Mr. Bad Guy

Last updated

Mr. Bad Guy
Freddie Mercury Mr. Bad Guy.jpg
Studio album by
Freddie Mercury
Released29 April 1985
RecordedEarly 1983 – January 1985 [1]
Studio Musicland Studios, Munich, West Germany
Genre
Length40:41 (LP)
60:40 (Original UK CD)
Label Columbia
Producer
Freddie Mercury chronology
Mr. Bad Guy
(1985)		 Barcelona
(1988)
Singles from Mr. Bad Guy
  1. "I Was Born to Love You"
    Released: 8 April 1985
  2. "Made in Heaven"
    Released: 1 July 1985
  3. "Living on My Own"
    Released: 2 September 1985
  4. "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow"
    Released: 18 November 1985
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [3]
Rolling Stone (positive) [4]

This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry - also Tom, Oscar and Tiffany, and all the cat lovers across the universe - screw everybody else!

Contents

- Freddie Mercury in the albums notes [5]

Mr. Bad Guy is the debut and only solo studio album by British musician Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. Released in 1985, during a period in which Queen were on hiatus from recording, it contains eleven songs, all written by Mercury himself. [5]

The album was reissued on 11 October 2019, in newly remixed form, on CD, vinyl, digital and streaming services, via Mercury Records. [6]

Background

In contrast to Queen's typically rock-oriented work, Mercury and co-producer Reinhold Mack drew on disco, dance music and pop influences for Mr. Bad Guy, all of which had surfaced on Queen's previous studio album, Hot Space (1982), also produced by Mack. [7] Mercury stated, "I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn't do within Queen." [8] Co-producer Mack added, "he used to get pretty annoyed working with the others, because there was always Brian saying, 'It needs to be more rock 'n' roll.'" [9] Mr. Bad Guy took nearly two years to record, as Mercury had to gather enough material together while committing to band activities. [4]

Initially, the album was supposed to feature duets with Mercury and Michael Jackson.

We had three tracks in the can, but unfortunately they were never finished. They were great songs, but the problem was time — as we were both very busy at that period. We never seemed to be in the same country long enough to actually finish anything completely. [10]

— Mercury in Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury

However, other sources state that personal conflicts were to blame for unfinished tracks. Mercury reportedly dropped out of any further collaboration after feeling uncomfortable working with Jackson's pet llama in the studio. [11] One track from these collaborative sessions, "There Must Be More to Life Than This", was reworked for the Mr. Bad Guy album, although the original recording featuring Jackson was eventually released on Queen Forever in 2014.

Production

Recording was taxing on Mercury, as he took part in everything from performing the tracks (including vocals, piano and synthesizer), arranging the orchestration and working with the sound engineers. Mercury's use of synthesizers and orchestration in track development added to the diversity of each piece. [12] [13]

The songs are not trying to be anything else but Freddie. A lot of people were expecting Freddie to be catering to the audience. He didn't want that. He just wanted the songs as they are. I didn't try to get involved in the mixing, because he may not have wanted a lot of new ideas at that stage. It was already great and I would not want to have gone in and made changes for the sake of it, like someone painting a nose on a Rembrandt portrait at the very end. [14]

— Mack on working with Mercury

The album's original title was Made in Heaven, but Mercury changed his mind weeks before the album went to press. [15]

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. [16]

— Mercury during the album's promotion

Originally released on Columbia/CBS, copyrights for Mercury Songs, a company owned by Freddie Mercury's estate, had been revoked following his death in 1991. Mr. Bad Guy would remain out of print on CD until 2000, when it was included on The Solo Collection, and in 2019, when it was reissued and remixed due to the commercial success of Bohemian Rhapsody , a biographical film about him.[ citation needed ]

