A powerful singer with a stunning four-octave range, Mercury co-wrote and produced Queen’s smash hits, 53 of which hit the Top 40, and six of which took the No. 1 spot on the charts. Songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody," “We Will Rock You," “We Are the Champions,” “Killer Queen” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” are still loved today. Mercury sadly passed away in 1991 at the age of 45, suffering from bronchial pneumonia related to AIDS. In honor of the 30th anniversary of the legendary Freddie Mercury tribute concert—which took place on April 20, 1992 and featured everyone from Elton John to U2 to Def Leppard to Seal—check out these 75 cheeky, bold and genuine quotes from Freddie Mercury.
75 Best Freddie Mercury Quotes
- “I always knew I was a star. And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me.”
- “I like to be surrounded by splendid things.”
- “I dress to kill, but tastefully.”
- “The reason we’re successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course.”
- “I really need danger excitement. I’m never scared of going out on a limb.”
- “I’m as gay as a daffodil, my dear!”
- “I’m very emotional. I think I may go mad in several years time.”
- “I would love to really have a beautiful relationship with somebody, but it never seems to work out. What I would like most of all is to be in a state of blissful love.”
- “I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.”
- “Rod Stewart, Elton John and I were going to form a band called Hair, Nose & Teeth after the three of us. But it hasn’t happened because none of us can agree on the order of the words!”
- “I’m hopeless with money; I simply spend what I’ve got.”
- “I’m a very emotional person, a person of real extremes, and that’s often destructive both to myself and others.”
- “Who wants to live forever?”
- “I fall in love much too quickly and that results in me getting badly hurt.”
- “I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear.”
- “Excess is part of my nature. Dullness is a disease.”
- “If I had to do it all over again? Why not, I would do it a little bit differently.”
- “You either have the magic or you don’t. There’s no way you can work up to it.”
- “I’m possessed by love, but isn’t everybody?”
- “I am a romantic, but I do put up a barrier around myself, so it is hard for people to get in and to know the real me.”
- “Can you imagine how terrible it is when you’ve got everything and you’re still desperately lonely? That is awful beyond words.”
- “I’m not afraid to speak out, and say things that I want to do, or do the things that I want to do, so um, I think in the end, being natural, and being, being actually genuine is what wins.”
- “You can be anything you want to be, just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be.”
- “I love the fact that I can make people happy, in any form. Even if it’s just an hour of their lives, if I can make them feel lucky or make them feel good, or bring a smile to a sour face, that to me is worthwhile.”
- “The problem with love is that you lose control and that is a very vulnerable state to be in.”
- “I don’t talk to everybody, so they don’t really know the real me. I don’t think anybody will.”
- “I don’t like the way my teeth protrude. I’m going to have them done, but I just haven’t had the time. Apart from that… I’m perfect.”
- “The others don’t like my interviews. And frankly, I don’t care much for theirs.”
- “Onstage, I am a devil. But I’m hardly a social reject.”
- “What you must understand is that my voice comes from the energy of the audience. The better they are, the better I get.”
- “I guess I’ve always lived the glamorous life of a star. It ’s nothing new - I used to spend down to the last dime.
- “I have fun with my clothes onstage; it’s not a concert you’re seeing, it’s a fashion show.”
- “By the way, I do not wear a hose. My hose is my own. No coke bottle, nothing stuffed down there.”
- “A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It’s a theatrical event.”
- “If we’re weird onstage, I don’t know what you’d call the Tubes.”
- “One night Roger was in a foul mood and he threw his entire bloody drumset across the stage. The thing only just missed me - I might have been killed.”
- “We’re a very expensive group; we break a lot of rules. It’s unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear .”
- “And, we have no such thing as a budget anymore. Our manager freaks when we show him the bill. We’re lavish to the bone, but all our money goes back into the product.”
- “They wouldn’t let us into Russia. They thought we’d corrupt the youth or something.”
- “I think my melodies are superior to my lyrics.”
- “My songs are like Bic razors. For fun, for modern consumption. You listen to it, like it, discard it, then on to the next. Disposable pop.”
- “Does it mean this, does it mean that, that’s all anybody wants to know. I’d say what any decent poet would say if anyone dared ask him to analyze his work: if you see it, darling, then it’s there!”
- “A lot of my songs are fantasy. I can dream up all kinds of things. That’s the kind of world I live in. It’s very sort of flamboyant, and that’s the kind of way I write. I love it.”
- “About ten years ago, I knew three chords on the guitar. Now, in 1982, I know three chords on the guitar.”
- “In terms of love, you’re not in control and I hate that feeling. I seem to write a lot of sad songs because I’m a very tragic person. But there’s always an element of humour at the end.”
- “The lavish presentation appeals to me, and I’ve got to convince the others.”
- “Years ago, I thought up the name Queen…It’s just a name, but it’s very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid…It’s a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.”
- “I never thought of myself as the leader. The most important person, perhaps.”
- “You know, I designed the Queen crest. I simply combined all the creatures that represent our star signs-and I don’t even believe in astrology.”
- “We don’t do it for the money… we do it for the music.”
- “We’re a bit flashy, but the music’s not one big noise.”
- “The whole point of Queen was to be original.”
- “When we began, we approached it the way we did because we were not prepared to be out-of-work musicians, ever. We said either take it on as a serious commodity or don’t do it at all.”
- “But, you know, we spent two years putting our act together.”
- “The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy.”
- “Back in the old days, we were often compared to Led Zeppelin. If we did something with harmony, it was the Beach Hoys. Something heavy was Led Zeppelin.”
- “Led Zeppelin is the greatest. Robert Plant is one of the most original vocalists of our time. As a rock band they deserve the kind of success they’re getting.”
- “Jimi Hendrix is very important. He’s my idol. He sort of epitomizes, from his presentation on stage, the whole works of a rock star. There’s no way you can compare him. You either have the magic or you don’t. There’s no way you can work up to it. There’s nobody who can take his place.”
- “It destroys the soul to hear that you’re all hype, that you have no talent, and that your whole career has been contrived.”
- “We’ve gone overboard on every Queen album. But that’s Queen.”
- “I was never too keen on the British music press. They’ve called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn’t write our own songs.”
- “Money can not buy happiness, but it can d**n well give it!”
- “If it’s planned, it’s boring.”
- “Is Billy Idol just doing a bad Elvis pout, or was he born that way?”
- “There’s one thing we’re all waiting for, it’s Peace on earth and end to war, it’s the miracle we need… The Miracle!” 66. “Modern painting are like women, you’ll never enjoy them if you try to understand them.”
- “I won’t be a rock star. I’ll be a legend.”
- “When I’m dead, are they going to remember me? I don’t really think about it, it’s up to them. When I’m dead, who cares? I don’t.”
- “I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance.”
- “Oh, I was not made for heaven. No, I don’t want to go to heaven. Hell is much better. Think of all the interesting people you’re going to meet down there.”
- “What will I be doing in 20 years time? I’ll be dead, darling! Are you crazy?”
- “It’s boring to be 70, I don’t want to be there, I’ll be dead and gone, I don’t have any aspirations to be 70.”
- “I have no aspirations of growing old and boring.”
- “The most important thing is to live a fabulous life. As long as it’s fabulous I don’t care how long it is.”
- “If I die tomorrow I will not regret. I really did everything I could.” Next, celebrate Beyoncé’s 40th birthday with 146 of her fiercest quotes.
