# Which Bands have had their Bohemian Rhapsody moment? Which \*should\* have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995 "2010-05-27T21:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/1 "2010-05-27T21:06:05Z")
Queen was a popular hard/glam rock band for the first 3 albums, but by their fourth album, A Night at the Opera, they came out with Bohemian Rhapsody - more complex and ambitious than anything they had attempted previously - and they pulled it off. This put Queen into a whole 'nother category in terms of popularity, critical respect, etc. I have heard the argument that Led Zeppelin had the same moment with Stairway to Heaven off of the Zoso album, which they then followed up with other hugely ambitious tracks like Kashmir, Achilles Last Stand, etc. The Beatles had a few moments like this - Tomorrow Never Knows off of Revolver crossed an ambitious line, as did the whole of Sgt. Pepper, the whole of the White Album and the second-side song-cycle of Abbey Road. The Who had Tommy, Quadrophenia and others - they weren’t short on ambition Pink Floyd had Dark Side Green Day had American Idiot, with its concept, multi-part song cycles, etc. Who else has had a Bohemian Rhapsody moment that changed how people looked at them? Who were you expected to have one, but never did? AC/DC certainly never had one, but I never expected them to Van Halen - given Eddie’s musicianship - he’s an excellent keyboardist and violinist as well as guitarist and songwriter - I kind thought they would have one… ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/2 "2010-05-27T21:10:37Z")
The Eagles’ _Hotel California_ was something vastly different to anything they had done before it. Not really country rock at all, more real rock, as would be the hits following it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/3 "2010-05-27T21:11:20Z")
Guns N Roses has November Rain. Watch [the video in high quality.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbkG6Za6w5s) It is beautiful and epic. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/4 "2010-05-27T21:27:03Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Van Halen - given Eddie’s musicianship - he’s an excellent keyboardist and violinist as well as guitarist and songwriter - I kind thought they would have one… Actually, Van Halen was the first band I thought of when I read the first sentences of your post. I’d say _1984_, the synth-driven instrumental lead-in to \*Jump \*on the album _1984_ (which, for those of you doing math at home, is more than a quarter-of-a-frickin’-century old), was unlike anything VH (or any other hard rock band) had really done before. \*Jump \*introduced VH to a huge audience that had never really given VH a listen – and for those who bought either the LP or the cassette (as was the style at the time) based on the sound of _Jump_, _1984_, the leadoff track, set the tone for an incredibly influential album. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/5 "2010-05-27T21:27:50Z")
**Jethro Tull** ’s Thick as a Brick. A full theme album dispensing with any single-track structure, and bringing keyboards/organs to a prominent part of their sound, a total leap from their previous dirty-blues styles. edit–and I was composing a similar reply regarding Van Halen, 1984 was a powerful defining moment for them and still sounds amazingly fresh and modern. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/6 "2010-05-27T21:36:03Z")
Not sure this quite counts, but Savatage, a hard rock/heavy metal band, ended up forging a whole new path for themselves (as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra) following the release of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo” from the \*Dead Winter Dead \*album. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/7 "2010-05-27T21:37:46Z")
Not one particular song, but Radiohead did this with **OK Computer**. Before that they were a guitar based pop-rock band (to a large degree), and had a “grunge” hit with “Creep”. They released another album after the one that had “Creep”, but it didn’t fair too well. Then came **OK Computer** and they were the critical and commercial darlings of the music world. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/8 "2010-05-27T21:42:31Z")
I went to see a band my first year at FSU in the campus club, the Downunder (the original location was in a basement at the old student union). It was free for students with ID. This 3 piece band came out and after a couple of minutes, they piledrove me into the wall at the back of the club for like 10 minutes. The Flaming Lips made quite a first impression with [One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JOOhanQGlk). I haven’t really cared for anything beyond their first 2 albums, but I still love this tune. I think Clapton’s _Leila_ fits. It’s long and complex and for me at least it shows that Clapton is (or was) capable of much more than his fans usually demanded of him. It’s not one song, but I think the Beastie Boys had their moment with the release of _Check Your Head_. The guys took a huge chance including hardcore punk songs and long mellow stoner jams, and by actually playing instruments instead of just sampling everything and using a drum machine & synth. Blondie maybe, with _Rapture_. I love the band (I’ve actually traveled to see them), but I still think Clutch’s best song was [Spacegrass](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88HJnar9e8w). They stripped the sound bare, slowed everything down to a crawl and perfected the build-without-release. It was completely unlike anything on their previous 2 albums and got them TONS of college and indy radio airplay, not to mention exposure on late night Empty Vision™. Combine released the stunning _-presents- The History of American Rock And Roll_ back in 1996 and the whole thing is basically a long punk rock opera. It didn’t help their careers, but it’s one of my favorite albums of the 1990s; I think they pulled off what they were trying to do with aplomb. I’ll skip ahead and cut right to one of my favorites for this type of thing tho: Talk Talk’s _[Happiness Is Easy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpGkiZ7FGmg)_. The band’s second album, _It’s My Life_ had notably contained a huge leap forward in both musicianship and songwriting, but their 3rd album pretty much chucked all the rules about pop music out the window. Starting with _Happiness_, a sweeping six-and-a-half minute song with lush orchestration and dense choral backing, and continuing to build and explore from there, the album is a jungle of unusual sounds and instrumental voicings, all brought together by the plaintive and hypnotic vocals of Mark Hollis. The next 2 albums, _Spirit Of Eden_ and _Laughing Stock_ are so far outside the purview of pop music that they stand as some sort mad genius concoction: a unique combination of dance music, jazz, orchestra, indiginous tribal funk soul that defies easy classification. The albums are a tribute to the bravery and vision of Mark Hollis, and show that taking chances _is_ worth the risk. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/9 "2010-05-27T21:47:35Z")
