I believe this was written about the women’s liberation movement and contrary to the popular opinion at the time, it was not Freddie’s idea to dress in drag it was Roger’s, but the rest of the band all loved the idea. The music video is a lot of fun, and maybe because it did cause such a lot of controversy, you could watch it too. Rogerina is the prettiest girl you ever saw, Brian with his curly hair in curlers, and Deacy as the cranky old grandma. I love it
Phenomenal! Where Queen was concerned, there were no barriers, no limits! On your own time, I highly suggest you now check out the music video. As others have said, it was drummer Roger Taylor's (dressed as the religious schoolgirl) girlfriend's idea to dress in drag. You guessed right, John was the frumpy granny in the dark coat and hat and yep Brian May wears curlers, a pink satin and lace nighty and bunny slippers. The guys all had a blast, they thought it was hilarious. They were spoofing a popular soap opera called "Coronation Street". Infamously, the stuffed shirts at MTV didn't get the joke behind the video and banned it. I'm American and I think its hilarious and I respect dressing in drag as a staple in British comedy in general! The ballet section actually featured Freddie with members of the royal ballet, of which Freddie was a huge fan.
Another John Deacon masterpiece. Totally under rated and under exposed member of the band. But hey, he was that kind of man anyway and pretty much chose isolation after Freddie’s death. You should play the whole video though! It’s hilarious, especially Roger - and if the Americans can’t get over it by now then they can look away!
Oh, it was a hit. Still feels as fresh and is still my favourite song ever. It was massive in Australia and it SOOOO good playing VERY loud on a good sound system with that amazing bass!
Great reaction! It seems like you really enjoyed this one! Yes, this video was banned, but it wasn't just this video, Queen's previous video Body Language was also banned, for being to sexually explicit. MTV was the main vehicle for selling music during this time, it is difficult to promote your music when two videos were banned. But it was not the only reason why they lost popularity in America, Paul Prenter was also very standoffish with the management of some radio stations. There were also issues with a payola investigation into radio, Queen was one of the bands that suffered through air play, with the loss of payola. I think the loss of their popularity really bothered Brian the most, I think Roger, Freddie and John didn't really care if they were popular in America or not. I think Brian has been on a quest to recreate Queen's lost in popularity in America.
John Deacon wrote this, thus the great bass elements. IIUC it was about wanting to break free of the music business/ endless round of touring and record promotion etc, and spend more time at home with his beloved. The video kind of shifted the original meaning - as so often with Queen, layer upon layer of collective creativity coming into play. So the video became a thing in itself, a little drama about bored women, stuck at home, having these B-I-I-G-G secret sexual daydreams/fantasies. It was Roger's girlfriend's idea they should all dress up in drag like a scene from Coronation Street (long-running British soap opera of ordinary working class folk in a dreary northern city). So, Freddie/Melina the Housewife leaves his vacuum cleaner and throws open the door to the cupboard under the stairs - and lo and behold - there's this sort of subterranean cave (all very Freudian..) where all these terribly sensual, weird and crazy things go on... The figure playing the pipe is a Faun, and the character, costume and choreography are based on a ballet created around 1910 for the Ballet Russes, called L'Apres-Midi du Faun (The Afternoon of the Faun). It caused a minor sensation in those Edwardian times with its depiction of... not sure how to put this... the Faun 'making love' to a scarf left by a nymph he sees and fancies, but she gets away from him... he satisfies himself instead via her dropped garment... So you see, there's a link here between his sexual frustration and sensual fantasy, and the bored housewife's... The sensuality of the ballet's scarf scene idea is amplified further in the IWTBF video using actual ballet dancers - lots of bodies getting up close and physical with Freddie in various ways. The original ballet's choreography was actually based on figures depicted in profile on ancient Greek vases, and in the video we see Freddie the Faun in profile playing an ancient musical instrument before diving head first into the pile of grapes - this is all nicked straight from the ballet - classical references to the music of ancient Greece and ideas of decadent self-indulgence in ancient Rome.. I'm pretty sure this whole fantasy section was Freddie's idea - he was a fan of Nijinski, who famously danced the role of the Faun. I suspect he may have come across him and the Ballets Russes while studying fashion design, since that company's exotic costumes were famous. If you look up the Ballet Russes costumes, you can see that many of Freddie's stage costumes during his onesie/leotard phase are based on those Nijinski wore in various roles - notably the Harlequin (diamonds) ones, as well as the Faun costume seen in this video.. I could go on, but this is probably way TMI already... sorry, I got a bit carried away...! I did a lot of research on certain aspects of Freddie's life for a thing I'm writing about him and came up with so much interesting stuff... :-)
The middle part is with the Royal Ballet. Freddie always wanted to dance with them problem is, Freddie can’t dance so this is their solution. Brian said they laughed all the way though this. Done after a famous sitcom coronation street. MTV refused to play it & they lost America. Fred said he wouldn’t tour America again until they had a no 1 hit. John wrote this, why it’s heavy with bass.🔥🔥🔥🔥
Many ensemble members of the Royal Ballet were his friends, since he performed with them for a charity event in 1979. There is footage of that performance of two Queen songs on youtube. They often went out for eating and night clubbing together. Yes, Freddie couldn't sort himself into a choreography, so they lifted him around, instead.
The middle section is based on the ballet L'apres Midi de la Faun, I believe. Freddie had been involved with the Royal Ballet and had made friends there and recruited them for this video. As far as the meaning of this part of the video, I would assume it's there because "Freddie wanted it". Roger said something to that effect in an interview. The band did not like to point out deep meanings in their videos..they were mostly for fun and commercial reasons. Freddie in particular never wanted to have to explain the meaning behind his songs, and as the prime mover behind most of the videos I would guess he felt the same about them.
