Hits 21 - 1993 (3): Gabrielle, Take That, Freddie Mercury

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21: The 90s.At the roundtable this week it's Rob, Ed, and Andy!This week - Gabrielle is awfully polite as she brings us back to the start, we have no idea what Take That are doing in the ir latest music video, and we wonder what the 90s would have been like with Freddie Mercury in them.

Music Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21 The 90s where me, Rob, me, Andy and me, John Oliver are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. If you want to get in touch with us, you can email us, send it on over to hits21podcast at gmail.com. We're also on Blue Sky now. I will leave a link to that in the description. I'll try and keep that account running. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1993 and this week we'll be covering the period between the 20th of June and the 21st of August. So only two months being covered this week, things are slowing down slightly. Last week, the poll winner, congratulations to Ace of Base, not Ass of Bass with all that she wants.

So congratulations to them. So it is time to press on with this week's episode and here are some news headlines from July to August-ish of 1993. Michael Hunt, the former head of Nissan UK, is jailed for eight years after being found guilty of tax fraud and afterwards he changed his first name just to Mike. I was just gonna say yeah that's yeah. Dan Eldon a British journalist working in Somalia is killed during the Somali civil war and in football Millwall football club's new Denz stadium is opened in East London. Northern Ireland Minister Michael Mates resigns over his links with fugitive tycoon Aseel

Nadeer. The city of Manchester is told that its chances of hosting the 2000 Olympic Games are very, very high, but not that high obviously. In Bosnia a UN ceasefire breaks down and 137 people are killed in Thailand when a hotel collapses. In America, Evan Chandler accuses Michael Jackson of abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan Chandler. US President Bill Clinton introduces the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy and 50 people are killed in the Great Flood of 1993 after both Missouri and Mississippi rivers burst their banks.

The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Indecent Proposal for one more week, Cliffhanger for three weeks, wonder how that ends, before Jurassic Park begins an eight week run at the top. And on ITV News, Prime Minister John Major refers to members of his own Tory party as bastards. When you're right, you're right. Yeah. Yes. Jackie Khan wins the fourth series of Stars in Their Eyes

performing as Alison Moyer after the show's first ever live final. And the BBC broadcast the World Athletics Championships for the very first time, with some viewers also able to tune in on Eurosport. In American TV, David Letterman airs the very first episode of his brand new talk show, The Late Show with David Letterman. David was joined by Bill Murray, while Billy Joel provided the musical performance. How pleasant.

So Andy, the UK Album Charts, how are they? Before I tell you about the Album Charts, not to present too much of a cliffhanger, as the film suggested at the time, I do need to briefly come back to my pop culture item, because you know when something just unlocks a memory that you'd entirely forgotten about? That fourth series of Stars in Their Eyes,

with Alison Moyer is the winner. For some reason, I don't know why, my mum and dad taped that off the TV at the time. It had nothing to do with me because I was only one and my sister was only four. And for some reason through my childhood, I've just remembered now that we watched that VHS of that Stars in Their Eyes random final from 1993 About 20 times, like maybe more than that. Like I remember that so well and it's just a lovely pleasant thing to hear about that again. I remember that there was Lulu on it as well, someone was doing boom bang a bang as Lulu, Alice in Way, one with all cry out. I remember actually

that my favorite at the time was someone doing Do You Really Want to Hurt Me as Boy George and I later found out years later that that was in fact X Factor contestant Johnny Robinson back in the 90s doing that. So yes, completely some useless trivia for you there about my dull childhood. Now I remember watching that Alison Moyer performance and I remember thinking, Jackie Khan, Jackie Khan. Oh yes Jackie Khan. Anyway. can't Jackie can't oh yes Jackie can anyway what would have been great is if Jackie can had come on as Shaka Khan because then Matthew Kelly would have really struggled to get that sentence out and I just thought I'd do a Kung Fu move so it was

Jackie can as Jackie Chan doing Shaka Khan ah lovely anyway the UK albums charts and I haven't got too much more of your time to take up with this because there's only four items this week. We've usually had a lot more than that in recent weeks but there is a long stale this week. Before we get to that long

stale though we've got Tina Turner opening up this period with What's Love Got to Do With It at number one for one week and going platinum. Also going platinum at number one for one week and going platinum. Also going platinum and number one for three weeks is Jamiroquai with Emergency on Planet Earth. And I have to say I had no idea that Jamiroquai were getting number one albums back in 93. I always thought they sort of blew up in the late 90s but it shows what I know. Then we've got U2 with Zuroper at number one for one week and that went platinum as well.

But I told you about the long stayer that really hangs around for a total of seven weeks through the end of July and all of August so I'll be talking about it again next week as well. Going double platinum it's UB40 with their latest Promises and Lies for seven weeks at number one. And I'll tell you, the Promise and the Lie were in fact the same thing when they simply said, I promise this album is good. That was what it was. Yes. Sorry to end on that damn squib, it's UB40 taking us through August 93. Happy first birthday, me. Lovely. Yeah.

So, Ed, in America, how are they doing? It's a bit of foreshadowing. Unfortunately, I thought the Americans would be largely immune to something. They weren't. Billboard albums. Janet Jackson continues to control the top spot through Machinations and Rhythm Nations for three weeks. With an album title, it's actually quite hard to take the piss out of.

Then, look be a lady for a single week because America is mental for yentl. Yep, Barbara Streisand goes back to Broadway. That was great, sorry. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Then the largest thing to come out of Ireland since the Titanic. You two once more break the chart ice as audiences in the US sink two weeks into Zeropa.

But what's with all the thick smoke coming from that life raft? It's one group who clearly were ready when the ship went down. Cypress Hill ramble about blunts for two whole dank, sticky icky weeks. And finally, just in case you doubted that we're actually in the 90s now, for one week we have the soundtrack to a Meg Ryan romcom, which also starred Sinbad, Pamela Anderson and Brett the Hitman Heart. Singles, there's only three of them. Janet Jackson's That's the Way Love Goes continues a protracted run at number one,

taking eight whole weeks before she finally jacks off as people with money get sisters with voices to number one with the unprepossessingly titled Weak. What a great song. Two-Weak as it turned out to be. But enough of all this rhythm and blues, fools are rushing in. White men say they can't help falling in love for about a bajillion weeks in America as well. Nowhere is safe from the boring elevator music trash. All right then, thank you both very much for those reports and we are going to crack on with our first song this week,

which is this. They can come through Move a step closer, you know that I want you I can tell by your eyes that you want me too Just a question, son I knew we'd be together And that you'd be mine I want you here forever Do you hear what I'm saying?

Gotta say how I feel I can't believe it But I know that you're real I know what I want in baby, it's you Can't deny my feelings because they are true, yeah Dreams can come true, look at me babe, I'm as a you You know you got to have hope, you know you got to be strong Dreams can come true

Don't care if I'm with you You know you got to have hope You know you got to be strong I've seen you sometimes On your own ending cries I knew I had to have you My hopes and their meditations Now you're by my side And I feel so good Alright, this is Dreams by Gabrielle.

Released as the lead single from her debut studio album titled Find Your Way, Dreams is Gabrielle's first single to be released in the UK and her first to reach number one. It's the last time we'll be coming to Gabrielle during our 90s coverage but she did reach number one again in the year 2000. Please listen to I think our very first episode if you want to hear our coverage of that. Dreams first entered the UK charts at number 2, reaching number 1 during its second week. It stayed at number 1 for… THREE WEEKS!

