. It wasn't my thing.

♪ Another one bites the dust... ♪

Freddie got deeply into it, Freddie sort of sang it until he bled,

cos he was so committed to making it sound the way John wanted it, which was like hardcore...

I don't know what you would call it. But it's more towards black music than white music.

♪ How do you think I'm going to get along without you when you're gone?

♪ You took me for everything that I had and kicked me out of my home

♪ Are you happy? Are you satisfied? How long can you stand the heat?

♪ Out of the doorway, the bullets whistle to the sound of the beat... ♪

Michael came to several shows, I think, at the Forum in LA.

And he loved Freddie. And he kept saying,

"You guys, you've got to put that song out." I wasn't particularly enamoured with it,

so I said, "No, you're kidding, that's never a single."

♪ Another one bites the dust... ♪

"Another One Bites The Dust" was never seen as a single.

It barely made it onto the album!

It got on the radio and it got heard by people that didn't even know who the band was.

♪ Ah, take it! ♪

Strangely enough, the record became huge because of the black audience.

One particular station in New York picked it up,

thinking that we were a black band,

and played the hell out of it, and it became a huge hit.

It was like number 1 in nine different charts.

I mean, even in the country chart! It's ridiculous.

And this thing just kept selling, to around three million.

It was in the Hot 100 for 31 weeks.

When an opponent would get knocked out in a boxing match,

you'd hear "Another One Bites The Dust" used.

It became an anthem of triumph.

♪ Yeah, ye-e-e-e-a-a-ah! All right! ♪

I think it's still the biggest record we ever had.

♪ Another one bites the dust, yeah! ♪

People pointing at the cars - "You guys are bad!"

"What does that mean?" "It means you're good!"

♪ Another one bites the dust

♪ Hey, gonna get you too, another one bites the dust... ♪

If you're successful in America, basically, you've made it.

We kind of became the biggest group in the world at that moment.

It's a fleeting moment, because someone else will come

and take over. But for that moment, we kind of owned the world.

MUSIC: "We Are The Champions"

The sales figures tell the story that the people wanted Queen

even when the press didn't.

Looking back on it now, I'd say Queen were never in fashion.

We were never a fashionable group, I don't think.

Maybe that was to our benefit,

that we didn't become the thing of the moment, a fashionable thing.

We were just popular, which got right up some people's noses!

Fred, how do you feel, playing and singing

before 200,000 people? Haven't done it yet!

Every song, you felt, was, "They're stealing the show".

I like Queen very much, but I don't want to end up life living a quartet.

The band was pretty much on the verge of falling apart.

I think he had an idea that he might not be terribly well.

He said, "I'll come back and finish it off," and he never came back.

That was the last moment that I had with him.

♪ Flash, aaah

♪ Saviour of the universe... ♪

I wanted us to be massively successful, I mean...

I think almost everybody in this business does.

♪ Flash, aaah

♪ He'll save every one of us... ♪

Certainly by the beginning of the '80s,

the world domination they'd craved for was definitely there.

♪ Aaah

♪ He's a miracle... ♪

The hardest thing is to actually maintain the level of success you've achieved

because I think when you go all the way up, the only place is to come down.

♪ Flash, aaah

♪ King of the impossible... ♪

You've no idea where you can get to. It's like the sky's the limit.

♪ He'll save with a mighty hand

♪ Every man, every woman, every child with a mighty Flash... ♪

We didn't want just America, we wanted the whole world, you know.

South America reared its head

and we heard rumours that we were... the biggest thing ever in Argentina

and Brazil and they started to ask us to go down there.

They were saying, "You can play football stadiums down there."

We went, "You're joking."

In those days under the dictatorship in Argentina,

we were negotiating with the army general and he said to me,

"How can I possibly allow 50,000 young people into a stadium

"when I can't control them?

"What happens if somebody suddenly shouts out 'Viva Peron'

"in the middle of a Queen concert and I have a riot on my hands?"

And I tried to explain to him that, rather like

gladiatorial matches in Rome, this was panacea to the people,

they'd never, ever had this before,

this would be an extraordinary experience.

So we got the whole thing together

and it was God knows how many jumbo jets full of equipment.

And when we arrived in Buenos Aires, as we're unloading it,

you could see spent bullet cases, and thinking,

"Yeah, we really are in a very different place here."

We were looking for a bodyguard for Freddie, this particular man came in

and his opening recommendation was that he'd killed 212 people.

The travel arrangements were very scary.

Driving the wrong way along a raised motorway

with outriders, with guys in big jeeps waving their big guns

and getting the cars, coming straight towards them, to pull over.

We got caught in a traffic jam and one of the policemen just stood up,

put his head through the roof

and started firing his gun in the air in order to clear the traffic.

Very hair-raising.

Hello, amigos.

HE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

Fred, how do you feel playing and singing before 200,000 people?

I haven't done it yet!

I can remember being nervous the first night.

The top tier alone took 80,000 and we were in this sort of dug-out

which I guess the football teams would normally be in.

All the windows were broken and I remember thinking

this is... You know, it's going to take some balls to walk out there.

Hello, Sao Paulo!

♪ Get your party gown

♪ Get your pigtail down

♪ Get your heart beating, baby

♪ Get your timing right

♪ I got my act all tight

♪ It's gotta be tonight My little school babe

♪ Your momma says you don't

♪ Your daddy says you won't And I'm boiling up inside... ♪

They knew all the songs. These people don't speak English

but they could sing along all the Queen songs

so they're obviously very genuine fans and they went nuts.

♪ Tie your mother down Tie your mother down

♪ Lock your daddy out of doors I don't need him nosing around

♪ Tie your mother down Tie your mother down

♪ Give me all your love tonight

♪ Tonight... ♪

It also takes a certain ego

and a certain drive to want to be

in that spotlight and go on display.

And Freddie thrived and got better in bigger arenas.

♪ Yeah

AUDIENCE: # Yeah

♪ Yeah

♪ Yeah

♪ Yeah ye-yeah yeah

♪ Yeah ye-yeah yeah

♪ Yeah yeah ye-ye-yeah

♪ Yeah yeah ye-ye-yeah

♪ All right All right

♪ All right All right

♪ Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

♪ Yeah Yeah

♪ Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

♪ Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

♪ Yeah Yeah

♪ Yeah

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah

♪ Aaaaaaaall right

♪ Aaaaaaaall right

Let's do it to tempo.

Once we'd finished Argentina and Brazil,

the band decided to go back into the studio

and they had of course bought the studios in Montreux, here.

Mountain Studios was in the casino by the lake in Montreux.

When they first arrived it was, like, the top studio in Europe.

We were in the studio in Montreux and David Bowie lives nearby.

I think we went out for a meal or drinks or something

and then landed up back in the studio with the sort of

rough intention of doing something.

We were fooling around and just...

jamming with tracks and suddenly we said,

"Why don't we just see what we can do on the spur of the moment?"

Then it's the pressure of His Majesty David being there

and everybody wanted to look suave and quick with ideas and stuff.

Deacy of course came up with this riff - dun dun dun de de dun dun.

"UNDER PRESSURE" BASS RIFF PLAYS

♪ Bom bom bom buddle der der

♪ Ding ding ding digger ding ding

He kept playing that over and over and over again.

And then we went for a pizza and he forgot it.

Completely escaped his mind! We got back and I remembered it.

And of course, we're used to playing together and now we have this

other guy there who's also inputting, inputting, inputting.

David's idea of putting these clicks and claps

and then the track just grew.

By that time, David was very impassioned.

He had a vision in his head, I think.

It's quite a difficult process and somebody has to back off

and actually I did back off, unusual for me.

♪ Pressure pushing down on me

♪ Pressing down on you

♪ No man ask for

♪ Under pressure

♪ That burns a building down

♪ Splits a family in two

♪ Puts people on streets... ♪

For the vocals, one of them was to be locked out

and not allowed to hear what the other one sang

and they sang anything off the top of their heads.

♪ It never rains but it pours

♪ Um ba-ba bey... ♪

Fred starts doing his bum-didder-dup and his bits-and-pieces

and I see out of the corner of my eye,

I see David sticking his head in, listening.

Then Fred came down, David went up and Freddie was quite impressed

that he was counterpointing to what he did before.

♪ ..This world is about

♪ Watching some good friends screaming let me out

♪ Pray tomorrow gets me higher, high, high

♪ Pressure on people People on streets... ♪

And Fred said, "What do you make of this?"

I said, "It's kind of easy if you stand in the doorway listening to what you're doing."

And Freddie turned, "What the BLEEP"?

♪ Cos love's such an old fashioned word

♪ And love dares you

♪ To care for the people on the edge of the night

♪ And love dares you

♪ To change our way of

♪ Caring about ourselves

♪ This is our last dance... ♪

The result is very good but it was a difficult experience, I think,

because people pulling in different directions, in a sense.

♪ Under pressure... ♪

Under Pressure, David Bowie, the band, me,

I don't think it mixed too well.

♪ Pressure. ♪

Shame actually, it's...

I thought it was fabulous, we could've done some incredible further things, actually.

Well, here we have a total change of life for all of us, really.

We went back to Munich to do the next album

and really, I suppose, things started to go downhill.

It's actually a rather grim place.

It's a studio in the basement of a huge tower block which is a hotel.

And it's kind of depressing.

A lot of people used to jump off that building and kill themselves,

off that particular building, it was well known for it.

We didn't know that until we got there, so we went a bit nuts.

By that time, we were getting very finicky about recording

and we spent months there.

After the massive success of Another One Bites The Dust,

the thinking was we'll make an album that's slightly more dance orientated.

Not my idea.

Especially in Freddie's entourage,

I won't mention any names like Paul Prenter, for instance,

loathed guitars and found that Brian was old fashioned.

Paul Prenter had become Freddie's personal assistant.

He was a very, very bad influence upon Freddie,

hence on the band, really.

He very much wanted our music to sound

like you'd just walked in a gay club.

And I didn't.

