Quotes, From and About Queen

garnered from various books, videos & websites

1. Freddie
2. Brian
3. Roger
4. John
5. Others
6. Freddie's official statement concerning his illness

Freddie

• Does it mean this, does it mean that, that's all anybody wants to know. Fuck them, darling. I say what any decent poet would say if you dared ask him to analyse his work: If you see it, dear, then it's there.
• Fuck today, it's tomorrow.
• Hello again my beauties - is it happening?
• I don't like to do interviews, because if you plonk a tape-recorder in front of me, I just clam up, you know.
• I enjoy being a bitch. I enjoy being surrounded by bitches. Boredom is the biggest disease in the world, darling. Sometimes I think there must be more to life than rushing round the world like a mad thing getting bored.
• I just love being pampered it's just something that's grown with me. I mean, I can't even make myself a cup of tea. I'm useless at it, so I have someone else to do it for me. That's the kind of environment I live in, my dear!
• I like leather. I rather fancy myself as a black panther.
• I like people to go away from a Queen show feeling fully entertained. I think Queen songs are pure escapism, like going to see a good film.
• I like to ridicule myself, I don't take myself too seriously. I wouldn't wear these clothes if I was serious. The one thing that keeps me going is that I lough at myself.
• I love New York. When I am there, I just slut myself. It is Sin city with a capital S.
• I thougt we would be huge - and we were.
• I want my pricacy, and I feel I've given a lot for it. It's like Greta Garbo, isn't it? Virgo, same star sign.
• I want my privacy, and I feel I've given a lot for it. It's like Greta Garbo isn't it? Virgo, same star sign.
• I want to do it my way. I sound like Frank Sinatra!!
• If I tried that on, people would start yawning, 'Oh God, here's Freddie saying he's gay because it's very trendy'
• I'm a very emotional person, a person of real extremes, and that's often destructive both myself and others.
• I'm going to relax for a while. Maybe I'll get a blow job. Hell, it's Halloween, right?
• I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear!
• I'm just an old slag who gets up in the morning, scratches his head, and wonders who he wants to f**k.
• I'm simply dripping in money, darling. It's vulgar, but it's wonderful. All I want from life Is to make lots of immey and spend it.
• I'm so powerful in stage that I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a compleatly different man.
• It's not a question of money anymore. I spend money like it's nothing. You know, I could be penniless tomorrow, but I'd get back, somehow.
• I've made no effort to become a guitar hero because I can't play the fucking guitar!
• Love is Russian roulette for me. No one loves the real me inside, they're all in love with my fame, my stardom...l have this hard, macho shell, which I project on stage, but there's a much softer side too, which melts like butter.
• Money may not buy happiness, but it can damn well give it!
• My songs are like Bic razors. For fun, for modern cosumption. You listened to it, like it, discard it, then on to the next. Disposable pop.
• Rod Stewart, Elton John and I were going to form a band called Hair, Nose & Teeth after the three of us. But it hasn't happened because none of us can agree on the order of the words!
• Roger and I go poncing and ultrablagging just about everywhere and lately we've been termed a couple of queens.
• The concept of Queen is to be reagl and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy.
• The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is a part of us, and we want to be dandy.
• The reason we're successful darling? My overall charisma, of course!
• The reason we're successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course...
• The thing is, I believe in personalities, not papers. I'm not interested in us versus the NME, I'm just here talking to you. People do think that because I don't do interviews, I've got this thing about the press. And it's not true.
• They wouldn't let us into Russia. They thought we'd corrupt the youth or something.
• This shitty guitar only knows three chords!
• We don't believe in having any session men, we do everything ourselves, from the high falsetto to the low bassy farts ; it's all us.
• We don't compromise.
• We'd had a hectic day at 'Top Of The Pops' and our promotion man Eric Hall invited us out for a meal. Unfortunately the others in the band couldn't come as they had to go back to the studio. Anyway, I had rather a lot to drink and I seem to remember at some point in the evening that someone removed my shoes and socks and hung them on a lampshade. Then I said something along the lines of 'well, if you're going to take everything off I shall remove my trousers...'
• When I look back on all that black nail varnish and stuff, I think 'God, what did I do?' I used to feel a need for all that on stage. It made me feel more secure. But Now I don't....I've grown up a bit.
• For God's sake, if I want to make big confessions about my sex life, would I go to The Sun, of all papers, to do it? There's no f**king way I'd do that, I'm too intelligent.
• I'll go to bed with anything.
• Interviewer : Do you think you're going to get to heaven ? Freddie: No, I don't want to. Interviewer : You don't want to ? Freddie: No, hells much better. Look at the interesting people that you're going to meet down there. You're going to be there too, you know.
• John is doubling as our accountant at the moment. If God forsakes us, we won't do anything unless John says it's okay.
• "Roger, the drummer, and Brian, the bass guitarist, used to be in a band called 'Smile' with another friend of mine who was a singer, and I used to be in another band, and John (bassist, John Deacon) used to be in another band. We were getting our various University degrees together and were in these semi-pro bands. We got to know each other through these bands and exchanged our musical ideas and felt that if we could sort of sit down and work together it would come together -- it would, y'know, blend. So after 'Smile' broke up, Brian and Roger approached me, our ideas came together, and we thought we should take the plunge. So it was basically Brian, Roger and myself who formed Queen and we then got John afterwards. - Freddie Mercury
