You're headed for disaster cos you never read the signs Too much love will kill you every time
Freddie MercuryRead
I was never too keen on the British music press. They've called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn't write our own songs.
Interpretation
Freddie Mercury expresses his disdain for the British music press and their criticisms of his band's authenticity.
In this quote, Freddie Mercury reflects on the skepticism and negative portrayal his band faced from the British music press, particularly accusations of being overly commercial and not genuinely writing their own music. This highlights the struggles artists often encounter with media representation and the questioning of their artistic integrity.
In practice
Using this quote in a discussion about the relationship between artists and critics.
You're headed for disaster cos you never read the signs Too much love will kill you every time
I have fun with my clothes onstage; it's not a concert you're seeing, it's a fashion show.
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 completely different man.
I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear.
People are always asking me what my lyrics mean. 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 analyze his work: If you see it, dear, then it's there. ... I think my melodies are superior to my lyrics. ... I was never too keen on the British music press. They've called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn't write our own songs.
We're a very expensive group; we break a lot of rules. It's unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear .
I'm one of a dying breed who goes out and tours all the time. Labels don't spend the money to send people out to play before they become famous, but we did do that so the fans we have are word of mouth fans who have been travelling around with us for years, and they buy the albums, but they are also the ones who go out and get the bootlegs. I don't discourage bootlegging, I like playing live, I don't think it hurts my album sales at all if there are bootlegs out there. Who cares?
Without the Fender bass, there'd be no rock n' roll or no Motown. The electric guitar had been waiting 'round since 1939 for a nice partner to come along. It became an electric rhythm section, and that changed everything.
I know people said I wasn't selling out in America, but that was entirely untrue. We sold out all over the world, and every night I looked out into the fans and those front rows that you're talking about, the tears, the honesty, the inability to not be completely overjoyed because they felt accepted.
'Society's Child' was a real hard record to start with. That's all you want is for you to put your first record out and have people screaming at you in the streets. But it taught me right away that what I was doing was valuable and important.
What came first β the music or the misery? Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?
There is something about the melody of 'Thunder Road' that just suggests 'new day.' It suggests morning; it suggests something opening up.
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