'Somebody to Love' ... Live in Montreal 1981, 'White Queen'... Odeon Hammersmith 1975, 'Don't stop me now', and many more. A lot of people consider Queen at their best in Live performances. Someone elsehas already put all the info about the band Queen and all its members. One of the best bands ever and Freddie Mercury (who wrote this song), the lead singer, was the best front man ever. He tragically died in 1991, but Brian and Roger still release music as Queen, using other singers.
Queen is one of the most influential rock groups ever! The band was formed in Britain in 1971. Queen has released 15 studio albums, 10 live albums, 16 compilation albums, two soundtrack albums, 2 extended plays, 73 singles, and seven promotional singles. "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was released originally in 1975, is the creation of Freddie Mercury but he never told anyone what he was thinking when he wrote the lyrics. Freddie tended to write in metaphors so I would not suggest taking any of his songs literally. He wanted listeners to be able to apply to the song whatever meaning it had to them personally. Not what it meant to him. BTW - Freddie did admit that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was composed of three separate songs that he had been working on but could not seem to finish. So he decided to mash them together, adding some transitions and bridges, and created "Bohemian Rhapsody". Bohemian Rhapsody" can be broken down into 6 parts: Part I is the "Into". The video image shows the four members of Queen singing and harmonizing the lyrics of the "Intro" in A cappella. In reality, it is only Freddie's voice you hear on the recording. Freddie laid down 5 separate tracks of himself singing and harmonizing with himself. (FYI - multi-tracking and overdubbing runs rampant in Bohemian Rhapsody.) Next is the "Ballad" portion of the song ('Mama, just killed a man'). Freddie had worked on it for years but the song never had a name. The other members of Queen tentatively titled it "Freddie's Cowboy Song". The lyricist Sir Tim Rice (who wrote the lyrics for "Jesus Christ, Superstar", "Evita", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", etc ...) was a close friend of Freddie's and he believes this portion of the song’s lyrics were about Freddie confessing to his fans that he was gay. The third section is the guitar solo. This is the only part of Bohemian Rhapsody not written by Freddie. Freddie told Brian that he wanted a guitar solo in the song and where he wanted it to fit into the song but left it to Brian to create. Brian wanted to have his guitar effectively sing a verse that would inject a different melody. He heard something in his head. He said that he could hear this melody and had no idea where it came from. That melody isn’t anywhere else in the song, but it’s on a familiar chord sequence, so it dovetails in quite nicely. The guitar solo leads to the fourth section which is the "Operatic" section. Freddie not only loved Rock but he loved Opera. He was always fascinated with the idea of combining rock and opera. It took 3 weeks to record "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the "Operatic" section was much smaller when they began recording but Freddie kept adding to it. Various lyrics in the "Operatic" section seem to refer to the band. For example: * Freddie casts himself as Scaramouch, a stock clown of 16th-century Italian literature. * Galileo who was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer definitely refers to Brian (Queen's lead guitarist) who in real life is Dr. Brian May, who has a Ph.D.in Astrophysics. * Figaro refers to the Mozart opera, "The Marriage of Figaro" and it is a subtle way to reference Roger Taylor (Queen's drummer) who has a four-range vocal span (E2-E6) and was even frequently cited as hitting E5 in live performances. Freddie compared Roger's voice to a dog whistle. * The final reference of Magnifico is John Deacon (Queen's bass guitarist), who has not just a BSc but a First Class Honors Degree in Electronics. John is the creator of the "Deacy Amp". When Brian's homemade electric guitar (dubbed The Red Special) was connected through a treble-booster (an effects unit used by guitarists to increase the high end of their tonal spectrum) to the "Deacy Amp", Brian could produce sounds reminiscent of various orchestral instruments, such as violin, cello, trombone, clarinet, or even vocals from his guitar. It is hard to realize that it is only Freddie, Brian, and Roger singing in the "Operatic" section (John never sang on the records). This was 1975, well before digital recordings and they were using 24-track analog tape. This made it necessary for the three to overdub themselves many times and "bounce" these