• About the pictures for the SHA"" sleeve: ""God, the agony we went through to have the pictures taken, dear. Can you imagine trying to convince the others to cover themselves in Vaseline and then have a hose of water turned on them ?"" "
• "You're the last person I'm talking to, so you'll probably get the best interwiew, darlingy
• I don't want to change the world. For me, happiness is the most important thing and if I'm happy then it shows in my work. In the end, all the mistakes and all the excuses are down to me. I like to feel that i'm just being my honest self and as far as I'm concerned I just want to pack in a smuch oflife and fun, having a good time as much as I can within in the years I have. Well there you are, you have it on tape. use it. Well that's then nearest I've come to a lot of passion in tersm of interviews. How much more have you got. Come on, I'm getting bored. "
• Freddie Mercury about 'The Miracle' - It was OK, but we had our various fisticuffs.
• Freddie Mercury to Brian May and Roger Taylor prior joining their band - Why are you wasting your time doing this? You should do more orginal material. You should be more demonstrative in the way that you put the music across. If I was you singer that's what I'd be doing
• "Roger and I go poncing and ultrablagging just about everywhere and lately we've been termed a couple of queens."
• "Roger, the drummer, and Brian, the bass guitarist, used to be in a band called 'Smile' with another friend of mine who was a singer, and I used to be in another band, and John (bassist, John Deacon) used to be in another band. We were getting our various University degrees together and were in these semi-pro bands. We got to know each other through these bands and exchanged our musical ideas and felt that if we could sort of sit down and work together it would come together -- it would, y'know, blend. So after 'Smile' broke up, Brian and Roger approached me, our ideas came together, and we thought we should take the plunge. So it was basically Brian, Roger and myself who formed Queen and we then got John afterwards.
• About the pictures for the "SHA" sleeve: "God, the agony we went through to have the pictures taken, dear. Can you imagine trying to convince the others to cover themselves in Vaseline and then have a hose of water turned on them ?"
• "We'd had a hectic day at 'Top Of The Pops' and our promotion man Eric Hall invited us out for a meal. Unfortunately the others in the band couldn't come as they had to go back to the studio. Anyway, I had rather a lot to drink and I seem to remember at some point in the evening that someone removed my shoes and socks and hung them on a lampshade. Then I said something along the lines of 'well, if you're going to take everything off I shall remove my trousers...' "
• "For God's sake, if I want to make big confessions about my sex life, would I go to The Sun, of all papers, to do it? There's no fucking way I'd do that. I'm too intelligent."
• "I enjoy being a bitch. I enjoy being surrounded by bitches. Boredom is the biggest disease in the world, darling. Sometimes I think there must be more to life than rushing round the world like a mad thing getting bored."
• We don't believe in having any session men, we do everything ourselves, from the high falsetto to the low bassy farts ; it's all us.
• "I don't like to do interviews, because if you plonk a tape-recorder in front of me, I just clam up, you know."
• "The thing is, I believe in personalities, not papers. I'm not interested in us versus the NME, I'm just here talking to you. People do think that because I don't do interviews, I've got this thing about the press. And it's not true."
• "When I look back on all that black varnish, chiffron, satin and that, I think, God, what was I doing?"
• "I can't relax in bed all day, I think that is a waste of time. I hardly read books, I think that is a waste of time. People are gonna kill me for this!"
• "Love is Russian roulette for me. No one loves the real me inside, they're all in love with my fame, my stardom...l have this hard, macho shell, which I project on stage, but there's a much softer side too, which melts like butter."
• "The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is a part of us, and we want to be dandy."
• "I want my privacy, and I feel I've given a lot for it. It's like Greta Garbo isn't it? Virgo, same star sign."
• "I've made no effort to become a guitar hero because I can't play the fucking guitar!"
• "I want to do it my way. I sound like Frank Sinatra!!"
• "Does it mean this, does it mean that, that's all anybody wants to know. F**k them, darling. I say what any decent poet would say if you dared ask him to analyse his work: If you see it, dear, then it's there."
• "I love New York. When I am there, I just slut myself. It is Sin city with a capital S."
• "I'm going to relax for a while. Maybe I'll get a blow job. Hell, it's Halloween, right?"
• "John is doubling as our accountant at the moment. If God forsakes us, we won't do anything unless John says it's okay."
• "I'll go to bed with anything."
• "I'm just an old slag who gets up in the morning, scratches his head, and wonders who he wants to f**k."
• "The reason we're successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course..."
• "Rod Stewart, Elton John and I were going to form a band called Hair, Nose & Teeth after the three of us. But it hasn't happened because none of us can agree on the order of the words!"
• "I'm simply dripping in money, darling. It's vulgar, but it's wonderful. All I want from life Is to make lots of immey and spend it."
• "I just love being pampered it's just something that's grown with me. I mean, I can't even make myself a cup of tea. I'm useless at it, so I have someone else to do it for me. That's the kind of environment I live in, my dear! "
• "I don't like the way my teeth protrude. I'm going to have them done, but I just haven't had the time. Apart from that - I'm perfect."
• "It's not a question of money anymore. I spend money like it's nothing. You know, I could be penniless tomorrow. But I'd get back somehow."
• "I'd like to be buried with all my treasures, just like the Pharaohs. If I could afford it, I'd have a pyramid built in Kensington."
• "I'd like to be carried on stage by six Nubian slaves with palms and all."
