Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of the most influential rock songs ever recorded, was released 50 years ago.
It broke records and soared to the top of the British charts. It was No. 1 twice in the U.K. and also made history with the first ever promotional rock video.
But in the U.S., the song took 17 more years and being featured in the movie “Wayne’s World” to turn into a mega hit. Today, it has almost 3 billion streams on Spotify, which is the most for any 20th century song.
“It changed the dynamics of music”
The hit song came to life in the Welsh countryside at Rockfield Studios, which was set up in the 1960s by two farmers and musicians, Charles and Kingsley Ward.
Queen’s band members – Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Roger Taylor and Brian May – lived at Rockfield for two weeks in 1975, working on their fourth album, “A Night at the Opera.”
“I don’t think anybody realized at the time that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ would end up the iconic record it was,” said Kingsley Ward, who’s now 85 years old.
In the main studio, which is still in use, Queen laid down the song in three sections – choral, hard rock and opera. The sound was revolutionary, as was the length of the track at almost six minutes.
“It’s probably the greatest record ever made, a rock record, because it changed the dynamics of music, and people now realize they can do anything with music,” Ward said.
Ward remembers Queen’s leader, Mercury, as “very quiet, unassuming and just a genuinely nice person, wasn’t flamboyant at all.”
He said Mercury kept the band waiting for the song they then knew only as “Freddy’s thing.”
“Brian and John were playing frisbee. I remember talking to Brian and saying, ‘You’ve been here a long time, five days, you haven’t done much.’ And I think Brian said, ‘Freddy’s in there writing something.'”
Ward explained Mercury was inside what is now an office and in the corner of the office was an old piano. Out the window, Kingsley said Mercury would have been able to see the old farm wind vane.
“Now, the odd thing is, a lot of people ask me, ‘did Freddy get the idea of that iconic line, ‘any way the wind blows’ looking at the weathercock?’ We don’t know, because Freddy’s not here to tell us, but it’s a great story, isn’t it?”