Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was recently named “greatest song of all time” by the listeners of Greatest Hits Radio, voted so by over 6500 souls. And there’s little mystery to the song choice – Freddie Mercury’s masterwork rocked music history to its core and changed the ways people perceived song structure and possibilities.
Former Queen roadie Peter Hince, who authored “Queen Uncovered,” spoke to Greatest Hits Radio, reminiscing on his experience hearing the song (via NME):
“The band were recording [album] ‘Night At The Opera,’ and we were going around all these different studios in London and doing bits in each place so I was hearing bits and pieces of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ but I didn’t hear the whole thing for quite some time. I remember hearing the opera bit and thinking it’s going to be an introduction tape for the live show – I had no idea it was a song!”
Hince gave his opinion on the reasoning behind the song’s enduring fame, saying: “Nothing really had been done like it before and probably nothing since – with all the technology now it is easier to get certain studio effects whereas with Queen it was all about spending enormous amounts of time and being incredibly innovative.”
Hince also revealed an interesting fact — apparently, Freddie preferred “Somebody To Love” over “Rhapsody.”
As he explained: “I think part of [it’s appeal] is in the fact that it took so long to do and it was this real labour of love for Fred…Freddie actually said ‘Somebody To Love’ was a better piece of songwriting than Bo Rap. He felt that as a pure piece of songwriting it was better.”
