Uh... huh...

Sometimes you browse through the CD section of a store, and you notice things. I took pictures with my cell phone, but they came out crappy, so I had to consult the internet.

This shows how much I pay attention to other band's CDs, but the cover for the Kings Of Leon album, Aha Shake Heartbreak...



Looks an awful lot like...



A Night At The Opera. At the very least, it uses a similar font.

Although the cover for Escape The Fate's self-titled album...



Intentionally looks like...



Queen II.

In this interview, Max Green of ETF says "I wanted something that was bold and made a statement, but didn't want anything too flashy. I didn't want something that said "We are selling out, we signed to a major label," so this is what I came up with."

So... he went with the concept for Queen II (which, by the way... Wikipedia Mick Rock's just sayin'). I guess it was either that or Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove cover...

I tend to look down upon this shit because it, to me, shows a lack of creativity or effort. Not that I'm the most creative person on the planet, but I'd like to think I'm above taking iconic concepts from relatively recent popular culture and making them my own. But really, I guess I shouldn't expect too much from Escape The Fate. I haven't even heard of them until yesterday, but their lyrics are worse than the shit I used to write in school.

I've tried finding out more about the Kings Of Leon cover, but Google failed me.

Yay links!

I got asked to check out Queen Poland, which is a pretty excellent site from what I've seen so far. Check it out if you have the time. If nothing else, look at all the fantastic pictures!

If you would like me to check out and mention a Queen/Freddie-related site or blog here, or whatever - I would love and prefer an email (zander8605 at gmail dot com), rather than see the same comment on multiple posts. That's spam, kids. But I want you to get in touch with me! I don't have much going on so I will respond to you!

One for the kids

I suppose since Queen's music appeals to all ages I should make at least one child-friendly post.

Fun fact time! The voice of Mr Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants is none other than Clancy Brown who played The Kurgan in the film Highlander.

So the guy who voices a cartoon crab that sings this cute little ditty and has an unhealthy obsession with money...



Has also done this Oscar-worthy scene.



By the way, the priest at the end of that clip was played by a Rabbi. Anyway! Now when you're watching Spongebob and your friends giggle over how silly that Mr Krabs is with his frugal ways and breaking US labor laws, you can think of the film Highlander and how the voice of that crab is a fucking murderer/violent rapist... and then soften the blow of that harsh reality by thinking about the stellar use of Queen's music throughout that film. I'm pretty sure it would have failed really hard had Russell Mulcahy not recruited Queen to write some tracks.

Happy Easter, kids! I'm sure I'll be getting angry emails from your parents very soon!

19th anniversary of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

19 years ago today there was what may arguably be one of the greatest concerts in history. And nine years ago, that greatness was commemorated with a poorly edited DVD with a great deal of footage taken out for what I can only assume are arbitrary reasons. Seriously, who honestly thought that people would only want the performances directly involving Queen?! I have to go on fucking Youtube if I want to see Extreme's Queen medley! It should be on the DVD with the rest of the concert, but no. Fuckers.

"Freddie Mercury was an incredibly innovative singer and frontman for the band. He was a very good friend of mine and it was my privelege to have known him for some of his life. He was very funny, extremely outrageous, very kind and he was a great musician, one of the great frontmen of rock'n'roll bands... Quite simply, he was one of the most important figures in rock'n'roll in the last twenty years. I will miss him, we will all miss him, for his music, his humanity...We will remember that Freddie Mercury was something special." - Elton John

"If I didn't have Freddie Mercury's words and lyrics to hold onto as a kid, I don't know where I'd be...I never really had a bigger teacher in my whole life." - Axl Rose

"We will all miss him a lot. Together with his band he made a great contribution to popular music." - David Bowie

"When we lost Freddie, we not only lost a great personality, a man with a great sense of humour, a true showman, but we lost probably the best. The best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style. He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it." - Roger Daltrey

"Every band should study Queen at Live Aid. If you really feel like that barrier is gone, you become Freddie Mercury. I consider him the greatest frontman of all time. Like, it's funny? you'd imagine that Freddie was more than human, but ... You know how he controlled Wembley Stadium at Live Aid in 1985? He stood up there and did his vocal warm ups with the audience. Something that intimate, where they realize, 'Oh yeah, he's just a fucking dude'." - Dave Grohl

Further proof that American Idol sucks

So I was doin' my thing, searching for Queen covers on Youtube, and suddenly here's this clip from Idol (Sweden) of this guy rocking the shit out of The Show Must Go On!

Maybe it's because I hate Ryan Seacrest, and it could very well also be how fucking creepy Steven Tyler is, but typically when a contestant on the American version of the show attempts a Queen song, I get super disappointed. Except by Adam Lambert. I love him. By the way, Kris Allen won that year (only because Fox(?) took issue with Adam making out with guys) but I haven't heard from him since then. And Adam Lambert is a big, flaming, perverted success! Fuck yeah!



Dear America, GET OVER IT! This is precisely why Queen lost their popularity in the US with I Want To Break Free and why conservatives today are losing their shit over a boy with painted pink toenails in a J Crew ad!

Anyway, I decided to see how Erik Grönwall's performance of The Show Must Go On compared to Carly Smithson's. Yeah, I like the Swedish guy a hell of a lot more. Jag bugar inför dig, o svenska kungar! (I originally typed in "Swedish Overlords," but Google translated that to "Swedish Gentlemen," so I switched it to "kings")

Traniwrock

In the Boston area there's a cabaret/burlesque show called Traniwreck. I've only been once, but it was a pretty good time. Since its inception, the word "tranny" is no longer acceptable as it's derogatory, even (especially) in trans-friendly spaces. But while I'm queer and really involved in my local LGBTQQIA et all communities, trans politics don't have much to do with Queen.

Anyway, there's a show tonight that I didn't have the energy for, but the promotional poster made me giggle with delight. I found it while walking with a friend in Somerville.



As an added bonus, here's a video of a performance by Johnny Blazes (who's a regular performer at Traniwreck) and M Hanora on September 4, 2008.

Indecision

I'm not sure how I feel about Electric 6's cover of Radio Ga Ga. I'm not sure I've ever felt purely ambivalent about a Queen cover before. You know that thing, "if a tree falls in the woods and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound" and how that's supposed to clear your head, or blow your mind or some shit? That's what this cover is doing to me right now.

I think I should mull it over by listening to Gay Bar for a while. Or Dance Commander. Or the Live Aid version of Radio Ga Ga.





Ah, that's better.

This is probably one of those things where I just need to take a couple days before I officially decide how I feel.