Singles

Lead single "I Was Born to Love You" with the non-album B-side "Stop All the Fighting" debuted at number 50 on 14 April 1985, peaking at number 11 on 5 May 1985. [17] It also reached number four in South Africa and number 20 on 1 June in Austria. [18] "Made in Heaven" peaked at number 57 on the UK Singles Chart on 21 July 1985 and charted for four weeks. [19] "Living on My Own" charted at number 50 in the United Kingdom, while the fourth and final single, "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow," debuted and peaked at number 76 on the UK chart on 24 November 1985. [20]

Re-worked singles

"Living on My Own" was re-released in 1993 (almost two years after Mercury's death) in a remixed form by No More Brothers. The single reached number one in the UK, becoming his most successful solo single release, albeit posthumously. "I Was Born to Love You" became Mercury's only solo chart success in Australia, reaching number 13. That song, and "Made in Heaven", were later reworked by the three surviving Queen members and included on the 1995 studio album Made in Heaven . [16]

Track listing

All songs written by Freddie Mercury.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Let's Turn It On"3:42
2."Made in Heaven"4:05
3."I Was Born to Love You"3:38
4."Foolin' Around"3:29
5."Your Kind of Lover"3:32
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Mr. Bad Guy"4:09
7."Man Made Paradise"4:08
8."There Must Be More to Life Than This"3:00
9."Living on My Own"3:23
10."My Love Is Dangerous"3:42
11."Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow"3:46
Total length:40:41
UK CD bonus tracks [21]
No.TitleLength
12."Let's Turn It On" (12" Version)5:06
13."I Was Born to Love You" (12" Version)7:03
14."Living on My Own" (12" Version)6:40
Total length:60:40

Personnel

The following personnel are credited in the liner notes. [22]

Technical

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [36] Gold100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Related Research Articles

<i>Greatest Hits III</i> (Queen album) 1999 greatest hits album by Queen

Greatest Hits III is a compilation album by British rock band Queen. It is a compilation of latter-day songs, the band members' solo hits and the band's collaborations with other artists. It was released on 8 November 1999. The first two tracks on the album were new previously unreleased versions of classic Queen songs.

<i>Made in Heaven</i> 1995 studio album by Queen

Made in Heaven is the fifteenth and final studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It was the band's first and only album released solely under the name "Queen" after the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in 1991. Following Mercury's death, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and bass guitarist John Deacon worked with vocal and piano parts that Mercury recorded before his death, adding new instrumentation to the recordings. Both stages of recording, before and after Mercury's death, were completed at the band's studio in Montreux, Switzerland. The album debuted at number 1 in the UK, where it went quadruple platinum selling 1.2 million copies. 500,000 copies were shipped in the United States.

<i>The Miracle</i> (album) 1989 album by Queen

The Miracle is the thirteenth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 22 May 1989 by Parlophone Records and Capitol Records in both the United Kingdom and the U.S. respectively, where it was the band's third and final studio album to be released on latter label, and their first studio album on the former label. The album was recorded as the band recovered from Brian May's marital problems and Freddie Mercury's HIV diagnosis in 1987. Recording started in January 1988 and lasted for an entire year. The album was originally going to be called The Invisible Men, but three weeks before the release, according to Roger Taylor, they changed the name to The Miracle. It was also the last Queen album with a photo of the band on the front cover.

<i>A Kind of Magic</i> 1986 studio album by Queen

A Kind of Magic is the twelfth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 2 June 1986 by EMI Records in the UK and by Capitol Records in the US. It is based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander, directed by Russell Mulcahy.

