Hi folks. So, how was New Year’s? Are we all ready for a new year of Queen? Are we all healthy? Unfortunately, I have a cold and on the upside, I’m over the worst of it now.
To start 2024 off I have something to talk about, which had been on my mind for a while. I believe I may have been thinking about it as far back as the summer of 2023 so, here goes.
You know that I believe that queen are a hard rock band at the core, much like Eddie Trunk does. I also follow Loudwire on Facebook and I subscribe to the magazine on YouTube. Loudwire focuses mainly on hard rock and heavy metal and Queen certainly have both sub genres as a part of the ingredients which make up what they do. Sure, we have the ballads and lush vocal harmony and guitar harmonies, but Queen have as much crunch and sludge as Black Sabbath and any other hard rock and heavy metal band you care to name.
Anyway, ever since I had been using the Youtube app, I had subscribed to not just this music magazine, but bands and other individual channels. Obviously, Queen is also one of them too, but that’s not the point of the post. I’ve been thinking about a web series on Loudwire’s YouTube channel called Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction? I wonder why Brian or Roger haven’t been asked to play that game, on behalf of Queen or themselves. The interview videos are done mainly by Loudwire writer Graham Hartmann and both him and Brian have vegetarianism in common and Graham is also a cancer surviver. I had found that out when he had interviewed fellow Queen head Rob Halford for his 2022 book Biblical and just before Judas Priest were about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I find these videos entertaining, but we also get great stories from the artists involved, when clearing up fact, or fiction as it is on Wikipedia. What happens is, Graham looks at the artist’s Wikipedia page, aband member’s individual page and if there are contradictions, they are addressed in the videos. One thing that usually starts off the videos is the person’s full name, where they were born and sometimes, the subject’s date of birth. Sometimes the full name is correct, but the spelling may be wrong. One example is Devin Townsend, born Devin Garrett Townsend had a mistake in the spelling of his middle name, with 1 T at the end before the video clearing up his fact or fiction came along. There is at least one subject where they got everything right and there was no fiction to debunk.
Queen are what is known in the music industry as a Heritage artist, because of their status as a veteran act. Sure, they have been inactive for a number of years, but as far as I am concerned, Queen are a going concern even with Adam Lambert these days. Loudwire has done similar artists such as: Rob Halford, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Paul Cook of Sex Pistols and even bands who are not metal like Nickelback, Creed or Theory Of A Deadman, so why not a venerable band like Queen? It doesn’t matter whether they are metal or not and we have gone over that with the bands I’ve just mentioned so, let’s get Brian or Roger to do a video. After all, Queen have influenced many hard rock and metal bands and there has been the occasional article on Queen on the website so, why are we as Queen fans not yelling and screaming for a Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction? video? I would love it if at some point either Roger, or Brian did the honors, in clearing up any contradictions in Wikipedia. For anybody who reads Loudwire in the Facebook group and who subscribes to this blog and reads these posts, what say you?
As far as I know, the only way to convince Loudwire to do this for us is for us all, to possibly comment on a video of one of the subjects of this web series and maybe, Graham and those who are above him may consider reaching out to Jim Beach and asking Brian or Roger to participate in something which is fun and entertaining. Graham will not do a hatchet job on them and his job is only to debunk fiction, when found. So, we can’t ask Brian or Roger directly and it’s up to us, to get Loudwire to do it as this is their web series. If Queen says yes, all systems go and if Queen says no, that is their decision, but I can’t see Brian saying no to this at all. After all, both him and Roger are certainly aware of the influence they have on many bands and many genres, especially hard rock and heavy metal.
I hope that we will eventually get a video with either Brian, Roger, or maybe even Jim Beach if he is up to it. Besides, we are bound to hear many great stories regardless of whether they are clearing up fact or fiction, or if everything is correct. Here is an example of a Queen contemporary playing the game and Alice Cooper handled himself well. If you want to get Queen to play the game, leave a comment in the link to the Youtube video and hopefully, if enough of us respond we may find Brian or Roger as a part o the web series. I certainly have responded and I hope that anybody else reading this does too. https://youtu.be/4PebLq32PvQ?si=uemxizwhVTlw1gAl
All Gord's People 