It was done with humour and that's how the UK viewed it. Queen have said they laughed all the way through filming it. I believe the suits at MTV in America banned it.

I was born in 86 so I was obviously unaware at the time, but I know it wasn't recieved well at all. It was banned from MTV in America and many people there stopped listening to them. Freddie refused to come back to play there ever again. Freddie got the most of the blame of course, even though the idea for the video wasn't his and he didn't write the song. The video idea was Roger Taylor's(the drummer) girlfriend and John Deacon, the bassist, wrote the song. To answer your question, they had control over their videos and what they wanted to do. React to Somebody To Love LIVE from Montreal

Freddie worked with the Royal Ballet and the other guys said this middle section was to indulge Freddie. Lol.

Queen did whatever they wanted to do. Freddie said he never wanted to be boring and he wasnt.

In the uk drag wasn’t uncommon it was a cultural aspect to the uk, in this video they are dressing up as characters from a British soap called coronation street and it was taken well in the uk and Europe and people enjoyed it as a comedy spoof however in the USA it wasn’t as well received.the idea came from roger Taylor(the blonde) the drummers girlfriend.

I was around back then. MTV had a kniee-jerk reaction and banned it calling it a "transvestite video. lol It was all done in fun and was a parody of the long-running UK soap opera, Coronation Street. Dressing in drag is a time-honored thing in British humour but suits were terrified by Freddie's reputation. The video wasn't even his idea. He even offered to shave his mustache but the band thought it was much funnier with it. John Deacon, Queen's bassist wrote this and it was supposedly about wanting to break free of relationships and even the women's liberation movement. Obviously the video shows a need to escape from a mundane or repressed existence.

So I was around when it came out. The usual American intolerance for views that don't fit the nice white, middle class STRAIGHT lifestyle, and MTV banned it as a "transvestite" celebration, completely missing the tongue in cheek comedy that it was meant to be. Of course, in its stupidity, America suffered from it because we couldn't then get Queen to perform here, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. As the present confirms, we are not the brightest people in the world. Anything Queen is great, and especially react to the Live Aid performance he did in Wembly Stadium. Compare this video to what MTV shows now, and you can see this was mild by comparison.

Thankyou! Great song and very ahead of their time. It also had to do with woman emancipation. MTV in the States banned the video l.o.l. Perhaps they couldnt appreciate some man dressed in drag 😂😂 Queen has a huge catalogue, please check out some live stuff. I suggest Now i'm Here live at Wembley. Much bless dear ❤

The Rolling Stones dressed up as women in 1966 in a video for their song Have You Seen Your Mother Baby - Standing In the Shadows. In the UK there is a long tradition of men doing this in mainstream TV, theatre and films for comedy and it goes back to the days of Shakespeare. So we weren't surprised but were on the floor with laughter when we first saw the video on Top of the Pops. .

This is one of my favorite songs by them. Especially the video 😂

This was a tongue and cheek spoof of a popular British sit com called Coronation Street . Of course the characters they were playing were copies of the cast of that show. No one got it then...but today it is amoung their most genius moments.

Bass guitarist John Deacon wrote the song and It was the girlfriend of drum Rodger Taylor that suggested the drag idea for the video.

Please listen to Queen, live in Montreal 'Somebody to Love' xx

I was around. Luckily had seen them live 3x before this happened. People were burning Queen records and tapes. Huge embarrassment for our country. I don’t blame Freddie at all for turning his back on us, though I’d have loved to see them another time or two or ten. Thanks so much for your good heart. Best of luck on your move!

Queen didn’t care what the media thought!! See comments below! Two songs you should react to are FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS & BICYCLE RACE .... proof that Queen didn’t care what people thought. It was always about the music!! Queen did all the creative work on their videos & studio work. You should check them out live ....voted best live rock band of all time!! SOMEBODY TO LOVE live in Montreal 1981 is a good place to start. Love your reaction, meant to be funny!

The UK and other countries loved it and took it in the humorous it was intended. MTV in the US thought it was some sort of sexual trans thing 🤦‍♀️ not that there's anything even wrong with that, but it wasn't. It was a sort of parody of a soap opera over here called Coronation street. Freddie's a bored housewife fantasising about a different life, John's the grumpy granny, Brian's another housewife character and Roger's a (rather gorgeous) schoolgirl. It's a real classic music video over here in Britain.

Yeah the dressing as women was Roger Taylor (drums) idea I think it was as satire to a uk soap opera called Coronation Street. Which by the way is still on, probably on episode 10000

The song was written by a band member. Written for a woman he knew that was going thru an abusive relationship.

Go for some Grandson or Five Finger Death Punch next! I'm sure you'll love both! Grandson vaires from alternate to Rock and Rap fusing it all with trap aswell and is most likely the most unique artist ive ever heard, definite bangers in my book are from Die Young, Oh No!!!, WW3, Falling (Temptation) to Dirty and Apologize! While Five Finger Death Punch is a very soulful Heavy Metal band like Metallica, main focus being on the US Military and the support on Veterans and Soldiers, Awesome reaction as always!

USA did not like it all.their loss it was a great video and the song was awesome.

Great reaction! Now you need to see something more hard rocking from Queen, Now I am Here Hammersmith Odeon kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ptGbea6G0qyuZ2Rk.html979. You need to see Queen live, they are most often voted as the best live band, a lot of their songs are better live. Queen had full creative control, of their videos and music. Freddie Mercury himself often helped to direct music videos. This is before my time, but I can give you a summery. The video was done as a parody of Coronation street, a soap drama in Britain. You are right the video has a lot of elements, Freddie brought in the Royal Ballet and they performed a piece called The Afternoon Of The Faun. On top of that they were also supporting a miners strike as well. It was drummer Roger Taylor's girlfriend's idea to dress in drag and they ran with it, playing bored housewives, and of Roger himself was the school girl. The song was a massive hit around the world, but the MTV suits banned the song for crossdressing. So the song never became popular in the US, but it is one of Queen's top 10 best selling singles. The song was actually written by bass player John Deacon, he wanted to break free from touring so much, he wanted to spent more time with his family, he had 6 children. Queen managed themselves since 1977, they also co-produced their own albums. They did a lot of their own marketing, like music videos and their own stages. They are one of the few big artists who own their own catalog. They basically had full control, which is why they experimented a lot through the years. they did practically any type of genre.

The British saw the funny side of it, but the USA didn't, they said it was transvesite and wouldn't allow it to be aired. Yet when MTV went on air it was British music that was first played from Depeche mode to Duran Duran ect ect.

Never got to see as it was banned. 🙄

The video was based o characters from a popular British soap opera. Male play women's parts a lot in Britain, MTV ban the video and Queen quit touring America.

You should react to the lead vocalists(Freddie Mercury’s) solo song living on my own kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kMyRpqWVq82VnJ8.html it was filmed during Freddie’s 39th birthday party. Really fun song and he threw a fun party.

Christian conservatives were outraged so MTV took it off their playlist.

Watch flip Wilson and then ask question again.in England it's humorous here it's offensive

Seriously? Still no GHOST?? They are in. Think of the most melodic melodies set to Metallica, and you have GHOST. Give it a go? Here is their song Ritual: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bNJieah518W9qps.html. I won’t steer you wrong. ENJOY 😉 🖤🤘🏻😈 Of course, QUEEN is amazing always ❤️

It was banned 🚫