(Credits: LastFM)
Tue 21 October 2025 6:00, UK
It’s easy to commend the severity of the fight that Queen had to put up just to get ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ over the line.
But when you look at all the things that their labels, execs, and even radios looked for (and still do) with so-called listener-friendly tracks, it makes complete sense. After all, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ wasn’t initially the most accessible song the band could have come up with, but it did end up being one of the most culturally impactful in all of history.
Let’s break it down. Structurally, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a radio nightmare. It makes sense that when the band took it to the label and manager, they immediately tried to shut it down. Length-wise, it’s also a major red flag. Running at around six minutes long, the song didn’t exactly fit into the radio’s three-minute sweet spot. Lyrically and melodically, it had its charms. But again, it’s not exactly something that some disk jockey would have looked at and thought, ‘Yeah, that’ll draw people in straight away’.
And so it goes. Queen had to put up a fight, Freddie Mercury taking the reins in almost all conversations, defending every reason why the song was a worthy single. But it was also a blessing that people eventually backed down, not only embracing the creativity of the song itself but also the benefits it brought with it. For radios, it provided the perfect opportunity for an extended studio break. For Mercury, it satisfied his need for pushing the boundaries of mainstream creative expression. And for the label, it had a knock-on effect they couldn’t have predicted if they tried.
But opting to put ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ out there for all to sink their teeth into wasn’t their first choice, no matter how much Mercury’s adamance made it seem so. In fact, there was another song they were toying with at the time that almost took its place. As the release for their latest reissue, A Night at the Opera, claims, they were toying with the idea of releasing ‘The Prophet’s Song’ at first, until it became clear ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was it.
In a way, however, every member sort of already knew this, deep down. As Roger Taylor explains, “I always believed in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ from the start. The first time Fred played us his idea for it, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this is something special.’ And it was.”
The song went on to smash records that blindsided even the band. It sold over a million copies in Britain alone and sparked its own cultural moment that’s still heavily influencing most corners of the industry today. In true fashion, Mercury celebrated its achievements with humour, saying, “Imagine all those grandmothers grooving to it!” A real spark of joy for someone who once said the song came from “just a phase” he was going through.
But sometimes, those moments are the best for creative expression. Sometimes, it’s easy to praise musicians who already know they’re onto something timeless. But ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ truly was an immense risk, one bound to its own fleeting concepts and far outside anything deemed mass-appropriate at the time. But in the end, it proved that there’s sometimes no rhyme or reason for the things that stick. Sometimes, it’s just pure inexplicable lightning in a bottle.
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