20 Most IMPORTANT Classic Rock Albums Ever Made
11. A Night At The Opera - Queen
With each passing album, Queen were getting bigger and bigger in their musical scope. Though their first record already showed them to be wizards behind the recording console, many were wondering what rabbit hole we would be going down on later releases. As the band reached strained financial times, they regrouped in the studio and pulled off some of the greatest feats in recorded music.
From start to finish, A Night at the Opera is one of the cleanest sounding records in the rock genre, with each instrument pushed to the brink. Though cleanliness doesn't seem like it would fit with rock, Queen take these songs and pack them with muscle, from the thousands of guitar overdubs to the broad vocal tracking that made every chorus sound like a miniature choir.
While the music had always been a group effort, the real heart of the record is Freddie Mercury, who became one of the greatest singers in the rock world thanks to this album. Not only was his range beyond reproach, but his brainchild "Bohemian Rhapsody" is still one of the greatest rock songs of all time, with multiple movements that brought opera into the rock world. Queen was already destined for musical knighthood, but with A Night at the Opera, they had built an entire musical empire beneath their feet.