Thoughts on Mr. Bad Guy

Freddie’s 1984 solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, seemed doomed from the start. First, karma: no one else from Queen played on it. All the other solo work up to this point featured at last one song with another member playing or offering back-up vocals.

Second, the cover: It had a Freddie face as a sort of Chelsea clone boy, with mirrored aviator shades and a white wifebeater T-shirt. Safe to say the label wasn't working that market. Third: It was practically all synth-pop. Thanks to Mr. Mercury’s ego, he played most of the instruments, drums machines and all. Looking back, it sounds sort of like the English falsetto gay pop bands like Erasure.

Oh, and more karma. On some songs, he hired this Brian May soundalike to play the guitar bits, Jason Falloon. There’s this priceless picture of Brian May at a listening party, presumably in Munich, where they had their studios. Brian is sitting in front of the mixing board console, covering his mouth. You get the impression that, if the camera wasn’t there, he might have pinned Freddie against the wall.

Two non-musical things made Mr. Bad Guy worth purchasing, and are worth mentioning here. First, Freddie's dedication: “To all cat lovers everywhere – screw everyone else.” And second, the fact that it was on CBS Records gave me the opportunity to see what the words “Freddie Mercury Mr. Bad Guy” would look like in the trademark Columbia red block font, like all of my Bruce Springsteen albums.