♪ Back chat, back chat

♪ Criticising all you see

♪ Back chat, back chat

♪ Analysing what I say... ♪

There were a lot of strains in the band that'd happen

with four people of that strength of character.

Everybody had their say and the arguments were creative and then it would become personal.

Of course!

It was a sort of emotional roller coaster.

I think less and less time was spent in the studio.

Get up about three o'clock and go and have breakfast

and then a bit of work would be done and then you'd have dinner

and then one of the roadies would start mixing cocktails and then...

other things would...ahem, happen.

♪ Give me... ♪

I'm not saying cocaine and other drugs

and loose women had anything to do with that at all.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!

♪ Body, body

♪ Give me your body... ♪

It turned into a rather exhausting cycle, I think, in the end.

♪ Don't talk, don't talk, don't talk

♪ Baby, don't talk... ♪

I don't know if I can say this... Yes, I could probably say this.

We all got ourselves into deep trouble emotionally in Munich

and Freddie was no exception, he got himself deep into emotional waters which he couldn't really handle

and was very unhappy for some of the time.

♪ Give me your body... ♪

He was being sucked into places which really probably weren't good for him.

And I think we all felt that

and realised that he was in some kind of danger.

♪ Give me, yeah

♪ Your body... ♪

I certainly saw the change in Freddie...

♪ Don't talk... ♪

..in the club Heaven in 1983.

I said to him, "Have you modified your behaviour

"in light of 'the new disease'", which as of yet did not have a name.

And with the sweep of his arms in a theatrical fashion, he said,

"Darling, my attitude is fuck it, I'm doing everything with everybody."

If someone kept a chart of rock and roll royalty,

Queen would have to be at the top.

Now Queen is back on tour

and perhaps up against their biggest challenge yet.

Now, most of you know that we've got some new sounds out last week and...

..for what it's worth, we're going to do a few songs in

the funk-black category, whatever you call it.

Record sales are not as strong as in the past

and that's left everyone wondering.

I don't like everything that we do.

I like a lot of what we do but not everything.

It depends on whatever the four individuals in the group,

what music they're into at the time and what songs they're writing.

There might be a couple of songs come out you don't like very much.

I could name a couple!

Well, Hot Space in Queen terms was pretty disastrous, really.

It didn't appeal to some of the hardcore Queen fans

who would turn up at concerts with banners saying "disco sucks".

It's only a bloody record, people get so excited about these things. I mean...

The band...

It was pretty much on the verge of falling apart.

I think we had a couple of meetings and staff to discuss

were we still together etc, etc.

What to do if you're a member of an internationally successful

rock band but want to blow off creative steam

that doesn't fit the band's image.

Our next guest has faced that, he is Roger Taylor.

He's just blown off some of his own steam with his second solo album,

Strange Frontier. Let's look at it.

♪ Sometimes I feel like a man on fire

♪ Sometimes I feel like a man possessed

♪ Sometimes I wanna burn down this crazy town... ♪

I think we decided we needed a break.

Queen propelled us into the world but also in a sense it confined us

into a very small space. We just worked with each other, not the other fabulous musicians.

I ended up in LA and one morning just got up

and rang up some mates there and said, "Why don't we do something?"

And it led to the Star Fleet Project.

♪ Star fleet, star fleet

♪ Star fleet, star fleet... ♪

At a certain point we were all ready, there's no doubt.

We'd been off doing our different things,

refreshing ourselves but we were ready to get back in the studio.

This is the hardest time for us, this is a big test, we've been

in the business 12 years and to keep it going that much further is hard.

The Works was the next album.

We thought we wanted somewhere nice and warm

and not freezing bloody cold Munich.

So that really made sense, to go to LA to make that record.

And I think we got back on track in The Works, actually.

They were a complicated musical marriage.

They didn't have one room in a studio, they had three or four.

Studio B, Studio C, Studio D, Studio E.

But that was a good thing

cos it allowed everybody to work on their individual songs.

In the early days it was Brian and Freddie

who really used to write most of the material

but over the last five years,

Roger and I have started to contribute more.

I thought John Deacon was kind of a secret weapon because

he would come up with these major hits out of nowhere.

He had this track, I Want To Break Free,

and it was pretty much there except this big hole in the middle.

I mean, John did not want a guitar solo so he asked Fred Mandel,

a very brilliant keyboard player, to improvise something

around the main tune and Fred did this brilliant take.

SYNTHESIZER ON "I WANT TO BREAK FREE"

You know, all their records used to say prominently "no synthesizers"

then I come along like another schmuck

and put synthesizers on everything.

I wasn't too happy at the time but I gave it my blessing,

that's the deal.

The polarity of writing within the band changed.

I think the time has come where we actually...

in songwriting, we're completely even.

Roger will come up with something like Radio Ga Ga and it's perfect.

It was Sunday afternoon, my son Felix came in, he was very young

and he just sort of went, "Ah, radio, caca"

cos he's half French.

And, um, I just thought that's quite nice, you know.

I put the backing track together

and presented it to Freddie who really loved it.

We took it into the next room and then Fred and I worked

on the vocoder parts.

