Freddie Mercury Google Doodle

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Today’s Freddie Mercury Google Doodle, celebrating what would have been his 65th birthday, really pulls out all the stops — like Freddie himself, I suppose:

Posted in Media | 6 Comments »

Comments

Bruce Charlton says:

September 7, 2011 at 6:11 am

Queen was a fairly mainstream, non-outstanding seventies Glam Rock band which (like Elton John) became ‘classic’ only through longevity.

The extravagant celebration of FM is, well, a sign of the times…
Isegoria says:

September 7, 2011 at 11:05 am

While there are plenty of reasons for an arch-conservative to dislike Queen and Elton John — and especially their lionization by the media — I wouldn’t put musical mediocrity on that list.
Bruce Charlton says:

September 7, 2011 at 5:27 pm

Well, I was speaking as a 1970s English teenager. These performers just didn’t stand out at the time, at least not musically.

They are primarily cultural phenomena, not musical phenomena. Another example is George Michael, and I would add Stevie Wonder, U2…

High productivity over a long period, good and solid quality but not great — plus some culturally symbolic factor which the media could approve and push.
Kent says:

September 7, 2011 at 7:26 pm

As a 1970s American teenager, I definitely remember the first time I heard Bohemian Rhapsody. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before. Perhaps we in the States were not aware of the British bands that influenced Queen.

With respect to George Michael and U2, I totally agree with Bruce; nothing special musically.
Bruce Charlton says:

September 12, 2011 at 5:54 am

Kent is right — Queen were different.

My comment was careless. It would be more accurate to say that I regarded Queen as a novelty band, gimmicky rather than proper musicians playing proper music.

I remember being surprised to find that some people (especially in the USA) apparently regarded them as a real rock band.

My idea of a real rock band, at that time, was Led Zeppelin or Jethro Tull — and I bracketed Queen with T. Rex, Alice Cooper, the Sweet, Mud, Slade, etc. as merely clever, catchy, ersatz, commercialized pap.
Doctor Pat says:

September 12, 2011 at 7:41 pm

I see your problem, Bruce. You think a “real rock band” has to be talented at playing music.

That’s not what rock and roll is about.

Look at the charts and tell me I’m wrong.

Lu An Li: For McChuck and thank you. Makes sense. Unity of command.
McChuck: Just as there can only be one king, and army may only have a single commander. Command, by its very nature, rests upon a single head. Two commanders will constantly butt heads, confusing the troops and adding to the natural chaos of war. They often end up fighting each other more than the enemy. Even if they have the best of intentions, two commanders will inadvertently misdirect each others’ troops and interfere with each others’ plans.
Lucklucky: Maybe bad translation. But i think it means it is better to have 1 good and 1 bad than 2 good to be able to choose.
Lu An Li: “I believe it would be better to have one bad general than to have two good ones.” Someone explain this to me.
Gaikokumaniakku: After the lemur bites the millipede, it sprays its toxic secretion, which the lemur then rubs all over its fur. Research suggests that there is a practical purpose to this: the benzoquinone secretion functions as a natural pesticide and wards off malaria-carrying mosquitos. The secretion also acts as a narcotic, which causes the lemur to salivate profusely and enter a state of intoxication.
Freddo: If you want to reach the mass market you need an equally sized megaphone (or a lot of luck). A push by Oprah will do it, Joe Rogan probably to a lesser extend. Amazons algorithm and star rating have been wokified to the point of uselessness; goodreads fast approaching the same point. Aspiring writers get the advice to build their own internet presence, but that of course is a lot of work by itself. I like the concept of a book bomb where a group of like-minded authors do a push of a new novel.
Felix: And, no mention of romance novels. Aren’t they supposed to be 50% or better of books sold? Sure, there are big name romance writers. A lot of them, if the grocery store is indicative. But. No mention?
Felix: Jim, what are the important, unread books you have in mind?
Albion: As someone who has published a couple of books (independently) on-line I can testify no one reads them much. In a way not a problem as it was more of a hobby, and there is a certain pleasure in getting words down in roughly the right order. But in terms of return for effort, it is barely a penny an hour in all likelihood. As they say, don’t give up the day job. Equally I can go to a library or bookshop, and while there tens of thousands of books available, I know I don’t want to read...
Phileas_Frogg: Jim, Your comment is obviously true, and yet the religion of those Ellis Islanders has managed to intellectually persevere, and indeed dominate, in intellectually rigorous fields, and in particular at the most intellectually rarified branch of the government (SCOTUS is 6 Catholics, 2 Protestants, 1 Jew). It is an odd paradox. I suspect we’re seeing a selection process take place where the less intelligent, curious, and literate Catholics are ending up non-Catholic, while the more...
Jim: Pre-World Wars America was so much more literate than now that it may as well have been another planet. Nor has the displacement of Americans by the descendants of Ellis Islanders helped much.
Jim: No one buys books because no one reads books. There are books of great importance that practically no one has had access to for dozens or hundreds of years now available for free on the Internet Archive, and they have been “viewed” only a handful of times, let alone read. It would be comical were it not so tragic.
David Foster: Does this include books sold for Kindle and other e-readers? Sounds like it doesn’t. Also, I wonder how much more effectively books could be marketed by people outside the publishing establishment.
Phileas Frogg: And yet they continue to furiously, and quietly, ban or hide titles that they consider dangerous as rapidly as ever. Just ask Aleksandr Dugin, Harold Saltzman, or Jean Raspail. Odd.
Bob Sykes: One has to wonder what the aerodynamics of the huge WW II bomber formations were. Often hundreds of large aircraft flew in tight formations. PS. “Twelve O’Clock High” is still one of the best war films ever made.
Bruce: Begun, the drone wars have. Small drones are cheap and effective. Big drones, airplanes, and any static target you can Google is vulnerable. In ‘General Kenney Reports’, Kenney’s memoir of the Pacific War, he mentions Lindberg showing up quasi-illegally. Kenney put the man who babied a single-engine plane across the Atlantic in charge of training P-38 pilots to baby their fuel use, and P-38 ranges doubled.
Bob Sykes: Which is why Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have hypersonic missiles, and we don’t. Not even one successful test. Kunstler is pessimistic: https://kunstler.com/clu sterfuck-nation/pep-talk -on-a-dark-day/#more-216 11′
Gaikokumaniakku: “It’s unusual.” One might say it’s “unwonted.”
Dan Kurt: Re: “Selcouth” is not a word you see every day. It’s unusual. Ok. Strike selcouth and substitute eldritch.
Isegoria: “Selcouth” is not a word you see every day. It’s unusual.

Isegoria

Freddie Mercury Google Doodle

Comments

Leave a Reply

Search

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives