The weird and lengthy song was one of Britain's most unlikely number-one hits
By J.T.
IS THIS the real life? Is this just fantasy? The four members of British rock band Queen could be forgiven for asking themselves those questions on November 29th 1975, forty years ago today, when "Bohemian Rhapsody" became their first number one on the UK Singles Chart. At five minutes and fifty-five seconds in length, with distinct ballad, opera and hard rock sections—and a pensive intro and coda, for good measure—the song was not for listeners in a hurry. Nor was it an instant success. The song spent four weeks climbing through the charts before reaching the top. But there was one thing that was immediately obvious about "Bohemian Rhapsody": nobody had ever heard anything quite like it before.
The single aroused mild curiosity in America, where it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. But British listeners were enthralled by the intricacy of the overdubbed harmonies, the energy of the climactic guitar solo, and the oddity of a multi-tracked chorus chanting the names of an Italian Renaissance astronomer (Galileo Galilei), a character from a nineteenth-century opera (Figaro), an Islamic prayer (bismillah) and an occult devil from “Paradise Lost” (Beelzebub). The original single spent nine consecutive weeks at the summit of the British charts, an achievement which no British band, including the Beatles, had achieved before. And the popularity of the song endured. The single was re-released in Britain in 1991 after the death of Freddie Mercury, Queen's lead singer, and spent an additional five weeks atop the charts, making “Bohemian Rhapsody” the first song to be Christmas number one on two occasions. And a year later, it enjoyed a revival in America, albeit at number two, after featuring in “Wayne’s World”. As of 2013, it had the third highest sales of any single in Britain (see chart).
The legacy of the song is indisputable. This was the tune that both inspired Slash, Guns N’ Roses' guitarist, to become a rock star, and moved Brian Wilson, the genius behind The Beach Boys’ finest arrangements, to call it "a fulfilment and an answer to a teenage prayer—of artistic music". It was certainly one of the most innovative pieces of the progressive rock era: though Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and The Beatles’ Paul McCartney had experimented with symphonic elements, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Pete Townshend of The Who had created narrative albums with distinct “movements”, none had had the audacity to import a miniature opera into rock music. It took three weeks to record the hundreds of overdubs for the track, which made “Night at the Opera”, the album on which it appeared, one of the most expensive ever produced at its time.
But there are two additional innovations with which “Bohemian Rhapsody” is sometimes credited, though perhaps doesn’t deserve. The first is overcoming a prejudice amongst radio DJs and record buyers alike against lengthy tracks. Mercury claimed that EMI, the band’s label, had pressured them to abridge it. Elton John allegedly told John Reid, Queen’s manager, that they were “fucking mad” to release it as a single. But two singles that were longer than “Bohemian Rhapsody” had topped the UK charts before. That “Hey Jude” lasted for seven minutes didn’t stop it reaching number one in 1968, while 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love”, which was also released in 1975, came in at over six minutes. After “Bohemian Rhapsody”, more and more British number ones broke the five-minute mark (see chart above). But the pre-1975 bias against hefty singles has been overstated.
A second innovation often attributed to the song is the creation of the music video. On the night that “Bohemian Rhapsody” went to the top of the British single charts, Queen appeared on the BBC’s music show, “Top of the Pops”, as was customary. But something strange was afoot. The band members were shown not in the flesh, but in a promotional film of them playing the song. The reasons for this were mainly practical: they hadn’t worked out how to play it live. In the knowledge that they would likely be reaching number one after a steady rise, the band approached Bruce Gowers, a director, who shot the footage (which includes the iconic shots of four floating heads, above) in three hours. When it was broadcast, Britons were astonished. Brian Grant, who would later direct other videos for Queen, recalled that “nobody had seen anything like Bohemian Rhapsody”. Nigel Dick, who later directed the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" video, was less circumspect: “What the fuck is that?” Viewers shouldn’t have been so surprised. Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles had all made promo films for songs; the opening of the 1969 film “Easy Rider” was essentially a music video for Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild”. None had received the continued exposure that “Bohemian Rhapsody” did. But visualising popular music on screen was nothing new.
The video, track length and sales are all part of the song’s mythology, and deserve to be remembered on this important birthday. But if there was one thing that made this song truly remarkable, it was the obvious skill of its creators. Roger Taylor hit a falsetto note at the end of the opera section that few singers could hope to, let alone a drummer. John Deacon doesn’t have a thumping bass line to match “Under Pressure” or “Another One Bites the Dust”, but did build the “Deacy” amp on which Brian May plays his twin guitar outro. Mr May himself built the guitar, his trusty “Red Special”, on which he plays both solos, the first poignantly, the second with controlled aggression. And Freddie Mercury composed the cryptic lyrics and entire score, which echoes not just Rossini, but also
. Had the classical masters been given the opportunity to tinker with electric guitars and overdubs, they would have been proud to produce something as extraordinary as “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