♪ All we hear is

♪ Radio ga ga

♪ Radio goo goo

♪ Radio ga ga... ♪

If you listen, several times it says "radio caca".

♪ Radio ga ga

♪ Radio ga ga... ♪

Radio Ga Ga brought Queen back.

♪ Radio... ♪

It came from a rock thing.

Radio Ga Ga combined the best elements of

the '70s with the '80s.

That's where Queen had a strength with The Works.

It was more of a substantial hit even though it didn't actually make

the top 10 in America.

But it got played a lot and the video made a big impact.

♪ Let's hope you never

♪ Leave, old friend

♪ Like all good things

♪ On you we depend

♪ So stick around

♪ Cos we might miss you... ♪

We had a killer video which we put a lot of work into.

♪ You had your time

♪ You had the power

♪ You've yet to have... ♪

The whole thing just felt good, of its time.

It felt a bit different. It felt modern and it was very fresh.

♪ All we hear is radio ga ga

♪ Radio goo goo

♪ Radio ga ga... ♪

All of a sudden people, would participate jointly

in Radio Ga Ga situations.

A collective statement that was good on the radio,

or on a turntable.

In live, it really was a unification.

♪ All we hear is radio ga ga

♪ Radio goo goo

♪ Radio ga ga... ♪

Freddie said, "What we do is like the Olympics.

"It's people believing in you and everyone behind you.

"Everyone doing the same thing.

"That's the Olympics." He said, "That's what we do."

♪ Radio ga ga, radio ga ga... ♪

Suddenly the MTV generation grew up and video became all-important.

The most enjoyable video was I Want To Break Free

because we just laughed.

I was dying to dress up in drag. Doesn't everybody?

And everybody ran into their frocks quicker than anything.

It was their idea, basically, and I said, "Yeah, let's have a go."

♪ I want to break free

♪ I want to break free

♪ I want to break free from your lies... ♪

That great video was a loving reference to Coronation Street.

♪ I've got to break free... ♪

Americans didn't understand it. It just looked like we wanted to dress up in drag.

It was unthinkable to most of middle America.

♪ I've got to break free... ♪

It's a very British thing. Sometimes the humour doesn't translate. I'm Canadian so I get it.

It was just a different style of humour

and I don't think it went over with the "MTV generation".

I remember this video being banned.

MTV were very quick on the trigger to ban things then.

I mean, if you thought Mary Whitehouse was bad,

you should have seen some of the geezers running MTV

in the very early '80s.

Well, MTV were very narrow-minded.

It was Whitesnake, and fucking Whitesnake,

and then another Whitesnake track.

And they decided that they didn't think men in drag

was rock enough for them, I guess, so they didn't play the video.

Most Americans were deprived of my, and Freddie's,

favourite moment of that video.

I said to Freddie, "I love the way you double-step...

♪ But life still goes on... ♪

..to get from one room to the other.

And he said, "I'm so glad you noticed. That's my favourite part."

♪ ..without you by my side

♪ I don't want to live alone

♪ Hey, God knows

♪ I've got to make it... ♪

The funny thing is, we became global but we lost America.

And we kind of never got it back.

♪ I've got to break free. ♪

Freddie wouldn't go back to tour America

unless they were touring a hit,

and of course that's the chicken and egg

because the less you tour America, the more you lose America.

It was sad, it's a shame, because there's a whole catalogue of hits,

worldwide hits, but not in the States, and that'll never come back.

Appearing at Sun City never helped anybody's image,

and sometimes it hurt.

Sun City was this resort of international standard in South Africa

and the position taken by most of the rock community

was that if you went to South Africa you supported apartheid.

It's very nice to be here in South Africa

and I just want to have a good time.

Anything you'd like to say to your fans?

Yeah, we hope you get real excited, because we're pretty excited to be here.

The controversy behind Sun City...

Sun Fucking City - wish I'd never heard of the place.

The principal reason that Queen went there

was because they were offered a large amount of money.

There was all sorts of hoo-ha going on,

you know - "You mustn't play Sun City because it's a sign

"that you're supporting apartheid."

Well, it's simply not true.

If you adopted a policy of never playing in a country

where you don't approve of the politicians,

there'd be very few places you can play.

Did you know you had so many fans in South Africa?

Well, I think we had some idea of our popularity here,

but we didn't realise it was quite that.

Jim went down there time after time and I asked if we'd play to mixed audiences.

He said we wouldn't play to segregated audiences.

And it was not an apartheid audience,

but it was mainly white.

Are you going to the concert? Definitely.

What have you heard? I heard it's a great show.

What are you expecting at the concert? Something fantastic.

I've heard it's the most fantastic show ever.

The band then supported a school for the deaf in Bophutswana

that we became very involved with.

The general audience doesn't read the small print. It just sees the headlines.

If it goes, "You're making a lot of money playing a gig in an apartheid state",

it makes it look like you're following apartheid. It did not help them.

I will say to my dying day that we acted properly

according to our conscience as regards South Africa.

Um... We went there to play music,

the same as we did in all kinds of other places.

We got so much shit for it. But we went for good reasons.

But, on balance, I think it was a mistake to go.