down to successive sub-mixes. Some sections feature 180 separate overdubs! The fifth section is the "Hard Rock" portion. In this section, Freddie sings angry lyrics addressed to an unspecified "you", accusing them of betrayal and abuse and insisting "can't do this to me, baby", before the final lines conclude with him singing, "just gotta get right outta here". (FYI - the "Operatic" and the "Hard Rock" sections of BoRap were featured in a scene in the 1992 film Wayne's World, in which the main character and his friends headbang in a car to the rock part.) In the sixth and final section, the "Outré", returns to the "Ballad" to close the circle of the song and ends with the sound of a Chinese gong. As far as the video itself… Though some artists had made video clips to accompany songs before this video, including Queen themselves, it was only after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that it became a regular practice for record companies to produce promotional videos for artists' single releases. According to Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May, the video was produced so that the band could avoid miming on Top of the Pops (Top of the Pops [TOTP] was a British music chart television program, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly). They knew that there was no way that they could realistically mime such a complex song live on TV. In addition, the band was already booked to appear at Dundee's Caird Hall on tour, which clashed with the date that TOTP scheduled the performance of Bohemian Rhapsody on the program. If TOTP accepted the promo video in place of the band live miming on the air, it would solve all the issues. The video was recorded in just four hours on 10 November 1975, for £4,500 (a little over $4,800). The band was involved in the discussion of the video and the result was a cooperative between the band, the director, the assistant director/floor manager, and the cameraman. All of the special effects were achieved during the recording, rather than editing. The visual effect of Freddie's face cascading away (during the echoed lines "Magnifico" and "Let me go") was accomplished by pointing the camera at a monitor, giving visual feedback, a glare analogous to audio feedback. The honeycomb illusion was created using a shaped lens. The video was edited within five hours because it was due to be broadcast the same week in which it was taped. The video was sent to the BBC as soon as it was completed and aired for the first time on Top of the Pops in November 1975. The video has been hailed as launching the MTV age. Welcome to the world of Queen!
"Bohemian Rapsody" is a Queen classic probably one of her most famous songs worldwide worldwide success between 1975/1976 Although it is a very beautiful song I have other songs by them that I like a little more like Somebody to love Fat bottomed girls Teo torriate save me and the duo We will rock you / We are the champions They complete my Top5 of Queen I suggest any of these for future reactions. In addition to his greatest successes I had the opportunity to see Queen live at their peak. when I visited my country Argentina in 1981 and I went to two of their concerts "Bohemian Rapsody" was Queen's first #1 single in her country, the UK, and spent 9 weeks at the top of the charts. and it was succeeded by a completely opposite song by a totally different contemporary group but they have some interesting coincidences The song was "Mamma Mia" by the Swedish group ABBA. a separate comment It was precisely the latter that I wanted to talk to you about. ABBA is a quartet basically made up of two musicians, composers and backup singers, and two female lead singers, who in the beginning were also couples. ABBA has around 20 world hits between 1974/1982, His first hit was "Waterloo" exactly 50 years ago. and his biggest hit is "Dancing Queen"; and after almost 40 years they recorded again and released a new album "Voyage" in 2021 That's why it's my suggestion that you react to "Mamma Mia" It is a contemporary song on the charts to "Bohemian Rapsody" but recorded 6 months before her and over time, after ABBA, she was much more famous because a theater musical and two movies were made with that title all with ABBA songs
'Somebody to Love' ... Live in Montreal 1981, 'White Queen'... Odeon Hammersmith 1975, 'Don't stop me now', and many more. A lot of people consider Queen at their best in Live performances. Someone elsehas already put all the info about the band Queen and all its members. One of the best bands ever and Freddie Mercury (who wrote this song), the lead singer, was the best front man ever. He tragically died in 1991, but Brian and Roger still release music as Queen, using other singers.
