“People have a hard time understanding how unsurprising Bohemian Rhapsody was to us”: Brian May recalls people’s reactions to hearing Queen’s magnum opus for the first time
Bohemian Rhapsody exists in a world of its own. The 1975 track is bursting with piano-led confessions of murder, operatic might and one of the most iconic guitar solos of all time – but, if you ask Queen, there’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about it.
In a new interview with Classic Rock, guitarist Brian May reveals that, in the studio, Bohemian Rhapsody was just another standard Queen cut. “People have such a hard time understanding how unsurprising Bohemian Rhapsody was to us,” May says. “If you look as the first album, you’ve got My Fairy King, which is very complex and goes all over the place.”
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Fans and peers alike were stunned by the intricacies of Bohemian Rhapsody; apparently producer Roy Thomas Baker laughed in shock when the eccentric Freddie Mercury explained his plan to include an operatic break in the track. But, with a strong back catalogue of absurdities, May wasn’t shocked by Mercury’s ambition.
In May’s opinion, March Of The Black Queen, which dropped a year earlier than Bohemian Rhapsody in 1974, is “way more complicated” than their stand-out hit. “[It was] on the second album, and it is enormously complicated. “So, Bohemian Rhapsody wasn’t a surprise to us” he explains. “It was just: ‘we’ll do another one of these things.’”
Drummer Roger Taylor was equally as comfortable with Bohemian Rhapsody’s unconventional structuring. “As we were constructing the opera bit, we were getting more and more wild,” he recalls. “‘Stick a bit more on, stick another bit in, it’ll all be fine when it gets to the heavy section.’ And it was.”
Despite the operatic sections being written by Mercury, who “knew nothing about opera”, the track was just another way of exploring the band’s musical potential. “We were planting our flag in the ground: ‘This is really us – it’s a bit mad but it’s got everything in it,’” Taylor explains.
While the pair admit they don’t know exactly what the track is about, with May noting “we never really asked each other about our lyrics”, the track continues to be a fan favourite. For that reason, it continues to be a staple for live shows – despite the fact May struggles to play it.
“It’s the most unnatural riff to play you could possibly imagine,” he admitted last year in a chat with Total Guitar. “It’s not a riff that a guitarist would naturally play… and that’s a double-edged sword.”
“It’s difficult for the guitar to get a hold of it, but once you have got hold of it, it’s very unusual,” he continues. “And to be honest, I still don’t find it easy! I can play it at home okay, but in the heat of the battle, when we’re playing it live, and there’s huge adrenaline, it’s the climax of the show and that riff comes along, it’s not the easiest thing to play.”
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