Forums > Queen - Serious Discussion > Was HotSpace and Freddie's moustache the down fall of Queen in America?

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I always try to be a nice guy. then I read something I think is ignorant and idiotic and go on calling folks idiots and dummies, making myself seem like a pretentious ass:

This is one of those times:

Hey Dummy, number 1 they stopped touring in the USA. That more than anything else effected things in the "states". Touring always is the best way to let people know you're still out there and a way to drum up press all over the country.

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After Hot Space they didn't get any radio play. We never heard their 80's music because of this.

I think there was a negative reaction to Hot Space because there was a negative reaction to anything that was disco or dance music at that point. This was the period after disco and before punk rock and people were really really sick of disco at this point. There were even bumper stickers saying "Disco Sucks!".

I don't really think Freddie's look had that much to do with it. However, he did change his look and I think he ended up looking too "Studio 54" (which we associated with disco) and not enough of what we thought rock stars should look like.

Also John and Roger cut their hair from the long rock star look. England is usually ahead of the US when it comes to hair styles, I think, and it was much later that the American rock stars started to cut their hair shorter.

So, maybe the fans in America thought they were signaling to us that they were no longer going to be a rock band. Who knows about that one. It is not like we were given the opportunity to make our minds up, because Queen just did not make themselves visible in the US after Hot Space.

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Sorry but you have your time periods wrong.
Punk was a mid to late 70s thing. Think Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash etc. They were all from the 70s. Disco was slightly earlier than Punk but both predated 'Hot Space' by a few years.
'Hot Space was a major departure from what they'd done before and there was a backlash to that.
There was also a backlash to Freddie's 'gay' fashion. I remember people really disliking it.
The final nail in the coffin was the 'I Want To Break Free' video. North Americans didn't really get the humour because they didn't know about the TV show Queen were copying. Most saw it as a very "Gay" video. I knew people who had been huge Queen fans up to that time. North America in the 80s was not very open minded in some ways. There were other factors which also came into play as well.

There has been a lot of interesting discussion on these boards about this very subject. I'm too lazy to do a search and point to these threads but you might find them of interest.

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One word to describe Queen's relationship in America-

BITTERSWEET!


I just didnt get the whole being against the "I want to break free" video...I mean come on, its such a cute video...but hey, I was born in 1983...so thats nothing to me...but yeah, its just a shame becuase other British bands get soooooo much respect here in the states...and Queen gets some, but not as much as they should...

I think too, the timing for releasing hotspaces was all wrong, because thats when disco really faded out...ya know...

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I think the thing what really caused queens dead in the usa was the video for I want to break free.
Apart from liberated places as new york, americans didn't understand the humor of it....stupid rednecks

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*throws razors in all directions*

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I remember the Radio Ga Ga video being shown on Mtv what seemed like all the time. Can't remember if it was on the radio much though. That was the last I recall seeing much of Queen in the US though until Innuendo.

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Yeah it became music your parents & little sister listened to. It surpassed Do That To Me One More Time by the Capt. & Tennille. Ozzy, AC/DC & Van Halen=Cool by teenage North American males, Queen was not at this time. The Game was an album I had to listen to at home, at high school I had Ozzy. NAIL

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Looking back, it's amusing that Queen and FM were so popular when he wore leotards and sequins, finger nail polish, was very camp and so on, but start wearing jeans and a "gay" moustache, and you are no longer cool.
In the 80's MTV was becoming popular and video sold singles/albums, and the IWTBF video just did not cut it here. The humor was lost, sales were poor and who tours a country after poor sales?

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I do remember hearing Radio Ga Ga played on the radio a few times, but not much.