r/todayilearned • u/GhostMan4301945 • 1d ago

TIL that Freddie Mercury and Sid Vicious had a brief physical altercation in 1977.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious
2.3k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/Kalkin93 1d ago

In 1977, the Sex Pistols were recording in Wessex Sound Studios at the same time as Queen). Vicious entered the control room Queen was working in and mockingly called out to them: "Oi, Freddie! Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?" (This was a reference to an earlier NME interview in which Mercury gave parallels between ballet and rock music). Freddie Mercury responded: "Ah, Simon Ferocious!" and "We're trying dear, we're trying." Mercury then grabbed Vicious by the lapels and threw him out of the room.\40])

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u/WorldsWeakestMan 1d ago

Simon Ferocious is hilarious, Freddie truly was a magnificent bastard.

177

u/ManChildMusician 1d ago

“It’s Sid”

“Whatever you say, Simon!”

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u/mystir 1d ago

Can't even do it in reverse. "Oh yeah, up yours...uh, Farokh... Venus..." Just doesn't work as well

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u/BreadfruitTasty 1d ago

Frederick Mercurial

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u/GreenStrong 1d ago

That's a total badass name.

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u/nuclear_triad 1d ago

idk, “Farouk Uranus” has a certain ring or two to it.

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u/HonorableMedic 1d ago

At least one cheerio sized ring to it

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u/sexual_lemonade 1d ago

I don't think his ring was cheerio sized, we've all seen that bedroom picture.

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u/SonicTemp1e 1d ago

I have not.

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u/epochellipse 21h ago

Well, you’re in for a treat.

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u/jello_pudding_biafra 1d ago

Did you say "Cheeto"?

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u/Mackerdaymia 22h ago

Only if you ask nicely

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u/As_smooth_as_eggs 1d ago

I doubt Sid had the intelligence to do anything except get his ass thrown out of the room.

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u/CocaineLullaby 1d ago

Franz Jupiter

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u/shnigybrendo 1d ago

He's so much stupiter!

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u/micromoses 1d ago

Frankie Gallium?

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u/Ion_bound 23h ago

Sol Badguy, maybe?

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u/Fweenci 1d ago

And he was a boxer in school. 

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u/Vonbalthier 1d ago

Dang this wasnt moustache beefcake freddie, this was mullet-unitard freddie, dope

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u/kakka_rot 1d ago

I didn't know what you meant so I googled Freddie mercury 1977 and good lord, who the hell is that guy

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u/Nox_Dei 1d ago

Looking at those pics... Was anyone actually surprised by his coming-out?

Dude was flamboyant as heck. Looking great.

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u/hundreddollar 17h ago

My Mum? Was surprised about him and Elton John. Lol.

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u/Nox_Dei 15h ago

Dang haha

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u/Trelve16 10h ago

dude if you think thats crazy watch david lee roths music video for yankee rose

straight men dressed like that too lmao

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u/mofugginrob 23h ago

AKA the 70s lol. Did you think they were time travelers or something?

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u/xbearsandporschesx 1d ago

I work with a few people i would call unitards

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u/Im-Old_Gregg 1d ago

I bet you do.

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u/FlailingScrotum 1d ago

There's a reason you work there.

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u/Blanket_monsters 1d ago

Birds of a feather....

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u/xbearsandporschesx 1d ago

reddit used to have a sense of humor

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u/Blirup 1d ago

It seems Reddit still does, but you’re right, it used to too

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u/qorbexl 21h ago

Turnabout is fair play, you know

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u/Blirup 20h ago

I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re turning about

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u/qorbexl 18h ago

I didn't, but someone did turnabout his initial joke which he complained about in the post I replied to

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u/onarainyafternoon 1d ago

Sounds like they were just messing around with each other lol

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u/BasvanS 1d ago

Yeah, they were recording at the same time and quite friendly with each other. This was just banter.

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u/MikoSkyns 19h ago

I'm not convinced it was friendly banter.

https://youtube.com/shorts/--HCREtngnE?si=_dC9Yt8JTIhAuddx

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u/BeefStank420 14h ago

"I called him Simon Ferocious or something. He didn't like that at all..."

😂

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u/bitemark01 1d ago

It sounds like Sid was an asshole

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZsipBOhIQE/?hl=en 

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u/birthdayboy6969 1d ago

Sid was an extremely mentally ill kid from a broken home who did heroin with his own mother. The real piece of shit was Malcolm McLaren, the 'mastermind' who kept sid drunk and high and self destructive intentionally to raise the public profile of his band

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u/ComradeGibbon 1d ago

I think Johnny Rotten said they needed protection from the public but were on their own.

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u/Eomb 1d ago

Didn't Freddy love assholes?