I think what happened when MTV refused to play the video was that Queen were pretty upset & felt unwelcome & unappreciated in the US, resulting in their estrangement. Some of the weirder bits in the video are taken from Freddie's performance with the Royal Ballet. He accepted an invitation to dance with them. They no doubt knew that he loved ballet. But then they discovered that he could not be choreographed because he was too spontaneous to follow the steps in anything like a disciplined manner. So they just carried him around on the stage, and at one point they held him upside-down while he sang.
I’m guessing it’s mentioned in the comments already that Freddie took ballet lessons at one point. I think he just has a wide dance knowledge base. Sometimes goofy moves are maybe thrown in on purpose...? It was probably like 3 executives in the USA who deprived us all of seeing Queen. But anyway great song. Great reaction also HAP!!!
I am falling in love with Queen more and more!! I listened to this song when i was in school sometime and loved it,but never known this song belongs to QUEEN !!! Love it love it so much! Thank you for your reaction as always! Looking forward to your reaction to the video version too. 🙈
One of my top 10 queen favorites, in fact it's my ringtone on my phone. Lol I was laughing when the ballet part started, I knew that would catch your attention.
The UK laughed because of the Coronation Street references, continental Europe just laughed without knowing the background, but the US tv stations were puritanical about the drag scenes. Freddie wanted to return to the US for touring when they had another top hit in the US. But after this song failed to be a hit without enough airplay, the tv and radio stations kind of dropped Queen, so they "lost the US" because of this video, like Brian said it. On the following tour in South America, Freddie came on stage with a huge fake bust and wig, but the South Americans didn't find it funny. For them, this song was kind of a freedom hymn, because they had dictatorships. It is sung on the top end of where a male can belt notes, so it's in a high key and hard to sing for males. But Freddie made it sound to be easy. The live versions are not equally good, because of his voice problems in the higher register at that time (mid 80's), due to smoking and nodules.
Now I realized why this became my first favorite song of Queen since high school. It’s all about the bass. I love rock songs mainly because of bass and drums (drum beats comes first tho but usually I enjoy it more if it’s a mixture of both). Even in Bohemian Rhapsody ( the part after Freddie said “ooh yeah, ooh yeah” and then the bass goes down 😍) I always liked hearing Deaky’s bass guitar work. Great reaction as always Hap. 😊👍🏻
HAP3SPEAKZ it’s in the original video. I’m not sure why they chose to do it for this video, I just assume that it was Freddie indulging in some artistic fantasy. He was very much into ballet and opera and this scene is recreating a Nijinsky ballet where Freddie is playing the faun .
You're a GOOD man Hap. Thank you. BEST #queenreaction is HERE! Cool lyric video! MTV executives didn't want anything to do with them, so the people didn't hear/see their music anymore. And they refused to come to America if they didn't have a hit song. The 'body' part probably has more symbolism than I know, but it kindof refers to the crazy parties Freddie hosted - always costumes - and at least one had a man under meat" who jiggled every time someone took some, lol... (bunny... sweet)
I’m not sure who said (Brian I think) something like “Americans are prudes in public and perverts in private”.😊 They were pretty mad at the time I think. Always amazes me that John Deacon wrote this as it’s not quite as light hearted as the ones he usually wrote. The idea for the video came from Roger. Freddie was always interested in ballet and I’m not sure it had a whole lot of meaning other than filler. Anyways, your reaction was great. Thanks!
Americans in the 70s/80s were just getting woke. It was well liked on radio. At that time we had a censor board n unfortunately they were a bunch of tools. But we all recorded video b4 it was pulled n mostly it was loved r ignored. 1 of the most creative videos ever made. Tu, ur reactions r so much fun. "Show Must Go On". Brian May wrote it for Freddie as his farewell to his fans. Beautiful song. Watch video version. Enjoy. Stay safe.
Loving you and your channel now!! It’s been a pleasure to watch you become a true Queen fan. Please if you want to see how amazing and diverse Freddie really was can you please please react to these - the live videos - by Freddie and Montserrat Caballe:- ....Barcelona, The Golden Boy, How Can I Go On. Any order and not all at once!! Unless you want to of course:) Prepare to be amazed!
We had a group of old stuffed shirts running MTV during that particular time. They blocked a lot of videos especially when getting complaints from very straight laced individuals ( nicest way to put it), who were up in arms joining Tipper Gore wanting to block music, games and movies that weren’t completely “G” rated. The stuffed shirts didn’t understand that Queen was doing a take on a soap opera show over in London. It was very funny, but here they were appalled that men would dress up like women. The told Queen to do a different video for USA. Well, you can guess Queens response. Brian said in a documentary that they lost the USA after that. They really didn’t, their fans here still loved them and we were very sad they didn’t tour here after that. We kept getting their albums!!
The video was banned by MTV and Queen lost fans in the US. It was not Freddie’s idea, it was Roger’s girlfriend. Freddie was quoted as saying, “I’ll probably have to die before we tour America again.
@@HAP3SPEAKZ Drag, or men dressing as women is a long tradition in English theatre, from Shakespeare to modern pantomime; enjoyed but not taken seriously at all, mostly (though not always) played for laughs. If you read my long comment above - I know, probably too long to read - you'll see the dressing up in drag and playing the women from Coronation Street bit was Roger's girlfriend's idea - not the whole thing - the central fantasy/ballet sequence was almost certainly all Freddie's.
The choregraphy's part of the clip was the occasion for Freddie to do something he also wanted other than singing opera : dancing. The video clip was forbidden in the USA which explained the decrease in the sell of the Queen's album and the popularité of the group didn't find his level unti Freddie passed away. At Rio of Janeiro, Freddie Mercury appeared disguised for this song. The spectators became upset and began to launch objects. Freddie chose to divest himself of them. It's only later that they knew that this song was the symbol of liberty and resistance.
