Such Gorgeousness (Photo By Gail)
On This Date, November 24th, in 1991: Queen’s lead vocalist and primary songwriter, Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) died of complications from AIDS, one day after publicly admitting he was HIV positive. He was 45 years old. Thank you Freddie for all of the great music, your truly inimitable style and for helping to make my Teenage Hell years bearable. I never loved any other rock star the way I loved you.
“And You Know We’re Homosapien, Too”
On This Date, August 24th in 1981: Pete Shelley released his first post-Buzzcocks single, the very fun dance hit “Homosapien.” The single did not chart in the UK, helped in great part by a BBC ban on the song because of its underlying reference to homosexuality. By the late ’80s, Shelley had re-formed the classic lineup of The Buzzcocks for some touring and, soon after, a new Buzzcocks was created with Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle forming the core. They still record and perform today. I interviewed Pete Shelley a number of years ago and was quite amused when he told me that he’d never been employed outside of music because, “Having a day job is something I just can’t get my head around.”
Heaven Beside You; Hell Within
Layne Staley, singer for Alice in Chains was born on this day, August 22nd, in 1967. Throughout his career, Staley struggled with severe drug addiction, which eventually led to his death on April 5th, 2002 at the age of 34. RIP.
On This Date, August 6th in 1983: Maverick entertainer Klaus Nomi (born Klaus Sperber) died due to complications from AIDS, at the age of 39. The intriguing life and woefully short career of Nomi is the subject of a fantastic documentary, The Nomi Song, which I enthusiastically recommend!
Dale Bozzio in 2003, Still Looks Pretty Good!
This weeks’ breaking story about former Missing Persons’ lead singer Dale Bozzio hoarding and mistreating dozens of cats is sad on so many levels. Not just for the fact that Bozzio neglected numerous pets to the point where they either died on their own or had to be put down due to illness, but because this situation shows just how far she’s fallen since she was a New Wave Popstar Queen back in the ‘80s. People worshipped Dale Bozzio back then. And now she’s just a crazy cat lady living in a filthy log cabin in the middle of nowhere and trying to get her fifteen minutes back. That’s just sad.