Whenever the band came under pressure,

there would be maybe a walkout, a separation, a row.

♪ Sometimes I feel I'm going to break down and cry

♪ Nowhere to go Nothing to do with my time

♪ I get lonely

♪ So lonely

♪ Living on my own... ♪

I like Queen very much, but I don't want to end up living a quartet.

I'm 37 years old I want to do something different,

otherwise I'll get too damn old and I'll be in a wheelchair.

There was a lot of strain when Freddie did his solo album,

mainly because the advance

was considerably more than the advances for Queen albums.

♪ Got to be some good times ahead

♪ Sometimes I feel nobody gives me no warning... ♪

There is an inward jealousy -

they're all waiting to see if my album does better

than the last Queen album, or something like that.

♪ It's not easy

♪ Living on my own... ♪

Sometimes it's nice to break away from a group

that's actually been going for so long, meaning staying away.

He was definitely contemplating the idea of what Living On My Own

actually means because he lived in Munich for well over a year.

♪ Got to be some good times ahead... ♪

When Freddie was alone in Munich,

he had to basically fall back either on the gay community,

or, when he needed some sense or decent advice, he would call us.

He was hanging out a lot at our place.

He'd spend a lot of time with the kids.

It was like a family affair.

He said a lot of times that this was the best time in his life.

Out of the songs you've put on this album, Freddie,

which one do you find the most rewarding, personally?

Oh, I don't know, the one that sells the most.

Freddie had a very fulfilling experience of creativity,

but he didn't have a very fulfilling experience,

um...how shall I say, economically.

The Mr Bad Guy album really was a disaster, in terms of sales.

The strength of Queen came from the arguments.

It was the fact that you had to fight your space.

Songs got fine-tuned by that,

and Freddie working on his own in Munich with an orchestra and Mack,

there was nobody really to stand up with him.

Well, tomorrow, the pop world's greatest extravaganza,

as we've been talking about, Live Aid,

will bring together rock's brightest and best from both sides of the Atlantic,

all performing free in the hope of raising millions for the starving people of Africa.

You know, looking back, there was a moment when Queen were thought of

as a good group that was predominantly historic.

Radio Ga Ga was their one big hit in four years.

They weren't on a hot streak,

and they weren't a particularly productive group at that time.

There was a feeling that maybe that was it.

But Geldof ordered them to regroup and perform.

The thing was, did Freddie want to do it? He wasn't that keen.

Freddie was a bit reticent about doing anything,

but Bob came in one day

when we talked about Live Aid, and said,

"I told Freddie he's doing it." And I kind of believe him.

It really is a gathering of the rock world's elite,

and already rehearsing in here are some of rock and roll's royalty.

It was rehearsed quite intensely at the Shaw Theatre on Euston Road.

♪ Here we stand and here we fall

♪ History won't care at all

♪ Make the bed, light the light... ♪

Queen took the responsibility more professionally than anyone else on the bill.

♪ You don't waste no time at all

♪ Don't hear the bell but you answer the call... ♪

I went out and bought these big plastic white clocks

and put them in the orchestra pit so we could see the time.

There was an 18-minute slot that each artist had,

and there were traffic lights at the side of the stage.

And you were warned that the traffic lights after 16 minutes would turn amber from green,

and they said, "You won't see them turn red because the power goes off."

So you make it quick and you make it something they know.

Just after 16 hours of live Aid,

would you welcome Status Quo!

♪ Here we are and here we are and here we go... ♪

The energy that day was sensational.

♪ Rockin' all over the world... ♪

We were all quite nervous, actually.

Not necessarily our audience because they'd put together

the bill of Live Aid before we'd been announced as being on it.

They set the level for the PA with limiters

and then when Queen came on, Trip, who was Queen's sound engineer,

switched the limiters so that Queen would be louder.

From the word go, he came out of the traps like a champion.

Freddie performed against the advice of his doctor because of a throat condition.

But he went out there and gave one of the greatest live television performances ever.

♪ You don't waste no time at all

♪ Don't hear the bell but you answer the call

♪ Comes to you as to us all, yeah!

♪ And it's time for the hammer to fall... ♪

The ballet with a BBC cameraman was shockingly charismatic.

♪ Every night, every day

♪ A little piece of you is falling away

♪ Lift your face the western way... ♪

And it was as if all the artists backstage had heard a dog whistle.

And their heads turned and the frisson you felt was,

"They're stealing the show."

♪ I've paid my dues

♪ Time after time

♪ I did my sentence

♪ But committed no crime

♪ And bad mistakes

♪ I've made a few

♪ I've had my share of sand kicked in my face

♪ But I've come through

♪ We are the champions, my friend... ♪

I defy anybody who saw it not to have goose pimples on the back of their neck

when you saw that sea of people.

♪ We are the champions

♪ We are the champions... ♪

I remember looking up and seeing the whole place going completely bonkers in unison and thinking,

"Oh, this is going well."

♪ ..the champions

♪ We are the champions, my friend

♪ And we'll keep on fighting till the end... ♪

We did have an unfair advantage. We had done football stadiums.

