Queen if Freddie Mercury never got AIDS

As you all know, Queen stopped touring in 1986 due to Freddie Mercury being diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. What would happen if he never was infected with HIV and as a result never got AIDS?

Obviously, Queen would have toured after 1986. However, there is one thing that could have been VERY different about them.

There was a very good chance John Deacon (the bassist) would have left the band.

At Queen's last show with Freddie in Knebworth, John smashed his bass guitar after the concert and sped off in a limo in a huff. There were/are rumors that John wanted to leave the band as early as 1980, and that John only stayed because Freddie got AIDS in 1987.

One explanation could be his contract with Queen and his family. IIRC, he was only contractually required to produce albums with Queen until The Game (1980). He stayed on for whatever reason up until he retired from music in 1997.

Now, let's assume this was an isolated incident, and he stayed with Queen in a non-AIDS-infected-Freddie timeline. Maybe the Magic Tour would have been extended to South America or Japan as The Works Tour had been in 1984-1985. I imagine the band's next album would still be delayed due to Brian May's marital problems, but not as much as it was in OTL.

Another question is this: Would Queen still become popular again in North America as it did after Freddie died and Wayne's World was released in OTL? They had lost popularity in the US and Canada after the Hot Space album (1982) and after the video for I Want To Break Free showed the band in drag, parodying the British show Coronation Street. They hadn't toured there since 1982. Would Wayne's World still include Bohemian Rhapsody, sparking Queen's popularity in the US again?
 

Asami

Banned
Well, one of the most fundamental changes you'd see to Queen goes beyond touring and pop culture appearances. The Miracle would be a different album, and Innuendo would likely not exist in the same form. Many of those songs were making serious and overt references to mortality; which expressed the band's growing fixation and point of view on the imminent mortality of one of their closest friends and associates -- the theme of death and "moving on" appears in songs everywhere in Queen's post-Hot Space work.

Although in this case, your point of divergence would be before 1986 -- at the time of the 1986 concert in Budapest, during an interview with Hungarian state television, Freddie made a reference to the fact that he would return "if he was still alive".

Based on this positioning of time and coincidence, and the idea that he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 gives me reason to believe that he was infected with HIV earlier than that. So him avoiding HIV/AIDS entirely would have a drastic effect on the nearly a decade's worth of Queen music; to the point where A Kind of Magic would be unrecognizable -- without the spectre of AIDS over his/the band's head, chances are, Who Wants To Live Forever is never written.

As for John Deacon, well, I'm not sure he would leave or not -- he stayed with Queen for nearly 20 years after his contract expired -- his departure from the band, I think, had more to do with him disagreeing over how Brian and Roger were selling out Freddie's legacy. In the years following Freddie's death, you had the release of albums like Made in Heaven, and Queen Rocks. These albums often included remixed or "finished" versions of songs that Freddie never got to finish -- examples being It's A Beautiful Day (original demo on The Game in 1980); I Was Born To Love You, one of Freddie's singles, being repackaged as a Queen song...

And more recently, Let Me In Your Heart Again, which was originally written and partially completed for release on The Works, but was never finished and didn't see release until 30 years after The Works was released -- in 2014. There's also No One But You (Only The Good Die Young), which was written by Brian May after Freddie's death in 1991 as a tribute, and was later repackaged, edited, and released in 1997 as a tribute to both Freddie and Princess Diana of Wales; and most of those remixes of Queen's songs converted them from pop songs into rock songs, primarily under the direction of Brian May and Roger Taylor, who were not 100% supportive of Freddie's push of Queen's music into pop/disco.

But either way; John may not leave the band if the creative integrity remains intact; I'd have to ask my Queen-obsessed friend about those details.

So many of these songs may or may not have ever seen the light of day, and you'd still see Freddie pursuing his solo career to some extent.; and further collaborations with Monserrat Caballe. He would still perform Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics, but instead of his song being limited to the cinematic opening to the festivities, he would perform it at the opening ceremony with Madame Caballe.

Similarly, he may end up performing Barcelona as well at the 1999 UEFA Championships, where they got Monserrat Caballe to perform the song with film of Freddie Mercury on one of the jumbotrons.

