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Bohemian Rhapsody
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Poll Question: Bohemian Rhapsody is...
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I prophesy disaster View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 03 2021 at 07:27
Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" is undoubtedly one of the classic rock songs of all time. I guess this may be what progressive rock sounds like to the non-prog general public. But I see it more as a parody of progressive rock more than progressive rock itself. Recall that Jethro Tull regarded "Thick as a Brick" as a parody of the concept album, but this doesn't in any way detract from the brilliant album that is. Similarly, regarding "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a parody doesn't detract from the brilliant song that is. What do you think?
 
 
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Nope, true progressive rock in every sense of the word. This is the track that most likely got Queen invited to the prog related club here.

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It's not like Queen was not progressive on their previous albums, or on A Night At the Opera, for that matter.  I suggest you go back and listen to Queen II as a primer.
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I agree the single Seven Seas of Rhye was the first I heard in England that prompted me to buy Queen before Bohemian Rhapsody came out about a year or so later.
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Is this the real thing? Or is this just parody? If I open my eyes and look up to the sky and see, it's clearly progressive rock opera, so I'm voting for Something Else entirely. Smile
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How about classic rock....like you said in your original post ...?
Never thought of them as prog rock or even prog related which is how PA has them sorted....where's the 'sorting hat' when you need it?
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Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

How about classic rock....like you said in your original post ...?
Never thought of them as prog rock or even prog related which is how PA has them sorted....where's the 'sorting hat' when you need it?
LOL
Wu must be woozy. Or a wascawy wabbit. Please Wooster, count out the absurd number of time sig changes, the nods to classical pieces, the modulation of vocals/choruses (and the aria-like choirs), tempo changes from hard to soft in hairpin turns, and overall mayhem, and please explain how this not full-blown prog?




Edited by The Dark Elf - April 03 2021 at 17:25
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dr wu23 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

How about classic rock....like you said in your original post ...?
Never thought of them as prog rock or even prog related which is how PA has them sorted....where's the 'sorting hat' when you need it?
LOL
Wu must be woozy. Or a wascawy wabbit. Please Wooster, count out the absurd number of time sig changes, the nods to classical pieces, the modulation of vocals/choruses (and the aria-like choirs), tempo changes from hard to soft in hairpin turns, and overall mayhem, and please explain how this not full-blown prog?



Full blown prog...? No.....,but I will give in on this track and Rhapsody and say it counts as 'prog related' which is how they are listed here.
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Points: 28113 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 05 2021 at 03:04
Queen stretched the boundaries of classic rock so I voted for 'Something Else' . They were just too unique a band to be pigeon holed imo.
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Prog AF. 👍🏻
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It ticks several boxes:

It abandons traditional song structure.
There are tempo changes.
There are irregular bars (in the opera section)
There are many key changes.
It combines hugely different musical parts in an unusual way.
There is inspiration from classical music (opera).

I'd say it is prog, but it is also something else - like much great art.
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Points: 294 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Greenmist Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 05 2021 at 08:17
Id say its a prog song but timewise its condensed to meet radio play constraints.

It works like a play and it doesnt follow simple song structure (intro, verse, chorus, verse chorus, verse, chorus, chorus, outro, end of song), instead it goes in and out of different emotions and takes you on a journey.   But songs that do this tend to last longer than what Bohemian Rhapsody does.  Most exceed 10 mins.

I think the Savatage song Chance took huge influence from this song.
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Kinda-Sorta Proggy. Like a lot of stuff recorded around that time it lifted elements of prog while still staying somewhat mainstream/ accessible to the masses. 
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Originally posted by siLLy puPPy siLLy puPPy wrote:

Nope, true progressive rock in every sense of the word. This is the track that most likely got Queen invited to the prog related club here.

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Originally posted by The Anders The Anders wrote:

It ticks several boxes:

It abandons traditional song structure.
There are tempo changes.
There are irregular bars (in the opera section)
There are many key changes.
It combines hugely different musical parts in an unusual way.
There is inspiration from classical music (opera).