Great reaction. Queen is one of the greatest bands. ❣️👑🎶
M A G N I F I C O OOOOOOO❤❤❤OH MAMA MIA,MAMA MIA👑👑👑THANKS FREDDY FOR YOUR SOUL AND THANKS QUEEN......THIS IS UNFORGETTABLE EXPIRIENCE
Great honest reaction! MORE QUEEN! 👑😃
Please react to 'It's A Beautiful Day' by Queen ❤
Queen is one of the most influential rock groups ever! The band was formed in Britain in 1971. Queen has released 15 studio albums, 10 live albums, 16 compilation albums, two soundtrack albums, 2 extended plays, 73 singles, and seven promotional singles.
"Bohemian Rhapsody", which was released originally in 1975, is the creation of Freddie Mercury but he never told anyone what he was thinking when he wrote the lyrics. Freddie tended to write in metaphors so I would not suggest taking any of his songs literally. He wanted listeners to be able to apply to the song whatever meaning it had to them personally. Not what it meant to him.
BTW - Freddie did admit that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was composed of three separate songs that he had been working on but could not seem to finish. So he decided to mash them together, adding some transitions and bridges, and created "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Bohemian Rhapsody" can be broken down into 6 parts:
Part I is the "Into". The video image shows the four members of Queen singing and harmonizing the lyrics of the "Intro" in A cappella. In reality, it is only Freddie's voice you hear on the recording. Freddie laid down 5 separate tracks of himself singing and harmonizing with himself. (FYI - multi-tracking and overdubbing runs rampant in Bohemian Rhapsody.)
Next is the "Ballad" portion of the song ('Mama, just killed a man'). Freddie had worked on it for years but the song never had a name. The other members of Queen tentatively titled it "Freddie's Cowboy Song". The lyricist Sir Tim Rice (who wrote the lyrics for "Jesus Christ, Superstar", "Evita", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", etc ...) was a close friend of Freddie's and he believes this portion of the song’s lyrics were about Freddie confessing to his fans that he was gay.
The third section is the guitar solo. This is the only part of Bohemian Rhapsody not written by Freddie. Freddie told Brian that he wanted a guitar solo in the song and where he wanted it to fit into the song but left it to Brian to create. Brian wanted to have his guitar effectively sing a verse that would inject a different melody. He heard something in his head. He said that he could hear this melody and had no idea where it came from. That melody isn’t anywhere else in the song, but it’s on a familiar chord sequence, so it dovetails in quite nicely.
The guitar solo leads to the fourth section which is the "Operatic" section. Freddie not only loved Rock but he loved Opera. He was always fascinated with the idea of combining rock and opera. It took 3 weeks to record "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the "Operatic" section was much smaller when they began recording but Freddie kept adding to it.
Various lyrics in the "Operatic" section seem to refer to the band. For example:
* Freddie casts himself as Scaramouch, a stock clown of 16th-century Italian literature.
* Galileo who was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer definitely refers to Brian (Queen's lead guitarist) who in real life is Dr. Brian May, who has a Ph.D.in Astrophysics.
* Figaro refers to the Mozart opera, "The Marriage of Figaro" and it is a subtle way to reference Roger Taylor (Queen's drummer) who has a four-range vocal span (E2-E6) and was even frequently cited as hitting E5 in live performances. Freddie compared Roger's voice to a dog whistle.
* The final reference of Magnifico is John Deacon (Queen's bass guitarist), who has not just a BSc but a First Class Honors Degree in Electronics. John is the creator of the "Deacy Amp".
When Brian's homemade electric guitar (dubbed The Red Special) was connected through a treble-booster (an effects unit used by guitarists to increase the high end of their tonal spectrum) to the "Deacy Amp", Brian could produce sounds reminiscent of various orchestral instruments, such as violin, cello, trombone, clarinet, or even vocals from his guitar.
