Michael Allred

Can you provide a source where Brian says this? A book, magazine, etc? Not about "..Rhapsody" but something that backs up the "Freddie was devastated" bit.

One only needs to watch the "Champions of the World" documentary where Roger Taylor states they "hardly noticed" Queen's declining popularity in the States because they were huge everywhere else.

movieking

Not from the "pop" charts, but on the country charts, Randy Travis's first single, "On The Other Hand", basically flopped. I can't remember exactly, but I think that it barely reached number 80 on the country charts. He released another song that got some airplay and became a hit (I think that it was "1982"), and having a feeling that the first time around the song did not get the attention it deserved, he rereleased the same version of OTOH just mere months after the original release tanked, but this time it went to number one. No tie in to a movie or anything else; just more exposure because of his increasing popularity.

Jack Straw

The quote you reference above your post said that he was "bothered" not devastated.