• "I have to go around the world living in hotels. You can have a whole shoal of people looking after you, but in the end they all go away."
• "I was wearing a white scarf and holding a glass of wine when I was introduced to Prince Andrew. But I was so nervous I didnt realize that my scarf was dangling in the drink. There I was trying to be really cool and suddenly the Prince said, 'Freddie, I don't think you really want this getting wet.' He squeezed out the scarf and that broke the ice between us. I said, 'Thank goodness you've put me at ease. Now I can use the odd bit of dirty language.' He really got into the spirit of things and even had a dance. He's really quite hip in those sort of situations. I have a lot of respect for Royalty, I'm a tremendous patriot."
• "The most important thing, darling, is to live a fabulous life. As long as it's fabulous, I don't care how long it is."
• "I shall be Marlene. What a delicious thought!"
• "I can be very soft, slushy and mushy."
• On the subject of children: "I'd rather get another cat."
• "I need the extra teeth!"
• "I think I'm going to go mad in a few years time. I'm going to be one of those insane musicians."
• "We aimed for the top slot. We were not going to be satisfied with anything less."
• "Fuck them, darling, if they just don't get it."
• "I love to surround myself with strange and interesting people because they make me feel more alive. Extremely straight people bore me stiff. I love freaky people around me. By nature I'm restless and highly-strung, so I wouldn't make a very good family man. Deep down inside I am a very emotional person, a person of real extremes, and often that's destructive both to myself and others."
• "I didn't have to take my knickers off, dear. Nobody forced me!"
• "Most of the songs I write are all love ballads and things having to do with sadness and torture and pain: at the same time it's frivolous and tongue in cheek. That's basically my whole nature, I guess."
• "I am a very loving person, you know"
• about Mary and him:
• "Our love affair ended in tears, but a deep bond grew out of it, and that's something nobody can take away from us. It's unreachable."
• "I don't give a shit what people say about me.."
• "I have a nervous energy that needs to be doing something. I can't relax in bed all day and just do nothing. I think it's a waste of time."
• "I'm a very hated person, but I hate the Press as well. So that goes both ways, but to me I think I've learned to live with it."
• "I'm a man of extremes, you know, I sort of change from day to day like a chameleon and each day is different to me and I look forward to that. I don't want to be the same person every day."
• "Ah! I'm not supposed to talk to you!"
• "I just feel I'm not a very good partner for anybody and I just think that's what my love is. I think my love is dangerous, who wants their love to be safe? Can you imagine writing a song 'My Love Is Safe'? It would never sell!"
• "I do deliver sex appeal. It's part of modern Rock. I sell sex appeal with my body movements on stage."
• I have to win people over, otherwise it's not a successful gig. It's my job to make sure people have a good time. That's part of my duty. It's all to do with feeling in control. That song We Are The Champions has been taken up by football fans because it's a winners' song.
• "I was also pleased with my voice. I like it husky. It's all the smoking. That's why I smoke -- to get that husky voice."
• to Brian and Roger, 1970:
• "Why are you wasting your time doing this? You should be more demonstrative in the way you put music across. If I was your singer, that's what I'd be doing."
• "Have I got upper class parents who put a lot of money into me? Was I spoilt? No. My parents were very strict. I wasn't the only one, I've got a sister. I was at boarding school for nine years so I didn't see my parents that often. That background helped me a lot because it taught me to fend for myself."
• "It's stupid to say there is no such things in boarding schools. All the things they say about them are more or less true. All the bullying and everything else. I've had the odd schoolmaster chasing me. It didn't shock me because somehow boarding schools.. you're not confronted by it, you are just slowly aware of it. Its going through the life."
• "I'm a man of extremes. I have a soft side and a hard side with not a lot between. If the right person finds me I can be very vulnerable, a real baby, which is invariably when I get trodden on. But sometimes I'm hard, and when I'm strong no-one can get to me."
• "I don't really think we'll ever break up. I guess if people stopped buying our records, we'd call it a day. And then I'll go off and be a striptease artist or something."
• "I used to think we'd go on for five years, but it's got to a point now where we're actually too old to break up. Can you imagine forming a new band at 40? Be a bit silly wouldn't it?"
• "I'm not going to dance around on stage when I'm fifty. I'd look ridiculous!"
• "I can't carry on rocking the way I did in the past. It's all too much. It's no way for a grown man to behave. I've stopped my nights of wild partying. That's not because I'm ill but down to age. I'm no spring chicken. Now I prefer to spend my time at home. It's all part of growing up."
• "What will I be doing in twenty years' time? I'll be dead, darling! Are you crazy?"
• "I don't think I'll make old bones and I don't care. I've lived a full life. I really have done it all and if I'm dead tomorrow I don't care a damn."
• "When I'm dead who cares? I don't..."
• "I lived for sex. Amazingly, I've just gone completely the other way. AIDS changed my life. I have stopped going out, I've become almost a nun. I was extremely promiscuous, but I've stopped all that. What's more, I don't miss that kind of life. Anyone who has been promiscuous should have an AIDS test. I'm fine, I'm clear."
• (I don't know about you people, but I'm in doubt those are his words)
• "I've got a few good friends, a big house and I can go wherever I want whenever I want... but the more money you make the more miserable you get. It just so happens that I have a lot of money."
• One night Roger was in a foul mood and he threw his entire bloody drumset across the stage. The thing only just missed me - I might have been killed. Yes, we're all very highly strung. Once, Roger squirted Brian in the face with hairspray in a tiny, steaming dressing room.
  
