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Freddie Mercury’s Mr. Bad Guy Turns 40 With Vinyl Reissue and Official YouTube Series

The campaign leans on the 2019 Never Boring mix and is fueling a fresh, nuanced look at the album’s uneven legacy.

Overview

  • The anniversary edition arrives on 180-gram translucent green vinyl using the 2019 mix by Justin Shirley-Smith and Joshua J. Macrae.
  • Episode 1 of a three-part series on Mercury’s official YouTube channel features 1985 interview excerpts with David Wigg alongside music-video clips.
  • In the archival interview, Mercury frames the record as a personal challenge and describes its songs as love ballads that balance pain with tongue-in-cheek flair.
  • Originally released in 1985 just before Live Aid, the album drew lukewarm reviews and modest sales despite its Musicland/Mack pedigree.
  • Coverage notes ties to Queen—including ‘There Must Be More to Life Than This’ and ‘I Was Born to Love You’—and offers a reassessment that prizes standouts like ‘Living On My Own’ while faulting filler elsewhere.