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Well, here we are: 1,322 songs into our list of "Great Songs of the '70s," and we've come to the end of the line. Sort of.
Today, we're highlighting our final song of the decade (for now), before we move into the Great Songs of the '80s!
We're wrapping things up with an undisputed "Great Song of 1975," and pretty much the ENTIRE rock era.
I've been holding back on this one from the very beginning of this blog...for no other reason than the staggering amount of information that comes with it.
This will be a LOOONG Post!
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen was a colossal hit...THREE TIMES! In 1975, when the song was originally released as a single from the album "A Night at the Opera," it was an instant hit --once radio stations got over the shock of having to play a song that was more than 6 minutes long.
Normally, a song that long would be skipped by Top 40 radio, and played exclusively on FM Album Rock stations. But not this time.
The song eventually went to #1 in 6 countries, including Canada, and reached the Top 10 in 8 more, including the US (#9 on the Hot 100).
After a while, "Bohemian Rhapsody" ran its course and dropped off the charts (and most radio stations), but then...
In 1991, the song reappeared in the classic scene from "Wayne's World," where Wayne, Garth & Friends did some car-based headbanging to it.
Thanks to "Wayne's World," the song returned to the charts in 1992, and went straight to the Top 10 AGAIN! This time, it charted in 12 countries, reaching #1 in The Netherlands, and #2 in the US!
But wait, it happened a THIRD time in 2018 after the release of The Queen biopic of the same name. This time, it charted in 23 countries...including #1 in the Czech Republic, of all places, and #2 in the US on Billboard's Hot Rock/Alternative Chart.
Hold on, there's more: Later in 2018, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became the most-streamed classic rock song of all time, with more than 1.6 BILLION downloads across global on-demand streaming services.
Over the years, the accolades have kept pouring in.
Today, "Bohemian Rhapsody" sits at #17 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the Top 500 Songs of All Time." It's also listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
In 2004, the It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 2022, the U.S. Library of Congress Added it to the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant!
WHEW!
After all that, you might be wondering what I can tell you about the song itself.
Freddie wrote it as an operatic piece (hence the album name, "A night at the Opera," and the amount of vocal overdubbing was astronomical--as many as 200 by some accounts.
So...what is the song actually about and what do some of those lyrics mean?
Well, that's a secret that Freddie made the rest of Queen promise they'd never tell--and so far, they haven't. There are, however, a number of theories.
Some people believe it's about Freddie coming out as gay. (The lyric "Mama, just killed a man" is possibly a veiled reference).
Others believe it has something to do with Islam because of his use of several Arabic terms direct from the Koran. (For example: "Bismillah" literally means "In the name of Allah." The word "Scaramouch" means "a boastful coward," and "Beelzebub" is is another name for the Devil.
Still others think it has to do with the fact that Freddie's family was forced to leave his
home country of Zanzibar and move to England when he was just a lad.
Freddie himself was quoted as saying that he wanted the listener to figure out their own personal meaning. And I guess that should be the final word on the subject.
Thank you for reading this far.
There's so much more I could add, but I think a better way to learn the whole story is to check this link from the very reputable--and one of my favorite resources--Songfacts.com: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/queen/bohemian-rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen: Not just a "Great Song of the '70s...but of all time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
Tomorrow: We begin at the beginning of the '80s!
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