Is This the Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?
A few weeks have passed since the release of the highly anticipated Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the film is still making noise at the box office, despite some unexpected negative critiques. Overall the movie has been met with numerous positive reviews, being praised by Queen fans for its exhilarating music sequences that celebrate the band’s legacy and Rami Malek’s engaging performance, however a handful of sources have recorded leaving the film feeling as though something was missing. This is largely due to the fact that for a biopic, the facts were certainly scattershot and that’s why for this list, we’re hoping to settle some of the confusion by counting down our picks for the top five things “Bohemian Rhapsody†got factually right and wrong. To check out the full list of 10 things the film got right and wrong, click HERE!
#5: John Deacon Was the Band’s Original Bassist
FALSE
We understand wanting to cut this down for time, but despite what the movie may tell you, John Deacon was not the band’s original bassist. In “Bohemian Rhapsody,†Deacon plays with Queen during their first concert in 1970. However, 1970 was a turbulent time for Queen, as they were going through three different bassists – Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell, and Doug Ewood Bogie –all of whom left due to a lack of chemistry with the band. Deacon then met Taylor and May through a mutual friend and became Queen’s fourth bassist in February of 1971. He made his first live appearance with the band a few months later.
#4: Freddie Knew He Was HIV-Positive Before Live Aid
FALSE
The movie needs to end in dramatic fashion, so they manipulated the timeline to attain the desired results. At the climax of the movie, Freddie reveals to the band that he has AIDS during rehearsals for their Live Aid performance. They embrace, and the tears swell. Only, this isn’t even close to what happened. While no one knows definitively, Freddie’s partner Jim Hutton says that Freddie was diagnosed with AIDS in April 1987, nearly two years after Live Aid. Freddie was also extremely secretive about his illness, and while the band obviously knew that he was sick, Brian May says that they learned Freddie was HIV-positive only shortly before his death. Check out the video below for more things you never knew about Freddie Mercury:
#3: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Was Considered Too Long
TRUE
Even though Ray Foster was not a real person, his main argument – that Bohemian Rhapsody was way too long to be successful – was a real threat that the band faced. Queen was told by numerous record executives and fellow musicians that an unorthodox, nearly six-minute-long song would never be played on the radio. To get around this, they personally went to Capital Radio’s Kenny Everett, who helped generate interest by playing the song fourteen times in two days. The song then spent nine weeks atop the UK singles chart, but it received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom praised the song’s production but called it pretentious and disjointed.
#2: Freddie Was Conveniently at a Smile Concert as Their Lead Singer Quit
FALSE
“Bohemian Rhapsody†makes it seem as if the formation of Queen was governed by some higher power. Freddie storms out after a fight with his parents and randomly attends a Smile concert on the very night that their lead singer quits. He then wows the band with his talent and becomes their vocalist. Too bad this fortuitous meeting is total nonsense. In reality, Freddie Mercury (then Freddie Bulsara) was good friends with Smile’s vocalist Tim Staffell and was a huge follower of the band. Not only that, Freddie was introduced to Brian and Roger through Tim, ran a flea market with Roger, and even lived with his future bandmates in London for a brief time.
#1: Queen Split Up
FALSE
Enter musical biopic cliché #3 – the band splits up. Freddie earns a solo deal that upsets the band, and Queen dissolves before dramatically returning for a reunion concert at Live Aid. The real story is far less theatrical (as real life often is). For one thing, Roger Taylor released a solo album before Mercury, so the whole “going solo†thing wasn’t a big deal. Furthermore, following a very short break in early 1983, Queen was together right up until Live Aid in July 1985, with The Works Tour, which encompassed 48 performances, having just wrapped two months prior. We suppose Live Aid was a reunion concert in that it was a reunion… after a whole two-month-long absence from the stage.
If these fact checks interest you, there are even more for you to check out in the full video of the Top 10 Things Bohemian Rhapsody Got Factually Right and Wrong below!