• I'm big, macho, sexual object and I'm very arrogant. So most people dismiss me because of that. They don't know what I'm really like...
• For God's sake, if I want to make big confessions about my sex life, would I go to The Sun, of all papers, to do it? There's no fucking way I'd do that. I'm too intelligent.
• I don't expect to make old bones. What's more, I really don't care. I certainly don't have any aspirations to live to 70, it would be boring.
• I enjoy being a bitch. I enjoy being surrounded by bitches. Boredom is the biggest disease in the world, darling. Sometimes I think there must be more to life than ruching round the world like a mad thing getting bored
• I don't want to change the world with our music...l like to write songs for fun, for modern consumption. People can discard them like a used tissue afterwards. You listen to it, like It, discard It, then put on the next. Disposable pop, yes.
• Love is Russian roulette for me. No one loves the real me inside, they're all in love with my fame, my stardom...l have this hard, macho shell, which I project on stage, but there's a much softer side too, which melts like butter.
• The concept of Queen Is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is a part of us, and we want to be dandy.
• I want my privacy, and I feel I've given a lot for it. It's like Greta Garbo isn't It? Virgo, same star sign.
• I've made no effort to become a guitar hero because I can't play the fucking guitar!
• The reason we're successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course...
• Rod Stewart, Eiton John and I were going to form a band called Hair, Nose & Teeth after the three of us. But it hasn't happened because none of us can agree on the order of the words!
• I don't like the way my teeth protrude. I'm going to have them done, but I just haven't had the time. Apart from that- I'm perfect.
• I'd like to be buried with all my treasures, just like the Pharaohs. If I could afford It, I'd have a pyramid built in Kensington.
• I'm simply dripping in money, darling. It's vulgar, but It's wonderful. All I want from life is to make lots of money and spend it.
• It's not a question of money anymore. I spend money like it's nothing. You know, I could be penniless tomorrow. But I'd get back somehow.
• I'll sing until my throat is like a vulture's crotch!"
• "We're going to be together until we f**kin well die, I tell ya"
• We played a theatre in New York with Mott and this particular chick (well, they notice everything down to the pimple on your arse, dear) wrote that she noticed that when I did a costume change I changed even my shoes and socks. She also added she was so close she could tell what religion I was, and that I wasn't wearing any knickers. She also pointed out that Ian Hunter had knickers on. Ian's going to die..."
• (on Bri's Hep attack in 74): "Brian has got to look after himself in future. We all want to make sure something like that never happens again. So he'll have to eat the right things and steer clear of hamburgers."
• “I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend.”
• I have stopped having sex and started growing tulips, dear "
• "I'm very pleased with that actually. John has really come into his own. Brian May and myself have mostly written all the songs before, and he's been in the background; he's worked very hard, and his song's [You're My Best Friend] very good, isn't it? It's nice. It even adds to the versatility, y'know what I mean. It's nice that four people can write and they're all strong, 'cos y'know, if John or anyone else wrote a song that we thought was weak, it would never be on the album. So he has had to work really hard on it to keep up the standard." (radio interview, 1976)*from Jazz Web
• [Just You and I] "That's the end of side one of "A Day At The Races". That was a track by John Deacon, he's contribution to this album. His songs are good and are getting better every time actually. I'm getting a bit worried actually." (CAPITOL RADIO Interview, 1976)
• [Just You and I] "This is John Deacon's track. It's very John Deacon, with more raucous guitars. After I'd done the vocals, John put all these guitars in, and the mood has changed. I think it's his strongest song to date." (Circus Magazine, 1977)

