I think Freddy Mercury was so popular with the ladies (and men, as it were) because he had the gift of SASS. While at mention of that word you probably were haunted with visions of Rosie Perez (and I sincerely apologize), that isn't at all what I mean. Freddie had ATTITUDE, and his singing was bold and ballsy. This comes from someone who has never seen a video of the man singing--and I don't need to. I can
hear his intensity and his passion. But, you say, many singers are passionate and many sing very beautifully! True, says I, but singers today often lack a something, an invisible presence, and that is where I think this "sass" word comes in. When I hear Mercury singing I envision him getting all up in someone's biddness, snapping his fingers in their face and cracking a roguish grin. Weird vison? Yes...perhaps I can phrase it in a less repressed-emotion sort of way: If Freddie Mercury were on American Idol he would silence Simon, make that drunk woman fall off her chair, and make the stereotypically black man say something along the lines of, "dogggg you a bomb-diggit madman." (No offense intended). Modern rock doesn't exist without Queen, and Queen wouldn't be Queen without that not-like-a-barrio-girl-sassy-but-sassy-nonetheless lead singer, Freddy Mercury.
-R.D.