I love this video. All of them got alter egos nick names. Freddie was Melina and Roger, Rogerina. I don't remember Brian and John's names! The video was idea of Roger's girlfriend at that time, but most people thought it was Freddie's idea. And it's a parody of a British soup opera "coronation street". And yes, it was banned in MTV in the US, because of that Freddie said he was not going back to tour in the EEUU, and they never did. But it was a hit in England. I like the idea of first reacting to the lyrics, most people get distracted by de visual. Hahah. Thanks!
The nick names have nothing to do with the video at all. It was part of the gay culture that he gave people drag names, he adopted it from Elton John who was Sharon. Roger's name was actually Liz after Elisabeth Taylor. Rogerina was the nick name the fans gave him. Like it was mentioned, Brian was Maggie and John Belisha. Rod Stewart was Phyllis, Peter Freestone Freddie's PA was Phoebe etc. As soon as Freddie met someone and really liked him he got a drag name. It was nice and funny and people loved it because it also showed that Freddie cared about them.
John was on the couch, Brian was the one in the curlers and Roger was the naughty school girl. This video is hilarious. You really need to watch this whole video. It is based on Coronation Street, a popular British soap opera. MTV banned it in america because of them dressing as women, i guess. It made Freddie mad that they could ban him and he sort of got a bad taste for America for a while. Brian said something about Americans being prudish or something in the day and perverts at night .LOL. It is base heavy because John Wrote it and Roger and his girlfriend at the time came up with the idea of dressing as these characters. so Freddie didn't even have anything to do with it's conception but he got blamed for it of course. People were saying things like, That crazy cross dressing Freddie. So Freddie was a bit annoyed and for good reason. The part where Freddie is dressed in the leotard, is that he danced with The Royal Ballet on stage for one of their shows and he asked them to be in this video. So they thought Freddie could really dance when they first asked him to be in their show but soon realized Freddie couldn't really dance so they just sort of carried him around on stage and lifted him. He sang Bohemian Rhapsody live while the Royal Ballet just carried him around and held him upside down while he sang. You should look up Freddie Mercury dancing with the Royal Ballet singing Bohemian Rhapsody, It is quite funny but really good. It was a big hit just not in America. Please react to Mr. Bad Guy from Freddie"s solo album. Just make sure you pick the original 1985 version. there isn't a video for it. i think just the lyric video maybe but it is a great song.
Lmao!! I saw this video when I was 16 years old and laugh my ass off😂😂😂 I don't know why the band or British people thought that this video was banned from MTV in the USA because it wasn't. this was the funniest thing ever and even my parents thought it was funny and they were born in the 40s. I thought the body language video was a little raunchy but we Americans are a little conservative.. I don't know about the people in LA and New York but I do know that the majority of people outside of big cities are more conservative, but this song and video is great and just for guys who work hard having a good time and a good laugh. Roger is hot! This is going to be a heavy basa song because it's a John Deacon song and he wrote it.
This was a John Deacon song. The idea to dress up in drag was Roger’s, not Freddie’s as some believed and automatically assumed. It was done as a parody to the British soap opera Coronation Street. Unfortunately, MTV banned it in the States and most of America didn’t take kindly to 4 men dressing up in drag. As Brian said in the movie, Americans are puritans in public, perverts in private. Lol! What America sadly didn’t get was that was British humor and was all done in fun. It’s really sad when you see what MTV really turned into which was all drugs, sex and violence, yet 4 British men from a Rock Band called Queen got banned. Ridiculous! I’m impressed that you picked up the person on the sofa was John and Freddie was the brunette with the vacuum cleaner. What you really missed because it wasn’t the original video is Roger. You only got to see him from the back for a second. He was dressed as a hot schoolgirl and was pretty damn cute and Brian was dressed in a robe, bunny slippers and curlers in his hair. I’ve seen other reactors watch the video, but only recognized Freddie, but YOU caught John in that quick shot! Bravo! It really is a great song if you take the video the way it was intended...all in fun. As for the ballet part, I’m not sure what the meaning was behind it and it is kind of weird. I do know that Freddie loved the ballet and actually performed with the Royal Ballet. I think they were the ones in the video with Freddie here. You definitely need to watch the official video for a good laugh. Wait until you see Roger and Brian and my favorite part is when Freddie does a double step from one room to the other. Damn Freddie and Roger had a set of legs on them! The song was written by John and was about breaking free from the things that hold you back or keep you down in life. Of course some people took it out of context and assumed it was about cross dressing or being gay which is not what it was about. Enjoyed your reaction as always.Looking forward to more Queen reactions as well. Thanks friend♥️♥️♥️
I'm American and I was 16 years old when this video came out and I laughed my butt off because I knew it was a tribute to Coronation Street even though I'm not British or English at all. I was in musical theater and a vocalist actress and even as a teenager I was familiar with Coronation Street. I laughed at the video because originally I thought it was just the four guys having a good time. I don't remember the video being banned from MTV because I saw it several times but it may have been after it was out a while. The fans in America always loved queen and I think it was sad that Freddie Mercury didn't want to tour the states just because a few things that some stuffy nose people said when 90% of Americans loved the band and bought their albums.. sad! Americans felt short-changed when Queen no longer toward in 1984 and 1986 because Queen has a lot of fans in America and they just don't know. Sad story really because Queen was always my favorite British band.
