10 Perfect Rock Songs That Are Ridiculously Long
8. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
From day one, Queen were always looking to make something that was a bit more daring than the rock and roll that had come before. Though you can see traces of glam in their presentation and even elements of progressive rock on their early work, Freddie Mercury had a vision for the band that went way beyond rock and roll altogether. It was time to go to the opera, and Freddie gave us a stroke of genius with Bohemian Rhapsody.
Being a mini suite within the span of 6 minutes, this entire song takes you on a journey, starting with layers of vocal harmonies to kick everything off. For most of the track, you can't really get attached to too many of the sections, because you're not going to hear them again. Going through the track, there's almost 3 songs crammed into one on here, from a murder ballad at the beginning to a full on operatic section with different vocal effects until finally giving way to an explosive rock section that everyone can bang their head to.
What's even crazier is the fact that it became the lead single off of the album. At a time when most singles had to stay within the confines of 2-3 minutes, this song was just hooky enough to force its way onto the charts, as rockers across the world ended up calling out to Galileo every time it came on the radio. Then again, it would make sense that they'd play this song in its totality. When you have this many crazy sections, where the hell do you even make the cut?