Brian

• After three albums, people thougt we were driving around in Rolls-Royce's already.
• Criticism used to hurt me when I thought it could affect our careers. Nowadays, it's all irrelevant. We know the opinions of people that matter to us, and critics don't fall under that heading.
• Geldof called Live Aid a jukebox, so it seemed obivious to us simply play the hits and get off.
• I had this idea... I wanted the sound to sing and have that thickness but yet still have an edge so that it could articulate. So my dad and I designed the guitar... the one that was made from an old fireplace.
• I think I strike a lot of people as being shy and introverted. But a lot of people ase the biggest big heads in the world underneath that exteriour.
• I would have loved to talk to them (the sex pistols) but they wouldn't have listened at the time, because we were something which punk was reacting against.
• I'm into paradoxes. I wanted to make an album about them, but the group told me I was a pretentious fart. They were right.
• On the first few albums, the songs would grow into strange shapes.
• People have been rumouring that Queen are going to split up for the last eight years at least. I've got some great cuttings at home from people saying 'One thing is certain, Queen will no longer exist in a year's time.' And that was in 1973.
• The rest of us played okay, but Freddie was out there and took it to another level. It wasn't just Queen fans - he connected with everyone.
• We don't do enough live shows these days, and I'd like to do more. I'll remember Live Aid till the day I die.
• We don't especially go out to play heacy music, or light music - it's just our kind of music.
• We made the decision that no matter who came upp with the ideo for the song, it would be credited to Queen, and not individuals, and I think it's the best singe decision we ever made. I just wish we made it 20 years ago instead of couple of years ago, 'cause it makes such a difference to the creation process. I would recommend it to anyone, anyone who is actually a proper group.
• We're pretty proud of what we've done as a whole. We took chances. Some of the things we did set the world alight and some didn't. But at least we made our own mistakes. We did what we wanted to.
• We're totally against apartheid and all it stands for, but I feel we did a lot of bridge building. We actually met musicans of both colours. They all welcomed us with open arms. the only criticism we got was from outside of South Africa.
• "Criticism used to hurt me when I thought it could affect our careers. Nowadays, it's all irrelevant. We know the opinions of people that matter to us, and critics don't fall under that heading."
• "I'm into paradoxes. I wanted to make an album about them, but the group told me I was a pretentious fart. They were right."
• 'Queen is better than any one of us'
• I'm the most pig-headed
• "We used to call him Deacon John, and it appeared like that on the first album, but after that, he objected to it and said he wanted to be called John Deacon. I don't really know why we called him Deacon John in the first place - just one of those silly things." (Tear-out Photo Book)
• "John just came from nowhere with this song [You're My Best Friend]. It was only the second song he'd written for the group and it was just this perfect pop song." (Bassist & Bass Techniques, 1996) *from Guitarist.co.uk
• "I think You're My Best Friend is amazing. He went out completely on a limb to do that. It's not the kind of thing we'd done before but he knew exactly what he wanted." (Queen - A Salute)
• "He(Freddie) would certainly fight for things he believed in, like 'Another One Bites the Dust', which was a bit of a departure for Queen. Roger, at the time, certainly felt that it wasn't rock and roll and was quite angry at the way that was going. And Freddie said, "Darling, leave it to me. I believe in this." John had written the song. But it took Freddie's support to make it happen." (Guitar World, 1998) *from Philipp's Studio Info Page
• "In one track called Back Chat there wasn't going to be a guitar solo because John, who wrote the song, had gone perhaps more violently black than the rest of us. We had lots of arguments about it, and what he was heading for in his tracks was a totally non-compromise situation, doing black stuff as R&B artists would do it with no concessions to our methods at all. I was trying to edge him back towards the central path and get a bit of heaviness into it. So one night I said I wanted to see what I could add to it - it's called Back Chat and it should have some guts - and he agreed, so I went in and tried a few things." (Bassist & Bass Techniques, 1996) *from Guitarist.co.uk
• "There's a song called "One Year Of Love" which John wrote, and that was written around a different romantic interest. It's about the Highlander as he is in the 20th century when he's just about to fall in love again, even though he said he wouldn't - har-har! That's a romantic song too." (interview LP, 1986) *from DJAnnie's Freddie Mercury/Queen Page
• "Here's a song called "Pain Is So Close To Pleasure" which I started off, and I think again John and Freddie worked together on it. That's really sort of a motown sounding track, very unusual for us." (interview LP, 1986) *from DJAnnie's Freddie Mercury/Queen Page
• "Freddie's written a song called "Friends Will be Friends", and I think Freddie and John worked on it together. It's something which I took to heart very much as well because it's kind of traditional Queen sound. It has this... If you can remember "We are The Champions" or "Play The Game", it's in that kind of mood, it has all the Queen trademarks. And yet it's a new song and a new idea, and that'something I instantly related to. Very nice, very good track. It sounds very complete." (interview LP, 1986) *from DJAnnie's Freddie Mercury/Queen Page
• "I had very little to do with the original idea [Hitman]. Most of the riff came from Freddie. I wasn't even in the room when they wrote it. I changed the key and some of the notes to make it playable on the guitar. We finished the backing track, but it seemed to ramble. John sat down and decided to reconstruct the track. He changed the order. He changed everything. I went back and played on that. Then we filled in the gaps on the lyrics, did the harmonies and generally tidied up." (Rip Magazine, 1991) *from Queen-Headquarters