As for Wayne's World, that's a maybe. Mike Myers was a major proponent of the song Bohemian Rhapsody appearing in the film; largely because he was a fan of Queen, and felt that their slow disappearance from the public eye was kind of sad. But even without that motivation, Myers was still pretty firm on the song being included; Paramount wanted Guns n' Roses in the film due to their extreme fame, but Myers refused to finish the film without Bohemian Rhapsody.

So I'd say 60/40 odds it remains in the film and isn't replaced/discarded.

As for Queen's popularity in America; well, that's kind of hard to say. Many young Americans (such as myself) became Queen fans independent of knowledge of Freddie Mercury's demise. I didn't know that the lead singer of Queen had died until I was... 14 years old, or so? (2011)

While their controversies regarding their ban from MTV because of the Coronation Street reference; or the violent response of the Brazilian concert audience in Rio; and their little performance in Sun City, South Africa; or whatever else has tarnished their reputation in America, I'm sure they'll still find popularity amongst younger generations.

I mean, look at The Beatles. They were practically vehemently hated by the American public after John's "Bigger Than Jesus" gaffe, and in 2016, they're one of the most popular older rock bands in the United States -- so Queen has a certain shot of redemption, but it'll take a moment as the younger generations expose themselves to Queen, as I did as a kid.

And Queen would, I hope, eventually tour in the U.S. again -- it would just take some time; and the right album. Most of the American fans of Queen I've met who were alive during their heyday often express their preference for Queen's "rock roots" (aka not disco/pop, their albums prior to Hot Space) -- but much of the younger fans I've spoken to have a universal preference for Queen. In my experiences, I like most of their music; except for their original original stuff (Queen and Queen II) -- my favorite albums are The Works (1984), Night at the Opera (1975) and The Miracle (1989). Meanwhile, my Slovenian friend (who grew up largely in Socialist Yugoslavia and post-SFRY Slovenia) has a pretty universal obsession with Queen, to the point of having dozens of repackaged FLAC/lossless versions of Queen albums; and all the live ones (except for Live at the Odeon, which he is still searching for.)

But the question remains -- if you butterfly away/prevent Freddie's infection of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, you'd significant change the course of the band Queen.
 
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Good points. It should be noted, however, that Who Wants To Live Forever was written by Brian, not Freddie. Freddie also was VERY secretive about his health issues. IIRC, he told the rest of the band he had AIDS a few weeks after being diagnosed.

I think AKOM would sound exactly the same without AIDS due to it being the unofficial Highlander soundtrack album. The Miracle would be very different, and Innuendo would probably be called something else entirely, though as in OTL, I assume the ATL version would still have Queen go back to their rock roots.

He would definitely collaborate more with Monserrat Caballe. Now that you mention it, Wayne's World would probably still include the song. If so, Queen would most likely begin touring in the U.S. again for the ATL version of Innuendo, propped up by the popularity of the film.
 
A Kind of Magic would in all likelihood be produced just the way it was in OTL or very close to it. Who wants to live forever was written in mere minutes by Brian May in the back of a taxi after watching the raw cut of Highlander. It utterly and completely references the romantic woes of an immortal in a world of mortals.

A lot of the other songs' lyrics of AKOM are also directly referencing the plot of Highlander. Connor MacLeod directly says to his ward he picked up in WW2 about his immortality: "Hey, it's a kind of magic." I doubt the words were put in after listening to the album.

Otherwise, I completely agree.

Queen would have been different. But they would have been undeniably Queen. And I would have gotten to see them live eventually ;)
 
Perhaps if Freddie (we miss you) was in doubt for time whether he had contracted AIDS or not until he was finally told by the docs that he had not that illness, this time of uncertainty would produce some effects on the writting of his songs that may led to have something similar to The Miracle and/or Innuendo.
 
I would suggest a knock on the door from the officers of Operation Yewtree (or similar operation) if Freddy lived to the 2010's.
 
I would suggest a knock on the door from the officers of Operation Yewtree (or similar operation) if Freddy lived to the 2010's.


you have anything in the way of 'proof' or is your 'proof' the fact that he was a bisexual rock star in the 70's and 80's?
 
I think he would be questioned but not charged or anything. His friend Kenny Everett might though.

Actually Kenny might have brought Operation Yewtree back a few years?
 
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