Bohemian Rhapsody: Worth Seeing

After some delays, a sanitized version of Queen’s story has finally hit the big screen with the blessing of Brian May and Roger Taylor, the only two remaining members who tour. Even though he retired in the late Nineties, I’m confident John Deacon had to give some approval to avoid a lawsuit. The focus is mostly on lead singer Freddie Mercury (nee Farrokh Bulsara) and his rather complicated personal life.

The story begins in 1970-71 with Freddie getting by as a baggage handler at Heathrow, fascinated by the travel stickers on people’s suitcases. His Parsi (Zoroastrian Persians who fled to India centuries ago) parents don’t approve of his Rock Star aspirations and the adoption of a Western name. The lifestyle is counter to the key tenants of his family’s beliefs: Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta which translates to “Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds.”

Then one night he sees Smile on stage (Roger and Brian’s previous band) and becomes their new lead singer thanks to the original one quitting at the end of the show. (I bet Tim Staffell kicks himself every day with Pete Best!) Since Freddie can’t play bass, the new lineup becomes a quartet and eventually renamed Queen. They tour the UK with additional songs written mostly by Freddie, roll the dice on recording Queen by selling their tour van to get the studio time in the middle of the night and by chance draw the attention of Elton John’s A&R guy.

The rest is history at this point and if you want to know what follows until the big finale at Live Aid in London circa 1985, go see the movie.

However, as a huge Queen fan since I was a kid and never really relenting on this, including when I had purged anything non-Alternative in the Eighties/Nineties in my life…the movie is VERY inaccurate. Yes, yes, yes, I know, the truth is often incredibly boring and a compelling story has to be fabricated because Hollywood assumes the audience for a Queen biopic is stupid. If you want to know the story behind their breakthrough album, A Night at the Opera, watch the VH-1 show Classic Albums which I own on DVD. I have to admit I loved how they displayed all the negative reviews “Bohemian Rhapsody” received upon its initial release. They’re superimposed upon the actors re-enacting the groundbreaking music video Queen did for it. Why am I not surprised clueless Hippie toilet paper alternative, Rolling Stone hated it. Oh yeah, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton or John Lennon didn’t do it first.

Another nagging detail, the songs as they were written/produced in the film are out of order, e.g. they’re arguing about doing future hit “Another One Bites the Dust,” and sometime later Brian is laying out the foundation to “We Will Rock You.” Plus “Fat Bottom Girls” was never a hit in America. The entire album Jazz was a flop in the States, like it never existed and/or after News of the World came The Game, thus, Queen took some time off here.

Lastly, did we really need a “re-imagining” of their entire Live Aid set? Actor Rami Malek does a great job but I’m sure it’s on You Tube (just checked, it is and in HD), watch it instead of an imitation please. My greatest hope is you won’t have to endure cuts to the douchenozzles from MTV singing along when I saw the original performance at my grandma’s house.

The story “ends” here despite Queen going on to do three more records before Freddie died. A Kind of Magic is a helluva’ comeback too. It’s the soundtrack to not just one, but two movies (Iron Eagle and Highlander). I don’t own The Miracle or Innuendo, thus, I have no opinion on those.

I’ve ripped on Bohemian enough.

Are there good things? Absolutely, Malek definitely channels the spirit of Freddie in his moves on the stage which appeases my annoyance of them passing on Sacha Baron Cohen for the role. They play some lesser known hits like “Keep Yourself Alive,” “Fat Bottom Girls” and “Love of my Life.” They bring up the MTV debacle, how the network thought the video for “I Want to Break Free” was inappropriate; the band was in drag which by 1984 and years of Monty Python reruns on PBS would barely raise any Moral Majority ire. I doubt they stopped touring the US over the decision; poor record sales from Hot Space on and good ol’ American homophobia were more likely the culprits. You have to really pay attention for Mike Meyers’ cameo and there’s a hint, his character mentions the infamous scene from Wayne’s World when arguing with Freddie. Finally, I do like how they did present Queen as a family. They fought. Tempers flared. In the end, they knew that together, they were greater than they were individually. Most importantly, they loved each other as a family. Not many bands hold together for 20 years without personnel changes neither, especially in the bass and drums departments.

Check it out though. Queen was an incredible band that kept changing their sound while maintaining signature elements telling you, it’s Queen: Brian’s guitar, the backing vocals and a refusal to be pigeonholed. Their songs also work when they’re re-arranged well by other artists such as Joss Stone (she has the best of cover “Under Pressure”), Los Lobos, Metallica, Brian Setzer, Dwight Yoakam, the Flaming Lips, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Rooney, Keane, some nobody who had help from Cars members Elliott Easton and Greg Hawkes, the Melvins, Louis XIV, Jon Brion, Nine Inch Nails and Weird Al Yankovic. I think I need to make a good mix of stuff honoring Freddie, I’m not keen on some loser from American Idol taking his place. I’ll sit through Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company and The Firm) before Adam Lambert.

Alamo Extras: The real Live Aid footage showing Queen doing “Hammer to Fall”; interview with Freddie; a baby watching and reacting well to the Live Aid performance; Queen’s videos to “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Flash Gordon,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and “We are the Champions”; allegedly a guy hand farting to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” I think it’s dubbed.