Pop Stars Unite For Queen Cover

Posted last night to the Tonight Show's YouTube channel: "In honor of the Super Bowl, Jimmy and the Roots join Carrie Underwood, Sam Smith, Ariana Grande, Blake Shelton, Usher, Meghan Trainor, One Direction, and Christina Aguilera for an a cappella version of We Are The Champions."

BRITAIN: Pop Music Stars Perform Beach Boys Classic God Only Knows

With a cast of new performers, the BBC has restaged its 1997 star-studded take on the Beach Boys classic, God Only Knows. Via the Guardian:

As in 1997, the BBC has succeeded in gathering together a fairly staggering array of stars. Joining Brian Wilson, the song’s writer, are Sir Elton John, One Direction, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams. Jake Bugg, Lorde, Emeli Sandé, Chris Martin, Kylie Minogue, Paloma Faith, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Chrissie Hynde, Brian May, Dave Grohl, Alison Balsom, Martin James Bartlett, Danielle de Niese, Nicola Benedetti, Eliza Carthy, Baaba Maal, Jamie Cullum, Jaz Dhami, as well as the BBC’s Zane Lowe, Lauren Laverne, Katie Derham, Gareth Malone and Jools Holland. They are joined by the Tees Valley Youth Choir and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Sir Elton John is the only survivor from Perfect Day. The song is accompanied by a lavish video filmed at the disused Alexandra Palace Theatre in London, which hosted the first BBC broadcast more than 90 years ago.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

Panic! At The Disco - Bohemian Rhapsody

USA Today raves:

Rock band Panic! at the Disco performed Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on its recent Gospel Tour, which ended Aug. 28 in San Jose. For fans who didn't get to see it — or just want to relive it — the Las Vegas-based band posted a video of one of the performances to YouTube Monday. The band, known for hits like I Write Sins Not Tragedies and Nine in the Afternoon, does a note-perfect rendition of Queen's 1976 hit, with shirtless singer Brandon Urie showing off his best Freddie Mercury moves.

Maybe this is the guy to play Freddie in the bio-pic.

RELATED: Last year Urie spoke frankly about his sexuality.

"I find myself being attracted to dudes all the time. I'm like, 'Wow, that's a beautiful man.' There's no shame in it; that's how I feel. To stifle that would probably bring on stress and probably make somebody homophobic. I guess if I had to classify myself, I'd say I'm straight. But I have, in the past, experimented in other realms of homosexuality and bisexuality. Overall I'm more attracted to women. Like with my wife, I'm just so insanely in love and attracted to my wife that I go, 'Well, OK, my love of musicals can't trump that I love pussy'.

Adam Lambert - Somebody To Love

The Queen + Adam Lambert tour continues through the end of the month. They play Madison Square Garden on the 17th.

Adam Lambert To Tour With Queen

ABC News reports:

Singer Adam Lambert, who gained fame when he appeared on “American Idol,” will join the classic rock band, Queen, in a North American tour this summer, Lambert and original band members Brian May and Roger Taylor announced today in an appearance on “Good Morning America.” “Queen is one of the quintessential rock bands of all time…they’ve influenced bands for years to come,” Lambert said today in a live appearance on “GMA,” adding that it’s a dream come true “to be able to bring these songs to life on stage” with “rock royalty members.” The legendary British band has performed with Lambert on a number of occasions in recent years, both in the U.S. and overseas, but the band has never actually toured with the former “American Idol” finalist in North America.

Ben Whishaw To Play Freddie Mercury

Openly gay British actor Ben Whishaw has been cast to play Freddie Mercury in a biopic to be directed by Dexter Fletcher.

Mercury died in 1991 of complication from AIDS, but it is said his last days will not be the subject of the film. Sacha Baron Cohen was due to play the Queen frontman but left the production in July over “creative differences” with the band. The Borat star reportedly wanted to make a gritty “tell-all” about the gay singer, while the band wanted a more family-friendly film. Whishaw, who starred in BBC TV series The Hour, is due to reprise his role as Q in Bond 24 in 2015. He will also star as Herman Melville in The Heart of the Sea, a Warner Bros film about the whale attack that spawned Moby Dick.

The film will reportedly end with Queen's legendary Live Aid performance in 1985.

Puscifer - A Bohemian Rhapsody

Spin Magazine provides a review:

Puscifer mostly play it straight on their recent cover of Queen's glam-opera classic "Bohemian Rhapsody," which appears on the band's new Donkey Punch the Night EP, out today (February 19). The same can't be said of the six-minute epic's John Waters-flavored music video. Frontman Maynard James Keenan and drag performer Dina Martina superimpose their heads over old black-and-white film footage, guest-starring in 1950s hook-ups at look-out point and testicular exams in the doctor's office. More disembodied heads later float over the Taj Mahal, the pyramids of Egypt, and other locations as MJK pummels a keyboard and leads an inspired "WILL NOT LET YOU GO" bridge. Dina Martina hijacks the final two minutes though, lip-syncing in front of a karaoke room backdrop that cuts from an acid-rock freakout to a cloudy screensaver. Watch the whole thing up above.

