The Surprise Connections Between Queen and Star Wars You Didn't Know

On October 13 1978 the British band Queen released the song Bicycle Race as a double A-side single together with Fat Bottomed Girls. Besides its memorable music video, which included a group of nude women riding bikes at Wimbledon Stadium, the song’s first verse includes the following line:

Jaws was never my scene and I don't like Star Wars

By that time George Lucas’ space opera was already a cultural phenomenon, as was Queen, who had risen to stardom with songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions.

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Some interpreted this line as a kind of cultural counterism. Farrokh Bulsara, who wrote Bicycle Race had created the persona of Freddie Mercury, as his alter ego, to be able to live out his eccentricity and go beyond (or often against) the common conventions and the zeitgeist of the 70s. As everybody loved Star Wars back then, publicly explaining that you didn’t set yourself apart from the general public, making you something special.

While such an interpretation might have suited Mercury’s behaviour and on-stage character, the truth behind this line is much simpler.Brian May, Queen’s guitarist, later said that the person in the song was completely invented and did not represent the singer at all:

“As I remember ... he actually wasn't very keen on riding his bicycle (if he even had one!) -- he preferred being driven in a Rolls Royce! But he created a character in the song, and this character can say what he wants, and he can ride his bicycle where he likes!
“Jaws was never my scene and I don’t like Star Wars” was a JOKE! Freddie was acting the part of someone who didn’t want anything except ride his bike.”

While this settles the case of “I don’t like Star Wars”, as it won’t get any more official than from the man who had closely worked with Mercury for nearly two decades, this was not the only time where the paths of Queen and Star Wars crossed: Between August and November of 1980 Mercury often came on stage for We Will Rock You on the shoulders of a man wearing a Darth Vader helmet and mask. It was never actually revealed who the man behind the mask had been, but it was probably just a roadie or a stage technician.

In some of these concerts, Mercury wore a Flash Gordon t-shirt, raising further discussions on the meaning of this gesture. In the early 70s, George Lucas had famously tried to acquire the filming rights to Flash Gordon and when he wasn’t able to he created Star Wars instead. When the Flash Gordon movie came out in 1980, Queen provided the soundtrack for the film, including the hit single Flash. So, when Freddie Mercury came out on stage with a Flash Gordon t-shirt on top of a man in a Darth Vader mask many regarded this as Mercury’s extravagant way of saying that Flash Gordon was a superior movie to Star Wars. But then again, this is purely speculation, as the singer also appeared on the shoulders of a man dressed in a Superman as well as a Santa Claus costume. George Lucas was not too pleased with this kind of publicity for his space opera and sent out his lawyers with a cease and desist order and that was the end of the Dark Lord appearing on the band’s concerts.

Nearly two decades later, when Brian May was present at the London premiere of The Phantom Menace he approached Lucas after the movie to congratulate him on the film, but the director didn’t even make eye contact with the guitarist, just mumbling some words and walking by. It is doubtful that he still held a grudge against Queen after all those years, more likely he simply didn’t recognize May, mistaking him for “just another fan”.

There is one more connection between Mercury and Star Wars, although its’ validity is disputed: According to Danforth Prince’s and Darwin Porter’s book Carrie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds: Princess Leia & Unsinkable Tammy In Hell (2018), the then 17 years old Fisher had a short-lived affair with Mercury in 1973. Fisher, who was used to having celebrities around her, due to the stardom of her parents, reportedly met Mercury (and also David Bowie) at a party thrown by Mick Jagger, while she accompanied her mother. 

It's worth noting that Carrie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds: Princess Leia & Unsinkable Tammy In Hell was never endorsed nor authorized by the Fisher family and mostly relied on third-person recollections. The actress herself, who was never particularly shy to talk about her love life, never mentioned that affair.

Today there are countless pictures, memes and (unofficial) merchandise combining Queen and Star Wars, like Yoda or Vader posing as he famous singer or quoting lines from the band’s songs. So, we will end here with a nice mashup of Bohemian Rhapsody:

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Sources: Quora, Cheatsheet, irdeat