Personal:

While trying to cope with the day, I get whapped upside the head again

While trying to cope with a world seemingly turned upside-down, with a leader of Russia lecturing the United States on the nature principles of democracy (and making sense, if not truly following those principles), and with the United States Senate passing a bill with an amendment that makes a machine readable ID mandatory for performing the most basic acts of travel, opening a bank account, and other common, everyday matters (more on this in a later post, once I can write about it coherently), I tried to distract myself by reading the biographies that WinAmp provides for the groups that come up on my random playlist generated from my music library.

In the time when I am trying to cope with a week filled with irony, I read this:

Few bands embodied the pure excess of the'70s like Queen. Embracing the exaggerated pomp of prog rock and heavy metal, as well as vaudevillian music hall, the British quartet delved deeply into camp and bombast, creating a huge, mock-operatic sound with layered guitars and overdubbed vocals. Queen's music was a bizarre yet highly accessible fusion of the macho and the fey. For years, their albums boasted the motto "no synthesizers were used on this record ", signaling their allegiance with the legions of post-Led Zeppelin hard rock bands. But vocalist Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant sense of camp to the band, pushing them toward kitschy humor and pseudo-classical arrangements, as epitomized on their best-known song,"Bohemian Rhapsody". Mercury, it must be said, was a flamboyant bisexual who managed to keep his sexuality in the closet until his death from AIDS in 1992. Nevertheless, his sexuality was apparent throughout Queen's music, from their very name to their veiled lyrics -- it was truly bizarre to hear gay anthems like "We Are the Champions" turn into celebrations of sports victories. (note, emphasis added)

I lived in that time. Not that I was fooled at the time, much less now, but having it pointed out by someone else is rather jarring, even to cynical old me.

Perhaps one day I can describe the incredible dichotomy between the gay anthem versus the jock culture in the high schools of the time.

Until then just trust me. The irony is truly painful...

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