The old guys that ran mtv, etc. refused to play it so it didn't get the exposure it should have. Plus the uptight vocal group of complainers got their way, censoring music movies and books during this period. Freddie proclaimed that he would never tour in the US again and kept his word. Without touring, their music didn't get the promotion it needed here either. Freddie was invited to perform with the London Royal Ballet and to sing two songs while performing with them. In a way, that was him breaking free from the "rock star" box that music journalists kept trying to type cast the band and Freddie. This middle part is an homage to the Royal Ballet. He also broke free later with Montserrat and Opera. This was written by John, but Freddie is the one who took all the flack for it, and it was Roger and his girlfriend who thought it would be great fun to dress in drag and honor Coronation Street which was covering women's liberation movement at the time. The rest of world loved the humor and it was a big hit in several countries while the US music moguls clutched their pearls and feigned shock. It's not as though Milton Berle, Red Skelton and many others didn't dress in drag on tv all the time. Perhaps they were just jealous that Freddie and Roger looked so cute and did it so well.
@@montrelouisebohon-harris7023 I'm American and just a little bit older than you. I heard their music all the time growing up also. Their hits were constantly played on the radio. I don't think I saw this video though until many years later. The fact that Freddie kept his mustache is just awesome. It's perfect. Didn't know what Coronation Street was at the time, it just seemed like a fun video to a fantastic song. Just watched the official video with commentary by Brian and Roger a few days ago - Roger said the middle section was "indulging Freddie. Arts with a capital 'F.'" Cracked me up and amazed me at the same time. They knew Freddie had all this artistic expression inside him and they didn't hold him back.
Yup they all dress up as woman in the video watch it Freddie- leather skirt pink jumper John- grumpy granny Brian- pink dress and rollers Roger- naughty school girl
Yep, they banned the video on MTV in America. Freddie didn't want to play in America ever again after that and they didn't. At least not with Freddie, they have been wirh Adam Lambert.
@@HAP3SPEAKZ Yeah, and they obviously blamed Freddie for it🙄, even though the video wasn't his idea(it was Roger's girlfriend at the time) Small minded people. I'd love it if you reacted to the whole video too, it's a fun one haha.
@@HAP3SPEAKZ to be honest this video is a tribute to Coronation Street which was a TV show back then and Great Britain. I'm American but I just know about the video in debth because I thought it was hilarious.
Ohhhhh the part of the video that doesn't make any sense to you is a scene from when Freddie Mercury performed with the Royal Ballet. Fred couldn't dance where do ballet so the ballet dancers would lift him and he would sing.😂😂😂 Even if this video good cost the band some fans in America in 1984, the summer of 1985 and Queen's performance at Live Aid made up for all of that. Queens Live Aid performance was everything everybody talked about and it's just really sad that queen turned their back on America and didn't or hear any more after the early 1980s because some stuffy nose prudes that we're probably 10% of the population. Americans are conservative but we are crazy and rebellious. Why do you think we told king George 3 to go to hell and we're not paying his taxes & caused the American Revolution? Had Queen even toured in New York City people would have driven from Florida and Georgia 24-hours up to New York City to see the band because Americans love road trips. Rebels!!
I believe this was written about the women’s liberation movement and contrary to the popular opinion at the time, it was not Freddie’s idea to dress in drag it was Roger’s, but the rest of the band all loved the idea. The music video is a lot of fun, and maybe because it did cause such a lot of controversy, you could watch it too. Rogerina is the prettiest girl you ever saw, Brian with his curly hair in curlers, and Deacy as the cranky old grandma. I love it
Great song, catchy tune.....they were just having fun with it!!
Awesome. My favorite song. That is Deaky on the couch. Brian in curlers. Roger well you can't miss that cute girl in the kitchen lol.
Phenomenal! Where Queen was concerned, there were no barriers, no limits! On your own time, I highly suggest you now check out the music video. As others have said, it was drummer Roger Taylor's (dressed as the religious schoolgirl) girlfriend's idea to dress in drag. You guessed right, John was the frumpy granny in the dark coat and hat and yep Brian May wears curlers, a pink satin and lace nighty and bunny slippers. The guys all had a blast, they thought it was hilarious. They were spoofing a popular soap opera called "Coronation Street". Infamously, the stuffed shirts at MTV didn't get the joke behind the video and banned it. I'm American and I think its hilarious and I respect dressing in drag as a staple in British comedy in general! The ballet section actually featured Freddie with members of the royal ballet, of which Freddie was a huge fan.
Another John Deacon masterpiece. Totally under rated and under exposed member of the band. But hey, he was that kind of man anyway and pretty much chose isolation after Freddie’s death. You should play the whole video though! It’s hilarious, especially Roger - and if the Americans can’t get over it by now then they can look away!
Oh, it was a hit. Still feels as fresh and is still my favourite song ever. It was massive in Australia and it SOOOO good playing VERY loud on a good sound system with that amazing bass!
Actually wise to hear first. No distractions from how cute Rogerina is. Yeah Deaky's bass!!!! And Deaky's song!
This is a great song love all the comments learn so much from your Subscribers
Great reaction! It seems like you really enjoyed this one! Yes, this video was banned, but it wasn't just this video, Queen's previous video Body Language was also banned, for being to sexually explicit. MTV was the main vehicle for selling music during this time, it is difficult to promote your music when two videos were banned. But it was not the only reason why they lost popularity in America, Paul Prenter was also very standoffish with the management of some radio stations. There were also issues with a payola investigation into radio, Queen was one of the bands that suffered through air play, with the loss of payola.
I think the loss of their popularity really bothered Brian the most, I think Roger, Freddie and John didn't really care if they were popular in America or not. I think Brian has been on a quest to recreate Queen's lost in popularity in America.
John Deacon wrote this, thus the great bass elements. IIUC it was about wanting to break free of the music business/ endless round of touring and record promotion etc, and spend more time at home with his beloved.
The video kind of shifted the original meaning - as so often with Queen, layer upon layer of collective creativity coming into play.
So the video became a thing in itself, a little drama about bored women, stuck at home, having these B-I-I-G-G secret sexual daydreams/fantasies. It was Roger's girlfriend's idea they should all dress up in drag like a scene from Coronation Street (long-running British soap opera of ordinary working class folk in a dreary northern city).
