Interaction between Freddie and Brian, part 1 (until Hot Space).

There's a really nice thread on the QOL forum at the moment which started off as a comment on the John/Freddie (or 'Jeddie') interaction, which then turned into an analysis on John/Brian (Maycon? Deacrian? Brohn?), so I thought I'd start some posts here depicting the (very little) I've gathered about Queen's inner pairings. I'll start off with Freddie and Brian (Freian? Breddie? Maycury?).

• First met: Late 60's, when Tim introduced Freddie Bulsara to the other Smile members.
• First impression: AFAIK, Freddie was impressed by Brian's guitar playing (who wouldn't?), Brian seems to have been more shocked by his personality, not particularly by his voice at that time.
• First time working together: Probably at an Ibex gig that Brian and Roger guested.
• Songs they wrote together:
• Hangman (1970)
• Is This the World We Created (1984)
• Hang on in There (1988)
• Was It All Worth It (1988)
• Don't Try So Hard (1989)
• The Hitman (1989)
• Innuendo (1989, lyrics by Freddie and Roger)
• Bijou (1989 or 1990)
• Mother Love (1991)
• Interestingly, Freddie met Mary Austin through Brian, and Brian met Anita Dobson through Freddie.
• Last time they saw each other: Shortly before Freddie's death, Brian and Anita went to visit him and he was pleased to see them. Brian tried to make some conversation to ease off the pain but Freddie told him he didn't need to do that, just being there was enough.

In the early days, it seems to me that their interaction was basically a by-product of Freddie's and Roger's close friendship. They obviously became closer when the three of them decided to form a band together, and a lot of work as well as competition ensued.

Queen always promoted themselves as a democracy, and probably they were for some aspects, but it was obvious for many people who witnessed their labour (e.g., Louis Austin, Peter Hince, Reinhold Mack) that Freddie was on the driver's seat quite often. He got away with choosing the name of the band and designed the logo; he also coerced the others into putting on a 'glam' show with all the make-up and the lights and so on.

Brian seems to have identified Freddie's dominance (at least in visual terms) and actually embraced it: it was Brian who designed the first album cover, and what he did was putting a picture of Freddie in 'Jesus' pose. Tony Brainsby, the band's first PR, was far more interested in Brian, and the first few years of the band were more Brian-centred when it came to the media: Queen's earliest press announcements and adverts basically described them as 'the band where the guitarist made his own instrument'. Brian and his homemade instrument were the main focus, and he also got to write both sides of the band's début single.

The very first fan club newsletter included a letter from Brian, as it was Brian who addressed the public more often and that wouldn't change: early concerts feature both Brian and Freddie talking to the audience between songs. Freddie started to gain more popularity as both his voice, his songwriting and his stage persona kept growing... by spring 1974 he'd written the band's then first and only top ten hit and by the end of the year he'd scored the first No 2 (and first with international success).

Media-wise, Queen became Freddie's band by 1975. Papers and magazines started to interview Freddie more often and their new manager, John Reid, gravitated towards him (as Brian pointed out in the recent 2011 documentary), which changed the balanced completely. Freddie would then get the lead single for the band's fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and tenth albums (in one case compromised to a double-A with a song by Brian) and would dominate (creatively, at least) all but three of the band's records from 1973 to 1982, including the 'Greatest Hits' compilation, of which he wrote more than half.

They were both very fond of each other's musicality and often praised each other's songs: Freddie spoke quite highly of The Prophet's Song, Dear Friends, White Man, '39, Sweet Lady and loved what Brian played on his (Freddie's) own Millionaire Waltz, and he also recruited him to play guitar on Eddie Howell's 'Man from Manhattan', which Freddie produced. Brian, by his side, was quite appreciative of songs like Killer Queen, Love of My Life and Bicycle Race. Don't Stop Me Now was, reportedly, one they did have some problems about.

Note how much they compromised when it came to singles and songwriting:

• First single, Brian gets both sides.
• Second single, Freddie writes the A side, Brian writes the B side.
• Third one, Freddie gets both sides (so far it's 50-50 overall).
• Fourth one (Now I'm Here), Brian wrote the A-side and Freddie wrote the B-side.
• Fifth one, Freddie wrote it, Roger got the B side.
• Sixth, John wrote the A side and Brian the B side (they continue 50-50 so far).
• Seventh (STL), Freddie and Brian on A- and B-sides respectively.
• Eighth, Brian wrote the A side and the B one was John's in Europe and Roger's in America and Australia.
• Ninth (the EP), Freddie wrote two tracks, Brian one and Roger one. So far, they're 50-50 again in terms of material included on the singles either on the A- or B-side.
• Tenth, Freddie wrote the A-Side and Brian wrote the B-Side.
• Eleventh single (released in February 1978, almost a decade after the band's formation and nearly half a decade after their commercial début): First time neither Freddie nor Brian wrote either side... John and Roger were finally getting more attention.
• Twelfth single: Double-A, one side by Freddie and one by Brian.
• Thirteenth single: Freddie wrote the A-Side, B-Side by John in Europe and by Roger in America, Canada, NZ, Oz, Japan... no Brian this time, and the balance is shifted to Freddie's side from then on.
• Fourteenth single: A- by Fred, B- by Brian.
• Fifteenth single: A- by Fred, B- by Brian in Europe, by John elsewhere.
• Sixteenth single: A- by Brian, B- by Freddie.
• Seventeenth single: A- by Freddie, B- by Roger.
• Eighteenth single: A- by John, B- by Brian in Europe, Freddie elsewhere.
• Nineteenth single: A- by Brian, B- by Freddie.
• Twentieth single: Credited to all of them (plus Bowie on the A-).
• Twenty-first single: Freddie wrote both sides.
• Twenty-second single: A- by Brian, B- by Freddie/John.

So, in terms of songwriting for their singles, they were almost entirely equal but there was some more input from Freddie from 'Don't Stop Me Now' onwards. Also check how much they wrote for each album:

• Queen: 3.5 by Brian, 5 by Freddie.
• Queen II: 4 by Brian, 6 by Freddie (and there's the whole debate about SSOR).
• SHA: 4 by Brian, 6 by Freddie (and SCC credited to all four).
• ANATO: 4 by Brian, 5 by Freddie.
• ADATR: 4 by each.
• NOTW: 4 by Brian, 3 by Freddie.
• Jazz: 4 by Brian, 5 by Freddie.
• The Game: 3 each.
• Flash Gordon: 6.5 by Brian (though they're actually just 3 themes, 2 of which are reprised several times), 5 by Freddie.
• Hot Space: 3 by Brian, 3.5 by Freddie (UP credited to five people).

Freddie dominated the songwriting aspect at first, peaking on SHA. On ANATO he was still dominant but by a narrower margin, then ADATR was a toss-up and then Brian dominated on NOTW; Fred regained control for Jazz and then they compromised and had equal input on The Game. Brian had more input on Flash and Fred had more input on Hot Space.

To be continued...