Freddie particularly learned this magical way

of involving everybody. In a huge football stadium,

he could make everybody feel they were in contact.

♪ We are the champions...

♪ ..of the world. ♪

People say, "Was it a career move?"

Well, no, it wasn't a career move

but of course that's in the back of everybody's mind.

We got a great reception from the crowd, even at Wembley,

and also from the TV audience as well.

So in fact, it was a great boost of confidence, in a way, for the group.

To have conquered Live Aid in that way

undoubtedly breathed fresh energy into the band.

It was a shot in the arm and we went back in the studio.

We were back in Munich with all its attendant dangers,

so we tried to keep ourselves in the studio as much as possible.

Ta-dah!

♪ Hey! One man, one goal

♪ One mission, one heart... ♪

I had a page, a sort of poem that was sort of half nicked off Martin Luther King's famous speech.

It doesn't fit. It does.

One goddamn decision. Real decision.

No, it won't fit.

It was all one this and one that.

♪ One God, one soul, make one decision... ♪

Make one decision. One true religion.

♪ One God, one vision

♪ One man, one goal, one true religion

♪ One dump, one turd Two tits, John Deacon

♪ Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh

♪ Give me one vision... ♪

The Magic Tour was the biggest tour we'd ever undertaken.

♪ No wrong, no right

♪ I'm gonna tell you there's no black and no white... ♪

We planned an entire tour of stadium gigs.

♪ All we need is one world, one vision... ♪

Massive shows all over Europe, and really fantastic reception. We hit another level.

We were finally in the place we'd always dreamed of being, perhaps.

♪ I had a dream when I was young

♪ A dream, sweet illusion... ♪

That tour had gigs like Budapest in it, which in itself is a great thing.

Budapest was the first stadium concert behind the Iron Curtain.

People hitch-hiked from all over Eastern Europe.

♪ Look what they've done to my dream... ♪

It was a great tour because it ended up two nights at Wembley.

Hello there, my beauties. This is happening.

♪ Give me your hands Give me your hearts... ♪

In addition to Wembley Stadium, we put on an extra one

because it sold out so quick, the two nights, so we put Knebworth on.

♪ One voice, one hope One real decision

♪ Gimme one light One light Gimme one hope One hope

♪ Just gimme, ah One man, one man

♪ One bar one night One day hey hey

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme fried chicken. #

They were the final shows with Freddie,

and I remember it being pretty much perfect.

MUSIC: "God Save The Queen"

I just got the vibe from Freddie,

he felt that he wasn't maybe able to do any more.

I know there'll be a time when I can't run around on stage

because it'll be ridiculous. There comes a time when you have to stop.

I think he had an idea that he might not be terribly well.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Freddie told me that he was HIV positive before he told the band.

This put me in a very difficult position

because he told me he didn't want me to tell the band.

So there was I, managing a band, knowing something

of crucial importance to the band which I couldn't pass on to them.

♪ Every drop of rain that falls in Sahara desert says it all

♪ It's a miracle

♪ All God's creations Great and small

♪ The Golden Gate and the Taj Mahal

♪ That's a miracle

♪ Test-tube babies being born

♪ Mothers, fathers, dead and gone

♪ It's a miracle... ♪

There were rumours and he was obviously suffering,

and we didn't know what it was, and rumour, rumour, rumour...

And so he did sit us down at one point and said,

"Look, you probably know what I'm going to say.

"You know what I'm suffering from. You know what the problem is

but I don't want to talk about it anymore. I just want to make music

until the day I fucking die. And...let's get on with it.

♪ It's a miracle

♪ It's a miracle... ♪

These are some of our best studio times.

We've made the decision that all the songs we write will be credited

to all of us, so it kind of releases a bit of...

positive energy in us.

They became closer and closer, without any doubt.

The sharing of writing credits was a major breakthrough.

Some magical things happened, I think.

There's this track called The Miracle, itself,

which I think is one of Freddie's most beautiful creations.

♪ The one thing The one thing

♪ We're all waiting for

♪ Is peace on earth Peace on earth

♪ And an end to war An end to war... ♪

'I love the track. It's all so optimistic about the world'

and the miracles that are being found in the world.

Which is incredible when you think what he's looking at

because he knows what he's got and he knows what the prognosis is.

♪ That time will come One day you'll see

♪ When we can all be friends

♪ That time will come One day you'll see

♪ When we can all... ♪

APPLAUSE Special Award for an outstanding contribution to British music

goes to John Deacon, Brian May, Freddie Mercury,

Roger Taylor - Queen.

APPLAUSE

The first indications something wasn't right

was Freddie looked a little thinner to me.

And I called John up to see what was going on.

I said, "Is something wrong with Freddie?" And he wouldn't tell me.

The thing that annoyed me more than anything was a shot

of Freddie in The Sun and he'd just come out of the doctor's, I think.

It's a really grainy, full-page shot. "Is this man dying?"

And I thought, "You fucking wankers."

♪ Scandal

♪ Scandal... ♪

We hid everything and we avoided questions.

♪ Scandal... ♪

I guess we lied.

Because we wanted to protect him.

