Queen drummer Roger Taylor unloaded on haters of the band’s new singer Adam Lambert during a new ABC television interview. Taylor said that Freddie Mercury is really dead, and he can’t be recreated and won’t be at the upcoming shows, after the hype surrounding the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ film.
“Comparisons with Freddie are wasting their time. He’s had to cope with it because people are so f**king unimaginative. Fred’s dead and he’s not going to be [at the shows], so if you come to see us – you’re not going to see him!”
“We were not seeking to ‘recreate’ Mercury when we asked Lambert to join us. We’re not trying to recreate our Freddie. So if people do think that, I haven’t patience with them, and please don’t come. But if you want to just enjoy our music, done really well, please do come.”
Brian May also said, “We want our music to be alive and dangerous and still open to change. Freddie would hate to have things reproduced the way they were.”
Adam Lambert said, “I know some of you out there are thinking, ‘He’s no Freddie Mercury, though. No sh**. There will only be, for all of time, one rock god, Freddie Mercury. Thank you for giving me a chance.'”
Lambert added, “The biggest trip I was going through was the fact that I knew that by singing these songs as the lead singer that I was inevitably going to be compared to Freddie.
“People know the songs because of the recordings, I learned the songs because of the recordings. Freddie’s unbelievable. His voice is one in a million, trillion, zillion. I’m filling in for this God.
“I’m not him. I knew that I wasn’t Freddie.”
“Once I got over my own head trip ‘Oh God, are they going to compare me to Freddie? Oh God, am I good enough?’, I realised this once own lifetime chance to be a vessel and just perform.
“When these early performances were so well received it was a sense of victory because the stakes were so high for me.”
