I feel like his legacy is overshadowed by that of Bowie, Prince and MJ (the three male dominant titans in pop and rock music).

What do you think?

Underrated how? Queen is a well known band. From my angle, if u Look a bit more closely & observe the whole picture, surprisingly U'll find that Prince is far more underrated as a single artist than Freddie Mercury... in terms of capabilites and body of work that was put out. You will find people talking and prasing D.Bowie, MJ, Sting, Nick Cave, etc... but Prince, not so much... at least in this part of southeastern Europe.

stpaisios said:

Underrated how? Queen is a well known band. From my angle, if u Look a bit more closely & observe the whole picture, surprisingly U'll find that Prince is far more underrated as a single artist than Freddie Mercury... in terms of capabilites and body of work that was put out. You will find people talking and prasing D.Bowie, MJ, Sting, Nick Cave, etc... but Prince, not so much... at least in this part of southeastern Europe.

No, he's underground... about 6 feet underground.

Shawy89 said:

I feel like his legacy is overshadowed by that of Bowie, Prince and MJ (the three male dominant titans in pop and rock music).

What do you think?

you have a very myopic view of music.

There is no way that Queen are overshadowed by MJ. In Britain, at least, MJ is a novelty act, (with dodgy connotations), Queen were serious artists.

you are not really trying to compare a singer like MJ to a creative artistic behemoth like Bowie are you?

Eveyone knows that Freddie Mercury was the greatest frontman, everyone knows that Queen are in the premier league of bands.

if only baron cohen was doing the movie....

RicoN said:

stpaisios said:

Underrated how? Queen is a well known band. From my angle, if u Look a bit more closely & observe the whole picture, surprisingly U'll find that Prince is far more underrated as a single artist than Freddie Mercury... in terms of capabilites and body of work that was put out. You will find people talking and prasing D.Bowie, MJ, Sting, Nick Cave, etc... but Prince, not so much... at least in this part of southeastern Europe.

No, he's underground... about 6 feet underground.

RicoN said:

Shawy89 said:

I feel like his legacy is overshadowed by that of Bowie, Prince and MJ (the three male dominant titans in pop and rock music).

What do you think?

you have a very myopic view of music.

There is no way that Queen are overshadowed by MJ. In Britain, at least, MJ is a novelty act, (with dodgy connotations), Queen were serious artists.

you are not really trying to compare a singer like MJ to a creative artistic behemoth like Bowie are you?

Eveyone knows that Freddie Mercury was the greatest frontman, everyone knows that Queen are in the premier league of bands.

What the hell, a novelty act? if it's son, then british people are idiots.

I think he's overshadowed by Queen, whom are very overratted.

bluegangsta said:

I think he's overshadowed by Queen, whom are very overratted.

hell no...they r not

bluegangsta said:

I think he's overshadowed by Queen, whom are very overratted.

Why?

214 said:

bluegangsta said:

I think he's overshadowed by Queen, whom are very overratted.

Why?

Have you heard their albums from begining to end?

bluegangsta said:

214 said:

Why?

Have you heard their albums from begining to end?

I'm not into them, so not really just the hits.

214 said:

bluegangsta said:

Have you heard their albums from begining to end?

I'm not into them, so not really just the hits.

That's essentially my point. Good hit makers, terrible [for the most part] albums.

RicoN said:

Although Freddie Mercury is criticially acclaimed, I do think he is underrated in terms of his overall talent and impact. Like OP mentioned, MJ, Prince, Bowie, etc are always mentioned and highlighted and I hardly ever hear Mercury's talent or contributions highlighted as much as the others. I love Mercury and he is actually one of my favorites of all time and I wish he received the same acknowledgement for his incredible unique talent and contributions to music.

RicoN said:

stpaisios said:

Underrated how? Queen is a well known band. From my angle, if u Look a bit more closely & observe the whole picture, surprisingly U'll find that Prince is far more underrated as a single artist than Freddie Mercury... in terms of capabilites and body of work that was put out. You will find people talking and prasing D.Bowie, MJ, Sting, Nick Cave, etc... but Prince, not so much... at least in this part of southeastern Europe.

No, he's underground... about 6 feet underground.

Actually, he was cremated. He's more likely been spread somewhere by his longterm "wife" Mary Austin... or he may in fact be still in an urn. She has never revealed the final "resting place"/dispersal place.

A plaque had come up years ago stating his name (Farrokh Bulsara) somewhere just in the outskirts of the place where he was cremated, a Kensal Rise Cemetary in West London; leading many to believe it to be the place of his disposition.

It couldn't have been behind the counter at the "MINESHAFT" as it has since been closed. (joke joke)

For the record, they are extremely underrated. Composition wise (Prophet's Song/Bohemian Rhapsody/Millionaires Waltz/Bijou) and structure wise, as well as the DEPTH of styles (only Frank Zappa and Prince can boast so many diversities), peer acclaim (Zappa, Steve Vai, John Lennon, Ringo, Paul Macca, Sabbath, G'n'R's, Bowie, Michael Jackson, etc), recording techniques (Good Company[that's nearly all guitar, f**tards!]/Bohemian Rhapsody), sonic landscaping (In the Lap of the Gods/Prophet's Song), unique voices AND guitar [a homemade guitar "the Red Special" made mostly from a fireplace], indelible influence...

there are an incredible amount of reasons why they're underrated as a band.