So, Freddie/Melina the Housewife leaves his vacuum cleaner and throws open the door to the cupboard under the stairs - and lo and behold - there's this sort of subterranean cave (all very Freudian..) where all these terribly sensual, weird and crazy things go on...
The figure playing the pipe is a Faun, and the character, costume and choreography are based on a ballet created around 1910 for the Ballet Russes, called L'Apres-Midi du Faun (The Afternoon of the Faun). It caused a minor sensation in those Edwardian times with its depiction of... not sure how to put this... the Faun 'making love' to a scarf left by a nymph he sees and fancies, but she gets away from him... he satisfies himself instead via her dropped garment... So you see, there's a link here between his sexual frustration and sensual fantasy, and the bored housewife's...
The sensuality of the ballet's scarf scene idea is amplified further in the IWTBF video using actual ballet dancers - lots of bodies getting up close and physical with Freddie in various ways. The original ballet's choreography was actually based on figures depicted in profile on ancient Greek vases, and in the video we see Freddie the Faun in profile playing an ancient musical instrument before diving head first into the pile of grapes - this is all nicked straight from the ballet - classical references to the music of ancient Greece and ideas of decadent self-indulgence in ancient Rome..
I'm pretty sure this whole fantasy section was Freddie's idea - he was a fan of Nijinski, who famously danced the role of the Faun. I suspect he may have come across him and the Ballets Russes while studying fashion design, since that company's exotic costumes were famous. If you look up the Ballet Russes costumes, you can see that many of Freddie's stage costumes during his onesie/leotard phase are based on those Nijinski wore in various roles - notably the Harlequin (diamonds) ones, as well as the Faun costume seen in this video..
I could go on, but this is probably way TMI already... sorry, I got a bit carried away...! I did a lot of research on certain aspects of Freddie's life for a thing I'm writing about him and came up with so much interesting stuff... :-)
The middle part is with the Royal Ballet. Freddie always wanted to dance with them problem is, Freddie can’t dance so this is their solution. Brian said they laughed all the way though this. Done after a famous sitcom coronation street. MTV refused to play it & they lost America. Fred said he wouldn’t tour America again until they had a no 1 hit. John wrote this, why it’s heavy with bass.🔥🔥🔥🔥
Many ensemble members of the Royal Ballet were his friends, since he performed with them for a charity event in 1979. There is footage of that performance of two Queen songs on youtube. They often went out for eating and night clubbing together. Yes, Freddie couldn't sort himself into a choreography, so they lifted him around, instead.
The middle section is based on the ballet L'apres Midi de la Faun, I believe. Freddie had been involved with the Royal Ballet and had made friends there and recruited them for this video. As far as the meaning of this part of the video, I would assume it's there because "Freddie wanted it". Roger said something to that effect in an interview. The band did not like to point out deep meanings in their videos..they were mostly for fun and commercial reasons. Freddie in particular never wanted to have to explain the meaning behind his songs, and as the prime mover behind most of the videos I would guess he felt the same about them.
I think what happened when MTV refused to play the video was that Queen were pretty upset & felt unwelcome & unappreciated in the US, resulting in their estrangement. Some of the weirder bits in the video are taken from Freddie's performance with the Royal Ballet. He accepted an invitation to dance with them. They no doubt knew that he loved ballet. But then they discovered that he could not be choreographed because he was too spontaneous to follow the steps in anything like a disciplined manner. So they just carried him around on the stage, and at one point they held him upside-down while he sang.
Your comment made me chuckle. He was too spontaneous. Haha. So awesome. You got to love it. 👑👍🏽
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Love love love this song, love your reaction as always. Much bless dear, Looking forward for more Queen 😉😅
Definitely watch the actual video for this song!
Yep that will get done! 🙂👑
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Reached #3 in Uk when released in 84 and was a hit worldwide.
Also been used in lots of adverts so very much a well known song
No symbolism, just Freddie having some fun with the boys and girls of the Royal Ballet.
🙂 that's awesome. Thank you.
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Christine Irving - actually, you could say he is literally ‘breaking free’. 😜
Haha, Wembley version is great too
I’m guessing it’s mentioned in the comments already that Freddie took ballet lessons at one point. I think he just has a wide dance knowledge base. Sometimes goofy moves are maybe thrown in on purpose...? It was probably like 3 executives in the USA who deprived us all of seeing Queen. But anyway great song. Great reaction also HAP!!!
Greedy fat cats! Freddie must have known what was going on. The music industry is a very vicious industry.
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I am falling in love with Queen more and more!! I listened to this song when i was in school sometime and loved it,but never known this song belongs to QUEEN !!! Love it love it so much!
Thank you for your reaction as always! Looking forward to your reaction to the video version too. 🙈
Thank you!! - very happy to read your comment. More shall come in due time, because I need to do other reactions to other music genres too. Growing the channel with music appreciation and with real music fans to make a good fam! AKA THE NINJA FAMILY! Take care.
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One of my top 10 queen favorites, in fact it's my ringtone on my phone. Lol
I was laughing when the ballet part started, I knew that would catch your attention.
The UK laughed because of the Coronation Street references, continental Europe just laughed without knowing the background, but the US tv stations were puritanical about the drag scenes.
Freddie wanted to return to the US for touring when they had another top hit in the US. But after this song failed to be a hit without enough airplay, the tv and radio stations kind of dropped Queen, so they "lost the US" because of this video, like Brian said it.
On the following tour in South America, Freddie came on stage with a huge fake bust and wig, but the South Americans didn't find it funny. For them, this song was kind of a freedom hymn, because they had dictatorships.
It is sung on the top end of where a male can belt notes, so it's in a high key and hard to sing for males. But Freddie made it sound to be easy. The live versions are not equally good, because of his voice problems in the higher register at that time (mid 80's), due to smoking and nodules.
