Written by Freddie Mercury for the band’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera. It is a six-minute suite, consisting of several sections without a chorus: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda.
The song is a more accessible take on the 1970s progressive rock genre. It was reportedly the most expensive single ever made at the time of its release, although the exact cost of production cannot be determined.
When it was released as a single, “Bohemian Rhapsody” became a commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and selling more than a million copies by the end of January 1976.
It reached number one again in 1991 for another five weeks when the same version was re-released following Freddie’s death, eventually becoming the UK’s third-best-selling single of all time.
It is also the only song to be the UK Christmas number one twice by the same artist. It topped the charts in several other markets as well, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and The Netherlands, later becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time selling over 6 million copies worldwide. In the United States, the song originally peaked at number nine in 1976.
It returned to the chart at number two in 1992, and also appeared in the film Wayne’s World, which contributed to the revival of its American popularity.
Although critical reaction was initially mixed, “Bohemian Rhapsody” remains one of Queen’s most popular songs and is frequently considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
The single was accompanied by a promotional video, which many scholars consider ground-breaking. Rolling Stone stated that its influence can’t be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air.
The Guardian ranked the music video number 31 on their list of the 50 key events in rock music history, adding it ensured videos would be a mandatory tool in the marketing of music.
In 2004, Bohemian Rhapsody was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2012, the song topped the list on an ITV nationwide poll in the UK to find “The Nation’s Favourite Number One” over 60 years of music, while Mercury’s vocal performance was chosen as the greatest in rock history by readers of Rolling Stone.
For more details about the song, please see addition information on Wikipedia.
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- Queen - The Works - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £15.00, $18.15, €17.40 (New Item) (arrived 30-Jun-2022 15:28)
QUEEN The Works (1984 UK 9-track LP including Radio Ga Ga, It's A Hard Life, I Want To Break Free & Hammer To Fall, picture sleeve with lyric inner. The sleeve has some light edge scuffing and ringwear, whilst the vinyl appears barely played EMC2400141)
- Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love / We Will Rock You - Polish - 7" vinyl - £40.00, $48.40, €46.40 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 14:07)
QUEEN Crazy Little Thing Called Love / We Will Rock You (Rare 1979 Polish 2-track 7" square colour postcard with a playable clear one sided flexi disc attached, the postcard itself features a photograph of some cute puppies not related to the single in anyway, housed in a custom title sleeve. The sleeve has some general wear, whilst the disc shows little signs of play R-0788-II)
- Queen - Las Palabras De Amor - Dutch - 7" vinyl - £18.00, $21.78, €20.88 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 10:43)
QUEEN Las Palabras De Amor (1982 Dutch wide centre 7" vinyl single also includes Cool Cat. The picture sleeve displays some light general wear mostly on the egdes, whilst the vinyl shows minimal signs of play)
- Queen - Now I'm Here - VG - German - 7" vinyl - £25.00, $30.25, €29.00 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 10:52)
QUEEN Now I'm Here (Rare 1974 German wide centred 7" vinyl single also including Lily Of The Valley, both tracks are taken from the album 'Sheer Heart Attack', housed in a picture sleeve with live band shots and album adverts and tracklisting onthe reverse. The sleeve is graded Very Good, with some minor wear, splits to two edges and some vintage tape marks. The vinyl has only a few light cosmetic surface marks, offered at an advantageous price 1C006-96255)
- Queen - Killer Queen - P/S - EX - German - 7" vinyl - £25.00, $30.25, €29.00 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 11:23)
QUEEN Killer Queen (1974 German wide centred 7" vinyl single, also including Flick Of The Wrist, housed in a unique picture sleeve which is advertising other releases on the reverse on the same record label. The sleeve displays some minor general wear and has the track lengths written on the reverse, but has no rips or tears, whilst the vinyl shows only light signs of play, overall an excellent example 1C006-96060)
- Queen - Another One Bites The Dust - Jukebox - Malaysia - 7" vinyl - £195.00, $235.95, €226.20 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 12:09)
QUEEN Another One Bites The Dust (Mega rare 1980 Malaysian 'Music Box Use Not For Sale' promotional 7" single pressed for Jukebox use only, the B-Side features More Than I Can Say by Leo Sayer. The labels are a light tan colour with all text printed in black, within an EMI company sleeve produced for Asian countries. These were pressed in small numbers simply for use in a jukebox, so the playing surface displays some minor scuffs especially on the more popular Queen side. We have playtested and can confirm it plays through without any issues and discovered that the track fades in and out differently to the normal single release. An unusual pressing now extremely hard to find in any condition and includes the (possibly handwritten) jukebox selector tab!)
- Queen - Somebody To Love + P/S - South African - 7" vinyl - £40.00, $48.40, €46.40 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 12:49)
QUEEN Somebody To Love (1976 South African solid centre 7" vinyl single with the crest label design pressed by EMI-Brigadiers Music, also including White Man, housed in a caricature drawing wrap-around picture sleeve. The sleeve displays some light general age wear. The vinyl has some light surface marks from a reaction with the plastic sleeve it had been stored in for many years, this is mostly cosmetic with very little lessening in sound quality. A nice item for any collection and the first we have ever seen! EMIJ4132)
- Queen - Jealousy / Don't Stop Me Now - Brown - Russian - 7" vinyl - £75.00, $90.75, €87.00 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jun-2022 13:42)
QUEEN Jealousy / Don't Stop Me Now (Rare official 1979 Russian 33rpm 7" blue flexi disc, plays both the full length tracks with an unrelated Russian artist on the B-side, housed in a unique wrap-around brown sepia toned picture sleeve)
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