In its first week atop the charts, it sold 75,000 copies, beating competition from Have I Told You Lately by Rod Stewart, which got to number 7, and One Night in Heaven by M People, which climbed to number 7 and One Night in Heaven by M People which climbed to number 9. In week 2 it sold 71,000 copies beating competition from I Will Survive 93 by Gloria Gaynor which climbed to number 6 and in week 3 it sold 67,000 copies beating competition from What's Up by 4 non-blondes, which climbed to number 8. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Dreams dropped 1 place to number 2.

By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 15 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2025 could be pre-Kantar. More of these seem to be getting updated though as we get closer to that February 94 deadline when Kantar take over the official charts. Just a little stat I did pick up I'm not 100% sure if it's correct so I will say take this with a pinch of salt but I have seen it written in a couple of places that Dreams, debuting at number two, is the- at this point in history was the highest ever new entry for a debut artist for their first single. Really?

We've only had a few- I think there was a big gap, I think The Beatles went straight in at number one with a few of their singles and Adam Ant or Adam and the Ants I forget which one may have been Prince Charming was the first song since the Beatles to go straight in at number one but I don't think that was their debut single. And it wasn't the Beatles either because they had that My Bonnie thing with Tony Sheridan didn't they? Yes, sorry, yes, not as a debut single, but just at all. Because songs going straight in at number one was just not a thing in the 70s.

And so with this, it's her first single and it went straight in at number two. And I've seen it written in a couple of places that that's the highest and new entry for a debut new single, for a fresh debut single from a new act. So, Andy, we will we will continue our conversation, but you can take much longer with your next answer. How do we feel about Dreams by Gabrielle? Well, I will answer you, but I do have to just do a quick point of order,

which is from your stats you mentioned, One Night in Heaven by M People. And my husband listens to this show and there's almost nothing in the world that's more easy to make him laugh than just with me singing One Night in Heaven so just... One night, one night! Just had to do that. Thank you for indulging me.

One night in heaven! Ah, distinctive, so distinctive how this mall... Oh, I know. I can't wait till we get to discuss Perfect Day. Yeah, I was about to say we've got that coming up. You got to reap what you sow me! Such a perfect day! I was about to say we've got that coming up. Anyway... You're going to rip and watch a show, babe. Such a perfect night. Anyway, yes. Funnily enough, thinking of like sort of pop culture moments to do with songs, my main

thought with this is actually when it appears in Gavin and Stacey, it doesn't actually appear but it's sung by the characters, where when they're talking about whether to have beef or bream, sea bream, at a wedding and Smithy and Pam sing between them, bream can come true. You know you got to have bream, you know you just got to have that bream. I have to start watching this show. Oh it's so good, it's so good. Anyway, but yes this is, it really benefits from context because I, I mean, I said this but way back in the first episode after we discussed Rise, which is I'd always kind of had Gabrielle down as like basically pleasant, but sort of, you know, safe, like adult contemporary

chill out, sort of a very, very inoffensive part of the market. And I don't think that's untrue but I don't mean that as any kind of insult now for sure because I do actually mean as a kind of compliment now because in context back in 1993 you know this is really fresh this is really nice to hear after the little bit of a mire that we've had in recent episodes this sounds really like rejuvenated and ready for the summer and light and crisp it's really nice to hear something like this and I always had it in my head that this came out much much later I think way until like right until

we started the show basically and we talked about Gabrielle in that first episode I always thought the dreams and rise came out like right around the same time like late 90s early noughties Had no idea Dreams came this early and I think it could fool you. It really does sound more recent than 93. I feel like we're travelling the path from Sleeping Satellite here, which is lovely because that seemed like a complete blind alley when we covered Sleeping Satellite. We hadn't heard anything like that since. But here we are back on the acoustic guitar acoustic guitar mid-tempo lovely female voice again adult

contemporary sort of contemplative kind of music and it's lovely it's really nice Gabrielle's voice is just like the smoothest silkiest thing that you can possibly imagine and that's a USP I guess isn't it really because it the music does all sound lovely and like I say it's got a nice feel to it, it has a very clear place in the landscape right now but it's that voice just so soothing you know it's singing about dreams coming true and that kind of nice aspirational uplifting quality really suits Gabrielle's voice so I think it's a really great partnership between song, singer and sound which is the sort of best compliment I can give it really. I don't think

it's like the best thing in the world like I don't think there's anything particularly innovative about it I don't think it's like really oh my gosh exciting I need to keep listening to it over and over again but I definitely am so much funder of this than I was even a couple of years ago. Like it's really grown on me and Gabrielle in general has really grown on me. It's interesting really that you know although plenty of artists have come back for a second go on this show none of them have ever taken as long as this. You know it's the whole tenure of our show that we've been waiting to speak about Gabrielle again and it's really benefited from that time with me. I've really allowed both RISE and just her as an artist in general to really percolate over these

last couple of years and I think this is about as good as Rise. I don't think it's really like any better than it to be honest but both of them I think deserve far more credit than they tend to get to be honest. So yeah a big thumbs up to this. One thing that does let it down and I don't even know if it let it, it's just a bit of a sort of humorous thing about it, is a little bit difficulty understanding some of the lines sometimes. Because her voice is so smooth and silky, it sometimes lacks consonants and has too many vowels to be honest. I remember back when I was in college my music tech teacher put on that song by the Cooke's that goes, oh you know she knows and then the quiz

question this was well this was in a quiz and the quiz question was what are the lyrics of the next line? Nobody got it right. Almost everybody gave a different answer. I thought it was I'm not from the West End, other people thought it was something different. Turns out it's I'm not fond of asking. The reason I bring that up is because I feel like you could do the same with this. Like you could ask someone to sing the song, Dreams can come true. Then, yeah come on, what's the next word?

I would never ever have guessed the right lyric for this. So I do think that's a little bit of a thing that I can't quite tell a blind eye to because I'm always just like what? Come on Gabby, use your consonants, come on. Anyway, but yes, this is really pleasant, really nice way to start the week and I wish we had more like this because this feels like proper 90s, this is proper 90s, it's good to have this around, yeah, like this. Yeah, I am very happy this week because it is defined at last I think by three songs in a row that all point forwards for the 90s in one way or another whether they intended to or not you know for the first time in our 90s

coverage I feel like none of the three songs we're covering could have come out in the 80s and fit right in you know like without anyone going hmm that's a bit weird like you know perhaps the Freddie Mercury one to a degree, because the original version of Living on My Own was from the 80s. But the electronica behind it feels like it's more reminiscent of the dance music you'd eventually get lots of around the turn of the millennium a little bit, just with the slightly bitcrush synths and things like that.

And the first one up this week, Dreams, I, like you, Andy, was so shocked to discover that this was released this early in the 90s. I cannot believe how early this was released. I think as a kid I knew her best from things like Rise and Out of Reach and When a Woman. I think Out of Reach was on the Bridget Jones soundtrack and my mum played that a lot. She did listen to that a lot. But I was aware of Dreams and always thought it just came out around the same time. I was surprised that it didn't because this feels very much at home in like 1998 or something. It sounds like something that the Spice Girls would do. You know, MAMA. It really sounds like MAMA.