I just thought of another: Dire Straits had released four studio albums prior to 1985, when they released _Brothers in Arms_. _Money for Nothing_ was perhaps the band’s most-accessible single (if not, then _Walk of Life_ on the same album certainly was); add in tremendous early airplay of the two videos on then-fledgling MTV, and the just-introduced CD format, and the band found an audience much, much larger than it had previously seen. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/10 "2010-05-27T21:48:17Z")
> [@jk1245](#): > > Not one particular song, but Radiohead did this with **OK Computer**. Before that they were a guitar based pop-rock band (to a large degree), and had a “grunge” hit with “Creep”. They released another album after the one that had “Creep”, but it didn’t fair too well. Then came **OK Computer** and they were the critical and commercial darlings of the music world. Radiohead has had a few of these. Prior to **OK Computer** , there was **The Bends** which was sort of transition from their earlier work to OKC. But after these, **Kid A** and **Amnesiac** were vastly different from anything they did before. Then I stopped listening to them, but I know that **Hail to the Thief** and **In Rainbows** were also significant departures. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/11 "2010-05-27T21:52:39Z")
The Beach Boys with their _Pet Sounds_ album would qualify IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/12 "2010-05-27T21:56:27Z")
I think the Clash’s _London Calling_ would fit. Well, they had a fantastic first album (U.K. version) and a streak of classic singles, but this album blew that all away. A double, not one bad songs, in so many different styles, wonderfully produced, something no one else has ever done better IMHO. And very ambitious for a punk band with such a rough image. (Don’t get me wrong, I almost love everything they’ve ever done, but this was their peak) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/13 "2010-05-27T21:56:43Z")
I’d have to say “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” did this for **Wilco**. Before that album they were mostly known as an alt-country band (even though their 3rd album, Summerteeth, was more pop), but YHF thrust them into being known as a band that liked to experiment w/ noise. Now when you mention Wilco to someone they’re more likely to say “That’s that ‘noise’ band” and not “They’re alt-country.” Ok, that’s not written very clearly but I hope the point is in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/14 "2010-05-27T22:01:55Z")
**The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars** was David Bowie’s fifth studio album. He’d had a couple of minor hits before, but it was this album and the accompanying stage shows that made him an instant legend (although it would be another decade before he had his really huge commercial success). ETA: In terms of songwriting and musicianship, “Ziggy” isn’t really a big leap forward from “Hunk Dory,” but in terms of image-making it was a huge breakthrough, to the point that many years, albums, and personae later, Ziggy Stardust is still somewhat synonymous with David Bowie. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/15 "2010-05-27T22:02:43Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > Ok, that’s not written very clearly but I hope the point is in there somewhere. Your point is fully accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/16 "2010-05-27T22:11:12Z")
How about Rush, with **2112**? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/17 "2010-05-27T22:30:25Z")
The Beastie boys first album _license to Ill_ was considered a bit of an anomaly, ha ha three Jewish kids made a rap album that ain’t too bad. But _Paul’s Boutique_, their second album turned them in to rap bona fides and actually put them at the forefront of sampling and layering of tracks. It turned them from a potential novelty act into rap pioneers and heavyweights. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/18 "2010-05-28T00:25:29Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > I just thought of another: Dire Straits had released four studio albums prior to 1985, when they released _Brothers in Arms_. _Money for Nothing_ was perhaps the band’s most-accessible single (if not, then _Walk of Life_ on the same album certainly was); add in tremendous early airplay of the two videos on then-fledgling MTV, and the just-introduced CD format, and the band found an audience much, much larger than it had previously seen. It’s no coincidence that on this album Knopfler laid down his Strat, picked up a Les Paul, & tried to channel Billy Gibbons. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/19 "2010-05-28T03:49:12Z")
> [@jk1245](#): > > Not one particular song, but Radiohead did this with **OK Computer**. Before that they were a guitar based pop-rock band (to a large degree), and had a “grunge” hit with “Creep”. They released another album after the one that had “Creep”, but it didn’t fair too well. Then came **OK Computer** and they were the critical and commercial darlings of the music world. If we’re looking for a Boheman Rhapsody moment for Radiohead it’s hard not to pick Paranoid Android. **Jackknifed Juggernaut** is right about there were definitely intermediate steps from their roots to OK Computer - the My Iron Lung EP and then The Bends - but I can’t think of a song on there that points toward Paranoid Android. Of course the band says the song is a goof anyway, but… anyway I’m not sure there is one track on any album where they really tipped their hands about where they were going next. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995/20 "2010-05-28T04:47:00Z")
An excellent example of this is the Moody Blues, who started out releasing typical pop songs like “Go Now” before reversing course and releasing “Days Of Future Passed”, one of the first concept albums and perhaps the first rock/symphony hybrid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-have-had-their-bohemian-rhapsody-moment-which-should-have/540995.md?page=2)