“When I left Art College, one of my lecturers told me, I should keep my paintings, because they were very good. I was flattered and told him I’d always keep them, but money was hard to come by at the time and I started selling them.

Now I could kick myself for breaking that promise, because those paintings meant a great deal to me and I’d love to have them back.”

Freddie Mercury

This lovely photo was taken by Peter Hince at Musicland studios, Munich, 1985 during ‘One Vision’ sessions

10 September 1978 – Queen are at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes, near Nice, France, to record songs for the ‘Jazz’ album.

Tonight the most “tremendous electrical thunderstorm that lasted ages” (Peter Hince) gave “Dead On Time” a perfect ending!

Brian May’s “Dead on Time” is a breathless rocker of a song that rolls faster than any live rendition of ‘Sheer Heart Attack.’ It’s an astounding yet underrated song. It features some of the fastest and most aggressive guitar work by Brian, as well as intense, frantic drumming by Roger. Freddie’s superb runaway-train vocals keep up with the fast pace. The songs up-tempo supports the lyrics about a man rushing through his life. It was considered by fans to be an ideal live number, but was curiously never played in concert.

The song ends with the sound of a thunderbolt, followed by Mercury screaming “YOUR’RE DEAD!”

Queen always the innovative, phenomenal band, using all and any techniques to achieve remarkable and unique sound, were able to capture a live thunderstorm on tape!

The thunderbolt was actually recorded live by Brian on a portable recorder during a vicious thunderstorm. He was able to record thunder, lightning and rain effects. The album’s liner notes credit the thunderbolt; “courtesy of God.”

Interviewer: Was it hard to build up the solo speed in ‘Dead On Time’?

“I don’t think so. That was something I was quite pleased with, but really nobody else was. It’s something which nobody ever mentions very much. Fat Bottomed Girls I thought was okay, but fairly banal. I thought people would be much more interested in ‘Dead On Time’, but it didn’t really get that much airplay. The explosions at the end are a real thunderstorm which occurred when we were in the south of France. We put a tape recorder outside.”

Brian May – On The Record, 1982

This beautiful picture of the band during ‘Jazz’ sessions was taken by Christopher Hopper

10 September 1984 – Freddie Mercury released ‘Love Kills’ – This is his 1st solo single. It peaked at number 10 on the UK charts.

(It was released in the USA the next day, 11 September 1984)

Freddie was never one to remain inactive for very long, he started recording tracks for a proposed solo album shortly after the 1982 ‘Hot Space’ tour, with ‘Love Kills’ being one of the early survivors to make it past the demo stage. Initially, the song was submitted for Queen’s ‘The Works’ album but, after several unsuccessful attempts, it was discarded and set aside. Freddie recognized the songs potential and decided to work on the track further. It was later offered to Italian composer, Giorgio Moroder for the restored and updated version of the 1927 Fritz Lang film ‘Metropolis.’

How Moroder became involved in the writing of the song is uncertain. On the soundtrack to ‘Metropolis,’ a set of lyrics is printed that is completely different from the well-known version. Reportedly, when Moroder first asked Freddie to contribute to the song, he agreed but was displeased with the result and chose to rewrite it. This set of lyrics, though, sounds akin to the personal feel that Freddie had been going for and would later explore on his solo album, the finished lyrics also contain several of Freddie’s trademarks. But considering the song was practically finished before Moroder’s involvement, the extent of his contributions has remained a mystery. But, Peter Freestone later revealed that Freddie would play the song to Moroder over the telephone and that Moroder actually contributed considerably to the recording, justifying his co-credit.

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September 1975, London, UK – Freddie Mercury at Coliseum National Opera

In this day Queen being presented with a Gold and Silver Awards for their first three album + Award for the sales of the single ‘Killer Queen’

Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music