Freddie Mercury: Queen Bee

THERE'S NOTHING like a dearth of hero-stars to make a media industry writhe with despondency. Film moguls, unable to find successors to Monroe and Gable, are making a cult of anti-stars. But the pop industry needs the potent elixir, the excitement of using honest superlatives to sear through the blood, lifting the spirits. And pop scribes, like damp, weary pilgrims waiting for the dawn, have been aching to crown a new hero.

Then, just when the prognosis looked direst, with a dazzling whoooosh, darlings, up popped Freddie Mercury.