"I won't be a rock'n'roll star. I will be a legend."
Freddie Mercury

"The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is a part of us, and we want to be dandy."

"Years ago, I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name. But it's regal, obviously, and sounds splendid. I like to be surrounded by splendid things."

"'Bohemian Rhapsody' didn't just come out of thin air. I did a bit of research, although it was tongue in cheek and it was a mock opera. Why not? I certainly wasn't saying that I was an opera fanatic and I knew everything about it."

"A lot of people slammed 'Bohemian Rhapsody', but who can you compare that to? Name one group that's done an operatic single. You know, we were adamant that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' would be a hit in its entirety. We have been forced to make compromises, but cutting up a song will never be one of them."

"I think my melodies are superior to my lyrics. 'Death On Two Legs' was the most vicious lyric I ever wrote. It's so vindictive that Brian felt bad singing it. I don't like to explain what I was thinking when I wrote a song. I think that's awful, just awful. When I'm dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance."

"We've been slagged in the press for our flamboyant stage show. We think a show should be a spectacle. A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It's a theatrical event."

"The album track Living on My Own is very me. I have to go round the world living in hotels. You can have a whole shoal of people you know looking after you. But in the end they all go away. But I'm not complaining. I'm living on my own and having a boogie time."

"I'm a man of extremes, you know, I sort of change from day to day like a chameleon and each day is different to me and I look forward to that. I don't want to be the same person every day."

"Does it mean this, does it mean that, that's all anybody wants to know. F*** them, darling. I say what any decent poet would say if you dared ask him to analyse his work: If you see it, dear, then it's there."

"We aimed for the top slot. We were not going to be satisfied with anything less."

"When I look back on all that black varnish, chiffon, satin and that, I think, God, what was I doing?"

"I do deliver sex appeal. It's part of modern Rock. I sell sex appeal with my body movements on stage."

"My songs are like Bic razors. For fun, for modern consumption. You listen to it, like it, discard it, then on to the next. Disposable pop."

"I'm quite aware of what's going on, but that doesn't mean that I want to incorporate trends into our songs. I write a song the way I feel it, and if that means bringing in something old-fashioned, I'll do that. I will never let the song down."

"We were always a sitting target in the press because we became popular so quickly. But, you know, we spent two years putting our act together. It destroys the soul to hear that you're all hype, that you have no talent, and that your whole career has been contrived. I was never too keen on the British music press. They've called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn't write our own songs. When the whole point of Queen was to be original."

"That song 'We Are The Champions' has been taken up by football fans because it's a winners' song. I can't believe someone hasn't written a new song to overtake it."

"I hate actually trying to analyze my songs to the full, people still ask me what Bohemian Rhapsody is about and I tell them I don't know."

"Roger and I go pouncing and ultrablagging just about everywhere and lately we've been termed a couple of queens."

"I wrote it (Crazy Little Thing Called Love) in the bath. I actually dragged an upright piano to my bedside once. I've been known to scribble lyrics in the middle of the night without putting the light on."

"We've all had ego problems, like any other group, but we've never actually let it go that far where we actually say ok forget it, because I think we've all, the four of us have actually said that this chemistry that's worked really well for us, so why go kill the goose that laid the golden egg, and, the survival instinct that I have in me and I think the whole group has, through anything we will carry on, you know, until one of us drops dead or something, we'll just replace. I mean if I suddenly left, or have some sort of mechanism, you know, and they'd just replace me. Not easy to replace me... huh?"

"I have to win people over, otherwise it's not a successful gig. It's my job to make sure people have a good time. That's part of my duty. It's all to do with feeling in control. That song We Are The Champions has been taken up by football fans because it's a winners' song."

"I'm so powerful on stage that I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man."

"I just love being pampered it's just something that's grown with me. I mean, I can't even make myself a cup of tea. I'm useless at it, so I have someone else to do it for me. That's the kind of environment I live in, my dear! "

"Interview?? Oh don't be ridiculous!"

"When I look back on all that black varnish, chiffon, satin and that, I think, God, what was I doing?"

"I can be very soft, slushy and mushy."

"I don't like doing interviews because if you plunk a tape recorder in front of me I just clam up, you know?"

"I was also pleased with my voice. I like it husky. It's all the smoking. That's why I smoke -- to get that husky voice."

"Have I got upper class parents who put a lot of money into me? Was I spoilt? No. My parents were very strict. I wasn't the only one, I've got a sister. I was at boarding school for nine years so I didn't see my parents that often. That background helped me a lot because it taught me to fend for myself."

"I'm riddled with scars and I just don't want any more."

"I want to do it my way. I sound like Frank Sinatra!!"

"When you're a celebrity, it's hard to approach somebody and say: 'Look, I'm normal underneath.' Then what happens is the tread all over me because by trying to be normal to somebody, suddenly I've come out of my shell and become far more vulnerable than most people."

"I find even when people have let you down, you just want to go on stage. It's very gratifying to know that all sorts of people want you."

"I was wearing a white scarf and holding a glass of wine when I was introduced to Prince Andrew. But I was so nervous I didn't realize that my scarf was dangling in the drink. There I was trying to be really cool and suddenly the Prince said, 'Freddie, I don't think you really want this getting wet.' He squeezed out the scarf and that broke the ice between us. I said, 'Thank goodness you've put me at ease. Now I can use the odd bit of dirty language.' He really got into the spirit of things and even had a dance. He's really quite hip in those sort of situations. I have a lot of respect for Royalty, I'm a tremendous patriot."

"If I tried that on, people would start yawning. 'Oh God here's Freddie saying he's gay because it is so trendy."

Love is Russian roulette for me. No one loves the real me inside, they're all in love with my fame, my stardom... I have this hard, macho shell, which I project on stage, but there's a much softer side too, which melts like butter."

"The bigger, the better... in everything."

"Boredom is the biggest disease in the world, darling. Sometimes I think there must be more to life than rushing round the world like a mad thing getting bored."

"I don't like the way my teeth protrude. I'm going to have them done, but I just haven't had the time. Apart from that... I'm perfect."

"I like leather. I rather fancy myself as a black panther."

"In terms of love, you're not in control and I hate that feeling. I seem to write a lot of sad songs because I'm a very tragic person. But there's always an element of humour at the end."

"At this point in time I think if I had long hair and fingernails and wearing those things, I would look ridiculous... I mean I looked ridiculous then, but it worked."

"Ah! I'm not supposed to talk to you!"

"I always knew I was a star. And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me."

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