Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor. "Radio Ga Ga" so summed up how ga ga I felt about Queen and growing up with them playing on the radio. In the beginning, Chris M. was chatting with my brother after we picked him up on our way to high school. He said that Queen "You're My Best Friend" was his favorite song and that the band had a "wicked guitarist". I already knew about "Keep Yourself Alive" which I heard on the RIF, that is "WRIF" Rock 101 in Detroit, Michigan. We kids started playing Queen, and our parents got into them too! We played the hell out of A Night At The Opera and at ages 12-15 were singing along to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in terrible voices but enjoying the hell out of being young. The elaborate artwork was done by Freddie, and the album covers were just as exciting as the sounds they enveloped. In 1979, they made forays into an urban style of music on "The Game" that landed them two unforgettable #1 hits, "Another One Bites The Dust" and the Elvis'y "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". "The Game" was the first album they did using synthesizers which was not a disappointment but more of an achievement. "Under Pressure" comes to mind, that one off song with Bowie should have been a bigger hit than the #29 peak it reached in 1981. Using Giorgio Moroder protege Mack, they continued on in an urban style with "Body Language". The experimental sound was highly polished and Freddie was in top form, but this was the first time that the sound seemed more important than the vocals, and as a result was not as readily accepted by the record buying public. In between studio albums, they composed and performed the music for the "Flash Gordon" movie. The next studio album was "Hot Space" in 1982 and only one song charted, "Calling All Girls" that peaked at #60. I moved to Toronto in 1983, and while wandering at all the record stores up and down Yonge St, I heard a woman say, "Queen is back, Radio GOO GOO!" The next store I stopped in, I picked up the 12" version of Radio Ga Ga, and it has been with me ever since. The unforgettable video for "I Want To Break Free" put them in radical drag and introduced them to a new generation of Queen fans. I was thinking about Freddie today, how I watched his physical decline and how it broke my heart to see his suffering, but he held his head high in spite of his illness and soldiered on, not accepting the stigma. I knew, and it did not need to be said. He finally admitted to the public that he had AIDS, then died the next day which was November 24, 1991. I was desolate, I had seen friends of mine go the same way, and I wonder how I did not lose my mind watching their youth and vibrance fade and wither away right before my eyes. Queen's amazing visual and musical artistry will always be remembered and unequalled. "Radio Ga Ga" is a valentine to all of those who loved Queen, from Queen and while February is a long way off, I just could not hold on to this version until then, so here is my early valentine to you!

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