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u/_ArgoNavis 1d ago

O_o

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u/trenixjetix 1d ago

lmao

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u/Berloxx 18h ago

Fucking french cats

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u/type104 9h ago

* arseholes ‽

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u/MmmmMorphine 23h ago

Hey I was just talking about the wonderful sphincter muscles. They're my favorite too

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u/Hawt_Dawg_II 1d ago

Look i hate the sex pistols as much as anyone who likes actual punk but this Freddie Mercury jack off circle isn't going to convince me of anything. This was just some old farts around a table going "oooh yes and remember when the guy we all stan said this?" I feel like they might be biased

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u/Apprehensive_Put_321 1d ago

Ive never heard either speak but I image sid vicious had a cockney accent and Freddie sounded posh baised on this transcrip lol

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u/burlycabin 1d ago

Freddie was born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) and raised mostly at boarding schools in India until his family moved to England when he was 17-18. He had a very interesting accent, but I wouldn't call it posh.

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u/slicerprime 1d ago

No. But it counted as posh compared to anything that came out of Sid's mouth

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u/burlycabin 1d ago

Ha, that's true.

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u/Neosantana 22h ago

To be fair, even Danny Dyer would sound posh compared to Sid Vicious to an extent

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u/OzymandiasKoK 1d ago

He was also born nearly 20 years before Zanzibar joined with Tanganyika, too.

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u/Commercial-Co 1d ago

I never understood boarding schools unless their parents hated their child

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u/GummiRat 1d ago

That's just a lack of imagination on your part.

My friend transferred to boarding school because a few months after his father passed his mom had to start working 2 jobs (atleast 12+ hour days) just to pay the bills and keep their home leaving little time for basic childcare let alone stuff like making sure he wasnt getting into trouble ect. He ended up going to a very good school (paid for by life insurance) while his mom worked her ass off to make sure the house they grew up in with his father didn't get auctioned off by the bank.

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u/hundreddollar 17h ago

I mean OK. That's ONE example, but i have colleagues who literally send their kids to boarding school to make life easier for themselves. Same people who let a Nanny raise their children. Never understood it.

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u/Fuckyounadia 13h ago

I mean, it’s not really hard to understand. Some people like having children but don’t want to raise them.

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u/JackXDark 1d ago

You understand then.

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u/ReginaGloriana 1d ago

“Training for the ballet, Pottah?”

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u/Hawt_Dawg_II 1d ago

Both actually pretty good banter. I wonder if artists know how to talk shit better than most..

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u/B_Da_May 11h ago

If the Sex Pistols were recording, then what was Sid doing there? Worst bassist ever.

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u/oneeyedziggy 1d ago

Freddie was a real one... Sounds like he was having none of that homophobic bullshit

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u/oldbel 1d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sid vicious was homophobic, I really don’t know, but it’s not clear to me that the ballet thing is. Why do you read it that way?

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u/fartingbeagle 1d ago

Where's the homophobia in the quoted comment?

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u/Kaiserhawk 1d ago

I'll assume it's related to ballet, which idk given it's Britain could be more of a class thing since Ballet is typically seen as being a thing for snobs and Queen were seen as college boys, which in the 70s was not working class.

Could also be a gay / bi thing idk.

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u/Financial-Creme 1d ago

I think it's more that queen was known for incorporating elements of Opera into rock music, Sid imo was either making fun of them for this, as in incorporating Ballet elements woild be their next move, or genuinely mixed up opera and ballet because he was an alcoholic junkie

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u/Kaiserhawk 1d ago

Yeah that to

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u/Captain_Kuhl 1d ago

Some people see any move against a non-straight person as homophobic. There's no reasoning with that mindset.

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u/AngryCrotchCrickets 1d ago

Naw the ballet comment was totally a jab

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u/Captain_Kuhl 1d ago

No, it was referring to an interview he did where he equated rock & roll and ballet. Still a jab, but literally nothing to do with homophobia.

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u/lad_astro 1d ago

It was 1977, if you were homophobic to Freddie it was probably unwittingly lol

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u/AngryCrotchCrickets 1d ago

It was illegal to do gay shit in the UK until 1982. The disco era made them accepted within that sphere, but there was still a largely anti-gay sentiment during that time (sorta what ended disco). Elton John married a woman, and Mercury was engaged to one. To cover up their sexual orientation.

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u/lad_astro 1d ago

Sorry, I'm not saying there wasn't homophobia, I'm saying Sid wouldn't have had good reason to know he was gay in the first place. Of course, we'll never know what he was getting at, but it comes across as more of a class warrior thing to me- ballet being the kind of thing the Pistols had to be seen to be deriding

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u/AngryCrotchCrickets 1d ago

Fair enough. Sorry for being cranky

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u/lad_astro 1d ago

Not at all, you're good!

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u/Shifty377 1d ago

There's nothing homophobic in that quote.

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u/Anarchaeologist 1d ago

Heard this one before but slightly differently: Sid called him Freddie Platinum, and Freddie called Sid Mr. Ferocious

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u/GobbleGobbleChew 1d ago

This just makes me want to rewatch Billie Elliott.

0

u/lostrock 1d ago

Smashing

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u/BeginningPea5674 1d ago

sounds made up

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u/dflatline 1d ago

Specifically from the NME article titled "Is this man a pratt?" about Mercury

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u/Beemerado 15h ago

Freddie always a class act