Freddie Mercury slams punks in unearthed clip – ‘I don’t care, load of rubbish’ | Music | Entertainment

In a recent episode of Queen the Greatest live, Freddie Mercury reflects on his performance as a frontman and how seriously he took his entertaining.

The late singer said: “I have to win them over or it’s not a successful gig. 

“It’s my job to make sure I win them over and make them feel they’ve had a good time. That’s part of my role, part of the duty that I have to do.

“This cliché of saying, ‘Oh, you have them eating from the palm of your hand’ – I just feel that the quicker I do that, the better, because then I feel I can manipulate them or whatever. 

“But it’s all to do with me feeling in control as so that I know that it’s all going well.”

As Queen ascended to the stadium league, Freddie naturally upped the ante. 

He continued: “I’m very frivolous, and I like to enjoy myself. And what better way than on stage in front of 300,000 people? I don’t like to go on stage sitting on a stool. I’m very volatile and I like to actually put a song across. It’s all part of showbiz and theatre, and that’s another side of me.”

The huge venues and crowds were overwhelming for some bands but Queen saw the opportunity as being what they were all about. On the flip side, Freddie couldn’t make sense of the 1976 British punk scene’s attempt to thrive with tiny audiences.

Freddie said: “I think everybody wants to be successful. I don’t care what they say. I know there was a fashion with the punk movement or whatever. They said, ‘Oh, we want to play to the small audiences because we’re being intimate’ and all that. Load of rubbish!

“Everybody wants to play to the biggest audiences. I want to play to as many people as I can and the more the merrier. My music is not channelled into any category. I want everybody to listen to it. Music is for everybody, it’s an international language. Music is limitless, you know.

“And that’s the way it is. So as far as I’m concerned, I like the whole world to listen to my music. And I want anybody and everybody to come and listen to me and look at me when I’m playing.”