Top 20 Greatest Freddie Mercury Moments Ever

fred how do you feel uh playing and singing before 200 000 people i've done it yet welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 freddie mercury moments oh boys and girls it's very nice to be in japan i called sid vicious and i called him simon ferocious or something and he didn't like it at all i said what are you going to do about it fred went up and took him by the lapels and pushed him out the door for this list we'll be looking at the legendary stories that ensured a man named farooq bolsara will always be remembered as the iconic freddie mercury do you have a favorite queen song or freddy story while you're here share it in the comments below number 20 2012 summer olympics closing ceremony it had been over two decades since freddie mercury had left the stage we mortals call life but his ability to work a crowd hadn't diminished in the least the rumor mill prior to the 2012 london games closing ceremony had it that the legend would return to the stage as a tupakian hologram but viewers were instead given something that looked more akin to a calm link from the great beyond donning his once trademark mustache and wembley era yellow jacket virtual freddy worked the crowd into the same state of frenzy as he did back in 86. it was a hard act for anyone to follow but especially for jessie j who donning a snappy yellow jacket of her own joined queens brian may and roger taylor to fill in for mercury on we will rock you number 19 adding random words to one vision sing along if you know the words to outsiders queen doesn't always seem like the most fun bunch of guys it was the second time you hear the riff after the first avex do you ever hear it or something i can't remember what between their phd carrying guitarist and well has john deacon ever smiled but we digress while we all know and love one vision today the go-to live show opener wasn't ready to go right away drummer roger taylor originally presented the song to the band as an ode to martin luther king jr trouble was fred and the gang had trouble finding the right words to make the song work this led mercury throwing an oddball assembly of words and constructs that were added into the now famous one vision number 18 getting gary newman fast food via limo in 2020 we learned two things about gary newman [Music] he might be a picky eater and he's a massive queen fan oh boys and girls it's very nice to be in japan thank you very much for um the reception and amazing welcome while on tour in japan back in the day newman decided to go to a queen concert on his day off but since he didn't know just how famous he was in the country he soon found himself surrounded by a huge crowd of fans while in the audience fortunately queen's security detail pulled him to safety backstage the band even invited newman along for a post-gig sushi dinner unfortunately he didn't actually like sushi when mercury noticed he wasn't eating newman shyly said he'd grab some mcdonald's later luckily later only meant 15 minutes because mercury had fast food delivered to the restaurant by limo number 17 leaving almost everything to former girlfriend mary austin my name is mary austin i'm a long-term friend of freddy's the coupling of mary austin and freddie mercury may have only lasted a handful of years but their friendship remained intact until his passing although mercury had proposed to austin the relationship came to an end as the singer came to terms with his sexuality it was a relief really to to actually hear it from him to have surmised that that was the problem probably for the last two years of the six years that we were together when they split freddy bought mary a lavish apartment near his home and later became godfather to her first son ten years after the split they remained close with mercury claiming she was not only irreplaceable but that she was his only friend as the end neared freddy told mary he'd plan to leave her his georgian mansion royalties as well as the bulk of his 9 million pound fortune austin would have preferred the 20 million pound home be donated to a trust but mercury insisted that if life had turned out differently they would have married and it would have been hers regardless there's a great feeling a great uh almost euphoric of feeling that that you are witnessing the development number 16 his secret release as larry lurex [Music] do you think freddie's solo career began with 1985's mr bad guy album or the 1984 single love kills nope mercury's solo career actually began before queen was well known albeit with two asterixes first off he performed under the baffling name larry lurex secondly does it count as solo if his band mates brian and roger were with him this collaboration came about while the band had some down time when making their first album trident studios house engineer robin cable was working on a project and asked mercury to lend his sublime vocals to some music while lyrics's songs may not sound like typical freddie mercury numbers you can still hear his signature whistle right alongside may's woolly guitar work [Music] number 15. putting lady diana in drag picture kenny everett freddie mercury the princess of wales and cleo roccos drinking champagne and watching the golden girls one thing i know for sure i have not lost my hourglass figure it looks like somebody poured about 90 minutes of extra sand in the glass they all improvised new dialogue that would never make it past nbc's censors after having a good laugh most of them prepare to hit london's notoriously unruly gay club the royal vauxhall tavern then the princess becomes adamant about coming along in order to avoid scandal mercury came up with a foolproof plan they would dress the princess in drag i want to break free everett gave the royal aviators a leather cap and an army jacket between princess diana's disguise and freddie drawing a lot of attention she was able to stay and even order for herself completely undetected number 14 putting sid vicious in his place when punk arrived on the scene in the old days the genre seemed to have a two-part mission do it yourself and make the old guard feel irrelevant maybe that's why punk rocker sid vicious felt like he needed to exchange words with freddie mercury