Now I realized why this became my first favorite song of Queen since high school. It’s all about the bass. I love rock songs mainly because of bass and drums (drum beats comes first tho but usually I enjoy it more if it’s a mixture of both). Even in Bohemian Rhapsody ( the part after Freddie said “ooh yeah, ooh yeah” and then the bass goes down 😍) I always liked hearing Deaky’s bass guitar work. Great reaction as always Hap. 😊👍🏻
Cheers AyuMayu :) Its a great little number.
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It's a reference to a ballet by Nijinsky. Tbh, I think it's there just because Freddie loved ballet and John didn't mind him doing it for his song.
Oh thank you. I think probably won't be in the original video though. So glad I got to see it here. (Copyrighted HAP3SPEAKZ) ©️
HAP3SPEAKZ it’s in the original video. I’m not sure why they chose to do it for this video, I just assume that it was Freddie indulging in some artistic fantasy. He was very much into ballet and opera and this scene is recreating a Nijinsky ballet where Freddie is playing the faun .
Thanks Daedala. 👑
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He dances with the ballet
You're a GOOD man Hap. Thank you. BEST #queenreaction is HERE! Cool lyric video! MTV executives didn't want anything to do with them, so the people didn't hear/see their music anymore. And they refused to come to America if they didn't have a hit song. The 'body' part probably has more symbolism than I know, but it kindof refers to the crazy parties Freddie hosted - always costumes - and at least one had a
man under meat" who jiggled every time someone took some, lol... (bunny... sweet)
Thanks Deborah! I know you had been keeping count 😉 though I have recorded LIVE AID a couple of days ago.
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It was a biiiig Hit! Listened it to the bones 🦴 back in the days! Awesome 👏 Thanks Sumer, thanks Hap!
You're welcome Adina. 🙂👑
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I’m not sure who said (Brian I think) something like “Americans are prudes in public and perverts in private”.😊 They were pretty mad at the time I think. Always amazes me that John Deacon wrote this as it’s not quite as light hearted as the ones he usually wrote. The idea for the video came from Roger. Freddie was always interested in ballet and I’m not sure it had a whole lot of meaning other than filler. Anyways, your reaction was great. Thanks!
It was Brian who said it, but that was from the movie and the line was "It's America: They're puritans in public, perverts in private."
Americans in the 70s/80s were just getting woke. It was well liked on radio. At that time we had a censor board n unfortunately they were a bunch of tools. But we all recorded video b4 it was pulled n mostly it was loved r ignored. 1 of the most creative videos ever made. Tu, ur reactions r so much fun. "Show Must Go On". Brian May wrote it for Freddie as his farewell to his fans. Beautiful song. Watch video version. Enjoy. Stay safe.
This song was written by John Deacon, hence the heavy bass!
Whoa that makes sense then. 👑
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@@HAP3SPEAKZ The most heavy bass songs are noticeable written by Deaky, as Freddie said, he writes from the bass 👍
Loving you and your channel now!! It’s been a pleasure to watch you become a true Queen fan. Please if you want to see how amazing and diverse Freddie really was can you please please react to these - the live videos - by Freddie and Montserrat Caballe:- ....Barcelona, The Golden Boy, How Can I Go On. Any order and not all at once!! Unless you want to of course:) Prepare to be amazed!
We had a group of old stuffed shirts running MTV during that particular time. They blocked a lot of videos especially when getting complaints from very straight laced individuals ( nicest way to put it), who were up in arms joining Tipper Gore wanting to block music, games and movies that weren’t completely “G” rated. The stuffed shirts didn’t understand that Queen was doing a take on a soap opera show over in London. It was very funny, but here they were appalled that men would dress up like women. The told Queen to do a different video for USA. Well, you can guess Queens response.
Brian said in a documentary that they lost the USA after that. They really didn’t, their fans here still loved them and we were very sad they didn’t tour here after that. We kept getting their albums!!
And maybe the use of all of those bodies is symbolic of the lyrics that he can’t get used to living alone.
Deaky
The video was banned by MTV and Queen lost fans in the US. It was not Freddie’s idea, it was Roger’s girlfriend. Freddie was quoted as saying, “I’ll probably have to die before we tour America again.
Thanks for sharing that. I wonder why she would suggest such an idea.
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Guys in drag just wasnt popular much at the time. MTV blocked it. Imagine that with what is on tv now days. Freddy was a big fan of the ballet....
@@lowrider4266 Guys in drag were a popular form of comedy in the UK, Australia, South Africa.
@@HAP3SPEAKZ Drag, or men dressing as women is a long tradition in English theatre, from Shakespeare to modern pantomime; enjoyed but not taken seriously at all, mostly (though not always) played for laughs.
If you read my long comment above - I know, probably too long to read - you'll see the dressing up in drag and playing the women from Coronation Street bit was Roger's girlfriend's idea - not the whole thing - the central fantasy/ballet sequence was almost certainly all Freddie's.
Loved it! ... your reaction..Priceless!
No doubt Sumer. After reading some of these comments. Looking excited to check the video out now.
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The choregraphy's part of the clip was the occasion for Freddie to do something he also wanted other than singing opera : dancing.
The video clip was forbidden in the USA which explained the decrease in the sell of the Queen's album and the popularité of the group didn't find his level unti Freddie passed away.
At Rio of Janeiro, Freddie Mercury appeared disguised for this song. The spectators became upset and began to launch objects. Freddie chose to divest himself of them. It's only later that they knew that this song was the symbol of liberty and resistance.
Oh wow that's nice of you to explain that it was a symbol of liberty and resistance. Thank you.