<i>Hot Space</i> 1982 studio album by Queen

Hot Space is the tenth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 4 May 1982 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, they employed many elements of disco, funk, R&B, dance, pop and new wave music on the album. This made the album less popular with fans who preferred the traditional rock style they had come to associate with the band. Queen's decision to record a dance-oriented album germinated with the massive success of their 1980 hit "Another One Bites the Dust" in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Was Born to Love You (song)</span> 1985 single by Freddie Mercury

"I Was Born to Love You" is a 1985 song by Freddie Mercury that was released as a single from his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy. After Mercury's death, Queen re-worked this song for their album Made in Heaven in 1995, by having the other members play their instrumental parts over the original track, transforming the song from disco to rock. The Queen version from the Made in Heaven album also includes snippets of Mercury's ad-lib vocals taken from "A Kind of Magic" and from "Living on My Own".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Want to Break Free</span> 1984 single by Queen

"I Want to Break Free" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their bassist John Deacon. It appears on the album The Works (1984), and was released in three versions: album, single and extended. The track became a staple of the band's 1984–85 Works Tour and their 1986 Magic Tour.

<i>The Works</i> (Queen album) 1984 studio album by Queen

The Works is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 27 February 1984 by EMI Records just shortly after recording for the album had been completed in the United Kingdom and it is the band's first studio album to be released by Capitol Records in the United States. After the synth-heavy Hot Space (1982), the album saw the re-emergence of Brian May and Roger Taylor's rock sound, while still incorporating the early 80s retro futuristic electronic music and New York funk scenes. Recorded at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California, and Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, from August 1983 to January 1984, the album's title comes from a comment Taylor made as recording began – "Let's give them the works!".

<i>The Freddie Mercury Album</i> 1992 compilation album by Freddie Mercury

The Freddie Mercury Album is a posthumous solo project with material from Queen frontman and vocalist Freddie Mercury released in 1992, to observe the anniversary of his death. The album is mainly made up of new remixes, as well as the original versions of "Barcelona", "Love Kills", "Exercises in Free Love", and "The Great Pretender". A week later, The Great Pretender, its US counterpart, was released.

<i>Lover of Life, Singer of Songs</i> 2006 greatest hits album by Freddie Mercury

Lover of Life, Singer of Songs is a compilation album of Freddie Mercury's solo songs. It was released on 4 September 2006, the day before Mercury's 60th Birthday. It was released on 21 November 2006 in the U.S, three days before the 15th anniversary of Mercury's death.

<i>The Solo Collection</i>

The Solo Collection is a compilation box set detailing the solo career of Freddie Mercury; it includes the material Mercury recorded before joining up with Queen, up through the 1993 No More Brothers remixes. Mercury's two studio albums are included, along with various single edits and non-album singles, B-sides, remixes, instrumentals, collaborations, a large number of demo recordings and a set of interviews conducted by David Wigg. Also included are two DVDs: a collection of Mercury's promotional music videos, and a documentary covering his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddie Mercury discography</span>

As well as his work with Queen, Freddie Mercury released one solo album, one collaborative album, and several singles. Although his solo work was not as commercially successful as most Queen albums, the two off-Queen albums and several of the singles debuted in the top 10 of the UK Music Charts. Following Mercury's death in 1991, several posthumous box sets and compilation albums have been released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Made in Heaven (song)</span> Single by Freddie Mercury

"Made in Heaven" is the third single recorded by Freddie Mercury, and his fourth release as a solo artist. Originally featured in Mercury's first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, the song was modified and published as a 45 rpm single paired with "She Blows Hot and Cold", described on the record sleeve as 'A Brand New Track'. The single reached No. 57 on the UK Singles Chart.

<i>The Game</i> (Queen album) 1980 studio album by Queen

The Game is the eighth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 30 June 1980 by EMI Records in the UK and by Elektra Records in the US. The Game features a different sound from its predecessor, Jazz (1978). The Game was the first Queen album to use a synthesizer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In My Defence</span> 1992 song by Freddie Mercury

"In My Defence" is a song performed by Queen lead vocalist Freddie Mercury. It was from the 1986 musical Time by Dave Clark and featured on the Time concept album. The song was not a hit during Mercury's lifetime but was released posthumously in November 1992, reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love Kills (Freddie Mercury song)</span>

"Love Kills" is a song by Freddie Mercury, and his first song released as a solo artist, though the other members of Queen appeared on the song - initially uncredited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio Ga Ga</span> 1984 single by Queen

"Radio Ga Ga" is a 1984 song performed and recorded by the British rock band Queen, written by their drummer Roger Taylor. It was released as a single with "I Go Crazy" by Brian May as the B-side. It was included as the opening track on the album The Works and is also featured on the band's compilation albums Greatest Hits II and Classic Queen.

