Does It Matter That Freddie Mercury Was Gay?

Maybe you've seen the trailer for the new movie about Freddie Mercury.  For some, they're concerned the story is 'not gay enough.'

There are some people who think the most interesting thing about Freddie Mercury was that he was gay. I don't even understand that. I never once in my life picked up an album and said, 'I wonder who they like to bang?'

When I was 14-17 years old (during some of Queen's peak years), all I thought about was sex and music. But I just didn't even think for one moment about the artist's sexuality. In fact, back then a lot of rock stars presented themselves as feminine.

To us, rock stars were more like unicorns; they were magical creatures, and there was plenty to speculate about without worrying about whether they liked men or women. I can remember huge debates on whether Gene Simmons of KISS bit his tongue, or swallowed cow's blood and threw it up during that portion of the show. It goes further, as even bands as mundane as Styx were mysterious (because they were named after a river IN HELL!).

Nowadays, you know everything you need to know about a band within seconds. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that the guys from Slipknot, and recently the guys from Ghost, revealed their identities. It's fun to have a little mystery, but like a lot of mysteries, once you find the answer you're kind of done with it.

Who knows if the Queen movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, will be good or not. The band seems to be a little too heavily involved, so there's a big chance that they have knocked the burrs off a good story. But to say that all the drama lies in Freddie Mercury's sexuality is nonsense.

I'm sorry I can't take you back to the day when these guys sang "Ogre Battle" and we thought 'who ARE these freaks?' But rock stars used to breath really rare air. Queen has sold somewhere between 150 and 300 million records, and that tells me people are plenty interested in them. The fact that Freddie Mercury was gay can be a story line if they ever decide to make a sequel.