Freddie Mercury Would Be 66 Today

Gayest Closing Ceremony EVAH

Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, openly bisexual Jessie J, and a full stadium singalong with Freddie Mercury on center-stage screens. I don't think we could have asked for much more.

Jesus & Freddie Mercury

Cartoonist Mr. Fish tells the Jesus In Love blog about the above panel, which was first published in mid-May in reaction to North Carolina's marriage ban.

"I chose Freddie Mercury as Jesus’ partner because, a.) he is immediately recognizable as a gay icon and b.) there is something both holy and tragic about Mercury’s life and premature death. In many ways it is a narrative that is not dissimilar to the Jesus narrative, both figures inspiring of love and beauty and self-assuredness removed from corporeal existence way too soon. In that way, they seemed like a perfect match."

Today's Viral Video

Trending in Twitter's top ten. Sample media tweet: "Drunk suspect sings Bohemian Rhapsody in back of squad car. Nails it." Over a million YouTube hits in 24 hours.

Adam Lambert To Front Queen?

Speculation began last year and now there might be some news, if you believe one British tabloid.

Freddie Mercury’s place will be taken by Adam Lambert, the American Idol winner. He wowed fans by singing with original members Brian May and Roger Taylor at MTV’s EMAs in Belfast last November. Adam told me he can’t wait to sing with guitarist Brian, 64, and drummer Roger, 62. The flamboyant 30-year-old revealed: “The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some fuckingg great songs. It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.” Sonisphere’s line-up, which also includes metal veterans Faith No More, tours Europe before hitting Knebworth on July 6-8, scene of Queen’s final gig with Freddie in 1986. Adam enthused: “After the EMAs, I heard faint little slithers of a backlash from people saying: ‘You can’t replace Freddie Mercury.’ But I already knew that. “There’s no intention in my mind of replacing Freddie. That’s impossible. “The way I’m choosing to view it is that it’s a great honour and one I’m in no way going to shirk.”

One suspicious mistake in the linked source is that Lambert did not win American Idol, he was runner-up. So we'll see....

Lady Gaga, Frontwoman For Queen?

Queen's short list for a new lead singer includes Lady Gaga.

Could Gaga go from a lady to a Queen? Guitarist Brian May has said that among the singers Queen's considered to front the band, Lady Gaga is a top contender. “We get a lot of offers to work with other people," May told Express. "I worked with Lady Gaga and she's very creative and is someone we've talked about singing, fronting the band with. She's not just a singer, she writes her own material.”And apparently Gaga is into the idea, as May noted that she confirmed "she would like to do something with us.”

The above-linked TIME Magazine writer doesn't find the idea "that far-fetched."

She Wants To Break Free

On the BBC's Let's Dance For Comic Relief, controversial former model and author Katie Price dressed as Freddie Mercury in a recreation of Queen's classic 1984 drag video for I Want To Break Free. Those are her real actual boobies, by the way.

Mustaches Make A Difference

Movember is the global cancer awareness campaign in which participants grow mustaches to draw attention to men's cancers. Copyranter tips us to the above image being used in Singapore's prostate cancer campaign. Hit the link for more images of the famously mustachioed and what they'd look like clean-shaven.

Sacha Baron Cohen To Play Freddie

Sacha Baron Cohen will play Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic.

The film, which will focus on the period leading up to Live Aid in 1985, will begin shooting next year. "I think we'll try and keep ourselves out of it as much as we can," Queen guitarist Brian May said. Baron Cohen had been "on this project since we started talking about it seriously with Peter Morgan a couple of years ago," he added. May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor will oversee music featured in the film, which will include songs by the band and by Mercury as a solo performer. Graham King, of GK Films, which is co-producing the movie along with Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal's production company Tribeca, said Queen was "a music brand all unto itself". "Freddie Mercury was an awe-inspiring performer so with Sacha in the starring role, coupled with Peter's screenplay and the support of Queen, we have the perfect combination to tell the real story behind their success."

Good casting? I'm not sure...

Midichlorian Rhapsody

"Jar-Jar Binks, I wish you'd never been born at all." Production values are quite high for a parody, even though it's even longer than Bohemian Rhapsody.

Today Is Freddie's 64th Birthday

25 Years Ago Today

I remember my roommates and I making an frantic trip to Gold Triangle to make sure we had enough fresh VHS tapes to record the entire 16-hour concert and keep it forever. Watching the still healthy looking Freddie Mercury in 1985, we never ever dreamed that AIDS would still be killing our friends in 2010. Seven years after Live Aid, Wembley Stadium filled once again, but this time it was to memorialize the headliner below.

(Tipped by JMG reader JM)

Muppehemian Rhapsody

Beaker gets the best lines. Meep.