Toronto 18 Dec 2009

A.P. The notoriously quiet Paul Rodgers, acclaimed solo artist and lead singer for the rock bands Free, Bad Company, The Firm and most recently Queen has voiced his opinion on Queen's newest lead vocalist/s. "From the beginning, I took a lot of heat for "filling the unfillable shoes of Freddie Mercury. I was able to deal with that in light of the fact that I felt I was helping Brian (May) and Roger (Taylor) go back out and bring the music of Queen to their fans in a live environment. I was allright with Brian's insistence that in the new name - "Queen + paul rodgers", my name appeared in a font roughly 1/4 the size of "QUEEN". But in light of being replaced with a bunch of puppets, and having their name appear in a font nearly equal in size to that of the almighty "QUEEN", I can no longer be silent. I am disappointed to say the least".

It seems that Mr. Rodgers is upset with the way the new vocalist/s name, "The Muppets" appears on the cover-art for the newly reworked rock/opera masterpiece, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' which has taken the world and the British pop charts by storm.

"I gave my heart and soul to those bastards", said a disgruntled Rodgers as he prepared to perform a Bad Company set at tonight's Christmas party for the "Humpty Dumpty Day Care Center" in downtown Lichester. "I can't believe that after all I did with Brian and Roger, in the spirit of brotherhood, they've treated me this way".

Whispers of a potential QUEEN + paul rodgers tour in Summer 2010 have been greatly dampened by these recent developments.










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I prefer the original Queen not the post-Queen

luv4u said:

I think everyone does, but some form of Queen is better than no Queen.

Not for me. Queen should've disbanded after Freddie died. Freddie brought magic to that group.

Timmy84 said:

He sure did, but Brian & Roger have a little bit of magic too!

OLDHATJ said:

Brian, Roger, John, Freddie = magic

That's how it remains to me lol

Timmy84 said:

Ive never really understood that though. I understand the "feelings" because of a singer being gone who was that force that Freddie was and of course it will never be the same and I doubt the band of Brian And Roger and John at an early point who recorded as a trio, would say they could OUTDO anything or compete with. I do see how Brian and Roger going out their with someone in front and calling it Queen + _____ is someone tarnishing the legacy? I mean U cannot ruin anything you did, its not possible, its documented, and cant be affected, it is us that take issue.

The same goes for INXS, i mean people dont get it, they were a band before Michael, and yes he was the frontman and the personality that got them through, but the sound helped and he wasnt playing on the tracks they were. So yes it sucks hes gone, and we might not accept it, but a band is still alive, if that was the case it would have been called the Michael Hutchence Band or The Freddie Mercury Band

Nah I don't agree lol But I guess we see it differently.

Timmy84 said:

Well thats true and lineups will change with bands that go on forever, most of the time. Some say right out that they will never continue without a member, REM said this, and BOOM they lost a member, but they continued.

We will have our fave lineups with bands that have changed members, for me STYX is a big one.

I mean nothing will ever top the Tommy Shaw,Dennis Deyoung,James Young,Chuck and John Pannozzo lineup, but guess what, Tommy Shaw isnt even an original member, he came in 1975 album 6. Now of course its just Tommy and James and Lawerence Gowan and Todd Sucherman, but Todd is actually a better drummer? so is it that STYX lineup i knew back in the mid 70;s and 80's that took over charts, NO but i cant fault them for going on with life.

Timmy84 said:

the funny thing is people say these things about Genesis (when they lost Phil) and Journey (when Steve Perry left) but neither were original members. So its more us losing our image, than they trying to just play still.

Those bands were different to me in terms of lineups lol

But again its all about what we want to accept and not accept. To me i miss Michael Hutchence and always will, i still listen to INXS as much today as i did then, and the fact that they did an album with someone else doesnt bother me because i know all the struggles of the band, it wasnt like Michael died and the next morning he was replaced, it took them 7 years to even walk into a studio, and early on i felt like they were betraying me, but you know there are some songs on SWITCH that rank just as high with me as INXS songs.

So even if my favorite band a-Ha decided after this last tour in 2010 that they wanna reform again and maybe morten the lead singer doesnt want to, i would still listen to the band, and no it wont be the same because of the unique and powerful voice that cannot be matched, but the others have something to offer, i mean the keyboard player has the best solo work, so go figure.

Timmy84 said:

But thats the thing most remember Phil for the hits and nostalgia, the same for Steve Perry, but neither were in the group when they started releasing records, they replaced the lead singers. (though Phil joined whil Peter was still there,he just moved to singer/drummer)

OLDHATJ said:

First of all, is there a link to this "article" because it sounds suspect.

Anyway, I don't have any emotional investment in Queen.
My attraction to certain songs was never Freddy Mercury's vocals but Brian May's guitar playing.
So when I saw/heard a TV concert of Queen with Paul Rodgers I didn't see it as any type of sacrilege.
As a matter of fact, since I prefer Paul Rodgers as a Rock vocalist in general, the tunes sounded better to me.
Even the Free/Bad Company tunes sounded better which is a testament to Brian May, Roger Taylor and the other musicians.

A clip from the...



...Return of the Champions concert.

So does this mean that the massive crowds that attended the Return of the Champions concerts are not real Queen fans and they're simply feigning their enjoyment of the show?



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