Namecalling reloaded

Well, Freddie was a little bit satanist, at least that’s what some people claim. If you listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, there are interesting lines in there in my opinion: »Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me«. … There’s a reason it has such extensive publicity. ¹

These are the words of an ageing ² pop star, grabbed from the fifth (!) documentary on his work and thoughts. I don’t really know him. What made me uninterested to explore his oeuvre was an initial feeling that the ratio of words and thoughts in his lyrics and interviews was not what I’m calibrated for. He also has some interest in wine production, I hear. Good on him, other ageing pop stars in my neck of the woods have long become their own parodies and some of them even worse (and that’s not because they are getting along). Exceptions are scarce but a few of them still hang around. (I didn’t get that electric guitar for Xmas at 14, thanks mom and dad.)

I haven’t pressed a play button on a Freddie Mercury record since Radio Gaga (1984) so this is really not about defending him. And if a dead singer was one of the cult of satanism, well, apparently some peeps do care, I don’t. It’s also not about attacking those who care. I’m more worried about the fact that once you have your name established, you can sell any amount of rubbish, no problem. Here is a handful of questions I’d ask him if I were big enough or he were small enough for the two of us to get into conversation.

”a little bit” satanist

Is it possible to be “a little bit” satanist? Is it possible to be a satanist a bit more? Or, say, fairly satanist? Very satanist? And by the same token, is it possible to be a Christian, just “a little bit”? A tad more? Fairly? Very Christian?

“at least that’s what some people claim”

Really? Are you accusing a deceased person of something that horrendous and immediately avoid responsibility by referring to hearsay instead of citing your sources? “I don’t know, I’m not sure, I’m just telling you what some people say but I’m gonna make this claim anyway.” How is that different from gossiping, smearing somebody? And why are you doing it? Perhaps to demonstrate that you’re an expert in your own field, pop music? Just a little anecdote, an interesting fact thrown in by an insider to beef up the conversation?

”Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me.”

OK, you’re using textual evidence now. An artist analyzing a piece of art, there can only be good things, new depths coming out of this, right? It becomes clear in a second that you’re not talking about being a satanist “a little bit” any longer. You feel Freddie was involved with satanism so deep he had his own personal guardian angel devil. I don’t know much about satanism but no small feat, I guess.

You also imply that the popularity of his songs to this day might be down to some dark forces. Never thought about that myself, even after the disappointment Radio Gaga caused in me at the time. I only thought it was a case of “once you have your name established, you can start selling rubbish and make a buck”, see above. Maybe next time I hear some Queen song on the car radio, I’m not going to try to find a different station as quick as I can. I’m gonna stay and try to counterbalance the evil forces with prayer. Is that the expected behaviour then?

“there are interesting lines in there in my opinion”

You have published your own lyrics/poetry, whatever your readers like to call it. You also went to one of the best secondary school of the country. I suppose you must have come across the literary term “persona” and you still seem to think Freddie Mercury wrote

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me

because this is what happened to him. I presume you’re good at what you do and don’t just come out with stuff you’ve picked up from pop magazines, especially when it’s about matters of faith, evil and things of that calibre. The way you phrase your claim – “there are interesting lines in there in my opinion” – makes me think you are familiar with the full text of the song.

Have you also reported a case of murder then? You should if you’re a man of integrity. Because by the time you got to the line you are using to support your claim you must have read these two lines at the beginning of the song:

Mama, just killed a man / Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead.

If you never made that call to the police, is it possible that you failed to fulfill a legal obligation? Is it possible that what you are doing here is nothing but cheap namedropping at best and the image of a man with glasses using good vocabulary when giving interviews sitting in front of a bookself is not much more than mere branding?