However, if you just bring it down to Freddie Mercury, you must conclude that he is very underrated: He in fact wrote many of their most well known ROCK/METAL songs: (Stone Cold Crazy; initial riff, sped up by Brian May), Princes of the Universe, Death on Two Legs (dedicated to....), Ogre Battle.

He also strengthened and re-directed many of the band's compositions into becoming hits: a few: "A Kind Of Magic, Radio Ga Ga, One Vision" come to mind.

The guy sang the sweetest ballads (Love Of My Life/Dear Friends/Lily of the Valley/You Take My Breath Away/My Melancholy Blues) and the most aggressive heavy shit!: (Gimme The Prize, It's Late/Another One Bites the Dust [just TRY to scowl like that], Prophet's Song)... often combining them in the same song (White Queen/The Show Must Go On), the RANGE of emotion and delivery, he's incomparable.

But he also was instrumental in creating a new genre (like it or not); the crossover opera singer. When he released BARCELONA with Montserrat Caballe; opera peers like Pavarotti dismissed him as ridiculous [the fatass later went on to COPY the format with his numerous charity concerts w guest singer crossovers]. The album is eclectic and dense; co written with music direction from Mike Moran, it is an incredible achievement of bombast and determination.

I feel he's very underrated. But we're living in times of disposable crap like Nikki Minaj, Kanye (most of his stuff likely being made by producers), Lil Wayne, and a generation of rock kids who will grow up saying: (this is a joke by the way) "MAN!, you don't know NOTHING ABOUT MUSIC!" When I GREW UP, We had JOHN MAYER, JOHN LEGEND, DAVE MATTHEWS, LORDE and ROBIN THICKE! the MASTERS!!!"

Sheeeeeeiit... Pretty much everything is underrated by the masses (themasses/dumbasses)

I always have been a Queen and Freddie fan but I do think they got knocked down some notches critically for at times putting out some crassly commercial songs that didn't showcase their artistry.

I think Freddie was amazing whether he was in Queen or as a solo artist, he had such a great vocal range.

My fav Queen track at the moment is from The Flash Gordon Soundtrack (1982)

And my fav Freddie song is his version of The Great Pretender (1987)

2045RadicalMattZ said:

luvsexy4all said:

if only baron cohen was doing the movie....

I agree. He would have been the perfect choice. Too bad that the band thought he´s too much of a comedian to do the Freddie part justice.

As far as I know they also disagreed heavily on the storyline, and I am very much with Sasha Baron Cohen as far as that goes. He may not be a bandmember but he understood the project much better than the remaining bandmembers do.

Queen tends to suck.

KoolEaze said:

luvsexy4all said:

if only baron cohen was doing the movie....

I agree. He would have been the perfect choice. Too bad that the band thought he´s too much of a comedian to do the Freddie part justice.

As far as I know they also disagreed heavily on the storyline, and I am very much with Sasha Baron Cohen as far as that goes. He may not be a bandmember but he understood the project much better than the remaining bandmembers do.

maybe they got word that he was doing the role "comedically" or less than serious

2045RadicalMattZ said:

For the record, they are extremely underrated. Composition wise (Prophet's Song/Bohemian Rhapsody/Millionaires Waltz/Bijou) and structure wise, as well as the DEPTH of styles (only Frank Zappa and Prince can boast so many diversities), peer acclaim (Zappa, Steve Vai, John Lennon, Ringo, Paul Macca, Sabbath, G'n'R's, Bowie, Michael Jackson, etc), recording techniques (Good Company[that's nearly all guitar, f**tards!]/Bohemian Rhapsody), sonic landscaping (In the Lap of the Gods/Prophet's Song), unique voices AND guitar [a homemade guitar "the Red Special" made mostly from a fireplace], indelible influence...

there are an incredible amount of reasons why they're underrated as a band.

However, if you just bring it down to Freddie Mercury, you must conclude that he is very underrated: He in fact wrote many of their most well known ROCK/METAL songs: (Stone Cold Crazy; initial riff, sped up by Brian May), Princes of the Universe, Death on Two Legs (dedicated to....), Ogre Battle.

He also strengthened and re-directed many of the band's compositions into becoming hits: a few: "A Kind Of Magic, Radio Ga Ga, One Vision" come to mind.

The guy sang the sweetest ballads (Love Of My Life/Dear Friends/Lily of the Valley/You Take My Breath Away/My Melancholy Blues) and the most aggressive heavy shit!: (Gimme The Prize, It's Late/Another One Bites the Dust [just TRY to scowl like that], Prophet's Song)... often combining them in the same song (White Queen/The Show Must Go On), the RANGE of emotion and delivery, he's incomparable.