It does sound like MAMA, yeah. Which we'll obviously get to in later years. It sounds like a good portion of Atomic Kitten's output as well. output as well. And I understand that it's cribbed from Fast Car, but I think this week is dominated by postmodern songs and artists maybe looking to the past but using it to make a sound for today and tomorrow. And beyond that, I've always been a fan of Gabrielle's voice, slightly iffy intonations at points aside. I think the think the lyrics are, "'Look at me, babe, I'm with you.'" I had to look at the lyrics to know that. I would never have figured it out.

Yeah, I had to look it up. My caveat here, my issue is that it's just pleasant is the first word I would use to describe it. And I don't really go for pleasant in my pop that much. It's got a lot going for it but it feels like I'm, I don't know, I'm struggling to understand exactly where she's coming from and exactly how she feels. I just feel like this doesn't have enough elation in it. It's just kind of pleased for itself. I don't feel the sense of daydreaming or, you know, I feel like it's

just very polite. I do like the thing but it's just too polite and I wish it made its point stronger and more assertively but happy to have Gabrielle here. Definitely a favourite, probably my favourite this week. I'm not sure, I'm a little torn on that because I think all three are pretty strong entries this week for different reasons but yeah happy happy with dreams. Ed, Gabrielle, how are you? I'm fine, thanks.

How are you? Yeah, I've not really got much to add. My first note that I've put here is just pretty lovely sounds lovely. And that's kind of it. And that's not a slight, but yeah, you use the word polite, Rob. And that's kind of it, and that's not a slight, but yeah, you use the word polite, Rob. And that's kind of how I feel,

because as much as it, it just, it sounds lovely. It's got a lovely combination of the acoustic and the synthetic. It's got a real bass presence that warms it, that firmly separates it from the kind of clattery, reverb heavy sound of the eighties. I think this is like, this is so clearly nineties production wise, I think.

And I don't know if it's just me. I've always thought it'd be an interesting question to ask, but this kind of production feels kind of optimal to me, sort of early nineties, before it all gets a bit too abrasive and the mastering goes bananas towards the end of the decade. But after the 80s, which often felt a bit synthetic and tinny and too echoey and things like that, but it might just be because this is when I was first exposed to music and it thus became my bass level. I mean what do you guys think? I mean do you think this this sort of thing has a particularly nice rounded sound compared to music from other decades or is that such a ridiculously broad statement to make?

Well it's it's I don't think it's like the nicest my favourite production I've ever heard. Oh no I'm not getting that far. No, no, and I do think like within the decade of the 90s, like this is something that really works. Like you can take this all the way through, like Rob said with Mama, but also Torn. I've also always absolutely loved Torn. And that's almost the end of the decade. And I do think there's a really great place for that. Not to mention other sort of more background things, let's say background, you know like indie music things

like Kiss Me that have come up and the Cranberries, you know, I think there's definitely a place for this soft acoustic mid-tempo kind of thing in the 90s that is just gorgeous to listen to. But there's parts of the, you know, let's go crazy with the mixing desk side of the late 90s that I really love like Fatboy Slim and I really like that kind of thing. So I'm not sure is the answer to your question. So yeah, I was, it was, it's too broad to really approach and it was such a broad assessment. I'm interested in what Rob thinks of that because I think it's probably a very different

answer to me. Yeah. No, I think that like there is a particular sound that comes through in the 90s and it's kind of like acoustic led female singer songwritery stuff. That's kind of, you know, it has a full band structure, but it's very pop oriented. Another one this actually reminds me of is one from the late 90s, just into the 2000s, that sitting down here by Lena Marlin or lean Marlin or Lenna I forget her name how it's pronounced but the speaking of it's another one with

really poor intonation where I can't tell what she's saying but the melody is that I'm sitting down here but I hear you can't see me kind of invisible you don't set that one the way like mmm what are you saying love I really this, but I wish I knew what you were saying so I could Google the lyrics or the title or anything But it's very similar to that as well where it's like I wouldn't say it has a necessarily it doesn't have a jazzy sound That's not that's not what it is at all, but it does feel like a very tight studio sound it feels Organic it feels like a lot of very warm 70s stuff but without that hiss yes the bass with more prominence I think that's what I in a from a really nerdy just pure like almost I think I'm more talking about

mixing in a way yeah it's like it just feels like all of the different ingredients are in just the right quantity and they can have a lot of bass presence without it overriding or becoming distorted. And yet you can have very, you know, high-fi gentle acoustic textures on top. I think this is a very, it's a very loose theory, but I just remember even when I first heard Nevermind by Nirvana, just showing that isn't exclusively

in this genre or aesthetic. I remember, I think I first heard that in about 2002 or 2003, the album as a whole that is, and I got it on like the original Geffen CD. But having listened to, because I was into that stuff at that age, a lot of like 60s and 70s stuff. Just listening to that and thinking like, ooh, how full everything sounds. You know, it sounds dry and it sounds like there were a lot of elements, but nothing's cluttered and it's got a kind of warmth to it. So it doesn't sound too synthetic.

But yeah, anyway, I'm just, that's a question for another day and I don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole. I think I'm just trying to find a question for another day. And I don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole. I think I'm just trying to find things to say that you two haven't already said. It's, you said polite. It's not the most dynamic thing in the world. It's just got a nice sort of upbeat sound. It isn't that long.

I just kind of wish that she deviated a little bit in the choruses with her singing because it's pretty much identical every time she sings it. And there are quite a few repeats. And it's almost like she's got the kind of voice that I think would benefit from a little bit more looseness sometimes, but she doesn't do it.

It just sort of repeats, repeats, repeats, repeats, and then the song fades out. And again, it seems like we're beating a dead horse with this one, but that is a recurrent problem, isn't it, really? Just the cut and copy aspect of repeats we've been getting. All right then, we will move on to our second song this week, which is this. This. When the time grew near for me to show my love The longer I stayed away from

Hiding from a word I need to hear now Don't think I'll hear it again But the nights were always warm with you Holding you right by my side But the night's world is warm with you Holding you right by my side When the morning hours comes too soon Before I even close my eyes, yeah All I do each night is pray Hoping that I'll be a part of you again someday.

All I do each night is sing, of all the times I close the door to keep my love within. Okay, this is Prey by Take That. Released as the second single from the group's second studio album titled Everything Changes, Prey is Take That's ninth single overall to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, and it's not the last time we'll be coming to Take That during our 90s coverage. Prey went straight in at number 1 as a brand new entry. It stayed at number 1 for...

FOUR WEEKS! In its first week atop the charts, it sold 82,000 copies beating competition from Will You Be There by Michael Jackson which climbed to number 9. In week 2 it sold 60,000 copies beating competition from Almost Unreal by Roxette which got to number 7. In week 3 it sold 54,000 copies beating competition from Living on My Own 93 by Freddie Mercury which got to number 5, Rain by Madonna which got to number 7, and This Is It by Danny Minogue which climbed to number 9. And in week 4 it sold 49,000 copies, beating competition from The Key, The Secret by Urban Cookie Collective which climbed to number 6. When it was knocked off the top of the chart, Prey fell two places to number 3. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 11 weeks.

The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2025. Could be pre-canter. We're getting quite close to that deadline. Ed, start us off with, take that. Well, first of all, the video is pretty hilarious, recommended. It's the boys voguing kind of meaninglessly and probably without much choreography on the beach just sort of flapping their arms around and doing all these dramatic letter shapes that don't actually mean anything, which is perhaps telling. But I clipped a bit of the video and put it on the WhatsApp chat.