the two artists were both working in wessex studios at the same time in 1977. sid apparently told mercury that he was quote bringing ballet to the masses the queen front man had an awesome retort i called sid vicious and called him simon ferocious or something and he didn't like it at all i said what are you gonna do about it mercury reportedly called the sex pistols member by the wrong name mocked the punk rocker's appearance and tossed him out by the caller i think we survived that test number 13 recording the it's a hard life video while injured okay so it's a hard life isn't necessarily the song you reach for when you're in full rock out mode it didn't do that well on the billboard hot 100 and the band themselves hate the video but if you can avoid being distracted by freddy's weird eyeball sash you might notice he's got an odd strut going on even by his standards [Music] you might also notice the peculiar way he sits down in the steps near the end why because he had just had a cast removed from a barely healed leg he had broken during a drunken misadventure in munich it's just another example of mercury's the show must go on mindset number 12 not wanting to work with michael jackson's llama [Music] in 1983 michael jackson was hot and freddie mercury was already a legend the queen front man was a fan of the king of pop and the two enjoyed clubbing together i guess he liked us and so um i got to meet him and he kept coming to see us and then we started talking so it seemed like a good idea for the two to team up jackson brought in state of shock and mercury brought in there must be more to life than this and they recorded a song called victory together but the partnership began to fall apart while accounts differ on what exactly happened mercury allegedly took issue with jackson bringing his llama into the studio [Music] it's really a shame to think that an animal famous for spitting might have helped to ruin the relationship between two hugely popular artists number 11 becoming the only british asian on bbc's 100 greatest britons in the early 2000s the bbc pulled their audience to determine the 100 greatest britons their rankings quickly drew controversy the list included aleister crowley guy fox and john paul and george of the beatles but it left out ringo only included 13 women and featured no black britons freddie mercury came as a surprise to some because he was born in zanzibar now tanzania in 1946 with zanzibar being a british protectorate until the early 1960s however this meant that mercury was in fact a british subject meanwhile his parents being from india's parsi community meant he was also asian with mercury having grown up in india prior to his family's eventual move to england the british asian more than deserved a spot on the list number 10 his much delayed health revelation it had been very difficult for him to to even announce what he was suffering from but at that point he did although confirmed hiv positive in 1987 freddie mercury did everything he could to keep his diagnosis secret while fans and media were forced to speculate only friend mary austin partner jim hutton the members of queen and a few others knew the truth even close family was kept out of the loop with his sister kashmira not knowing the reality of her brother's health until august of 1990 mercury kept working and recording with queen until june of 1991 but by november he saw the end was near and had stopped taking his medications on november 23rd the singer broke the silence by issuing a press release stating that not only had he contracted hiv but he was also now battling aids freddie mercury would die of aids-related complications the following day freddy gave that front-man position so much flamboyance so much character number nine barcelona his duet with montserrat kabale it's hardly surprising to learn that freddie mercury had an appreciation for opera after all queen's fourth album was called a night at the opera but what is surprising is just how well he could pull off the genre far from just some rocker riding the coattails and name recognition of an opera star mercury not only co-wrote barcelona but also sang montserrat kabale's vocal parts for her when demoing the song paired with the soprano mercury was able to sing in his natural baritone vocal range something he rarely did while the rock icon was amazed by cabela's vocal control the opera singer in turn developed the utmost respect for mercury's range and freezing which she found astonishing released as a single in 1987 barcelona hit number eight on the british charts but recharted at number two around the time of the 1992 olympic games for which it was written [Applause] number eight queen's saturday night live appearance [Music] sure by 1982 lots of bands had played snl but few of those spots come with the backstory and trivia gold mine of queen's season 8 visit traveling with his then beau bill reed freddy blew his voice out the night before during a heated argument with reid and spent most of the day trying to get it back fixing his voice just as showtime approached the band played under pressure and crazy little thing called love a song freddy not only wrote on guitar but played on guitar as well despite claiming he couldn't play the instrument for nuts [Music] meanwhile the set represented not only queen's only snl appearance but their only performance on american tv as well as their last ever live performance on u.s soil with mercury in the lead and it was almost sabotaged by a shouting match [Music] number seven the great pretender on the surface the great pretender is just some old song from the 50s but as old songs from the 50s go few suited him better [Music] although arguably the most dynamic front man of his time offstage freddie mercury was a shy and reserved individual and saw the platter's cover as a fitting anthem [Music] for the video mercury shaved his mustache his signature look for most of the decade revisited classic wardrobe choices and even reenacted old queen videos to make a statement about image the great pretender suited mercury so well it became the title for the american version of his posthumous album as well as a documentary about his life released right around the time he was diagnosed with hiv the