It is hard to realize that it is only Freddie, Brian, and Roger singing in the "Operatic" section (John never sang on the records). This was 1975, well before digital recordings and they were using 24-track analog tape. This made it necessary for the three to overdub themselves many times and "bounce" these down to successive sub-mixes. Some sections feature 180 separate overdubs!
The fifth section is the "Hard Rock" portion. In this section, Freddie sings angry lyrics addressed to an unspecified "you", accusing them of betrayal and abuse and insisting "can't do this to me, baby", before the final lines conclude with him singing, "just gotta get right outta here".
(FYI - the "Operatic" and the "Hard Rock" sections of BoRap were featured in a scene in the 1992 film Wayne's World, in which the main character and his friends headbang in a car to the rock part.)
In the sixth and final section, the "Outré", returns to the "Ballad" to close the circle of the song and ends with the sound of a Chinese gong.
As far as the video itself…
Though some artists had made video clips to accompany songs before this video, including Queen themselves, it was only after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that it became a regular practice for record companies to produce promotional videos for artists' single releases.
According to Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May, the video was produced so that the band could avoid miming on Top of the Pops (Top of the Pops [TOTP] was a British music chart television program, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly). They knew that there was no way that they could realistically mime such a complex song live on TV. In addition, the band was already booked to appear at Dundee's Caird Hall on tour, which clashed with the date that TOTP scheduled the performance of Bohemian Rhapsody on the program.
If TOTP accepted the promo video in place of the band live miming on the air, it would solve all the issues.
The video was recorded in just four hours on 10 November 1975, for £4,500 (a little over $4,800). The band was involved in the discussion of the video and the result was a cooperative between the band, the director, the assistant director/floor manager, and the cameraman. All of the special effects were achieved during the recording, rather than editing. The visual effect of Freddie's face cascading away (during the echoed lines "Magnifico" and "Let me go") was accomplished by pointing the camera at a monitor, giving visual feedback, a glare analogous to audio feedback. The honeycomb illusion was created using a shaped lens.
The video was edited within five hours because it was due to be broadcast the same week in which it was taped. The video was sent to the BBC as soon as it was completed and aired for the first time on Top of the Pops in November 1975.
The video has been hailed as launching the MTV age.
Welcome to the world of Queen!
Excellent synopsis.
"Bohemian Rapsody" is a Queen classic
probably one of her most famous songs worldwide
worldwide success between 1975/1976
Although it is a very beautiful song
I have other songs by them that I like a little more like
Somebody to love
Fat bottomed girls
Teo torriate
save me
and the duo
We will rock you / We are the champions
They complete my Top5 of Queen
I suggest any of these for future reactions.
In addition to his greatest successes
I had the opportunity to see Queen live at their peak.
when I visited my country Argentina in 1981
and I went to two of their concerts
"Bohemian Rapsody" was Queen's first #1 single in her country, the UK,
and spent 9 weeks at the top of the charts.
and it was succeeded by a completely opposite song
by a totally different contemporary group
but they have some interesting coincidences
The song was "Mamma Mia" by the Swedish group ABBA.
a separate comment
It was precisely the latter that I wanted to talk to you about.
ABBA is a quartet basically made up of two musicians, composers and backup singers,
and two female lead singers, who in the beginning were also couples.
ABBA has around 20 world hits between 1974/1982,
His first hit was "Waterloo" exactly 50 years ago.
and his biggest hit is "Dancing Queen";
and after almost 40 years they recorded again and released a new album "Voyage" in 2021
That's why it's my suggestion that you react to "Mamma Mia"
It is a contemporary song on the charts to "Bohemian Rapsody"
but recorded 6 months before her
and over time, after ABBA, she was much more famous
because a theater musical and two movies were made with that title
all with ABBA songs
It’s the band Queen!!!
You have to check out dream on Aerosmith