Sexuality of Freddie Mercury behind dropping popularity of Queen in USA

The current Queen + Paul Rodgers tour marks the first Queen-related appearances of any kind in the U.S. since 1982. Drummer Roger Taylor told us that the group made a conscious decision to stop touring on these shores at that time because of a negative reaction to frontman Freddie Mercury's sexuality:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "We perceived, I mean, I think when it became obvious that Freddie was homosexual, we perceived a noticeable dropping of interest. And also this coincided with the sort of, we did a couple albums which weren't that great, to be honest. That really was probably the major factors."

Taylor added that the decision to stop touring in the U.S. only further damaged the band's following:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "We then felt that we'd sort of lost a little ground in the States, so we didn't tour, nothing after '82, so I think that really led to a sort of, I don't know, diminishing of our profile in America."

Queen did not have a Top 20 album in the U.S. from 1981 until the 1992 compilation Classic Queen.

Mercury died from AIDS on November 24th, 1991, at the age of 45.

Queen + Paul Rodgers play on Tuesday, March 7th, in Duluth, Georgia.