♪ Scandal... ♪

I would then say anything to anybody. "Is Fred sick?"

"Absolutely not, no. He was in the gym yesterday.

"Fuck you," you know. "None of your business."

Everybody had to draw the wagons around him.

Because at that time, to become ill was to have a death sentence.

♪ Today the headlines Tomorrow hard times

♪ And no-one ever really knows The truth from the lies... ♪

His house was surrounded by...

I don't know, a couple of hundred, I reckon.

Just like vultures, really.

♪ Deeper and deeper inside... ♪

It was utterly shocking, you know.

Filming the groceries in the back of the car boot.

♪ Scandal... ♪

"Any medicine in there?" You know, it's absolutely shocking.

It became difficult to work in London,

there was such a terrible focus of attention on him.

People sticking cameras through his toilet windows,

as soon as the rumours were out there.

So Montreal was a much more peaceful place to work so we ended up doing a lot of stuff there.

SONG: "I'm Going Slightly Mad"

Freddie felt much safer there because people didn't bother.

You know. They weren't intrusively observing him.

At that point we can't play live

but in the things that we're doing, it's business as usual.

♪ I'm going slightly mad

♪ I'm going slightly mad... ♪

He was determined to work right up to the last minute.

I was surprised that he did Going Slightly Mad.

♪ It finally happened... ♪

Which I thought was a good video, actually,

and it had lots of humour in it.

♪ I'm slightly mad! ♪

There was a lot more humour in Freddie than I think

the general public realised.

You want to take it? No, I...

Oh! What's it doing?

HOOTS OF LAUGHTER

Roger, what did you do?

It was just really a very close time.

Go for me. Waaa!

Freddie found an amazing tranquillity and I never really heard him complain.

I remember we went out one night

and he had horrible problems with his leg.

And Freddie saw me looking at it and said, "Oh, Brian, do you want to see what it's like?"

And he showed me, and I think...

he reacted to my face, and he said,

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you."

I never heard him go, "This is really awful. My life is shit.

"I'm going to die." Never, never, never.

He was an amazingly strong person.

The sicker Freddie got, the more he seemed to need to record,

to give himself something to do, you know - some sort of reason to get up.

And he would make it in whenever he could.

So really, it was a period of fairly intense work, actually.

Freddie is becoming weakened by this horrible disease

and he finds it hard to stand up a lot of the time

but he'll throw a couple of vodkas down and prop himself up

on the mixing desk and have his mike there, and go for it.

Roll camera, roll playback.

♪ Sometimes I get to feeling

♪ I was back in the old days

♪ Long ago... ♪

'I can hear the voice is getting thinner.'

♪ Things seemed so perfect You know... ♪

'I think you can really tell that it's an ailing voice.'

Although he hits the notes.

♪ The sun was always shining

♪ We just lived for fun

♪ Sometimes... ♪

'Roger started writing These Are The Days Of Our Lives about his kids'

and the way he felt about life and how it comes back.

But of course, in that context, it had another meaning.

♪ Those were the days of our lives... ♪

'He looked so ill there. It was quite scary,'

and...I thought that was a very brave thing to do.

And why not, you know?

'He spent hours and hours and hours in make-up, sorting himself out,

'so it would be OK.'

♪ Those days are all gone now but

♪ One thing is true... ♪

I did too many movements.

But I just wanted to see... No, I know...

♪ I still love you... ♪

I just want to see... It doesn't look...

It doesn't look...

I think it should be waisted.

Do you know what I mean? I want a little bit of shape here. A tiny bit.

'Yeah. I like the shape now.'

♪ Those days are all gone now, but

♪ One thing's still true

♪ When I look... ♪

'Freddie actually kind of says a goodbye in that song.'

♪ I still love you... ♪

I still love you.

Innuendo was out on the streets, it was number one

and two weeks later they were here in Montreux.

And they started doing more music.

And Freddie, at that time, said, "Write me stuff. I know I don't have very long.

"Keep writing me words. Keep giving me things.

"I will sing and then you can do what you like with it afterwards,

"you know, finish it off."

And so I was writing on scraps of paper these lines of Mother Love.

He was dying and he did those things

and he knew he would be dead when they were finished.

Because he said to me, "I'm going to sing it now,

"because I can't wait for them to do the music on this.

"I'll give it to you on a drum machine.

"Give me a drum machine thing... They'll finish it off."

♪ I don't want to make no waves

♪ You can give me all the love... ♪

Every time I gave him another line, he would sing it,

sing it again, and sing it again.

So we had three takes for every line, and that was it.

♪ I long for peace before I die... ♪

Mother Love, I think, was the last one. There's an exceptional

spine-chilling note in the middle.

A fantastic bit of singing.

♪ Out in the city

♪ In the cold world outside

♪ I don't want pity

♪ Just a safe place to hide

♪ Mama, please, let me back inside... ♪

It's absolutely...spine-chilling.

And we got to the last verse and he said,

"Oh, I'm not up to this now, I need to go away and have a rest.

"I'll come back and finish it off", you know.

And he never came back.

That was the last moment that I had with him in the studio.

