Watch Freddie Mercury’s Once-Banned ‘Living on My Own’ Video
Next Friday, a box set devoted to Freddie Mercury's career outside of Queen, Never Boring, will hit record store shelves. In advance of its release, Hollywood Records has put out a restored video of "Living on My Own," which was originally found on his only solo album, 1985's Mr. Bad Guy.
The video has a controversial past. On his 39th birthday, Mercury famously threw a party at Old Mrs. Henderson's, a Munich transvestite club, inviting 300 friends, including Brian May, Mary Austin and Boy George, and told them to dress in drag, with black and white being the only colors allowed. Mercury had the decadence filmed and made into a video.
But CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff refused to send the clip out because of what a press released called its "perceived promiscuity," which may have affected the single's performance on the U.K. Singles chart, where it stalled at No. 50. It remained shelved until 1993, after Mercury's death, when it accompanied a remix of the song by No More Brothers, which became a global hit. The clip below takes the original 35mm footage and remasters it in 4K video, with a new audio mix.
The three CDs on Never Boring includes Mr. Bad Guy, his 1988 Barcelona collaboration with opera star Montserrat Cabelle and a compilation of other solo performances. The Blu-ray and DVD adds music videos and other live footage, and a hardback book with rare photos and an introduction from Rami Malek, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Mercury in last year's Bohemian Rhapsody.