But he also was instrumental in creating a new genre (like it or not); the crossover opera singer. When he released BARCELONA with Montserrat Caballe; opera peers like Pavarotti dismissed him as ridiculous [the fatass later went on to COPY the format with his numerous charity concerts w guest singer crossovers]. The album is eclectic and dense; co written with music direction from Mike Moran, it is an incredible achievement of bombast and determination.

I feel he's very underrated. But we're living in times of disposable crap like Nikki Minaj, Kanye (most of his stuff likely being made by producers), Lil Wayne, and a generation of rock kids who will grow up saying: (this is a joke by the way) "MAN!, you don't know NOTHING ABOUT MUSIC!" When I GREW UP, We had JOHN MAYER, JOHN LEGEND, DAVE MATTHEWS, LORDE and ROBIN THICKE! the MASTERS!!!"

Sheeeeeeiit... Pretty much everything is underrated by the masses (themasses/dumbasses)

Freddie is an interesting study. I have all his solo work as well as the Queen discography (minus a few late 80's albums). In my Mt. Rushmore of entertainers, he is up there with Prince, MJ, and Bowie.

On one level, he is easily the most impressive frontman in rock history. His vocal abilities and persona made him second to none fronting Queen. As a songwriter, May, Deacon, and Taylor were not slouches, but the best (IMO) songs on Queen's best albums (pre-synthesizer) were primarily Mercury's handiwork. Mercury + Queen=criminally underrated, especially when you consider they were possibly the biggest band of the 70's who were always trashed by the critics (especially Rolling Stone). Was he campy? Sure, but that was the allure.

With that being said, as a solo artist, I think that because he was so larger than life in Queen/extroverted nature that his material is somewhat overrated. His solo albums were very hit and miss and even in documentaries on him, producers and such have said he didn't have the discipline on his first solo album to put in the time to create a cohesive work of art. He had some glimpses of potential with songs like "Living on My Own" and "Love Kills", but among the die hard Queen fans (fans of their 70's work), the dance/disco leanings of Freddie were not something they were ready to accept. Barcelona was a very good album, but I believe that his solo career gained in stature due to the conditions in his life at the time (he confided in Caballet that he was sick) and the last work (Innuendo) with Queen (especially Days of Our Lives).

gandorb said:

I always have been a Queen and Freddie fan but I do think they got knocked down some notches critically for at times putting out some crassly commercial songs that didn't showcase their artistry.

Like?...

KoolEaze said:

luvsexy4all said:

if only baron cohen was doing the movie....

I agree. He would have been the perfect choice. Too bad that the band thought he´s too much of a comedian to do the Freddie part justice.

As far as I know they also disagreed heavily on the storyline, and I am very much with Sasha Baron Cohen as far as that goes. He may not be a bandmember but he understood the project much better than the remaining bandmembers do.

^ Diasppointed that never came to pass. SBC would have been great - he can play a dramtic role, no worries there.

214 said:

gandorb said:

I always have been a Queen and Freddie fan but I do think they got knocked down some notches critically for at times putting out some crassly commercial songs that didn't showcase their artistry.

Like?...

Being a super fan of the band (but far from the obessive/erudite/scholarly type over at Queenzone.com)

...I can name a few that were deliberately commercial (being that they basically were cover/copies of other people's work)

Another One Bites the Dust / Chic - Good Times [I think AOBTD actually has merit, becoming its own here]

Breakthru / Don Henley - The Boys Of Summer

Rain Must Fall / Candi Station - Young Hearts run Free

Just Keep Passing The Open Windows - Joe Jackson - Steppin Out

Other things just missed, trying to replicate the success of Crazy Little Thing Called Love; they put out "Man on The Prowl" in 1984, but then again... they had already dabbled in dixieland jazz, and ragtime, so what's the fuss?

I can't think of anything much they did that's blatantly commercial, they just ran into the 80's and changed to simpler formulas, but kept the top notch production elements (except for Roger's drums for the most part)

--- and Yes, Freddie's Solo album isn't that great. It had potential, but not the scope of vision for a unified album. It's got a few fun songs, but terrible production, and most sound very incomplete compared to his work with Queen.

BARCELONA (with Monserrate Caballe and Mike Moran) is a n achievement though

214 said:

gandorb said:

I always have been a Queen and Freddie fan but I do think they got knocked down some notches critically for at times putting out some crassly commercial songs that didn't showcase their artistry.

Like?...

They followed the unexpected success of Another One Bites the Dust (especially on "urban' stations) with the unsuccessful funk on their next album with songs such as Body Language and Staying Power. Body Language did get some pop airplay but fell out of favor quickly and it never repeated the success of "Dust" on Urban radio. Many critics also perceived that they tried to capitalize on their success of A Night at the Opera by doing the same multi-layered harmonies thing but even more so with A Day at the Races (not my opinion - I happen to love both). I also think that their attempts to have a fun song such as Bicycle Race came across as contrived rather than artistic.

everything up to 1978 was great. then u had to look for good tracks from 80-83. the work was the last great lp they did