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I don't remember it being played frequently on the radio. I was a kid and that was my source of music back then. The first time I noticed the song was many years after it was released. It was not a big deal among all the music that was going on in the 70s and 80s.
But now, it is considered one of the best songs of all time of any genre. It has more than 1 billion views on YouTube. Pretty impressive for a song written in 1975.
Anybody else shocked by the meteoric rise of Bohemian Rhapsody long after it was released?
I don't remember it being played frequently on the radio. The first time I noticed the song was many years after it was released. It was not a big deal among all the music that was going on in the 70s and 80s.
But now, it is considered one of the best songs of all time. It has more than 1 billion views on YouTube. Pretty impressive for a song written in 1975.
Anybody else shocked by the meteoric rise of this song long after it was released?
I wasn't a big Queen fan, but it was a great song, showing off Freddie Mercury's tremendous pipes in glorious fashion and with that highly unusual operatic delivery, and had a big impact at the time. It was kind of controversial because of the lyrics... I still recall our high school chemistry teacher introducing the song with a fair amount of gravity over the high school PA system - he was the school DJ for that time of morning music before first period. Queen just wasn't my thing, and I didn't really appreciate Freddie Mercury until many years later, but he was something alright, and that was their best work.
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Freddie Mercury was an incredible talent, but also had a great group of musicians, especially Brian May on guitar. Freddie's early death was another of those rock legend tragedies.
I'd put Bohemian Rhapsody right up there with Stairway to Heaven. I am reminded of my favorite episode of the British comedy "Father Ted" with Graham Norton as Father Noel Furlong:
Freddie Mercury was an incredible talent, but also had a great group of musicians, especially Brian May on guitar. Freddie's early death was another of those rock legend tragedies.
I'd put Bohemian Rhapsody right up there with Stairway to Heaven. I am reminded of my favorite episode of the British comedy "Father Ted" with Graham Norton as Father Noel Furlong:
Yes, I also see it as one of the all-time great rock songs... to Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven, I'd also add Sunshine of Your Love, Layla, and Pink Floyd's Brain Damage... all pillars in the Pantheon of Rock.
I wasn't a big Queen fan, but it was a great song, showing off Freddie Mercury's tremendous pipes in glorious fashion and with that highly unusual operatic delivery, and had a big impact at the time. It was kind of controversial because of the lyrics... I still recall our high school chemistry teacher introducing the song with a fair amount of gravity over the high school PA system - he was the school DJ for that time of morning music before first period. Queen just wasn't my thing, and I didn't really appreciate Freddie Mercury until many years later, but he was something alright, and that was their best work.
I agree it's an amazing song. Pure genius. But We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions and Another One Bites the Dust were the Queen songs everybody knew back in the day.
Yes, I also see it as one of the all-time great rock songs... to Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven, I'd also add Sunshine of Your Love, Layla, and Pink Floyd's Brain Damage... all pillars in the Pantheon of Rock.
Exactly.
I was listening regularly to FM rock radio when "Bohemian Rhapsody" came out....I liked it but that was still in the era when there were a lot of really good songs... the tail end of what would be later known as the "classic rock" era ...roughly mid 60s to mid 70s....I was not a big Queen fan back then (or ever) but I did have most of their albums at one point...didn't listen to them much...more of a Beatles, The Who, Black Sabbath fan...I found Queen's music to be good (ie. talented) but not really my taste...a bit too pompous, theatrical...
"Bohemian Rhapsody" with it's many wildly different musical sections, is really like 5 songs in one...a lot of longer, more progressive rock songs in the 70s had that, groups like Yes...their big hit "Roundabout", or Rush's "2112"..both good examples...
even Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven ...has sections ...in this case, building from quiet ballad to bombastic hard rock finale..and one poster mentioned "Bohemian Rhapsody being impressive considering it was recorded back in 1975...recording technology was pretty good by then ...24 track studios ....even some 48 track...analog of course...today's studio recording technology is more advanced but it doesn't translate to better recordings or better songs ....I'm not hearing any Bohemian Rhapsodys or Stairway to Heavens or Won't Get Fooled Agains today.
Freddie Mercury wrote it and it is Queen's magnum opus ....and like another poster mentioned, all the Queen band members were/are very talented musicians...especially Brian May...those harmonized solos...wow...
they were super smart too ..many degrees in that band....Masters ....Phd's ....maybe that's why they were a bit older than most ...Freddie Mercury was only 3 years younger than Mick Jagger and George Harrison...
Jagger and Harrison were in bands having hits back in 1964 ....Queen released their first album ...1973...almost a decade later....but I guess the Queen guys were busy studying .....Beatles and Stones were mainly barely finished high school guys....
I think that 'Wayne's World" in the early 1990s helped bolster the popularity of "Bohemian Rhapsody"....and I think Mike Myers chose to feature "Bohemian Rhapsody" as it is an extreme example of excessive 70s classic rock ...which fit in perfectly with the parody that is "Wayne's World".
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was huge when it was released. Everyone I knew had a copy of A Night At The Opera. There's nothing meteoric here; it's always been a freakishly popular song. Two or three generations have joined this planet since the album was released; there simply are more people around now to enjoy it.
But We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions and Another One Bites the Dust were the Queen songs everybody knew back in the day.
They were like household names.
Agreed. Bohemian Rhapsody wasn't even on the most popular Queen's Greatest Hits CD, this one! (I'm sure other compilations exist but this was most popular
I have a distinct memory of building sets for my high school musical, and our art teacher blasted this CD through the theater. It was fun, got us pumped, and was my first time hearing "Bicycle Race," "Fat Bottomed Girls," and others
By 98-99, I taped my classic rock radio station's "Top 100 of ALL TIME" and B.R. was #6, maybe? So it was known. But it has become exponentially even more ubiquitous since.
Toto's "Africa" is another one -- you very occasionally heard it, but it's only in the last 5 years that you hear it *all the time.* On the flip side, apparently a Peter Frampton live album was an astronomical success in the 70's, but is never played on the radio today, except maybe "i want you to show me the way."
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