That's cuz he was too busy churning out epic guitar riffs.

I can't fault him for that.

ok, now take a look at what Freddie is wearing at this 1981 show (new window) and then someone explains to me how it's even possible that he didnt know


On another note, this 1981 Montreal show is nothing short of spectacular. I know "Bohemian" is a kind of obvious but check out this performance of it (new window) and try to argue otherwise

Wait...Freddie Mercury was gay?!

HappyHarryHardOn: ok, now take a look at what Freddie is wearing at this 1981 show (new window) and then someone explains to me how it's even possible that he didnt know


On another note, this 1981 Montreal show is nothing short of spectacular. I know "Bohemian" is a kind of obvious but check out this performance of it (new window) and try to argue otherwise

You're right, can't argue that.

in all fairness, if you're not looking for something chances are you're not going to see it.

Also the early 80s were a fairly flamboyant time.

Finally I can't imaging a physics nerd has all that finely tuned "gaydar."

My favorite Freddie Mercury story is that he and Montserrat Caballé were good friends. Two great talents but you don't think of them as going well together.

/listens to some Queen
//Damn that's good.

Did Brian May ever stop to wonder about the derivation of the name of his band?

This is a repeat, isn't it?

Maybe the smarter people were too busy listening to his music to really notice.

HappyHarryHardOn: ok, now take a look at what Freddie is wearing at this 1981 show (new window) and then someone explains to me how it's even possible that he didnt know

Private person vs. stage persona. I mean, if stage costumes tell the whole story, what does this say about Peter Gabriel? Even on the internet there wouldn't be term for *that*.

I mean, sometimes it's really, really hard to distinguish between homosexuals and Brits...

Mini Ditka: img253.imageshack.us

I should be in this Poof!

In fairness to Brian he was referring to the early days of Queen & I'd be willing to bet that by 1981 he knew.

You also have to remember that Freddie was pretty private & never really acknowledged his AIDS diagnosis with any of his bandmates even during his last days of recording Innuendo. They all knew it, they could see his health was failing & knew he was dying But Freddie denied having AIDS to everyone & it wasn't until 12 hours before his death that he released his statement confirming what was a horribly kept secret.

HappyHarryHardOn: ok, now take a look at what Freddie is wearing at this 1981 show (new window) and then someone explains to me how it's even possible that he didnt know


On another note, this 1981 Montreal show is nothing short of spectacular. I know "Bohemian" is a kind of obvious but check out this performance of it (new window) and try to argue otherwise

I love the Montreal DVD! It's so good and Queen at it's finest. However I do lean towards 1975 Hammersmith Odeon Christmas show. It doesn't have some of their larger hits but for a huge fan like myself, I've heard those live enough. It's great to hear March of the Black Queen or Bring Back Leeroy Brown live as opposed to the greatest hits album. Plus May is just on fire in Brighton Rock.

Cauchy_Riemann_equations: in all fairness, if you're not looking for something chances are you're not going to see it.

Also the early 80s were a fairly flamboyant time.

Finally I can't imaging a physics nerd has all that finely tuned "gaydar."

My favorite Freddie Mercury story is that he and Montserrat Caballé were good friends. Two great talents but you don't think of them as going well together.

/listens to some Queen
//Damn that's good.

I just love your name. Simply because I'm learning about residue calculus.

Plus as people have said Freddie was a very quiet man. In fact he had a girlfriend for many years Mary Austin whom he met through Brian May. I don't blame him either considering his stage persona was nothing like his off-stage persona.

Canadian Canuck: HappyHarryHardOn:
I love the Montreal DVD! It's so good and Queen at it's finest. However I do lean towards 1975 Hammersmith Odeon Christmas show. It doesn't have some of their larger hits but for a huge fan like myself, I've heard those live enough. It's great to hear March of the Black Queen or Bring Back Leeroy Brown live as opposed to the greatest hits album. Plus May is just on fire in Brighton Rock.



Thanks. I will definitively check it out. I was hoping for some suggestions actually.
It just damned on me how awesome QUEEN are live, and Youtube pretty much has it all

I thought he was trisexual

HappyHarryHardOn: ok, now take a look at what Freddie is wearing at this 1981 show (new window) and then someone explains to me how it's even possible that he didnt know




I'm sure that even May knew he was gay by 1981. Their first album came out in 1973.

I'm sure if you were sharing a room on the road with someone and they kept having a lot of girls in the room, you'd probably think they were just a flamboyant 70s rockstar, too.

Marquis de Sod: Wait...Freddie Mercury was gay?!

This changes everything!

May knew that Mercury was at the very least bisexual as early as 1979. I heard him interviewed on Stern many years ago, after Fred's death, and he said that it became obvious on that tour. There was a lot less sex and drugs on their tours than most people would think, but on the News of the World tour, Freddie would come backstage after a show and there would be a bunch of guys dressed up as sailors waiting for him outside his dressing room.

I don't give a shiat what Fred put into his mouth. It's the sounds that came out of his mouth that were miraculous.

I imagine that during the late 70's it was rather difficult to determine who was and wasn't gay based solely on appearance.

