QUEEN- I want to break free

Case study two, A British band.

Use of Goodwin’s theory1. Genre conventions;The band is called Queen, they are a British Glam Rock/ classical rock band. I have chosen to look at the song ‘’I want to break free’’ by them, which was released in 1984 and is on their album ‘The Works’. The song got up to number 3 in the UK charts, but caused a stir amongst the USA and only got to 45 in their charts.

The band consists of 4 members, Freddie Mercury who is lead singer and pianist, Brian May who plays guitar and some vocals, John Deacon who is both bass and guitarist, and Roger Taylor who is on drums and some vocals.

Conventions of Glam rock music

Glam Rock started in the 1970’s in the UK, and was recognized by their extreme choice in clothes, hair, and were described as looking ‘camp’ so more feminine than the norm for males. Glam rock bands had their rock and roll music, but were knownmore for their outrageous clothes choice and it wasn’t a thing that had been seen very much before. They were recognized by their representation of androgyny, so they had both male and female characteristics about themselves.

What’s a stereotypical video?

Glam Rock videos appear to have a lot of performance involved, as they show off their eccentric clothing. They include things such as drums, guitars and the singer. Early 80’s Glam rock seemed to have a motif of big wavy hair. And often they had sunglasses and moustaches. The lighting was often dark.

Do they use or go against conventions?

In other Queen music videos they go along with this convention well, however in this one I don’t think they do. They do dress eccentric, but not in a Glam rock style. The only note to show this is the newspaper one of the members is holding says something about rock and roll. We don’t see any instruments to suggest the genre, but we can here the guitar easily so that gives it away.

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ualsI want to break free

I want to break freeI want to break free from your liesYou're so self satisfied I don't need youI've got to break freeGod knows, God knows I want to break free.

I've fallen in loveI've fallen in love for the first time

And this time I know it's for realI've fallen in love, yeahGod knows, God knows I've fallen in love.

It's strange but it's trueI can't get over the way you love me like you doBut I have to be sureWhen I walk out that doorOh how I want to be free, babyOh how I want to be free,Oh how I want to break free.

But life still goes onI can't get used to, living without, living without,Living without you by my sideI don't want to live alone, heyGod knows, got to make it on my ownSo baby can't you seeI've got to break free.

I've got to break freeI want to break free, yeahI want, I want, I want, I want to break free.

Does it link?

I think that they do link because the whole concept goes with what they are singing about for example ‘’I want to break free’’ which is shown by them breaking out and dressing up as a 80’s stereotypical housewife. And it also shows how they are breaking from the norm and doing something outrageous as in the 80’s no one had seen something like this before, so they are making themselves stand out and therefore became more well known. In the second part of the video we see Freddie Mercury topless, as he opens his arms this also suggests freedom as he bares himself.

Music link with video

I think there is links with music and the video, straight away in the beginning the music is quite slow, which goes with the video as they wake up. But, even with little things, such as when Freddie is hovering the music almost sounds like it moves along with him. Then we see a low angled shot of one of the band members legs, which moves to the beat of the music.

I noticed that just went the beat almost stops in order for the first word of the verse the frame almost freezes, until then the beat comes back into it which then people move again. In the scene with the dark room with people with lights you can see that the people with the lights walk forward in time with the music. The dances also move with the music in a more sexual way, and it suggests the guy has the most power as he is surrounded by the women, as they all reach up slowly to touch the instrument in his hand, which also fits with the music.

More recent understanding

When looking at the video now we can understand more about what it could mean, as when the video was released no one was aware that Freddie was Infact gay apart from himself, so the lyrics can also link to that fact. For example ‘’God knows I want to break free’’ as he wanted to come out as gay and stop hiding it. It also links as he says he’s fallen in love, which suggests he is saying he loves and man and wants people to know. The video links with things such as dressing as women, as that is usually seen as quite a camp thing to do. In the video he opens the cupboard door and exposes the scene inside with him topless etc, which almost acts as a metaphor, as coming out as gay is describe as ‘’coming out of the closet’’ so him opening the door is almost suggesting hints that he is coming out.

The demands for the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist

may develop motifs which reoccur across their work…

Queen uses quite a lot of close ups throughout their video, which then gets the audience to become familiar with the artists along with a sense of humour as they see each one dressed as women which almost seems like a parody towards the housewives. I think the motif for Freddie Mercury would have probably been his moustache as he was well recognized by it. I don’t think the other band members have a big motif, maybe their big crazy hair that they have.

Performance based, narrative based, concept based..

I think the main thing from the video is the concept, as its about the idea of being different and ‘breaking free.’ The video shows that not everybody has to go along with the norm, and I think the video shows male power. As they are the main people involved, and within the last scene we can see that the man rolls across everyone else, and is surrounded by women as he picks them up, which shows he is in control of the whole scene.

However it is also some narrative in the housewife bit as it does show a story of them doing the house work, and reading the feminine magazines with hair rollers. And by use of links with the video and lyrics it suggests that it is telling a story to us.

The band members do mime to their song, which suggests slight performance but we don’t see them on a stage or in front of a crowd which suggests this is the least important element within this video.

Voyeurism…The video does show some voyeurism as we look into the housewife kind of life, however its more of a parody and its not life like to the band’s actually life, and the we don’t learn very much from the characters either so I would say that the voyeurism in this video isn’t too important.

How it fits in with our work…

I don’t think this video fits in with our own work so much, the only thing that they do that I wish to do is the lyrics link with the video, as we plan to do that too. I think the body language in the video is also strong as suggests certain moods and motions which we will also be using in our own video. However I would like more performance and our video will be based more on narrative than concept which therefore includes more voyeurism.