Bohemian Rhapsody
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=125952
Printed Date: December 04 2024 at 07:18
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Topic: Bohemian Rhapsody
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Subject: Bohemian Rhapsody
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 07:27
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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? ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Replies:
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 07:44
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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. -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 08:24
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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. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Spaciousmind
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 08:32
| 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. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 08:42
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. 
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 16:04
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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?  ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: April 03 2021 at 17:23
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? ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
dr wu23 wrote:Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: April 04 2021 at 10:42
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. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: richardh
Date 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. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 03:13
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Prog AF. 👍🏻 ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: The Anders
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 07:57
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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. |
Posted By: Greenmist
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 08:17
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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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Posted By: Argo2112
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 08:20
| 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. |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 12:56
Yuppers! -------------   
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Posted By: jamesbaldwin
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 14:01
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). ------------- Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion. |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 14:15
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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. |
Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: April 05 2021 at 20:13
| I'd go with pastiche as opposed to parody. |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: April 06 2021 at 04:46
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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. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: April 06 2021 at 07:26
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?
) 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 boys ------------- 
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Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: April 06 2021 at 13:34
| ^Exactly why I prefer the word pastiche to "parody" on this one. |
Posted By: The Anders
Date Posted: April 06 2021 at 14:12
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It can never be a parody for me. Sure, there's a lot of exaggeration going on, but it is done in a very tongue-in-cheek way and with a lot of humour. Combining humour and seriousness is a great acchievement in my world. I'm not sure I fully understand what the song is about, but that's the great thing about it. It is open for interpretations, and in that respect it is anything by vulgar.
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: April 06 2021 at 14:30
Because no serious Prog musician would do anything vulgar with classical music, like Keith Emerson having simulated sex with his overturned Hammond while playing a Rondo. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 04:17
It was Freddie's 'coming out of the closet' song apparently. 'I killed a Man' is the big clue.
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Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 04:54
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^ I think that plus his rejection of the Zoroastrianism faith in which he had been brought up -------------
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Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 04:59
But that's what parody is, isn't it? ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 05:14
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Parody intends to make fun of its subject or open it up for ridicule. I don't think that was the band's intention with Bohemian Rhapsody (and that's the difference between someone like say, Weird Al Yankovic and Queen) Bohemian Rhapsody is closer to pastiche which celebrates it's subject rather than mocks it. -------------
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Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 05:26
I never really considered this particular distinction when I started this thread. Perhaps I should have said "Parody or Pastiche" instead of just "Parody", but it's too late now to change the poll options. ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Posted By: Progishness
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 07:32
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I'd classify it as operatic rock - probably should have been part of a bigger work, because despite its title 'A Night at the Opera' is not really a concept album, nor is it a rock opera (as e.g. 'Tommy' or 'The Wall' are). It is still an excellent album tho. ------------- "We're going to need a bigger swear jar." Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy McCready aka 'Hit Girl' in Kick-Ass 2 |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 09:27
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PROG ROCK ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 09:29
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there are definitely some elements of parody in the song; how else could something like "Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro", which doesn't make any sense at all, be taken? there is an influence of Albert Camus' novella "L'Étranger" in it too (as in "Killing an Arab" by The Cure). but most of all it is a great song
-------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: JD
Date Posted: April 11 2021 at 09:57
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Prog, absolutely. Certainly enough comic relief that it may raise the question of parody or not, but there are lots of other examples that cross the line of (for lack of better term) legitimate prog vs humourous or parody prog. I don't see why a band can't bring some fun into the song and not have it be considered straight up progressive. ------------- Thank you for supporting independently produced music |