Brian May is angry. Actually, everyone knows that “Brian May” can be a common name – but this name primarily refers to him, guitarist of the legendary band Queen. And nobody else. The 76-year-old points this out in an angry Instagram post.
On the book review platform “Goodreads” he discovered (or was given to him) the book of a namesake whose biography refers not to the author of the non-fiction book, but to Brian May, the Queen musician. Title: “1948: A Critical and Creative Prequel to Orwell’s 1984”, an attempt at a “prequel” to George Orwell’s world-famous dystopia about a dictatorial state.
May writes: “WTF?? Where does this nonsense come from?! I have never written a book like this – and never will!!! Can someone please tell me what’s going on here? Bottom up! Bri. (and thanks @lunawest). 💥💥💥💥 Well, thanks for the clarification, guys. Now I know that there is another Brian May in another world in Illinois – an English literature professor – who wrote this book and many others. “
He also seems to know how this error came about. Artificial intelligence did nonsense:
“The mistake this website made by giving him my bio appears to have been made by a primitive AI bot rather than a human. But now I can say hello to this alternative Brian May and not worry anymore.”
At the same time, May admits that all the other “Brian Mays” in this world must have a hard time, since he has widely occupied the name: “I can imagine that he must have found my presence in the world a bit annoying at times, for what reason I apologize. But all I can say is that I was probably the first person to be called that way!”
The soundtrack composer of the same name, another Brian May, also had a hard time next to him: “We can both determine that there was a third Brian May, an Australian composer who wrote the music for Mad Max – and me “I’m sure we’ve all caused confusion at some point.”
May’s advantage could now be the British honorary title: “Maybe I just have to use my last title to distinguish myself – I think there is only one called “Sir Brian May”. But I could also be wrong. Forward! On being Brian May. And not a chatbot. Merry Christmas, folks. – Bri”
In fact, there are connections between Queen and George Orwell. In the “Orwell year” of 1984, the band released their album “The Works”, and their mega hit “Radio Ga-Ga” recreates the vision of a future dictatorship.