I just recently saw this documentary on Freddie Mercury, of Queen.

As I get older, I'm discovering much more of the rock world that I missed growing up. For me, missing out on rock wasn't hard. I was a die-hard classical music fascist with out much patience for popular music with lyrics. I'm not sure why that is. For me, a lot of rock sounded angry, and darker than say a ligther classical piece like a ballet score or something, that I loved listening to as a kid (even in the crib, I'm told.) Plus a lot of pop and rock was very self focused. Perhaps unlike some socially conscious folk music, pop and rock is usually very personal. A lot of the time, I was turned off by that kinda thing, and for me, never really felt like I personally had anything I wanted to say in that manner. Heck, I never really wrote much prose of my own. (I'm not sure if that point makes sense.) I also didn't really identify with those who stood up in front of the microphone.

My brother's Led Zepplin, Styx, and even ELO albums, however, engrained in me a certain love of heavy rock I just can't deny. I bet a lot of it has to do with the quality of the production of these gorgeous concept albums. Mostly the tracks just sound great, from the channel mixing, sound levels to the intimate vocals on ballads. (ELO being more on the verge of pop to disco then in the late '70s, but having been a young kid in that era, the musical language around me was hard to forget.) Ultimately, if a piece is well composed, it's just "good" no matter what the genre.

In junior high and high school, from 1982 - 1988, the second English Invaision was underway with Duran Duran,  Billy Idol, Adam Ant, Depechemode, and even punk surfacing into more pop sounds. This new pop sort of pushed out heavy guitar stuff, and honest to goodness acoustic-ness. Granted, the camps of heavy metal vs. disco were well poised to do battle into eternity, but the "new wave" pop took the microphone away from those two earlier genres. Perhaps the lighter, pop fair was needed by a lot of kids, who were burned out by disco, but still wanted something expressive and new. Certainly fashion in the "new wave" was beyond compare. Metal fans, however, I think are very loyal and there is a good reason for that. Most great metal and great guitar and drum kit music is done by very good musicians who truly are great craftsmen who have worked long and hard at their craft. I know a lot of metal fans get into the huge, symphonic sound too (ie, Wagner, Strauss, etc.)

In this era, Freddie was also a great song writer. Who doubts he could have written an opera? And Queen's "Flash Gordon" score remains a favorite whenever I watch that movie. He certainly was a great showman too. It's so sad he's no longer with us. A whole generation of talent was struck down by the AIDS pandemic. I truly believe our world would be much better and different if Freddie and all those others afflicted were still with us. From the visual arts, to Broadway, to rock and roll and beyond, the influence these artists had can probably never be properly measured. Amazingly, those creative spirits never got the chance go the distance yet they still managed to have a huge impact. If they did live longer, who knows what more great stuff we would have!

What a wonderful world it would have been!

BUT it is, will, and can be a wonderful world if we channel our heroes!

Freddie is now one of mine.