Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see…
– Written by Freddie Mercury and performed by Queen
IT IS inevitable that this ageing hippie will eventually write about the music and film about Queen and frontman Freddie Mercury.
Queen is one of the pioneers in the art rock genre and frontman Freddie Mercury is probably one the most flamboyant, perhaps at par with David Bowie. It is ironic that both are already dead.
And Queen is Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon.
But what is Bohemian Rhapsod? It is both a song and a film and we’ll start with the song. From that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was 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.
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 “cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air.”
“Bohemian Rhapsody” has been affiliated to the genres of progressive rock / symphonic rock, hard rock, and progressive pop. The song is highly unusual for a popular single in featuring no chorus, combining disparate musical styles and containing lyrics which eschew conventional love-based narratives for allusions to murder and nihilism.
Music scholar Sheila Whiteley suggests that “the title draws strongly on contemporary rock ideology, the individualism of the bohemian artists’ world, with rhapsody affirming the romantic ideals of art rock.”
At that time during the mid-‘70s when Queen and their music came out, they gained quite a following as their music presented something different it was basically rock but not your usual rock.
It was progressive rock, more specifically art rock, during that era the epitome of progressive rock was another English band Pink Floyd yes both are progressive but quite distinctly different.
Pink Floyd was heavily into psychedelic and jazz and blues influenced rock while Queen was into a flamboyant fusion of rock with opera and subtle disco music.
Of course the band’s name “Queen” is by itself already intriguing added to that were the theatrics, stage performance and really extraordinary voice and singing style of frontman Freddie Mercury.
David Bowie with his different stage personas and his progressive music was art rock at that time.
Freddie Mercury and Queen presented something more flamboyant and bohemian and it was inevitable that a collaboration with David Bowie did come and it was a success both art, music and record sales.
I must confess at that time Moi was not really into the music of Queen but I do appreciate it and from time to time listen to it as an alternative from my usual Jazz and Blues.
The music of Queen is performance music and it becomes more extraordinary if you can see Queen and Freddie Mercury perform live not exactly the soundtrack for some psychedelic trip hence my preference for Pink Floyd.
Queen is music you dance and jump to watching them perform live I’m more into music for an altered state experience in other words getting high but that’s not saying I am not familiar with it as I said before I do listen to it sometimes.
And we segue to the film, still from that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a 2018 biographical film about the British rock band Queen. It follows singer Freddie Mercury’s life, leading to Queen’s Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium in 1985.
The only thing more extraordinary than their music is his story…
After watching “Bohemian Rhapsody” the film the only way I can describe what the experience was inside the cinema at Robinsons Place Jaro was that I was blown away.
It was probably the best biopic I have seen of any of any artist; anything else pales in comparison.
Rami Malek is Freddie Mercury reincarnated. The nuances, the dynamics, it’s haunting in a beautiful way.
The film rekindled my appreciation for the music of Queen and Freddie Mercury and it made me appreciate and understand the emotional struggles of Freddie Mercury.
I feel for him and I walked out of the cinema humming …
Love of my life
you’ve hurt me
you’ve broken my heart
and now you leave me
Love of my life
can’t you see?
Bring it back
bring it back
don’t take it away from me
because you don’t know what it means to me. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