Roger

• Freddie's just his natural self: just a poof really!
• I don't pretend to understand the workings of the journalistic mind.
• I've got some old sci-fi books and magazines which I brows through from time to time. Maybe there are things up there in space watching us. I wouldn't find that surprising at all.
• Just think -- we became the first group to sell Paul McCartney a hole.
• No one ever really knew Freddie. He was shy, gentle and kind. He wasn't the person he put over on stage.
• Queen is very democratic. It all comes down to a vote. If it's tree to one, the three win, unless the one says, I object to this" or "I won't do this." Then we don't do it."
• Some bands in our position might like to take it all in stride, but we're still like kids, we get very exited.
• The demand for us to tour is getting to be a pain in the ass!
• This tour will be bigger that bigness itself. It will make Ben Hur look like the Muppets.
• We just don't want to be seen to fail, that's what keeps us going.
• We're pretty proud of what we've done as a whole.
• John is very reclusive now. Freddie's death affected him enormously. We did get a lovely letter from John, though, saying he was fully behind the show and thought it was a great script.
• "In Argentina, we were number one when that stupid war was going on and we had a fantastic time there, and that can only be good. Music is totally international"
• "We just don't want to be seen to fail. That's what keeps us going"
• I really hate long drum solo's.  It never seemed to phase Brian though!'
•  From Roger about the possibility of a new album: "Well maybe, if we have enough... we have some great singers that we know and I think Brian [May] and I would sing some and then we will get some great singers... we are talking at the moment with Paul Rodgers who is.... who we always liked as a singer and he has an incredible voice."
• "(As an all-round musician, did you ever feel restricted by the drums?)We were very much a team, Brian would play piano here and there and I played rhythm guitar on some things. John played keyboards and acoustic guitar on 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' for instance, so we weren't that restricted." (Rhythm Magazine, 2002)
• I am an optimist and I always think the good will come out”
  -Roger Taylor-
• “We don’t want to become old, rich and useless”
  -Roger Taylor-
• “For every up, every little bit of happiness you get, you know, you must probably have a little trough – a little down and there is a balance and that’s the deal”
  -Roger Taylor-
• “Live with your memories and keep them as memories and that’s great. Forget the bad times just remember the good ones and you know and hope tomorrow is a good day”
  -Roger Taylor-
• The Early Years: By Mark Hodkin: "...The party...was traveling along the A30 to a booking at Dobwalls Village Hall, just a mile or so outside Liskeard. They passed through the village of Indian Queens and ran into fog and driving rain on Goss Moor where the road is picked put through marshland and cotton grass. There was suddenly a great collision and the van somersaulted and landed on its roof. "I remember the van turning over , it seemed to happen in slow motion," said Rick Penrose. "There was a deadly silence and then the sound of metal scraping on the road as we slide along".

  They had crashed into a fish van left parked without any lights on, only half on the pavement. Roger was flung through the wind-screen but miraculously unhurt. Michael Dudley suffered a broken hand nose, Marian Little a cut chest, and Valerie Burrows internal stomach injuries. "I was covered in glass," said Rick Penrose. "I looked quiet a mess. They had to use tweezers to get the glass out of me. For months this glass kept coming out of my skin. If I rubbed my leg I would cut myself because the glass was still underneath it."...

  ...Although Roger Taylor had no physical injury, he suffered psychologically for some time afterwards. Everyone including Dorothy Gill-Carey, absolved him of any guilt but he was obviously distraught, though he mainly kept it to himself. "We were younger then and able to bounce back from that sort of thing," said Rick. "We just decided to get on with it, it was no one's fault." Roger's father, Michael Taylor, reportedly spent the night of the accident walking the cliffs, something he did often when the family was beset by troubles...poor Roger had a cloud over his head - would he be blamed for the accident?..."