And I remember asking, it's like, well, what are they doing? And I feel a little bit naive because, Rob, you gave a fair answer, but I feel almost I needn't have even asked because picking up on the fact that I'd watched this video several times, YouTube algorithm has just started recommending me hunky AI men with lots of open shirts and big ripped chests. There's that. There is that angle to their multifaceted appeal, visual appeal should I say when they first started. The first album, I have actually gone through and reviewed all of their albums for a project I did a while ago. The first album is a big pile of crap, but this pleasingly is from

the second album which sort of hones everything and some of them can actually sing now. It's really just Gary who could sing on the first one. Robbie, oh dear, he got better, I'll put it that way. He got better. I'm gonna say ouch for Robbie. Yeah, I'll let that pass. But yeah, it's um, first of all, Pray. Do you think Lizzie would have something to say about the title, given that this is a Gary Barlow pencil? Oh, I know, I know. Yes.

Didn't my notes that one? Yeah. I'll be honest, I kind of love this track. And I liked it going back to it more than I thought I would. The switch to the minor key for the verse to begin with is striking, which is not tremendously typical of Borlo's writing. Not to say anything against him, he's an incredibly solid and accomplished pop songwriter,

but excitement and unexpected shifts are not always what you expect from the man. and unexpected shifts are not always what you expect from the man. So when he does them, like here, and like particularly with that gorgeous bridge bit in the flood, many, many moons later, it's really striking. And there's lots of quite cool stuff happening. That bridge is really quite interesting and harmonically dextrous. And when it comes to the chorus, it lands quite organically and it sounds big and rich. And I remember thinking, it's like, what makes this chorus so kind of catchy? And I'm like, well, it's staggered first of all, in terms of when it lands on the beat. And also it's

kind of in triplets. and so it has a kind of polyrhythmic feel it's like that is a damn good chorus it's not perfect this and the main problem for me that stops it from truly revealing itself as a really good pop song which I think it is is that it's the production and mixing. It's a bit OTT. There's a little bit too much going on and it's a bit muddy really. It's like they kind of don't quite know which style to go for.

So they've gone for all of them. They're not certain if they want it to be New Jack Swing, a sort of down tempo thing, a la Crazy by Seal, which is a bit like what the verse sounds like, or Stockache in a Waterman. So it just sometimes sounds like a sound collage rather than a cohesive style. But if it wasn't just that little bit too murky

and unresolved, I would be vaulting this because I really do like this track quite a lot. It makes me quite happy, it's got a good spirit to it and I think it's a really, really well-written bit of pop music this. Yeah, I don't entirely disagree. Like I say, I think this is a strong week this week. I think, you know, with my thoughts on Prey, there's a sequence in the Robbie Williams film, that better man, where it kind of montages its way through a bunch of take that storylines.

And there's this bit where the voiceover from Robbie says, there were five of us in take that, but Gary had to be like the one, like the one at the front, you know, making sure that it was like his group kind of thing or something along those lines. And yeah, I do get the feeling sometimes that Gary didn't so much hand his songs over to the group, it was more that take that was more of a vehicle for his songs and his talent. And it means that while I definitely appreciate Gary is a great pop songwriter, there's just this little sense that he isn't happy with the spotlight being

on anyone else. And that's why he takes over the whole Song even though there's five of them in the crew, which is ironic because he looks bloody miserable in the video Yes, he does. Maybe he's acting a bit too hard. Um, I think it's because I'm more familiar with take that as a 2000s comeback group where it was more of a shared thing between Gary and Mark and Howard and Jason were also there and then when progress came through shared thing between Gary and Mark and Howard and Jason were also there. And then when progress came through, it was like Gary and Mark and Robbie and Howard and Jason are also there until Howard or Jason, one of the two, wasn't there at all and left. It feels a little bit like when we've talked about S Club 7 and it's a bit, you know, it's more Joe and the S Clubbers.

Like this is a bit Gary and the Four Vats. Like, you know, it's a lovely song though, even when he tries that falsetto in the final bridge. The, picture me it's a... It's slightly buried. It could be worse, but it could be better. Yes. I've found myself playing a little game as we've moved further through the 90s and it revolves around Derry Girls

which in its universe runs from 1994 to 1998 and there are often lots of big 90s needle drops in the show and I think Dreams and Prey is the first one, two we've come to where I could imagine them playing over a montage of the characters doing whatever. And Prey and Dreams are both in the first season of Derry Girls and so I think that kind of... I'm not going mad. It's that affectionately crappy midi synth, that stock-aching waterman thing. It puts it further ahead in time for some reason for me Because the sound of preg it comes from things I think like soul to soul Nenachery even Lisa Stansfield I think as well and kind of carries on through acts like M people and I was thinking of them Want to be the only one by eternal a little later down the line

It is later isn't it? Oh yeah, much later. But this is in a boy band context and Gary's kind of boyish prodigy personality gives it a nice lift. Take that recorded much better songs than this but they also recorded much worse songs than this. So I think I like this a fair chunk I think this is this is pretty much okay in my book more than okay definitely leaning towards a positive review for Prey. Andy how do we feel on on take that's first number one? Not as good as you two unfortunately and I hate to be the ghost of the feast. But yeah, it's interesting because I

have the same criticisms as you two. There isn't really any big bombshell for me to draw out here. I just feel more strongly about them, to be honest. I'm really glad I'm not the only one who is remembering the religious theme that Lizzie so ably pointed out back in the day because, yeah, it's pretty plainly obvious here and I'm really starting to wonder how we missed that until Lizzie told us about it. Like, how is that not a really obvious thing that everybody knows about because it's just right there in front of you so much of the time. But yes, I can't get past the production on this. I just can't. I...

Oh, it's not even that like I want to turn it down when I'm listening to it, because I don't want to do that, because I'd lose most of the song. I wouldn't really be able to hear the vocals if I turned it down to a level I was happy with, because it's specifically the percussion that it's just, it really gets in my ears it's not painful but it's like a sort of genuinely irritating how high in the mix those kind of clacky snare rims are

it's just really high in the mix and if I turn like say if I turn the whole song down it lose everything else so you just sort of have to grin and bury and I don't like that production at all it does very much feel like we've got Stock Akin-Wartman at home and I think when other people are trying to do it, I don't think Stock Akin-Wartman were like visionary geniuses or anything like that but I do think that what they did, they did best really and whether you like it or not is a different question but I do think that they knew how to do that. And when you get other artists or the producers trying to do that kind of turn of the 80s, 90s stock-cake and waterman sound, it gets like, I don't know, which makes everything sound like it could be the theme tune to Supermarket Sweep.

You know, it just it just sounds very daytime TV and very tacky. So I can't get past it. I think it really ruins the song, to be honest, because I think it's all right as a piece of music. And I'm sure that when they do this on their tours these days, they probably realize this so much better. I have no doubt of that at all, to be honest. I don't think it's anywhere near Gary Barlow's best songwriting,

like anywhere near Gary Barlow's best songwriting, like anywhere near. And I do think that second line of the chorus doesn't work, doesn't go, doesn't land in the way that the first line does. It's a, all I do each night is pray. And I want a second line to follow the same rhythm, but that second line just keeps going. I hope that I'll be a part of you again someday. I love that. I'm just thinking it'll keep going.

