Bohemian Rhapsody
In early 1975 Queen made their first headlining tour across the United States of America. Tickets sold like hot cakes. Due to the huge demand they even had to add additional concerts to the tour schedule. Sometimes the group gave 2 concerts a day, and in each of them the tickets were completely sold out. Nevertheless, several concerts were canceled, as Freddie had problems with his throat, but he still rallied: he played as many concerts as he could, despite the doctors’ objections.
In January 1975 Queen hired the lawyer Jim Lashing. He was supposed to release the group from obligations to the record company “Trident”, which had ceased to provide the necessary support to Queen. On April 2, Queen for the first time appear in Canada’s Edmonton. In the same month, the group first visited Japan. At the airport were crowds of many thousands of fans who enthusiastically greeted them. Album Sheer Heart Attack at the time occupied in the “Celestial Empire” all the first place album charts. In May the same year, Freddie gets the prize “Ivor Novello” from the “Union of Poets” for the song “Killer Queen”. In June the band started work on a new album. Soon were finally discontinued all ties with the group “Trident” – to the great relief of all participants, and by September Queen had signed a contract with John Reed. In 1975, Queen decided to release “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Ambient asserted that the composition is too long – 5 minutes 55 seconds – and never will be a hit. Freddie decided to give the song to his friend Kenny Everett, who worked as a DJ in London. Mercury told him that this is a copy for personal use only and not for airtime. And, of course, Kenny let the song in the air. 14 times in 2 days! Since then the “bohemian rhapsody” can be heard on every radio station, with the full version. It was a huge success and marked the Queen as a group of the century.
A video clip for the single, which was directed by Bruce Gowers’ based on the ideas of the musicians themselves, is considered to be the beginning of mass entrainment video clips. “Bohemian Rhapsody” lasted on the top line of the UK charts for 9 weeks!
