The “Japanese” Hero

We all know that Japan was one of the first nations to embrace Queen in the early days. If you watch any DoRo documentary, they usually show the boys getting off an airplane with throngs of Japanese fans holding copies of Queen II and screaming as if the Beatles have finally arrived. To this day, Japan is honored with unique (and official) Queen releases that international collectors salivate over.

Japan must have made a lasting impression on Brian and Freddie: Brian paid homage to them by including Japanese lyrics in Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together); and Freddie's affection was evident by his pond of Japanese koi he kept at Garden Lodge.

Fast forward to 2007 and Freddie ends up as number 52 on a Nippon Television Network survey called History's 100 Most Influential People, Hero Edition. Here is a link to the full story that appeared in the Wilson Quarterly.

The list is comprised mainly of Japanese people, which makes sense. Strangely absent from the list, however, are historical figures from the west, although Walt Disney (#40), Elvis (#70), and Audrey Hepburn (#46) make the list. Freddie did manage to squeak past his fellow historical heavyweights, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (#69) and William Shakespeare (#87).

The only concern I have is the date that the story appeared: April 1st.

Mad Dadds & Englishmen

Having trouble seeing the small details of this painting on your computer screen? Well, having stood in front of the original at the Tate in London, I can tell you that you need a magnifying lens to see the detail in the painting. This makes sense since Dadd used a magnifying lens when he painted it.

When I bought Queen II at the used record store in 1978, I remember reading, in mice type, along the bottom of the LP jacket: “Inspired by a painting by Richard Dadd.” The song it is referring to, of course, is The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke and its lyrics tell the story of the myriad of mythical characters in the painting.

As an art student at Ealing College in the late ’60s and early ’70s, I can imagine Freddie visiting the Tate and seeing the painting for the first time and being awestruck at Dadd’s attention to detail, not to mention his obvious love of Victorian-era faeries and other ethereal creatures. In some ways, Freddie managed to outdo the complexity and richness of the painting in his song.

Even more amazing about Dadd was that he produced his masterpieces as a paranoid schizophrenic while in a sanitarium for killing his father whom he thought was the devil (Wiki). I’m sure this added a layer of intrigue to Freddie’s perception of the painting, although I’m glad he didn’t include such references to Dadd’s condition in the song.


Wikipedia. (2009, May 23). Richard Dadd. Retrieved on June 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dadd

Richard Dadd. Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke. 1855–64. Oil on canvas. 54 × 39.5 cm. Tate Gallery, London.


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Mick Rock’s Island

Did anyone else catch the promos for Harper’s Island and recognize the stark lighting and harsh shadows dominating the characters' portraits?

They look suspiciously similar to Mick Rock’s iconic photography of Queen from their early days. I wonder if the art director at CBS who dreamt up the promo isn’t actually paying homage to the band since these low-key, harshly shadowed images don’t appear in the actual series (at least not yet). Granted, the show is not intended to be a film noir series—although that would be an interesting approach—the promos evoke a significantly different feel to the show.

Too bad the art director for the promos couldn’t convince the music director to drop in Who Wants to Live Forever at some point in the show.

Roger screaming

What drew me to Queen as a 10-year-old? It was catching a ride with a schoolmate in his dad's Gran Torino while playing the newly released News of the World album on his 8-track stereo. Sure WWRY and WATC were on the radio at the time so I had some peripheral connection to the album, but it was actually Roger’s screams (or is it singing?) on Fight From the Inside that caught my attention. In hindsight, the song wasn't the most popular one on the album and one would expect a Freddie or Brian song to appeal to the masses, but for me it was the hook in FFTI.

I was so enamored with Queen that I did something I had never done before—I scoped out a used record store and bought my first LP, Queen II, for $7.00.