10 Most Timeless Classic Rock Albums

By the time Queen got around to making A Night at the Opera, they had a lot to prove. Coming off of a financial fiasco with their label, the band were coming to the end of their rope and placed all their bets on their next album being the best they’ve ever made. It was a high bar to clear, but they pushed every limit of what they could do on this one record.

Though the band were made up of four individual songwriters, every song had that Queen aesthetic of lush vocal harmonies and some of the most explosive guitar performances ever to appear on a record. Even when the band is cribbing from more nostalgic genres like “Seaside Rendezvous” or “Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon,” it always ends up feeling artistically playful rather than dated.

This album hasn’t really aged because its hits have refused to fade from radio over the past few decades. No matter how hard people may try to resist, the chorus of something like “You’re My Best Friend” can still get you grooving while the absolute showstopper “Bohemian Rhapsody” has pretty much reached immortality status. Not many bands can swing for the fences like this and win, but there’s a reason why these musicians named themselves after royalty.