“When I look back and remember all that black polish on my nails and everythingI think ‘God, what have I done? I felt the need for all of this when I went on stage. It gave me more confidence.” Although Freddie Mercury has given up over time his extravagant and ostentatious outfits or the black color of his nails, the truth that they were elements that defined Queen’s iconic image. 1974 is a key year for the English group. a lot has happened for the first time and they stayed forever.
about to take off
Queen kicked off 1974 by playing Australia at the Sunbury Music Festival. They were relatively unknown there and were not very well received by the public, who even booed them. Before leaving the stage, Mercury said: “When we go back to Australia, Queen will be the best band in the world!” Back in London, the English quartet was received at the airport by a dozen photographers who he quickly left, when he realized that it was not the ‘Queen’ who had arrived. Obviously, the group then was not the one that Freddie had announced. I was about to take off and its impact would be infinitely greater than expected.
1974 is the year of Queen II, their second album and that of the iconic cover inspired by the image of Marlene Dietrich in ‘Shanghai Express’ (which they would later also use for the Bohemian Rhapsody music video). It was released on March 8 and became the group’s first to enter the UK charts. His position coincided with the first headlining tour undertaken by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. In 1974, the foundations of the future queen were laid.
Bet big on the image
The first concert of the tour which had Queen as the main protagonist, took place on March 1, 1974 in a small venue in Blackpool, a town on the northwest coast of England. Entry of one pound. As fate would have it, the concert was about to not take place when the van with the lighting broke down several miles from the venue. Fortunately, the show continued. From that first night, four dozen more arrived split between the UK and US (the last was May 11 in New York). The American part was supposed to be longer, but Brian contracted hepatitis and about 20 shows were canceled.
Queen’s Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and Brian May performing during their ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ tour at the Rainbow Theater in London in November 1974. / Ian Dickson/Redferns
During these shows, Queen has already bet a lot on her image on stage. They had realized that people were attracted, in addition to their music, by the visual aspect of the shows. To go according to the cover of the LP they presented, the group, especially Freddie and Brianthey started to wearing elaborate black and white outfits created by designer Zandra Rhodes.
“Freddie was a free spirit”
In a 2019 interview, the popular English designer said: “They came to my studio in London around 6pm. Freddie was a free spiritso he, that I was a person who usually designed women’s clothes, didn’t care at all. I don’t think he thought about an androgynous wardrobe – he was just a free spirit who wanted to look gorgeous.”.
Queen and Zandra immediately hit it off and the extravagant and ostentatious clothes they discovered among their creations would define the iconic image of the group. “I told Freddie, ‘Go to the clothes rail and choose what you like the most,'” Rhodes recalled in an interview published on brianmay.com. However, when Roger Taylor was asked about these ‘outfits’ in 2013 in Record Collector, replied: “Zandra Rhodes has done a lot of things to us that I only stood once in Aylesbury (at the second concert of the tour on March 2), but I sweated so much that I never put it back on”.
Freddie Mercury, during a show in 74. / Michael Putland/Getty Images
freddy He showcased his image to the fullest and put on extraordinary performances, pompously strutting from side to side of the stage.. He was the personification of excess and used to paint the fingernails of his left hand black.. Some time later, he would confess: “When I look back and remember all that black polish on my nails and everythingI think ‘God. What did I do?. I felt the need for all of this when I went on stage. It gave me more confidence.”
The first time…
-The new songs White queen and Seven seas of rhye that Queen played on this tour, brand the first time Freddie was seen on stage playing the piano. Something that would happen nightly in the band’s remaining gigs.
-At the show from March 3 toPlymouth, the public began to sing “God save the Queen” while waiting for the band to get back on stage for the encores. It was the start of an element that would become a regular at Queen concerts. and inspired the band to record their own version of the British national anthem. They recorded it at Trident Studios in October 1974 and it was released on the album A Night at the Opera (1975).
-For the first time The Queen faced mass hysteria. On March 16, at the University of Stirling, the Scottish crowd refused to leave after the group made three encores. Serious riots broke out: Two people were stabbed and two members of the tour crew had to be taken to hospital. The following concert in Birmingham had to be postponed.
–In September 1974, ‘Queen II’ had reached 75,000 copies and yet, his first silver record. It was given to her by Jeanette Charles, the “double” of Queen Elizabeth II. The group then said they tried to rent Buckingham Palace for the occasion, but were politely told no.
-And the press he started noticing these four guys who came out on stage with an androgynous “look”, lots of makeup and black painted fingernails. A lot of people couldn’t stand it. The usual rock look was more appropriate with ragged jeans and long hair. And there was Queen, wrapped in satin threads by Zandra Rhodes. It was unheard of. Many acerbic journalists poured out their criticisms with comments such as: “Queen’s stage presence is a strange mish-mash of other successful bands the kind that borders on the ridiculous. Or: “They don’t do anything special.” There are times when their sound is influenced by The Who, and times when they get closer to Led Zeppelin.” And also: “They are limited and unoriginal“.
Queen, posing with actress Jeannette Charles, portrayed as Queen Elizabeth II. / Michael Putland/Getty Images
In fact, when Queen returned to Australia in 1975, they were already one of the best bands in the world.