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I really love this song ❤️
HAP3 loved your reaction what a great song.😃👍🌼✌️
I love this video. All of them got alter egos nick names. Freddie was Melina and Roger, Rogerina. I don't remember Brian and John's names! The video was idea of Roger's girlfriend at that time, but most people thought it was Freddie's idea. And it's a parody of a British soup opera "coronation street". And yes, it was banned in MTV in the US, because of that Freddie said he was not going back to tour in the EEUU, and they never did. But it was a hit in England. I like the idea of first reacting to the lyrics, most people get distracted by de visual. Hahah. Thanks!
Brian was Maggie (Maggie May) and John was Belisha (Belisha beacon...Deacon)
@@markpalmer7215 thanks! I won't forget now🙂
The nick names have nothing to do with the video at all. It was part of the gay culture that he gave people drag names, he adopted it from Elton John who was Sharon. Roger's name was actually Liz after Elisabeth Taylor. Rogerina was the nick name the fans gave him. Like it was mentioned, Brian was Maggie and John Belisha. Rod Stewart was Phyllis, Peter Freestone Freddie's PA was Phoebe etc. As soon as Freddie met someone and really liked him he got a drag name. It was nice and funny and people loved it because it also showed that Freddie cared about them.
John was on the couch, Brian was the one in the curlers and Roger was the naughty school girl. This video is hilarious. You really need to watch this whole video. It is based on Coronation Street, a popular British soap opera. MTV banned it in america because of them dressing as women, i guess. It made Freddie mad that they could ban him and he sort of got a bad taste for America for a while. Brian said something about Americans being prudish or something in the day and perverts at night .LOL. It is base heavy because John Wrote it and Roger and his girlfriend at the time came up with the idea of dressing as these characters. so Freddie didn't even have anything to do with it's conception but he got blamed for it of course. People were saying things like, That crazy cross dressing Freddie. So Freddie was a bit annoyed and for good reason. The part where Freddie is dressed in the leotard, is that he danced with The Royal Ballet on stage for one of their shows and he asked them to be in this video. So they thought Freddie could really dance when they first asked him to be in their show but soon realized Freddie couldn't really dance so they just sort of carried him around on stage and lifted him. He sang Bohemian Rhapsody live while the Royal Ballet just carried him around and held him upside down while he sang. You should look up Freddie Mercury dancing with the Royal Ballet singing Bohemian Rhapsody, It is quite funny but really good. It was a big hit just not in America. Please react to Mr. Bad Guy from Freddie"s solo album. Just make sure you pick the original 1985 version. there isn't a video for it. i think just the lyric video maybe but it is a great song.
Lmao!! I saw this video when I was 16 years old and laugh my ass off😂😂😂 I don't know why the band or British people thought that this video was banned from MTV in the USA because it wasn't. this was the funniest thing ever and even my parents thought it was funny and they were born in the 40s. I thought the body language video was a little raunchy but we Americans are a little conservative.. I don't know about the people in LA and New York but I do know that the majority of people outside of big cities are more conservative, but this song and video is great and just for guys who work hard having a good time and a good laugh.
Roger is hot! This is going to be a heavy basa song because it's a John Deacon song and he wrote it.
MTV refused to air it until 1991 after it was on a VH-1 special about Queen.
A lot of the comments have said different. Also about certain music executives ensuring Queen never got played again either. Well, Freddie would not go back either! I understand his position. They made great music, and videos. They make one like this, and then they are judged for it. Ridiculous. I understand his position as I would have done the same. (Copyrighted HAP3SPEAKZ) ©️
I remember seeing it maybe VH1 another music video channel but it was played (middle American)
If you havent heard it TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN from 1976 , Queen at their heaviest maybe
This was a John Deacon song. The idea to dress up in drag was Roger’s, not Freddie’s as some believed and automatically assumed. It was done as a parody to the British soap opera Coronation Street. Unfortunately, MTV banned it in the States and most of America didn’t take kindly to 4 men dressing up in drag. As Brian said in the movie, Americans are puritans in public, perverts in private. Lol! What America sadly didn’t get was that was British humor and was all done in fun. It’s really sad when you see what MTV really turned into which was all drugs, sex and violence, yet 4 British men from a Rock Band called Queen got banned. Ridiculous! I’m impressed that you picked up the person on the sofa was John and Freddie was the brunette with the vacuum cleaner. What you really missed because it wasn’t the original video is Roger. You only got to see him from the back for a second. He was dressed as a hot schoolgirl and was pretty damn cute and Brian was dressed in a robe, bunny slippers and curlers in his hair. I’ve seen other reactors watch the video, but only recognized Freddie, but YOU caught John in that quick shot! Bravo! It really is a great song if you take the video the way it was intended...all in fun. As for the ballet part, I’m not sure what the meaning was behind it and it is kind of weird. I do know that Freddie loved the ballet and actually performed with the Royal Ballet. I think they were the ones in the video with Freddie here. You definitely need to watch the official video for a good laugh. Wait until you see Roger and Brian and my favorite part is when Freddie does a double step from one room to the other. Damn Freddie and Roger had a set of legs on them! The song was written by John and was about breaking free from the things that hold you back or keep you down in life. Of course some people took it out of context and assumed it was about cross dressing or being gay which is not what it was about. Enjoyed your reaction as always.Looking forward to more Queen reactions as well. Thanks friend♥️♥️♥️
Looking forward to getting to it. Surprised Freddie took the "blame" for it? when it was all Roger`s GF idea. Thanks for the praise. I mean you made a comparisons to other reactors, but I am just having fun and enjoying it. I do not usually do where is waldo, kind of thing! But this one, or when I do the video version... Can`t help it! LOL...
Yes that weird part is quite sexual lets be honest ! thanks for your comment.
