Freddie Mercury

In early 1983, hot on the heels of exhaustive Queen tours of Europe, Canada, North America and Japan, Freddie and German record producer Reinhold Mack returned to Musicland studios in Munich to commence recording sessions for Freddie’s first solo album. Mack had already forged a working relationship with the band, having co-produced ‘Flash Gordon’, ‘The Game’ and ‘Hot Space’.

What emerged in April 1985 was a rich fusion of material spanning the entire spectrum of human emotion — from the upbeat optimism of I Was Born To Love You and Let’s Turn It On, to the subdued poignancy of Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow and There Must Be More To Life Than This.

For the most part, ‘Mr Bad Guy’ finds Freddie in typically jovial mood, enjoying a particularly creative period and in fine voice. The music is vibrant and the lyrics as candid as ever, taking on issues never very far from Freddie’s consciousness, evident on songs like Living On My Own, Your Kind Of Lover, Foolin’ Around, My Love Is Dangerous and the album’s semi-autobiographical title track.

Freddie: “I’ve put my heart and soul into this album. It has some very moving ballads - things to do with sadness and pain, but at the same time they’re frivolous and tongue-in-cheek, because that’s my nature. I’ve wanted to do a solo album for a long time and the rest of the band have encouraged me to do it. I wanted to cover such things as reggae rhythms and I’ve done a couple of things with a symphony orchestra. It has a very rich sound and it’s very beat orientated. I think it’s a very natural album, and I hope people will like my voice."

“I’m possessed by love. I’m a romantic. I’m also a man of extremes. I think the songs on this album reflect the state of my life; a diverse selection of moods. I wanted to write a batch of songs that came out under the name of Freddie Mercury. It’s not like starting a new career, it’s more like going off at a tangent. I feel I’m doing this with all the experience I’ve gained with Queen. But this is just me. I’m in control."

Originally titled ‘Made In Heaven’, Freddie changed his mind just weeks prior to the album going to press, preferring instead the aptness, as he perceived it, of ‘Mr Bad Guy’.

Freddie: “Basically, I was lost for a title, but as far as I’m concerned album titles are immaterial. I didn’t know what to call it, but I had what I thought was a very beautiful track called Made In Heaven, which seemed to conjure up an image of some kind. But to be honest, I’m not really worried about it. It’s what you listen to that matters, not what the title is. Don’t judge a book by its cover! - although, there is a beautiful photograph of me on this cover.”

Due to commitments with Queen, Freddie never had the opportunity to tour with Mr Bad Guy. Within two weeks of the album’s release, the band had embarked upon tours of New Zealand, Australia and Japan. 1985, of course, concluded with the band’s unforgettable performance at Live Aid on July 13 — and arguably Freddie Mercury’s finest ‘hour’ on stage.

Mack: “The songs on Mr Bad Guy came very quickly, but of course this time it was all so different because there was no band. Freddie was very happy with the album. I think one of the things he wanted to do most was the big orchestral thing, which he never really got to do with Queen. Freddie was actually very modest about his songs, but he knew when he’d written a good one. That’s what I call genius; he would sit down, write something, and it was so good, he didn’t even question it or analyse it. Often he would say, ‘What do you think of the lyrics?’, and I would reply, ‘Very good!’, and he would say, ‘Wait a minute’, and change a chord here and there, then a big smile would come over his face as he told me, ‘Now it’s better, isn’t it!’

‘Mr Bad Guy’ spawned four singles, I Was Born To Love You, Made In Heaven, Living On My Own and Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow — the third of which later to provide Freddie with his first and only solo No. 1. Sadly, it was to be a posthumous accolade: the July 1993 No More Brothers’ Living On My Own Radio Mix came 20 months after Freddie’s passing. It sold over two million copies and earned its creator an Ivor Novello award.

Freddie dedicated the Mr Bad Guy album thus: “to my cat Jerry — also Tom, Oscar and Tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe — screw everybody else!”