That's one of the things I really like about it oddly. I guess that's personal preference then. I think it's not quite the magnetic pristine hook that it could be because there's too many words in that second line but that's personal preference. So fair enough on that. I think what I like from Take That when they are good, and sometimes they can be really, really good. I thought Patience and Shine were both great when we covered them. I think Rule the World is tremendous and I wish we'd covered that.

By the way, did you mean, did you definitely mean the Flood when you said they, like, perfect bridge? Because Rule the World to me is undoubtedly the one with the perfect bridge. It doesn't have to be just one. There were some other good bridges. No, that's it. I'm not correcting you. I'm just sort of double checking because I think rule the world is like so good. So good.

The rule was great. But just that there's a very strident bridge. I think Rob knows what I mean. In flood. Yeah. You remember them sort of yelling over it. It's charging up and you don't often like, oh, it's charging up. And you don't often get that.

And it's just so when he can show that he can do these sort of slight left turns and things, it's like, ah, you know, he's not the anodyne sort of, you know, appeaser of a songwriter that he's often characterized as. Well, not always. No, not always. He's clearly, when he's in his groove, you know, he's a great songwriter and I do think that the years that it took between this and the more modern incarnation of them, although they're now nearly as old as this incarnation of them, I think that those years

of songwriting and working at his craft really helps because I do think that the more modern version of Take That, I think, is much much much better from an actual songwriting perspective. I do think the songs are just richer, they're just more full, they're more rounded, they're more satisfying. Maybe that's because it's my era, you know, so there's probably a huge amount of nostalgia baked into that but I do think that there's something not quite fully developed about this to be honest. It's fine as a fun, like funny, like silly pop song, you know, for a boy band. And please don't get me wrong and think that I am seeing an easy target with silly 90s boy bands because I love silly 90s boy bands.

There's going to be songs later in the decade by silly 90s boy bands. And I'm going to be vaulting that I absolutely love. Like, and I really liked a lot of take that stuff from the noughties. Like, it's not like a lot of Take That Stuff From The Noughties. Like, it's not like an easy target for me. But yeah, I was just disappointed by this really. I just thought it really needs a remix. Yeah, yeah, that is the biggest thing

that I think holds this back, certainly for me as well. I think that's, it is muddy, I think, unfortunately. I think there's a little bit too much going on. But I wouldn't, I think there's a little bit too much going on. But I wouldn't, I think there's a little bit more New Jack Swing going on than there is, you know, it's not just strictly the, you know, post-synth midi kind of stock-haken, Wharton thing. There's lots of buried samples and stuff. They're very off the rack. It's the kind of, oh yeah, thing again. But they kept trying to do that. They kept trying to position, take that as a kind of new Jack Swingy kind of band.

It's like, yeah, I'll agree. I fully agree with you both, I think that they would do better singles and they would get more confident. Cause I think the next album has a couple of their best on it, you know, not not to spoil they're coming up but at the same time I mean have you heard the rest of their you know original swan song album the third album? Not much. I don't think I have I think it's the

greatest hits that I've heard the one with the rainy cover is that an album or is that a greatest hit? That's the greatest hits and you've made the right choice because that last album outside like the two or three big singles is Pants. And basically it sounds like they're trying to do like an R Kelly or Morrison kind of thing and it's terrible. Gary doesn't belong anywhere near that kind of thing. And yet even here they're trying to introduce those elements and it's just not them.

It just doesn't work. It sounds so fake. But that is again, I don't have anything against silly 90s boy bands because like that's the thing that happens with them. They you know they try things out, they make them do things that don't work for them and it's really cringe when you look back but like that's part of the process you have to figure yourself out and they call the noughties version of Take That a man band because they're a boy band who's been able to grow into a man band and find their niche and you don't often get that long you know they're hardly the only ones who had big like cringy things that they did early in their career if you look at the exact clip

of One Direction when they did that cover of One Way or Another and Teenage Kicks where they're dancing outside down in the streets and the choreography that they are given is so funny. They are such awful dancers and the moves that they are given are so bad. You should really find that clip where every single one of them are doing something different that's just really, really funny. And so with this, it's like, yeah, they're terrible dancers in this video as well with what you could generously call the choreography Of laughing when they're doing a lot stuff between the arches and stuff bless them But I'm just trying to judges in its own right like in its own right if I was there in 93

I don't think I would have been particularly impressed. So maybe they'll maybe they'll win me around as we go Yeah, who knows? All right then. so our third and final song this week is this. I'm all lonely, living on my own Come on baby Sometimes I feel I'm gonna break down and cry Nowhere to go, not spending a dupin' my time I get lonely, so lonely living on my own Down to feel I'm always walking too fast And everything is coming down on me, down on me I go crazy, oh so crazy

Living on my own Okay, this is Living On My Own by Freddie Mercury featuring No More Brothers. Released as the lead single from his posthumous EP titled Remixes, Living On My Own is Freddie Mercury's 14th solo single overall to be released in the UK and his first to reach number 1, however as of 2025 it is his last. The single is a remix of the song originally recorded by Freddie Mercury which reached number 50 in 1985, more on that in a minute. Living on my own first entered the UK charts at number 5, reaching number 1 during its third week. It stayed at number 1 for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts it sold 48,000 copies beating competition from It Keeps Raining by Bitty McLean which climbed to number 5, The River of Dreams by

Billy Joel which climbed to number 6 and Nuff Vibes by Apache Indian, which got to number 8. And in week 2 it sold 57,000 copies, beating competition from Mr. Vane by Culture Beat, which climbed to number 6, and Higher Ground by UB40, which got to number 8. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Living on My Own dropped 1 place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104. 13 weeks! The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as a 2025 pre-cantar most likely but whatever. So Andy, how are we on Freddie Mercury?

Yeah, isn't it interesting that all three of the artists that we've covered this week, we've covered before, but it really doesn't feel like it because they're all in very different settings to what we've had of them before. Like with Gabrielle, the last time we talked about it was way back in the first episode of our show in the noughties. Take that also in the noughties, the last time we talked about them. And with Freddie Mercury, although it's a similar period of time, this is the first genuinely posthumous number one that he's had. Bohemian Rhapsody was right there in the event and it wasn't anything new. This is the first genuinely new posthumous thing that's been done. I know it's a remix of something but this is the first genuine honest to god, you know,

we're living in a world without Freddie Mercury and this is what we're getting posthumously. So this feels like a very different take as well. Not to mention that it sounds so different to what we'd usually associate with that voice. Like it feels like a weird mismatch at first because it's Freddie Mercury. You expect Brian May's guitars. You expect soaring, things around it. And that's not what you get with this. Like it's an interesting thought experiment really to think of what would Freddie Mercury have sounded like

in the nineties, in the noughties, God forbid in the tens or in the twenties. You know, it is an interesting thing to think about. Like people do that with the Beatles as well and think, what would the Beatles have sounded like in the 70s, 80s, 90s, noughties, etc. And I think this is like probably not a million miles away of what he would actually have kept doing in the 90s where he alive. I certainly think in terms of the lyrical stuff, this is really continuing the themes that we've talked about before with Freddie Mercury. I'm not in terms of the lyrical stuff, this is really continuing the

themes that we've talked about before with Freddie Mercury. I'm not getting on my soapbox again. I've done several gay corners about Freddie Mercury and I've really said my piece. I don't want to continue doing sermons about that. But I do think with this, to not at the very least, I don't think you'd necessarily get all the nuance of like, you know, what it's like to be semi closeted. You know, I don't think you'd necessarily get all the nuance of like you know what it's like to be semi closeted you know I don't think you'd get all of that nuance necessarily but I think not to at least note that there's something about his love life and his sex life that he doesn't feel able to be open with and that therefore creates loneliness I think you'd have to be willfully ignorant not to get that

to be honest and I do think willful ignorance is something that exists a lot around Freddie Mercury right up to the present day where you know there'll be songs that just like very clearly are getting to issues of identity and issues of you know old style masculinity against an LGBT identity that run into each other, stuff like I wanna break free, where it's right there in front of you. And still people to this day go, oh no, no, I never got that from him.