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A big enough hit here in Australia that even I noticed at the time. All the info is in the comments
America didn’t know about Coronation Street and middle America didn’t get the joke
Well maybe there was more emphasis placed on the video than the music. Maybe Queen that time didn't expect that sort of reaction. 👑
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I'm American and I was 16 years old when this video came out and I laughed my butt off because I knew it was a tribute to Coronation Street even though I'm not British or English at all. I was in musical theater and a vocalist actress and even as a teenager I was familiar with Coronation Street. I laughed at the video because originally I thought it was just the four guys having a good time. I don't remember the video being banned from MTV because I saw it several times but it may have been after it was out a while.
The fans in America always loved queen and I think it was sad that Freddie Mercury didn't want to tour the states just because a few things that some stuffy nose people said when 90% of Americans loved the band and bought their albums.. sad! Americans felt short-changed when Queen no longer toward in 1984 and 1986 because Queen has a lot of fans in America and they just don't know. Sad story really because Queen was always my favorite British band.
The old guys that ran mtv, etc. refused to play it so it didn't get the exposure it should have. Plus the uptight vocal group of complainers got their way, censoring music movies and books during this period. Freddie proclaimed that he would never tour in the US again and kept his word. Without touring, their music didn't get the promotion it needed here either.
Freddie was invited to perform with the London Royal Ballet and to sing two songs while performing with them. In a way, that was him breaking free from the "rock star" box that music journalists kept trying to type cast the band and Freddie. This middle part is an homage to the Royal Ballet. He also broke free later with Montserrat and Opera.
This was written by John, but Freddie is the one who took all the flack for it, and it was Roger and his girlfriend who thought it would be great fun to dress in drag and honor Coronation Street which was covering women's liberation movement at the time. The rest of world loved the humor and it was a big hit in several countries while the US music moguls clutched their pearls and feigned shock.
It's not as though Milton Berle, Red Skelton and many others didn't dress in drag on tv all the time. Perhaps they were just jealous that Freddie and Roger looked so cute and did it so well.
@@montrelouisebohon-harris7023 I'm American and just a little bit older than you. I heard their music all the time growing up also. Their hits were constantly played on the radio. I don't think I saw this video though until many years later. The fact that Freddie kept his mustache is just awesome. It's perfect. Didn't know what Coronation Street was at the time, it just seemed like a fun video to a fantastic song. Just watched the official video with commentary by Brian and Roger a few days ago - Roger said the middle section was "indulging Freddie. Arts with a capital 'F.'" Cracked me up and amazed me at the same time. They knew Freddie had all this artistic expression inside him and they didn't hold him back.
Yup they all dress up as woman in the video watch it
Freddie- leather skirt pink jumper
John- grumpy granny
Brian- pink dress and rollers
Roger- naughty school girl
As far as I know, they based it on Coronation Street.
Thanks for pointing that out Chris. 🙂 Do you have some music background ?
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@@chrisy8989 yeah they based it off of cornation street
@@HAP3SPEAKZ No, I don't. I'm just old enough to have been around when it first came out!
I think I use to know a gentleman with similar name to you. Had great music background. 🙂Thought it was him leaving the comment.
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Roger makes a beautiful woman
Hehe I'll look forward to seeing that when I see actual video. (Copyrighted HAP3SPEAKZ) ©️
Hey Jeannine!!! That’s hilarious and so true!!! Hahaha
It was a hit every but the conservative middle America
The best lyric video!
Yep, they banned the video on MTV in America. Freddie didn't want to play in America ever again after that and they didn't. At least not with Freddie, they have been wirh Adam Lambert.
How sad, but a sign of the times.
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@@HAP3SPEAKZ Yeah, and they obviously blamed Freddie for it🙄, even though the video wasn't his idea(it was Roger's girlfriend at the time) Small minded people. I'd love it if you reacted to the whole video too, it's a fun one haha.
Early in Queens career, Freddie did an interview with the NNE and told them “he wanted to bring Ballet to the masses” and got shit for it.
Especially from Sid Vicious! Or should I say Simon Ferocious? ;-)
PaperCup and very cool how after Freddie called Sid Simon Furious; Freddie grabbed him by his lapels and threw him out of the door
He spoke his mind as an artist 🎨 and I guess at the time it wasn't cool.
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It was indeed a hit, reaching No3 in the UK in 1984 :D
He did a bit with the a Royal Ballet
That is another awesome thing Freddie did. Never knew that.
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Freddie wanted to Ballet to the masses , he did a performance with the spandow ballet in that period
Deaky wrote it
That explains the heavy bass on it perhaps. (Copyrighted HAP3SPEAKZ)©️
It was originally intended to be a male perspective of the women’s liberation movement.
Oh wow that's interesting. Somebody also said it was Roger's girlfriend at the time that suggested the idea.
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It's actually a tribute to Coronation Street that was a television show in Great Britain back then.
@@HAP3SPEAKZ to be honest this video is a tribute to Coronation Street which was a TV show back then and Great Britain. I'm American but I just know about the video in debth because I thought it was hilarious.
It was a tribute to Coronation Street
Montre' Louise Bohon-Harris It really is hilarious!!
Porque no se dejan ver partes del video?🤔
Ohhhhh the part of the video that doesn't make any sense to you is a scene from when Freddie Mercury performed with the Royal Ballet. Fred couldn't dance where do ballet so the ballet dancers would lift him and he would sing.😂😂😂
Even if this video good cost the band some fans in America in 1984, the summer of 1985 and Queen's performance at Live Aid made up for all of that. Queens Live Aid performance was everything everybody talked about and it's just really sad that queen turned their back on America and didn't or hear any more after the early 1980s because some stuffy nose prudes that we're probably 10% of the population.
Americans are conservative but we are crazy and rebellious. Why do you think we told king George 3 to go to hell and we're not paying his taxes & caused the American Revolution? Had Queen even toured in New York City people would have driven from Florida and Georgia 24-hours up to New York City to see the band because Americans love road trips. Rebels!!