song's title would only become weightier as he denied aids rumors and deflected queries about his health until the week he died [Music] number six the 1990 brit awards by the time it had come for queen to collect the brit for outstanding contribution to music freddie mercury had been fending off and denying aids rumors for years however queen's lack of touring and the occasional glimpse of freddie's deteriorating personal appearance did little to dissuade the rumor mill and tabloid press taking the stage for the first time since 1986 it was brian may rather than the always magnetic mercury who fronted the band dressed as suavely as ever freddy looked both stoic and yet terribly frail a shell of a man who once worked crowds of thousands into a frenzy on charisma alone while mae spoke at length with charm and humor mercury offered only a simple thank you good night in what would prove to be his final public appearance thank you good night [Music] [Applause] number five piggybacking darth vader despite proclaiming the opposite freddie really did like star wars was never my scene and i don't like star wars in fact he liked star wars almost as much as he didn't like riding bicycles to this end at a show in houston texas on august 10th 1980 mr fahrenheit returned to the stage for an encore on the shoulders of the sith lord himself sure it was security guy wally verson rather than david proust in the vader suit but it's still a hell of an entrance mercury actually did this a few times during the 1980 tour until george lucas allegedly took issue that is i am altering the deal pray i don't offer it any further at a show in late 1979 freddy made his way back to the stage by hitching a ride on superman but it's the houston darth vader encore that's gone down in infamy thanks to photographer tom callans who captured the bizarre image number four the show must go on looking back the idea of the show must go on was a recurring theme in the life of freddie mercury empty spaces what are we living for but that idea became all the more poignant when it came time to record the final track of what would be the last album released during his lifetime another hero another mindless crime mercury was deep in the throes of hiv aids and was suffering tremendously at the time however when brian may expressed concerns about how demanding the song's melody is mercury stated he'd effing do it only he didn't say effing and also down some vodka he nailed the vocals in one take number three the freddie mercury tribute concert freddie mercury's star power was so meteoric he was still selling out shows after he died announced at the 1992 brit awards in february the april concert sold out 72 000 seats so quickly that the venue didn't even have time to announce most of the acts we're gonna give him the biggest send off in history the event was part concert part tribute and part musical eulogy the freddie mercury tribute concert for aids awareness truly showed the influence queen and mercury held over the then current music scene more importantly it forever linked mercury to the disease that took him from us [Music] after his passing queen raised money and awareness for aids research and helped launch the mercury phoenix trust the organization is a charity led by may taylor their manager jim beach and freddie's one-time fiancee mary austin number two under pressure queen and david bowie okay [Music] proving to be one of queen's biggest hits under pressure was not only the man's second uk number one but also david bowie's third although the track grew out of a jam session and was partly rooted in an unreleased song from roger taylor the former ziggy stardust completely drove the session and shook up the band's usual mo bowie's intensity may have put off some of the members of queen but his supremely confident vocals motivated mercury to take things to a whole other level [Applause] making full use of his upper register freddy delivered a performance that was as complementary as it was competitive with bowie and proved that no matter how big the star no one outshone freddie mercury [Applause] before we unveil our number one pick here are a few honorable mentions his passport listed his name as frederick mercury although it wasn't what's in a name anyway love kills properly solo he once flew coach to japan because his first class ticket was for a dodgy dc-10 plane hey dude knew his planes alright want more mojo sound mojo brings you music from new and emerging artists in all genres from across the globe from interviews to live shows and deep dives into music culture sound mojo has you covered be sure to check out sound mojo to find your new favorite artists number one live aid [Applause] ironically freddie mercury originally didn't want to take part in live aid for fear of making a political statement but once on board he saw the show as a way for queen to upstage and outperform all the competition in one go banking on the band's experience with stadium shows mercury led queen through a week's worth of rehearsals distilling six of the band's biggest hits into a now legendary 20-minute set [Music] freddy also selected an unassuming 6 pm time slot knowing that it was not only british prime time but also early enough that american audiences wouldn't yet be jaded by a day's worth of huge bands [Music] meanwhile the band's engineer saw to it the queen was the loudest man to take the stage which coupled with freddy's unrivaled stage presence made for what is now considered to be one of the finest rock and roll performances of all time [Music] do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos you

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Keywords: freddie mercury moments, freddie mercury, queen moments, best queen songs, facts about freddie mercury, freddie mercury trivia, freddie mercury performances, freddie mercury best moments, live aid, freddie mercury michael jackson, freddie mercury darth vader, freddie mercury tribute concert, Music, Rock, watchmojo, watch mojo, top 10, list, mojo, watchmojo freddie mercury, freddie mercury iconic moments, freddie mercury best live performance, freddie mercury live aid

Id: waeb2pNV2Wg

Length: 22min 31sec (1351 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 01 2021