The music videos by Queen and Freddie Mercury wrote music history – but how did they actually come about? ROLLING STONE has put together some surprising facts about the clips from “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Radio Ga Ga” and Co.
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
1. Because, according to Brian May, the band wanted to avoid having to perform the difficult song as a backing track on music shows like “Top Of The Pops”, they made a video for promotional purposes. The video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” has since been considered a milestone in music television.
2. The material was shot in just four hours at the Elstree Film Studios in London – where the band had already rehearsed for their tour. The cost of the video, shot in 1975, was just £4,500 – a real bargain, even by the standards of the time.
“Living On My Own”
3. The video for Freddie Mercury’s solo song “Living On My Own” from the 1985 album “Mr. Bad Guy” was filmed at his 39th birthday party in the Munich drag club “Old Mrs Henderson”.
“I Want To Break Free”
4. The video for “I Want To Break Free,” filmed at Limehouse Studios in 1984, cost around £100,000.
5. The band is making fun of the British soap opera “Coronation Street”, which has been broadcast since 1960: “We’ve made pretty serious, epic videos in the past and we just wanted to have some fun,” says Roger Taylor about the filming.
“The Show Must Go On”
6. Although the media had already reported and speculated a lot about his HIV and AIDS disease in 1991, Freddie Mercury only commented on this in a written statement almost 24 hours before his death.
7. A few weeks earlier, the video for “The Show Must Go On” was shot, but without the band due to Mercury’s health. Instead, clips from Queen videos and performances were edited together.
“Under Pressure”
8. Neither Queen nor David Bowie appear in the video for “Under Pressure” – the artists were on tour when the clip was made.
9. Director David Mallet chose video footage of traffic jams, crowded trains, commotions and explosions to reflect the theme of the song.
10. The video also caused criticism: the clip was not shown on the British music show “Top Of The Pops” because scenes from Northern Ireland were shown.
“Radio Ga Ga”
11. Another video from David Mallet: For the clip for “Radio Ga Ga” the director also used scenes from the film “Metropolis”. Queen and Giorgio Moroder, who provided the musical contribution to the new version of the film in 1984, had made a deal: the band could use material from the film and Moroder could use Freddie Mercury’s song “Love Kills” in the film. However, Queen still had to acquire the rights to use the scene from the GDR.
“We Are The Champions”
12. Fan club members were invited to be in the audience for the filming in October 1977.
13. There are two versions of the video: A black and white version, which fills with color for the use of drums and guitar, was also filmed on this day – it was produced for the show “Top Of The Pops”.