It’s a Friday night and the Queen tribute band is back in town. There’s a long line waiting to get inside the concert venue. It’s not the band’s first time in Northampton, yet the crowd’s chatter makes it seem this is a rare opportunity.
The music of Queen is entirely cemented in our pop cultural memory even if we don’t realize it. Queen’s music is a fabric of cultural traditions. The chanting of “We Will Rock You” during high school football games and singing “We Are the Champions” when your team wins; beyond Friday night football games, Queen’s songs are an anthem for global sporting events. The first time I watched the film “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a specific scene sounded so familiar to me – I hadn’t known many Queen songs at that point, but it turns out I knew more than I thought. I turned to my roommate, telling her that I think I heard the song in the scene somewhere. She simply said, “You’ve definitely heard it. It’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’” Queen’s crowning achievement.
This is less about the history of Queen; it’s more so about how they, and the music of their era endures across generations, defining our cultural memories. Though the “Bohemian Rhapsody” film received criticisms for inaccuracies and toning down the impact of Freddie Mercury, it reinvigorated an interest in Queen’s music, once again passing down the band’s history to a new generation.
Beyond the natural inclination to bob your head along to Queen’s music, their imagery and performance goes together with the captivation of the band’s lyrics and melodies. Outside the Academy of Music, a kid wears the recognizable yellow coat. Something Almost Queen has immersed themselves in the image of the band, aiding in the selling of Queen. “Freddie Mercury” (performed by Joseph Russo) steps on stage with the unique microphone easily identified as Mercury’s mic stick. The mic untethered from the microphone stand’s bottom is synonymous with Mercury’s stage performances, becoming an integral part of his performance after a microphone once snapped on stage. Choosing the mic stick or bottomless mic setup was utilized for its efficiency in helping the singer move across the stage and became an ingrained image of Mercury. To the right of Russo is Steve Leonard, wearing a wing of long brown curls, evocating Queen guitarist Brian May, another memorable image of the band.
After the first arc of the show, Russo changes into the most notable depiction of Freddie Mercury, how we best remember him. The white tank top, blue jeans and armband seem so simple, yet emblematic of a crucial time in Queen’s history.
In 1985, a Queen that had waned in relevancy performed at Live Aid at the request of Bob Geldof. Geldof was organizing a series of major acts to help fundraise for famine relief, specifically in Ethiopia. Queen’s decreased relevancy is crucial to the legend of their Live Aid performance. Live Aid was Queen’s reclamation of their narrative in the culture. Their performance commanded Wembley Stadium, getting the audience to engage in call-and-response, capturing the tens of thousands of audience members. I remember my roommate’s dad excitedly telling me how scenes of “Radio Ga Ga” in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the “Ay-Oh” call actually happened. The call and response clapping rhythm in the song’s chorus was something Queen’s audiences internalized. It’s how Queen formulated their songs. The band wanted their audience to be a part of the show rather than sit back and just listen.
Brian May noted how for Queen’s time it was peculiar for an audience to be so engaged to the point of singing back the lyrics, because it’s not what rock audiences did back then. This partly adds to Queen’s continued legacy. Their music’s performance isn’t only relegated to Queen’s members. The listener is meant to be a part of the song, encouraged to recreate the song. Audience engagement is on show at the Academy of Music. I know the clapping sequence without a real background in Queen’s music, but for the older audience it’s almost like muscle memory.
Before Almost Queen came on stage, I overheard some of the concertgoers discuss their memories of attending Queen concerts. There’s fondness in their nostalgic retellings and I watch them transport back to those years of Queen as the concert’s setlist progresses. Watching them dance throughout the night feels like watching someone revisit joyous moments they thought were lost but are now being re-lived. Queen’s impact is indelible as the audience loses themselves in the songs, leaving a memory trail of feelings. Music can be tied to crucial times in our lives, a sensory experience that corrals scenes with lost details, but easily recollected at the sound of certain melodies. The scene at The Academy of Music goes back to an era where the music became classics, the catalysts and inspiration for contemporary music artists.
Some of the proceeds from Almost Queen’s merch that night will go towards The Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity dedicated to raising awareness and fighting AIDS. Queen’s surviving members founded the charity in Freddie Mercury’s honor after he died in 1991 from AIDS. Mercury’s personal assistant of 12 years, Peter Freestones recalled a morning in 1987 when Mercury announced his diagnosis to a private inner circle. The same year, ACT UP New York was organized, while ACT UP London would be founded in 1989. The 1980’s marked the beginnings of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Activist groups like ACT UP organized a series of protests and targeted media campaigns to call attention to the virus, decried how social stigma was leading to more deaths and put pressure on governments to invest in crucial medicine.
In the UK, Margaret Thatcher hindered media campaigns intended to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, expressing concern about how the widespread public health information could negatively impact morals. Thatcher’s conservative values stigmatized those with HIV as she focused on shielding those she believed wouldn’t be at risk for HIV/AIDS from information about the disease. At the heights of the epidemic, Thatcher’s government enacted Section 28, legislation that barred teaching about non-heterosexual relationships in schools and “shuttered” funding for creative works depicting same-sex relationships. Section 28 was repealed in 2000 in Scotland and in 2003 in England and Wales.
On Nov. 22, 1991, Freddie Mercury announced to the public that he had AIDS. He died a day later. His death was considered a shift in discussions around HIV/AIDS. Rolling Stone wrote that Mercury’s death was a casualty for rock music, with David Bowie, in the publication’s obituary, wondering if rock music would begin to take AIDS more seriously. In April 1992, Mercury’s performance returned to Wembley in a new form, memorializing him and fundraising for research about HIV/AIDS. The place that stoked his legacy now practiced remembrance of his contributions to music. One of the performers at the Wembley Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Elton John wrote “The Last Song” in the wake of Mercury’s death, penning sessions of grief into song.
Tribute bands like Almost Queen are a testament to Queen’s legacy. The crowds that go to see Almost Queen are a testament to how Queen music continues to be passed down between generations. The recreation of Freddie Mercury’s fashion, relishing in his energetic and engaging performances and amazement at his unique voice are part of the tradition. That’s where his legacy can continue to endure, continue to pass down with clear pinpoints of what made him great. Despite the decades since his beginnings and death, Mercury’s contributions are never lost, if anything archived and put on a pedestal. What he brought to Queen and their music has always been uniquely his. Although people remain inspired by his work, Mercury himself is never recreated.
Suzanne Bagia can be reached at [email protected]
