While the video wasn’t banned outright, the cool reception to the clip meant that one of Queen’s best songs was something of a damp squib in America - and May considers that the video damaged the band’s reputation in that country. “I remember being on the promo tour in the Midwest of America and peoples’ faces turning ashen and they would say, ‘No, we can't play this. “All around the world people laughed and they got the joke and they sort of understood it,” May told NPR Radio in 2010. Singer Freddie Mercury performing with Queen at the Rock In Rio festival in Rio de Janerio, 24 January 1985. Across the Atlantic, however, drag was still a very niche activity and not the primetime, mainstream attraction it is today with shows like Drag Race.
In the UK, the tradition of drag dates back to Shakespeare’s time and beyond and was carried over into popular TV comedies and even kids' entertainment with the pantomime dame. While Britain rolled its eyes and tittered at such shenanigans, over in America, people were less amused.
Dressed in a tight sweater with fake boobs, pvc skirt, stockings and high heels, topped off with a wig and full make-up (while still retaining his trademark moustache), the singer cut a comical figure as he hoovered the carpet and dusted the ornaments in a parody of a “typical” housewife. The get the authentic Coronation Street vibe, the four members of Queen decided to adopt female characters who lived in the same terraced house: guitarist Brian May dressed up in hair curlers and dressing gown, bassist John Deacon was an old lady reading the paper and drummer Roger Taylor looked absolutely delightful as a schoolgirl.įrontman Freddie Mercury, meanwhile, took on the role of “Bet Lynch” - the glamorous barmaid of Coronation Street’s Rover’s Return pub.
Some of the cast of the British television soap opera, 'Coronation Street' in the bar of the show's pub, 1978. While the fantasy sequence saw Mercury cavorting athletically with members of the Royal Ballet, the “everyday” scenes that framed the video could only be summed up by one thing - a soap opera! Specifically, ITV’s long-running show Coronation Street.