I went to see Freddie, and it was in fact the last time I saw him.

He said to me, "I haven't given you anything in my will.

"You're my executor, you can do anything with my legacy,

"you can do anything with my music

"but never make me boring."

The last time I saw Freddie was, Anita and I went to see him

and he was in bed,

with the curtains open so he could see out into his garden,

and I was talking about things in his garden,

saying, "That's really interesting" and he said,

"Guys, you don't need to feel like you need to make conversation.

"I'm just so happy that you're here,

"so even if we say nothing, it's just having these moments."

The worst thing was I was actually on my way to see him,

and I was about 300 yards away when Peter Freestone rang me

to tell me, "Don't bother coming cos he's gone."

It was me who wrote the little epitaph

that's on his statue in Montreux

which just says, "Freddie Mercury, Lover of Life - Singer of Songs."

To me, that sums him up because he lived life to the full,

there's no question, with all that that entailed.

He was a generous man, a kind man, an impatient man sometimes,

but utterly dedicated to what he felt was important,

which was making music.

We made the announcement that we were going to do a tribute concert to him when we felt that we could,

to send him out in the style which he deserved.

We hope that a lot of you will be able to join us

on April 20th at Wembley Stadium

for a celebration of Freddie's life and career.

You're all welcome. Please join us.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So we drew up a list of people that we'd like to be on the show.

Roger got the ball rolling.

Roger got up one morning and said, "Look, we're doing this." And made a few phone calls.

And Brian said, "Well, if you can get that lot, I'll come."

On stage, Mr Roger Daltrey!

Mr Robert Plant, thank you!

Mr David Bowie!

And...

♪ Any way the wind blo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ows! ♪

We got a date, Wembley Stadium... Had to be Wembley Stadium, didn't it? Had to be.

The scene of Freddie's greatest triumphs.

A lot of amazing things happened.

I'd like to offer something, in a very simple fashion.

David Bowie spontaneously went into the Lord's Prayer which was a surprise to us all.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power

and the glory

for ever and ever,

A-men.

APPLAUSE

God bless Queen.

God bless you.

Thank you, good night.

I want to hear every single person.

See every single pair of hands.

Three, four.

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Find me somebody to love

♪ Somebody! Somebody!

♪ Somebody! Somebody! Somebody! Somebody!

♪ Somebody find me somebody to love

♪ Anybody find me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e...

♪ Somebody to-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... ♪

Come on!

AUDIENCE: ♪ Lo-o-o-o-ve. ♪

'It was completely cathartic.'

It was like working out a bit of grief in a way.

Yeah!

♪ Somebody find me somebody to-oo-oo love

♪ Find me somebody to-oo-oo love Oo-oo-oo-oo-ooh!

♪ Find me is somebody, somebody

♪ To-oo-oo love

♪ Anybody anywhere find me somebody to love

♪ Yeah, yeah

♪ O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oh

♪ O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oh. ♪

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And I remember just as we were coming off,

Joe Elliott from Def Leopard put his hand on my arm

and said, "Stop, Brian,

"just turn around and look at that audience and remember this moment.

"Nothing like this will ever happen again."

'The incredible thing is, it's 40 years since the band was formed.

'The band is probably as big as it's ever been.'

And yet 20 of those 40 years have been without Freddie.

We don't have John either because he's chosen to be in a very different place.

For Roger and I...

there is always that searching.

♪ The show must go on! ♪

What's lurking in the wings was the material we'd done with Freddie which was unfinished,

and what were we going to do with this, make an album?

Made In Heaven was obviously different.

It was very weird working with Freddie's voice coming out of the speakers

but Brian and I felt that we knew what Freddie would have been thinking

so we got there and I was very pleased with the result.

I feel like it was the right completion.

It was, um...it was the right album to finish up on.

Once you've passed your initiation into being a rock star, it never leaves you.

You cannot stop having that feeling inside you that makes you want to play.

♪ The show must go on! ♪

When we did the Paul Rodgers tour, it was great, actually.

Paul was a great singer, completely different.

♪ I've never given in On with the show

♪ The show must go on. ♪

It constantly amazes me to think we were lucky enough

to be in a great band, to have a great band together,

and that, actually, people still like the music, you know.

Queen is such a stimulating creative environment,

there's really nothing quite that could live up to that.

There was a perfect creative hothouse that was Queen at its best.

♪ One dream, one soul

♪ One prize, one goal

♪ One golden glance of what should be

♪ It's a kind of magic

♪ One flash of light that shows the way

♪ No mortal man

♪ Can win this day

♪ It's a kind of magic

♪ The bell that rings

♪ Inside your mind

♪ Is challenging

♪ The doors of time

♪ This rage that lasts a thousand years

# Will soon be, will soon be Will soon be...

♪ Will soon be done

♪ Will soon be done

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

♪ E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-up

AUDIENCE: # E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-up

♪ E-e-up E-e-up

♪ E-e-up E-e-up

♪ E-e-up E-e-up

♪ Ee-do-ree-ro-re-ro

♪ Ee-do-ree-ro-re-ro. ♪

Fuck you.