{"id":352284,"date":"2026-09-21T10:17:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352284\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T10:17:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:17:03","slug":"the-1975-song-brian-may-called-the-opposite-of-queens-best-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352284\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1975 song Brian May called the opposite of Queen’s best hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Queen<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Christopher Hopper \/ Elektra Records<\/p>\n

Mon 21 September 2026 9:32, UK <\/p>\n

With \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, Queen<\/a> successfully created a song transcending music, language barriers and generations. Not only is it the most famous track from their acclaimed back catalogue, but it single-handedly redefined pop music, breaking away from all the traditional blueprints and taking on a life they could never have anticipated.<\/p>\n

To provide context to the success of \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, the track has sold more than ten million copies in the United States alone. Furthermore, in the United Kingdom, the single remains the third best-selling song in history, shifting over 2.6 million units. It has also been streamed close to 2.4 billion times on Spotify, founded decades after \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 became an international hit.<\/p>\n

Although Queen have a host of beloved songs in their arsenal, the fame of \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody<\/a>\u2018 is a cut above the rest. While no artist, Queen included, would be frustrated at one of their creations selling millions of copies, guitarist Brian May would have liked for the love to have been shared with some of their lesser-known songs.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 appeared on the band\u2019s 1975 album,\u00a0A Night At The Opera, which included \u2018I\u2019m In Love With My Car\u2019 and \u2018You\u2019re My Best Friend\u2019. While the entire record is cherished in the Queen community, May is particularly fond of \u2018The Prophet Song\u2019, which he believes is \u201cthe antithesis\u201d to their most well-known track.<\/p>\n

Written by May, \u2018The Prophet\u2019s Song\u2019 was hardly lacking in ambition. Stretching beyond eight minutes, it moved between acoustic passages, heavy riffs and an elaborate section in which Mercury\u2019s voice multiplied into a disorientating canon. Its apocalyptic lyrics were inspired by May\u2019s dream of a great flood, giving the song a darker and more ominous atmosphere than its famous album mate. <\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/a>Credit: Raph Pour-Hashemi<\/p>\n

Queen threw just as many of their defining qualities into the recording, but without the immediate theatrical hook of \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, it remained tucked away for listeners willing to explore beyond the singles.<\/p>\n

During a conversation with Vulture<\/a>, May said: \u201cThere\u2019s a million things I wish, in a sense, had gotten a lot of attention. I suppose \u2018The Prophet\u2019s Song\u2019 prevails the most. It was the antithesis of \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 and on the same album. We always thought they were both major works, but \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 got picked up by radio, and it became the flagship song. Only a few people who are very into the depths of Queen through the years are really aware of what \u2018The Prophet\u2019s Song\u2019 means.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI\u2019m not going to say I\u2019m unhappy because it\u2019s okay. It really is. The people who are into that stuff are very into it. They understand it, and they get it. They would regard \u2018The Prophet\u2019s Song\u2019 as much of an encyclopedia of Queen as \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 was on the other side. That isn\u2019t anywhere near a billion streams. It just sits on an album there, and people who really want to get into Queen are aware of what that was and what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

May\u2019s description of the two songs as opposites makes sense, even though they were built with many of the same tools. Both abandoned conventional structures, relied heavily on layered vocals and attempted to cram several sides of Queen into one sprawling composition. Where Mercury made those shifts feel playful and operatic, however, May used them to create tension and unease.<\/p>\n

When in the studio, artists can rarely successfully predict what will become a hit, and on paper, \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 was destined to become a rarity, beloved by their hardcore fanbase. Essentially, as Freddie Mercury<\/a> once revealed, it\u2019s three songs combined into one, which isn\u2019t a typical formula for a pop song. \u2018The Prophet Song\u2019 is equally unconventional, but ultimately, there was only room for one to receive radio play and sell millions of copies. However, instead, it has to settle for cult classic status rather than a best-seller.<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Christopher Hopper \/ Elektra Records Mon 21 September 2026 9:32, UK With \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[21728,131469,15586,664,9,24,63,666,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-352284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-1970s","tag-131469","tag-bohemian-rhapsody","tag-brian-may","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queen","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}