HappyHarryHardOn:
Thanks. I will definitively check it out. I was hoping for some suggestions actually.
It just damned on me how awesome QUEEN are live, and Youtube pretty much has it all

I have the .flac audio which was ripped from the original audio recording which was a sound-board so it's perfect as can be. If you want it EIP but I won't get it till you till January since it's on my desktop computer at university. I also recommend Queen at the BBC since it's them performing their songs live but in a studio. In fact Son & Daughter has a lot of the early workings of the Brighton Rock solo in it.

Who cares? Queen made undeniably good music. Find someone who hates Queen. I bet you can't.

Brian May seemed to know and not care when Freddie Mercury was banging 12 year old boys back stage in Brazil.

Cauchy_Riemann_equations: Also the early 80s were a fairly flamboyant time.

"See, back then the more you looked like a biatch, the better you did with the ladies."
"Now, i don't know where he got that shirt, but it certainly wasnt the mens department"
- C. Murphy

Sorry for the threadjack. Queen rocks.
Proud owner of the Flash Gordon soundtrack on vinyl. Dollar bins ftw.

Maybe he didn't get the subtlety of the Body Language single cover. (new window - slightly NSFW)

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: Who cares? Queen made undeniably good music. Find someone who hates Queen. I bet you can't.

This is FARK. If it's even remotely popular, I guarantee that you'll have no problems finding haters.

Teddy Hopper:
Sorry for the threadjack. Queen rocks.
Proud owner of the Flash Gordon soundtrack on vinyl. Dollar bins ftw.

That's awesome. I'd buy a farking turntable just for that album.

"Dude, I think my roommate is gay"
"why do you say that?"
"His dick tastes like shiat"

HappyHarryHardOn: ok, now take a look at what Freddie is wearing at this 1981 show (new window) and then someone explains to me how it's even possible that he didnt know


You're thinking that 1981 was height-of-80s fashion already. It wasn't. Fashion was still wallowing in the death throes of disco.

And remember - he had Elton John as a distraction



Ol' Freddie didn't look so outrageous in comparison.

that changes everything. i'm voting for mccain!

Whoa. Wait a minute...Next you'll tell me Rob Halford is gay!

vernonFL: Whoa. Wait a minute...Next you'll tell me Rob Halford is gay!

I laugh every time I think of all the bemulleted, homophobic retards I went to school with in the 80s, who idolized Rob Halford, and wanted to be exactly like him.

vernonFL: Whoa. Wait a minute...Next you'll tell me Rob Halford is gay!

Or Tori Amos

Sorry, I meant Dave Mustain

scarmig: That's awesome. I'd buy a farking turntable just for that album.
I cant farking wait til the next big party I have. Its going to make a good handful of people smile.

And I can feel my wife scolding me as I just think the thought...

FTFA: "Anyone who portrays Fred as purely a gay story is missing a lot of the point."

One of the - if not the - smartest comments I've read about Fred's 'orientation'.

And Im not a massive fan, thought they got too bombastic as time went on.

Did get to see them on their first tour, though.

As long as Wykyd Scepter isn't gay I'm cool.

TeddyRooseveltsMustache

Who cares? Queen made undeniably good music. Find someone who hates Queen. I bet you can't.

I concur. I don't give a flyin' fark what Freddy did in his spare time, he ROCKED!!! Great band, great players. RIP Freddy and thanks for the great songs.

HappyHarryHardOn: On another note, this 1981 Montreal show is nothing short of spectacular. I know "Bohemian" is a kind of obvious but check out this performance of it (new window) and try to argue otherwise

The only reason I'd argue otherwise is that they used the taped version of the song's midsection.

I've always preferred the performances where they break into a medley of other songs in the middle, like this one. I know there's almost no way they could've replicated the middle of the song in a concert, but at least with the medley the band is still performing during that chunk of the song.

/that doesn't mean the one you linked to isn't awesome, though

You can all kiss my fuzzy ass! Back in the late seventies and early eighties, everyone made fun of me for being a huge Queen fan. They were all to busy listening to their monotonous Bad Company, Ozzy and Lynyrd Skynyrd albums I guess. Now everyone's changed their tune. "You can't find anyone that doesn't like Queen". Not true, but much closer to true now than 30 years ago. There was plenty of Queen hate from homophobic America.

/Everyone under the age of 30 gets a pass
//Everyone else - pucker up!

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: Who cares? Queen made undeniably good music. Find someone who hates Queen. I bet you can't.

Everyone knows a tape left in a car too long turns into Queen's Greatest Hits

I can't believe I missed this thread for as long as I did!

At one of the North American Queen get-togethers, it was discussed that at least the drummer knew, because he was caught singing a sad song into Freddie's microphone, if you get my drift.

That being said (the story just cracks me up, it's the only reason I mention it), orientation is no reflection on talent, and that band is one of the best ever, period. Gotta agree with Canadian Canuck about the early live material-so much great music gets lost underneath the 8 billionth playing of "Fat Bottom Girls".

Freddie left his house , cats and money to his longtime girlfriend Mary. May didn't know because Freddie wasn't gay, he was trisexual.