On this day exactly fifty years ago the most popular song of the 20th century was released

To be precise, exactly 50 years have passed since the release of the Queen single that featured "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the A-side. The song was recorded from August to September 1975 in five recording studios, requiring considerable time and technical effort given the equipment of the time.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is one of the few songs in rock music that has practically inspired books. It's also another example of how myths are created in rock music. It's worth comparing it, for example, to another famous composition, Paul McCartney's "Yesterday," which originally had no lyrics at all. After the lyrics were written, John Lennon quipped after the breakup of the Beatles that he would never write a song whose meaning he didn't understand.

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Here, John was, of course, simply jealous, but he was right, as Sir Paul himself only recently stated that he finally realized the song was about his mother. The parallel between "Yesterday" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the sense of "what's the song about?" is obvious, not least because, according to legend, Mercury himself once told TV presenter and comedian Kenny Everett that the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" were "just rhyming nonsense" (or, according to another version, "a meaningless jumble of words").

However, many theories about its meaning subsequently arose, even linking it to Camus's novella "The Stranger"—though, from a literary perspective, where does Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus stand and where does Mercury stand? The other Queen members remained silent about the lyrics they sang, claiming that Mercury didn't like to reveal the hidden meaning of his lyrics, and they didn't ask.

It's worth noting that the song emerged at the height of art rock and progressive rock's popularity, becoming a Christmas hit in the UK and holding the top spot for nine weeks. However, in the US, it never rose above number nine.

Ironically, exactly one week after the release of "Bohemian Rhapsody," the Sex Pistols performed for the first time at Central Saint Martin's College in London. A year later, their song "Anarchy in the U.K." reached number 38 on the chart. According to Johnny Rotten, when the single reached that position, EMI simply stopped printing additional copies, as the song could easily have reached number one.

And while art rock and progressive rock continue to exist with varying success, in the mid-1970s, British youth, who saw no future in those years of economic depression, had no time for "higher matters"—the era of punk in general and punk rock in particular had arrived.

Nevertheless, as of September 2025, "Bohemian Rhapsody" remains the most-streamed song of the 20th century, with over 2.8 billion plays on Spotify alone.

Photo: Wikipedia