I'd say it is prog, but it is also something else - like much great art.

I agree with you, I like this song very much....


But....

the beginning, romantic, with the classical piano (which perhaps remains the best part of the piece), is serious, but gradually the music becomes more and more pumped up, and the opera-style choral piece is a parody (albeit with Queen you never know if they want to do the parody or not: I think they often end up doing the parody without wanting it, as happens sometimes to McCartney of the Beatles), and the change of rhythm that after the piece of lyric music leads to a hard rock piece is a parody too. 

That is, some passages, which are typical of prog, are performed here in a very tacky, exhibited way, creating a great sound impact but also the feeling that they want to overdo it, that is to make a parody.

This seems to me a general characteristic of Queen, which makes their music exaggerated.

I could say that their prog is performed in a somewhat vulgar, coarse way, which is what often happens with the approach of heavy metal groups, a very direct approach, not sophisticated because it does not play so much on the nuances.

This is my critical analysis and why I voted for parody, because I see a lot of that element in all of Queen's music, even though Bohemian Rapsody is a great song, perhaps their masterpiece (Innuendo is also close to her).




Edited by jamesbaldwin - April 05 2021 at 14:02
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well stated Lorenzo, not just about the song but about Queen in general.  I think Queen gets away with a lot of tackiness and crassness that we wouldn't stand for in big P prog groups, whom we would accuse of sell out if they did anything half as vulgar.
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I'd go with pastiche as opposed to parody.
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It's obviously prog rock.

Queen weren't a prog rock band overall, of course. They were 'Queen' Which meant they would make whatever music they wanted to at the time, be it pop, metal, rock 'n' roll, classic rock, prog rock, jazz, ragtime, funk/disco or whatever. They weren't constrained by genre's and labels, they just got on with making music, which is probably why they had so many. They weren't understood.
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Originally posted by jamesbaldwin jamesbaldwin wrote:

Originally posted by The Anders The Anders wrote:

It ticks several boxes:

It abandons traditional song structure.
There are tempo changes.
There are irregular bars (in the opera section)
There are many key changes.
It combines hugely different musical parts in an unusual way.
There is inspiration from classical music (opera).

I'd say it is prog, but it is also something else - like much great art.

I agree with you, I like this song very much....


But....

the beginning, romantic, with the classical piano (which perhaps remains the best part of the piece), is serious, but gradually the music becomes more and more pumped up, and the opera-style choral piece is a parody (albeit with Queen you never know if they want to do the parody or not: I think they often end up doing the parody without wanting it, as happens sometimes to McCartney of the Beatles), and the change of rhythm that after the piece of lyric music leads to a hard rock piece is a parody too. 

That is, some passages, which are typical of prog, are performed here in a very tacky, exhibited way, creating a great sound impact but also the feeling that they want to overdo it, that is to make a parody.

This seems to me a general characteristic of Queen, which makes their music exaggerated.

I could say that their prog is performed in a somewhat vulgar, coarse way, which is what often happens with the approach of heavy metal groups, a very direct approach, not sophisticated because it does not play so much on the nuances.

This is my critical analysis and why I voted for parody, because I see a lot of that element in all of Queen's music, even though Bohemian Rapsody is a great song, perhaps their masterpiece (Innuendo is also close to her).




I agree that much music that appropriates 'highbrow' forms in which the artist has not been formally trained e.g. opera or classical, can come across as unwitting parody but I don't believe Queen are guilty of that here. I've never felt a single moment of Bohemian Rhapsody was tacky, course or vulgar (like Wagner is understated and restrained yeah? LOL) and have long suspected that it's overwhelming popularity, which rendered any habitually pretentious critiques completely irrelevant, sticks firmly in the craw of hipsters and elitists everywhere. Way to go  Freddie and the boysThumbs Up


Edited by ExittheLemming - April 06 2021 at 07:47
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^Exactly why I prefer the word pastiche to "parody" on this one.
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