Why are you just not listening to it at all? I think it's really strange. I can't think of any artist that still to this day, there's such a level of willful unconscious ignorance about what he's getting at and about how he was never particularly surreptitious or trying to keep himself in the closet. Certainly not with something like this. And I think that the ideas that he gets through in the song are really interesting. The sheer loneliness that you get from, you know, not being able to be fully open and

comfortable and safe with your sexuality. I think that lonely, lonely thing that keeps going all the way through, I think it's really effective. And I think this is really interesting. And it makes me long for what Freddie Mercury might have had to say in a more liberated world where he could talk more honestly and where he might have felt more comfortable talking more honestly. I do think it's like it's really weird to hear 90s production in something like this with Freddie Mercury because it just feels like two different eras colliding and I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of it

so I sort of knock a few marks down for that but generally yeah I really like this it's probably my favorite of the week, mainly just because it makes me think, God, he would have had so much more interesting stuff to say. I can't stop thinking about it, to be honest. So yeah, I think this has a lot of value. And I don't often say that about, I'm not going to call them cash grabs

because this is not a cash grab. It's been genuinely re-released, re-imagined, you know. But I don't generally like posthumous stuff, but this is worthwhile. This is worthwhile. This is the kind of stuff that I think he might have liked re-released, re-imagined, you know, but I don't generally like posthumous stuff, but this is worthwhile, this is worthwhile, this is the kind of stuff that I think he might have liked to talk about more if he had been alive. So it's not quite a gay corner but it's certainly got that part of my brain wearing again. So yeah, really liked this, yeah.

Ed, do you feel similarly? I like it as well, as I say, it's not quite a vault, but you know, it's very much... He's giving it 120% on this for sure. I agree that it not only sounds odd having him on 90s production, it sounds especially odd because this has effectively been cut off something else and added to a new musical backing. And so one of the weird things about this is, I mean, probably the limitations of, you know, very speeding and pitch adjustment at the time, I'm not sure,

but it sounds slightly off key in places in a little bit of a cringy way. And I don't think that's Freddie's fault. I think it's just where the new music track falls very flatly and cleanly on a certain pitch that the original didn't. I only heard the original today, actually, the 1985 version. I feel it is a bit more dynamic than this. I also feel it's a bit more dated and clunky, however.

This is a little more streamlined, so six or one half a dozen of the other, I think. It's very erasure, that musical backing. So it's in its very stylized retrofuturist house kind of sound. It already sounds kind of dated in a certain way. So it's actually in some ways even though we had a song to start with that was like guitars and strings and things, this sounds oddly more dated than that. But it works for a lot of the time. However, the constant does wear a bit because the level of the track, sort of volume wise, and it doesn't really vary that much and I find it gets a little bit fatiguing. It's only really Freddie's, you know, bouncing melody and projection

that's kind of keeping it, you know, interesting in a way. And, you know, I, after we were talking earlier, to be honest, sometimes with pop tracks, I actually, I tend to overlook the lyrics sometimes. It's not always the first thing I go to. I look for the kind of the feel of the track, but listening a bit more closely, there are some very, you know, interesting lines in this. I like the, sometimes I feel like I'm walking too fast. I'm like, that's a really interesting line

that you can read quite a lot into, like someone is literally out of step. But it could equally mean, you know, I move too fast in relationships, you know, I can't, I feel restless. But it can also mean it's like, I don't sometimes feel like this world is ready for me in a certain way.

I do find that the full on sort of screamy, fist pumpy aspect of the track is a little bit at odds with its theme. Almost in a way, in the same sort of way that I was saying with Somebody to Love just last week actually, it's very, very loud and declarative about being very isolated which always seems a little bit odd personally to me.

I don't see why not, you know, it's a declaration of something, you know, what better stage is there to make the micro-macro, to make the unheard loudly proclaimed than in a pop song. But in some ways I think there are a lot of tracks that deal with loneliness in a sense that is perhaps a little bit more empathic in terms of how it feels at the time, the isolation, the cold, the distance. Whereas this is very much a louder in your face declaration. Again, there's not necessarily anything aesthetically wrong with that. It just doesn't quite carry to me beyond the lyrics and what I know contextually in the

same way that if it was a little bit more, a little bit more, you know, rested in some ways the track, a little bit more, it had a bit of that consternation about it and wasn't so full-on if that makes sense. But I do like this and you know it's got it's Freddie Mercury, great singer, loads of character and it's a fun track. It's just I'm not tremendously convinced about the... I don't think that the dance backing really lives dynamically up to what's happening in the foreground so it does feel a little bit cheap to me and it does run out of tricks very very quickly. Oh my god it sounds like I'm saying the same thing every bloody song review. Am I just

old? Is that just it now? I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Popso's too repetitive. Have you never heard of Bruckner's symphony? If I could just pick up something you said there, because with the, you know, talking about that walking too fast line and the sense of frustration that seems to be there in the lyrics, I do think that like back in the day when we talked about all the things you said by Tattoo and I think the line in that that makes it truly special is that this is not enough refrain. That like that just gets to the heart of so much stuff about the queer experience that

phrase this is not enough. And I do think that's in this, like that feeling that that line creates in all the things she said stuff like that walking too fast that's in this. Just there's a kernel of that in there. And that's what I mean when I say like, I'd love to hear him, you know, in more liberated areas, being able to go more into that with his lyrics. I do think there's something in that

that will later blossom into big, big anthems. It was almost perhaps more difficult because he was appealing to like rock audiences as well. Whereas, you know, perhaps other groups, you know, you've got things like Bronski Beat and the Pet Shop Boys, there was almost more of an allowance to be a bit more, you know, declaratively camp in a certain way than there was with rock audiences where it was, do you think that played into it maybe? Yes, I do. I think there was a certain amount of, I'm not going to say mainstream because all the examples you've given there are very mainstream bands, but there was a certain

amount of, you know, coming up through work and men's clubs and pubs. Like both both my mum and my husband's mum both saw Queen in pubs in the 70s, like actual pubs. And like they come up through these places where they were exposed to, like completely salt of the earth, working class fans of theirs, who would not have had particularly progressive views. And I do think that sort of stayed with them where they were right at the forefront of pop culture, not in a particularly progressive way. They were there in a very mainstream, very kind of proud British tradition kind of way. And I think that was a hard thing to scrub off. And I think something that made them hesitant to ever get truly, truly bold and truly subversive

in the way that Pet Shop Boys and Bronski Beat and Erasure to some extent, you know, that they could all be that because they were never like the bastion of British music that had come up through all these working class roots, whereas Queen had. I think there is something to that. Yes. A little bit of classic gay shame that they never quite shook off, to be honest. Yeah. Well, thinking about it, I mean, it's looking at it that way. It's sadly logical maybe that it took until 1997 for Rob Hulford, the rock god, sorry, the metal god, to come out. Because, you know, if you think that the kind of hard rock community was pretty unforgiving, then, you know, the metal community, especially in the States where they were huge, a lot of homophobia, as you can probably imagine. So that was a, that must have been a rough one, even though he was, look at some of his songs.