  (Hodkin (1995 & 2004) Queen The Early Years, pg36-37)
  

John

• I was possibly the one person in the group who could look at it from the outside, because I came in as the fourth person in the band. I knew there was something there but I wasn't comviced of it...until possible the 'Sheer Heart Attack' album.
• It was the one day (Live Aid) that I was proud to be involved in the music buisness. A lot of days you certainly don't feel that!
• In England we live in a semi-detached Victorian house, 'cos we like Victorian houses, you know.
• Lot's of marriages don't last as long as Queen have been together.
• When you start out without a record nobody knows you, but if you have a record it's a lot easier.
• When we did Live Aid I was too nervous of meeting Princess Di, so Spider, our roadie, met her in my place - shook hands with her and everything!
• There was always a lot of American music in England until, obviously when the Beatles came around, then there was a shift towards English music, but before then American music was the main thing.
• Our albums just tend to be collections of songs really, because we all write in the group, all four of us.
• Oh... I'm terribly shy and nervous.
• None of us want Queen to split up.
• No, we have our ups and downs, but we're all very up at the moment.
• Money is not the drive so much now.
• If I could sing it would be lovely.
• I wouldn't do go to another band.
• I went along and basically learned a few of the songs they were doing at the time, which were quite a few of the songs we ended up doing on our first album.
• I'll probably make loads of plans, and then just sit around on my bottom all day long and do nothing.
• I've got a nice house, a loving wife and a couple of kids - that'll do me!
• I didn't actually realise what apartheid meant. I'm probably a bit naive, but I thought it was more of a vague segregation, like on the beaches and buses.
• For me it wasn't any big decision, they already had all the ideas and all the songs, I just came in and played bass.
• Brian and I were both science students. You know science sort of math and physics side, you know.
• Brian's very quiet and a really good gardener... Roger likes a laugh and a joke.
• Freddie can never be replaced - and certainly not by him. [Robbie Williams!]
• I don't want to be nasty but let's just say Robbie Williams is no Freddie Mercury."
• [on Queen II] "Sounds very boring doesn't it but we couldn't find a title we all agreed on. Our first LP didn't do too badly because it sold about 15 thousand copies. One of the tracks written for this LP by Freddie was an inspiration he got from a painting he saw in the Tate Gallery, which was a gathering of fairies bundled together in a wood" (1974)
• [On "You're My Best Friend"] "Possibly Veronica." (to whom he devoted this song)
• [Another One Bites the Dust] "I listened to a lot of soul music when I was in school, and I've always been interested in that sort of music. I'd been wanting to do a track like 'Another One Bites the Dust' for awhile, but originally all I had was that line and the bass riff. Gradually, I filled it in, and the band added ideas. But I wanted the kind of sound we got, with the heavy bass. I could hear it as a song for dancing but had no idea it would become as big as it did. The song got picked up off our album, and some of the black radio stations in the U.S. started playing it, which we've never ever had before." (An Illustrated Biography)
• On "My Baby Does Me" John"(to Freddie)You came up with the bass line."
  Freddie"No, it was you."
  John"No, YOU came up!"
  Freddie "(laugh) Anyway, John and myself create the line."(1989)
• 
  
  

John Deacon Talks

from http://www.deaky.com

We've always decided ourselves what we wanted to put out as our singles and that sort of things. We used to get involved in the art work. We used to have not really much outside influence when we were recording, you know. We've never even in the early days, we are never moulded by some sort of the record company or the management company. I mean, the image that the band had in the early days came from inside of the group. So artistically we sort of had our own direction and we were self-contained there, and it was just really the sort of management business side really, and the time we've been put together for five or six years. So we have a fair experience of the business with the two different managers, that will be my oversight. We thought we'd take the step and, trying managing ourselves really.

There're two main campanies, one of which is "The Queen Production", which is really for the English services, maybe the time is in England. And we have one called "Rain Cloud Production", which is through the overseas services we do, which tends to the more active one now as we do most of our recordings overseas.The studio, well Jim Beach tends to take a very active interest in that 'cause he actually has three staff there. And after that it's mainly Roger and myself. That's the way it's gone and Brian and Freddie are quite happy fit to be like that. So that the way carries on so that something happened naturally, so any sort of decision on that if Jim doesn't, if he wants to ask, he ask me and Roger, and that will be. I am the only one who really keeps an eye on basically how much money is coming in, going out, and most of the position we'er in. And also that...there are overall strategy of the business side. He's correct, you know. By the physics at school A-levels, 3 A-levels, I went on to do electronics in university in three years for that, which involved a lot of maths as well, (phew) quite a lot of maths.

