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The 80's...


eagle87

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It's especially funny when you consider the fact that Jeff Beck was Roger Waters' first choice to replace Syd Barrett in Pink Floyd. I'm positive he's happy with the way his life/career turned out, but I sometimes wonder if he doesn't get up in the middle of night and randomly scream "WHY?!" at the top of his lungs and then go right back to bed. :lol:

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Queen gets mentioned here very often. And I don't understand the slam against Americans (or more accurately North Americans?). BTW, we've had this discussion many times before but Queen got lots of airplay here and media exposure via the late night music shows in the 70s. If you want to continue to believe they are underappreciated here (or the baseless claim that "nobody mentions them") then cling to that but it's not true.

The arguement thats commonly made isnt that Queen lacked exposure in the US in the 70's but rather that the exposure dried up in the 80's as they came to be considered more of a camp band with Mercury's homosexuality more obvious. He was always pretty came of course but video's like Body Language and I Want To Break Free were much more blatant.

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The arguement thats commonly made isnt that Queen lacked exposure in the US in the 70's but rather that the exposure dried up in the 80's as they came to be considered more of a camp band with Mercury's homosexuality more obvious. He was always pretty came of course but video's like Body Language and I Want To Break Free were much more blatant.

The only place I've ever seen anyone complain about Queen not receiving enough recognition is on this board (and from this same poster). Others seem to readily acknowledge their undeniable contribution to music. If anything, I was always under the impression that their performance at Live Aid was one of the best (if not the best) sets at the festival. I also seem to recall their Live Aid appearance elevating them to an even higher status worldwide. Then came the Wembley concerts, so I fail to understand how they could ever be considered "underrated", "underappreciated". As an avid radio listener I recall them being all over the radio in the 70s and 80s. Most of my friends in high school were also huge fans. I think it's just a case of a fan being so in love with Queen that they feel no one else's fandom comes anywhere close to theirs, therefore they see Queen as never having received the recognition they deserved. "Not being able to see the forest for the trees" would be another way of putting it.

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Because someone mentioned them that believes they never received enough recognition, particularly in the U.S.

Wow! Weird! :huh: I thought they received quite a bit of recognition as a "sell out" band, playing for massive crowds in massive stadiums??! Because, I have their Wembley concert in DVD and also a "Live : In Japan" DVD and they seem to be getting quite a bit of attention! Oh well! Just my 2 cents! :huh:

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  • 10 months later...

The only place I've ever seen anyone complain about Queen not receiving enough recognition is on this board (and from this same poster). Others seem to readily acknowledge their undeniable contribution to music. If anything, I was always under the impression that their performance at Live Aid was one of the best (if not the best) sets at the festival. I also seem to recall their Live Aid appearance elevating them to an even higher status worldwide. Then came the Wembley concerts, so I fail to understand how they could ever be considered "underrated", "underappreciated". As an avid radio listener I recall them being all over the radio in the 70s and 80s. Most of my friends in high school were also huge fans. I think it's just a case of a fan being so in love with Queen that they feel no one else's fandom comes anywhere close to theirs, therefore they see Queen as never having received the recognition they deserved. "Not being able to see the forest for the trees" would be another way of putting it.

Its rather belated but if you look at Queens albums chart performance its pretty clear that there sucess in the US tailed off greatly post 1980....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_discography

They go from a run of 5 albums getting top 6 places to getting no higher than #22 for the rest of the decade. Whether you consider that underappreciated or not depends on how you rank the quality of there work in that era I spose but theres no doubt that there popularity dropped off greatly in the 80's.

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So what is your favourite band from the 80's?...

for me: Aerosmith, Guns & Roses and some Van Halen...

CINDERELLA...'Long Cold Winter is still in my top 10 albums of all time.

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Its rather belated but if you look at Queens albums chart performance its pretty clear that there sucess in the US tailed off greatly post 1980....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_discography

They go from a run of 5 albums getting top 6 places to getting no higher than #22 for the rest of the decade. Whether you consider that underappreciated or not depends on how you rank the quality of there work in that era I spose but theres no doubt that there popularity dropped off greatly in the 80's.

Queen didn't tour much in America during the 80's either. I think that, along with a changing musical landscape, took away from their popularity here in the states. I still believe they were always highly respected here though, IMO.

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Queen didn't tour much in America during the 80's either. I think that, along with a changing musical landscape, took away from their popularity here in the states. I still believe they were always highly respected here though, IMO.

I think thats a bit chicken and the egg, they didnt tour because the sucess dried up so they didnt build more sucess.

As I said a year ago I think Mercury's more openly gay(at least in the context of the times) image was rather a turn off for US audiences plus I don't think the band switched styles musically helped either given the US's more genre specific music scene.

The most mystifying thing for me is that Under Pressure failed to do well in the US charts, two popular artsist put out one of the greatest singles ever recorded and it only just cracks the top 30?

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  • 1 month later...

I think thats a bit chicken and the egg, they didnt tour because the sucess dried up so they didnt build more sucess.

As I said a year ago I think Mercury's more openly gay(at least in the context of the times) image was rather a turn off for US audiences plus I don't think the band switched styles musically helped either given the US's more genre specific music scene.

The most mystifying thing for me is that Under Pressure failed to do well in the US charts, two popular artsist put out one of the greatest singles ever recorded and it only just cracks the top 30?

Fantastic song, big Number 1 in the UK - but unbelievably peaked at Number 88 in Japan!!! WTF????

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  • 11 months later...

This song was stuck in my head this morning. Although I was really missing classic rock in the 80s, he was one of my favorites and I had all of his albums. He seemed to be a pretty cool guy, like he was trying to be more of an artist than an MTV star. I thought his music and lyrics had more substance than much of the other stuff of the day.

One more, from Live Aid

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