He references gay clubs back in the 70s, like by name. And people just blindly denied it, or just, it was so odd. Jawbreaker. It is transparently a song about sucking cock. It, and people just, would just factor it out, because he's the all macho, you know,

hetero metal god. Amazing. Amazing. The willful. Just to say that there are still whole genres that are not quite a closed door, but that you are not particularly welcome in these days. I think probably the genres that tend to be combined with a inherently not inherently, but a largely right-wing audience. Like country music in America. It's still very, very difficult to break into that if you're anything other than straight white.

Yeah, it's getting a little bit better, but the macho-ness of rap is still definitely there. I think the fact that with this whole Kendrick Drake thing that happened in 2024, the fact that we went through that whole beef without any homophobic slurs was a surprise to me. But we still got lots of, well, I don't think you're masculine enough. We still got lots of that. There wasn't like any actual like, you are this, you are that. I mean, Jesus Christ, if you listen to No Vaseline, I mean, yeah, that's like, it's from a different, I mean, that's from around the, you know, it's from around this time, it's, you know, it was very early 90s and so... You can litigate against the slurs, but that doesn't change the culture, does it?

No. It just pushes it a little underground. It's funny you should mention that, the Kendrick Drake thing, because I was just thinking about slurs but that doesn't change the culture does it? It just pushes it a little underground. It's funny you should mention that the Kendrick Drake thing because I was just thinking about rap music and other than Lil Nas X I still think it's a bit of a closed door there. I can't think of any other queer male rappers but maybe I'm just not very enlightened. There's a few I mean there's Tyler the Creator who came out as bisexual in 2016, 2017. All right, okay.

And had a bit of a change in career direction, but yeah, it's still how do I put this? Mickey Blanco? Yeah, whenever the question, I mean, Frank Ocean, but again, he's not really a rapper. He's not really a rapper, is he? He's more of a singer. And to be honest, he just doesn't make music anymore.

He was hanging around with Odd Future and Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt and all those about sort of like 15 years ago, but he very quickly departed from Odd Future, went solo and hasn't recorded any new music in a long time. But yeah, there is still in, I would say, in rock less so these days, but it's more like pop rock and it's stuff where there's still this macho element to it, I think. It became trendy-ish, trendier and more acceptable in the 2000s for a lot of male metal vocalists, sort of in the core scenes, like in the death core scenes and the metal core scenes, to sort of be a bit more open about the fact that they were fluid with their sexuality and stuff, but they were still hammered to death by true

metal fans for like being too girly. And like this is only like 15 years ago really, like you know Oliver Sykes of Bring Me the Horizon was asked why he has a tattoo of a penis on his leg and he said oh it's because I like cock. And that was around the point where it was like, if that came out of an interview, metal fans would just be like, oh, see, this is why I hate them.

This is why I hate them kind of thing. And it's still a bit like that in rap, but it's better. But whenever straight rappers are put forward the question, why is there still a bit of a problem in rap with the fact that there isn't much homosexual or bisexual representation? It's all very like, well, I don't have a problem with it, but... And the but always like... The answer is always like, well, it's a very macho genre and it's still about one-upping other people and it's still about like, you know, trying to be better than other people and

Stuff and if you show anything as an even slight weakness, it's like they'll just hammer on that and you'll never get away from it I mean they keep believing that they can keep believing that all these beefs make them really match I'd like I think it's a gay shit in the world to be honest Honestly, it's really really erotically charged up Like the Kendrick Drake thing and stuff like that. I think, I don't know, it's just my taste. It's like how there's been traditionally so much homophobia in professional wrestling. Now as much as I find it charming, it's pretty gay. A lot of that stuff is gay.

It's very gay. It's very gay. Yeah. As for me, be the dee da rumpee pumpy, Fred. Be the dee da rumpee pumpy, Fred. Be the deeter, run pe pumpy, indeed. Got to be some guitars ahead. I will say, as much as Freddie gave the dance pop thing a go in the eighties on that one album he did, that solo album, that Mr. Bad Guy,

and as much as I'm angry about his death anyway, oh, listening to this, I completely agree, Andy. I think Freddie being allowed to flourish as a solo artist in an era when we've just passed them take that they were being marketed towards gay clubs and gay fans initially. George Michael's about to throw a lot of sex back into his music a couple of years from now. The 90s were made for Freddie in a way to come into his own. And with this, you can imagine the lights going down and the multicolored lasers coming out, Freddie having the

best time with this because I think if I wasn't slightly familiar with the original already, if I'd been living under a rock and didn't know Freddie was dead, I think you could have fooled me that this was very current, this 90s remix, perhaps even later than 93. I definitely prefer the kind of fidgety, upright synth pop of the original song, but this remix feels true to Freddie's personality at the very least, doesn't hide from what he wanted

to do outside of Queen and the kind of itches that he wanted to scratch creatively where he's still around at this point. Just the lyrics as well, it does the whole, you know, happy song, sad lyrics kind of thing. Sometimes I feel I want to break down and cry. It's just, yeah, you know, often the strongest sentiments are expressed in the most simple and blunt ways. And I was also really touched by a comment underneath the YouTube video for living on my own which said the saddest thing is he is gone never to be replaced or repeated

King and Queen and I just I thought about Calling him King and Queen and I thought that was so lovely because we've just talked about it now But you know even watching the video for living on my own or I want to break free or you know, all of that, some people will overlook what he's trying to say with it. You know, I felt this way looking at the innuendo video and seeing what people were saying about it.

There seems to be this, I don't know if it's deliberate, but people seem very content with just remembering him as a rock god. Not only that, but I think people like people who are British, they tried to claim him as like, you know, a British rock god. You know, like it was, I just I feel like sometimes people forget that like he was a, he was a bisexual man that was born in Tanzania or Zanzibar as it was known. And I just I feel like people try to just dismiss that side of him. They try to ignore him a little bit

and they don't really acknowledge the other side of him. You know, the video for living on my own is queer coded to fuck. I mean, it's not actually to fair, it's not even queer coded. It's just very blatant. It's overt. It's right there.