Money is not the drive so much now. I mean there was a period when worthwhile, because, you know all those years of high tax deduction, we didn't really get much out of it. So we had a period we went a...we were more conscious about earning. So money out of it, with that, that's all settled down, that's going the past. And because our records sell around the world, I mean, everybody should be recently financely secure for the rest of their lives... and track your way.

In England we live in a semi-detached Victorian house, 'cos we like Victorian houses, you know. Not quite beginner for main move if I find somewhere else in three years. But,...we live in West London fairly close in..., I quite like really. You know, my children go to a local, local catholic school just down the road. It's quite neighbourly really. I wouldn't...the difficult thing in living in a big house in London is that you can get very isolated, you know, and it's very nice just to walk around and go down to the High Street, going to Smiths and Boots, Woolworths, you know, have everything's very handy. I quite like that.

But we actually has bought a house in America as well, which is mainly at the moment a holiday home.

Others

• Axl Rose - Queen - pure champions
• Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses - If it wasn't for Freddie's lyrics, I don't know where I would be. They meant everything to me, They're pure champions.
• Bob Geldof - Queen were absolutely the best band of the day. They played the best, had the best sound, used their time to the full. They understood the idea exactly - that it was a global jukebox... they just went and smashed one hit after another... it was the perfect stage for Freddie: the whole world. And he could ponce about on stage doing We Are the Champions. How perfect could it get?
• Christopher Lambert - They gave everything of themselves.
• David Bowie - Of all the more theatrical performers, Freddie took it further than the rest. He took it over the edge. He could always turn a cliche to his advantage.
• Elizabeth Taylor - The bright light of Freddie's talent has been so cruelly extinguished... it needn't have happened, it shouldn't have happened. Please let's not let it happen again.
• Elton John - They were the most important figures in rock n' roll.
• Eric Clapton - There are people these days who can do things on the guitar which are beyond my reach. There's one guy who plays with Queen who can do things I would dream of doing. I sincerely mean that.
• Garth Brooks - I hope Freddie will be looking at me from up there.
• Gary Cherone, Extreme - They've been the biggest influence on myn life.
• George Michael - Playing with Queen was the biggest moment of my career. It was like living a childhood fantasy.
• Jac Holzman, Elektra - I have seen the future of pop music and it is a band called Queen.
• James Hetfield, Metallica - Someone told me that I might have the chance to sing with Queen... and I was like: Don't ask me twice, motherfucker. I'll be there!""
• Joe Elliot, Def Leppard. - The biggest band ever.
• John Taylor, Duran Duran - There's not a single day where I don't miss Freddie Mercury.
• Kirk Hammet, Metallica - Freddie was one of those guys who could have a whole audience on the palm of his hand. No matter how big it was.
• Lars Ulrich, Metallica - The worst day of my life was once that my mom didn't allow me to go to a Queen concert because I was grounded.
• Lisa Stansfield - Freddie was such a big personality. Queen had record out throughout my whole life, and it's a part of us that everyone's lost.
• Liza Minelli - The whole group is outstanding.
• Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones - Maybe Freddie would like to be the next, Mick Jagger.
• Paul McCartney, The Beatles - Brian, the guitar player, he's great.
• Paul Young - As Freddie loved a spectacle. I think he would have enjoyed it. Freddie was to me the ultimate performer.
• Peter Hince, road crew member - I thought 'what a complete bunch of tossers, they'll never make it.' I was wrong.
• Phil Collins - You don't get too many people like him.
• REM - "The Wake-Up Bomb" - Get drunk and sing along to Queen.
• Ringo Starr, The Beatles - What a great bunch of guys!
• Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin - There's so few people behind the glamour who really make it as true performers. It's very strange thoroughbred condition to be a successful musician and still be able to project it with confidence. Freddie had that, and there's not many people who have had it.
• Roger Daltrey, The Who ~ - They are 100% great potential, but they are fuckin' us.
• Scott Gorham, Thin Lizzy guitarist - It was amazing, like the rebirth of Queen on the spot. When you'd seen those guys, who wanted to see the rest?
• Melody Maker: "Deacon is probably the poppiest of Queen's writers, as "You're My Best Friend" verifies. This One is a lot more exacting, but still remains the softest track on the album. The song gives the band a chance to try out harmonies on a straight pop song and it works well." (Dec.4, 1976)
"Mister Mercury" (by Peter Freestone) "The co-composition credit on FRIENDS WILL BE FRIENDS and on PAIN IS SO CLOSE TO PLEASURE was merely because John Deacon insisted that Freddie's contribution be recognised and acknowledged. John's honesty and integrity would not have allowed him to do otherwise."
• David Richards : "The song [My Life has been Saved] is very definately from John Deacon. I helped him record the demo and the keyboards. Freddie loved it and sang on it!" (David Richards interview, 2001) *from Mr-Bad-Guy.com

"Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue. "