<i>Queen Forever</i> 2014 compilation album by Queen

Queen Forever is a compilation album by the British rock band Queen. Released on 10 November 2014, it features tracks the band had "forgotten about" with vocals from original lead singer Freddie Mercury. Queen's bassist John Deacon is also on the tracks.

<i>Messenger of the Gods: The Singles</i> 2016 greatest hits album by Freddie Mercury

Messenger of the Gods: The Singles is a compilation album of Freddie Mercury's singles. It was released three days before what would have been Mercury's 70th birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow</span> 1985 single by Freddie Mercury

"Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow" is a song by Freddie Mercury, released in 1985 as the fourth and final single from his debut solo album Mr. Bad Guy. It was written by Mercury, and produced by Reinhold Mack and Mercury. "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow" reached No. 76 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 100 for two weeks. According to Peter Freestone, in his book Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best, "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow" was inspired by Mercury's relationship with the Austrian actress Barbara Valentin.

References

  1. ↑ Mr. Bad Guy (album) queenpedia.com Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Mr. Bad Guy - Freddie Mercury". AllMusic . Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Smith, Robin (4 May 1985). "Albums". Record Mirror . p. 18.
  4. 1 2 Holmes, Tim. "Mr Bad Guy - Rolling Stone (Issue 450)". Queen Archives. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  5. 1 2 Jen Longshaw. "Freddie Mercury's Cats". Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Freddie Mercury 'Never Boring' 5 Disc Box Set: Details". Billboard . 5 September 2019.
  7. ↑ "Freddie Mercury: The Baddest of Them All". 8 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "Mr Bad Guy: Why Freddie Mercury's Solo Album Was "A Shot in the Arm"". 17 October 2019.
  9. ↑ DeRuso, Nick (29 August 2015). "Why Freddie Mercury (Briefly) Went Solo with 'Mr. Bad Guy'". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  10. ↑ Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury (2012) - ultimateclassicrock.com
  11. ↑ "The real Freddie Mercury: why the Queen biopic only tells part of the story". The Times . 19 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  12. ↑ Queen: Days of Our Lives - Documentary.
  13. ↑ Carley, Lisa (12 November 2014). "Michael Jackson Chased Freddie Mercury Away From Duet With Bubbles The Chimp". inquisitr.com . Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  14. ↑ Chilton, Martin (10 December 2019). "'He Was Music': Reinhold Mack On Working With Freddie Mercury". uDiscover Music. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  15. ↑ "Freddie Mercury interview (1985)". YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  16. 1 2 ARCHIVE MR. BAD GUY (1985) - freddiemercury.com
  17. ↑ Official Singles Chart Top 100 - 5 May 1985 - 11 May 1985
  18. ↑ AUSTRIA TOP 40 - SINGLES 01.06.1985
  19. ↑ Official Singles Chart Top 100 - 21 July 1985 - 27 July 1985
  20. ↑ Official Singles Chart Top 100 - 24 November 1985 - 30 November 1985
  21. ↑ "Freddie Mercury - Mr. Bad Guy". Discogs. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  22. ↑ "QueenVault.com - Mr. Bad Guy Liner Notes". www.queenvault.com. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  23. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  24. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  25. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  26. ↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 44.Týden 2019 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  27. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  28. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  29. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  30. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  31. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  32. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  33. ↑ "Freddie Mercury | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  34. ↑ "Freddie Mercury Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  35. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment . Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  36. ↑ BPI certification for Mr Bad Guy Album - Type Mr Bad Guy in BPI Awards Search and press: Apply
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.