He's like sharing very tight camera spaces with drag queens. And, you know, I imagine there were quite a lot of, I guess, you know, in the 80s, they would have just been referred to as transvestites. Like, they're all there. He invited them. The music video wasn't shot as a music video. It was a birthday party for his 39th birthday in the 80s and he invited 300 people to this club in Munich. It was a gay club in Munich and they had a big party and they

just had some cameras around and they shot and edited it all together and stuff but it was like part of this big party. They weren't people he'd hired for the video, they were people he knew and loved and wanted to spend a lot of time with. And it's refreshing, I think, with that YouTube comment, for somebody to see him and connect with him in that way, probably in a second language. And I just thought, you know, from across the world, they've connected with him and that side of him in that way, they've seen that side of him and they've acknowledged it without all the context that gets deliberately put in front of it, I think. I would say the original video was banned by the BBC and it was kind of sabotaged by

his own label as well, which I think is why the song performed so poorly relative to expectations. And no one knew about this until this song came out and The the remix video for it and it was released a major acclaim of popularity And I'm not saying that the world was more enlightened in 1993. It definitely wasn't I don't even think it's more enlightened now I think you know think things are definitely better, but I think enlightened is the wrong word and Just kind of listening to it and just I'm not gonna vault it I think I have issues with it like it like with you Ed I have issues with the mixing I think sometimes the backing track is a bit clean and it doesn't follow Freddie's voice quite enough it doesn't

follow his direction in that way you know like you're saying there are bits that sound a bit out of key and it's awkwardly dissonant in places because I think it's more of a mashup than a you know a genuine like you know remix or whatever but still I just I feel like there's a I feel so sad it's so weird I'm like grieving songs that never existed if you know what I mean but could you imagine Freddie turning up on like doing a guest spot on Fast Love or something. Oh. And like, do you know what I mean? After this, like considering how similar I think we've established that George Michael

and Freddie's voices were, I just, yeah, I just, I feel like he'd sound so at home on it. And yeah, and so it's got me, it's had me thinking to very interesting stuff this week. Like I say, it's not, I'm not vaulting it, but I have thought so much about this song this week and about the kind of future that never happened and that sort of thing. And it's not just me, you know, selfishly thinking like, you know, oh, what all this great pop music, you know, Freddie, to be fair, Freddie could have lived and just

decided in 1994 or whatever, just to be like, right, I'm done. I'm going to retire now. I'm gonna retire now. I'm gonna go back to Munich. I lived there for a bit in the eighties. I'd like to just stay there and disappear, to be honest. Bowie went through periods of disappearing and not releasing any music and stuff. So, you know, it's not like he would have carried on

churning stuff out, but it makes me mourn things that don't exist. And for that reason, I do. I have a lot of sympathy and a lot of enjoyment from this. I don't know if you two want to carry on. Yeah, just to echo exactly what you said, it is incredibly frustrating to think about the opportunities that could have arisen in the 90s. And again, I know I sort of said it myself, but again, just to reaffirm that point of like, how obvious is it here? It's

like, oh, I guess I'm getting into a gay corner, mind a is it here it's like oh i guess i'm getting into a gay corner minor gay corner here but like when you see people say in a very very genuine way like there's no like sarcasm at all people say oh i really long for a world when people don't have to come out and then on the other side it's like people say oh well freddy mercury never really came out it's like are say, Oh well Freddie Mercury never really came out. It's like, are you serious? Like, okay, he never like did an interview

and said the words, I am bisexual or anything else. But like, come on. Like have you seen some of the stuff he was doing in the eighties? You know, it's, it's, yeah. I think never underestimate the ability of some people to not see what is right in front of their eyes.

And we were moving into a time in the 90s where it was slightly more, you know, people were slightly more enlightened where they might see what's below the surface layer. But it's extraordinary that in the 80s, you know, there's just some people who just had no ability to see what was right in front of them. And that's still the case these days to some extent Well, you know I always wonder how like like my family like didn't on didn't see all the signs with me because it was not hard to tell that I was going to be gay, you know, but like

Yeah, it's frustrating because you think like there's someone like him. He's like having like these gay club drag queens massive Party music videos and people say oh well he never really came out come on come on I think to be honest it is from a place of complete ignorance where it's like yeah they just don't it just doesn't enter there it didn't even like in the 70s and 80s the kids growing up if it probably just didn't even enter their heads like and a lot Of them I mean to be fair, you know

my mom's quite a unique case because for someone in her age group my mom's always been very kind of Live and let live and kind of open with that kind of stuff and she's never really Cared much but she always used to say the same about boy George where like, you know When boy George was on top of the pops and her dad would go, oh, is that a boy or a girl? And then she'd go, well, I don't know. And I don't really care. I just really like, do you really want to hurt me?

And I think that she said that a lot of people kind of took a similar attitude with Queen, where it was like the question of his sexuality just never really, kids anyway, it just kind of never really entered their heads. I think for a lot of people it's just they don't engage with that part of it. I don't think they're saying it's anything they actually actively try and deny, but it's just something like...

It's just... It's just not part of the equation for them. It is two categories of people though, because again, this is why I mentioned willful ignorance ignorance because I think if you've seen this video then it's hard to not it's hard for the thought not to enter your head. I'm being generous when I say hard there like it's almost impossible for thought not to enter your head and that's that's willful ignorance. I think for a lot of people it's just a general sense of well you didn't engage that closely with

Queen or with Freddie Mercury so it doesn't enter head. And that's still exists to this day. And there's often no mouse to that. I well, I wouldn't know who it is, but someone of the generation above me asked me recently if Alan Carr was gay. So like, it's unbelievable how low some people's gay heart is, and that's not that's that's fine. Like, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's always been the way.

Look, bloody. I mean, like Frankie Howard and things, could they broadcast it it any fucking louder? Yeah. And everybody would have been absolutely appalled if they'd found out that he'd had relations with a man. Appalled? Loads of people don't realise Julian Clary is gay. Oh my fucking god!

And Joe Lyset, I know Joe Lyset is bi, but loads of people don't realise that about him. It's astonishing how bad some people's gaydar is. And that's totally fine. Like, I don't don't realize that about him. It's astonishing how bad some people's gaydar is and that's totally fine. Like I don't want to hold that against him. But like I said there is the second category which is willful ignorance where if you watch a video like this it's very very hard for the scales not to drop in your eyes very slightly, surely. I don't know I don't think that's asking too much but yeah. Alright then so we're going to wrap up this week. So Andy, dreams, pray and living on my own.

How are we feeling? Well dreams can come true, but for this occasion, Gabrielle, your dream doesn't come true. I just sound like I'm not sending her through from Judge's house as well. And then a hero comes along. Anyway, no, that's not going anywhere. It was close, but it's not going anywhere. As for prey, well, they better prey that they don't end up in the pie hole because there are many more like that and they might do.

It's staying in the middle for this week though. And as for living on my own, well, it's not living on its own. It's living with dreams and prey because that's staying in the middle as well. Okay, that's me done. Alright then, Ed, Gabrielle, take that and Freddie Mercury. Pie holes only happen when I hate it. And folding only if I truly read it, whenever I want you, all I've got to do is stand on an adequately flat surface because it's fine, it's not going anywhere really. Far from prone manufactured prey,

take that just falls slightly short of being an apex pop predator. And I am slightly disappointed not to be able to vault it, I'll be honest. And while far from a freeze-out, Mercury fails to rise sufficiently for a vaulting. Very good. So for me, Dreams and Gabrielle, just missing the vault, it's not quite there, a little too polite. Prey is a little further down the list but still nowhere near the pie hole so it's a little further down the table. Living on my own is up with dreams I think. Not my favorite this week I think

they're kind of joint favorites they're kind of going up and down but living on my own did make me think more so a very good week no vaults but I don't know I may reconsider later about living on my own, to be honest. So maybe that makes it my favorite of the week. So when we come back next time, we will be continuing our journey through 1993 and we will see you for it. Thank you very much and bye bye now. Bye. Bye bye. Bye! Younger girl