Mother Love

Freddie Mercury, frontman of Queen, died in 1991 a few months after I was born. His music and influence lives on decades after his death, and is even played on popular Radio stations to this day. This proves just how good their music and performances were, he had the ability to absolutely capture an audience . But after his passing, underneath that there was that word "AIDS" which tainted people's perception of him. In the 80s and 90s AIDS was still highly stigmatized and misunderstood. I remember when they taught us about AIDS in school, it was portrayed as if it was a life sentence, no going back, "do not pass go" straight to the grave, after a miserable short life. After Freddie's diagnosis many interviews by the media painted him as a deviant. As I grew up I learnt more and more about Queen unfortunately we did not really see these amazing electrified performances by queen, only after the internet was widely available was that an option.  I also learnt he did so much positive for  music, the world and AIDS awareness. He was a tour de force, it seemed tragic that this great band and performer that achieved so much could so easily just be easily wrapped up in this thinly veneered label (even though it never ruined Queen/Freddie ). I think my thoughts on this are largely due to the times I grew up in and the way AIDS and any non-conforming sexual preferences and practices were viewed by mainstream society in the 80s and 90s during the AIDS crisis. I think of people like the artist Keith Haring as well, who did so much for so many and yet also hanging above his head was that label "AIDS". The world has come a long way since then, freedom of sexual preference is mostly accepted, sexual health is now something that can be spoken about, maybe not to all, there are now options. People like Freddie paved the way for that and stood up in the face of adversity, not just as an ally or supporter but as someone (openly admitting )  affected first hand, i think how difficult it must have been to not only fight his own physical and mental battles, but to fight the whole world in a way. All the while not just surviving and making a huge impact but thriving and giving amazing performances filled with energy and life. He embodied “ The show must go on”