Music History for March 9 - Queen

On this day in 1976, Queen’s album A Night at the Opera went gold, on its way to selling three million copies. It was the most expensive album ever made at the time.

Released in 1975, A Night at the Opera spent nine weeks at the top of the U.K. album charts but topped out at #4 here.

Queen took the album’s name from the Marx Brothers movie after watching it in the recording studio one night. 1976’s follow up, A Day at the Races also gets its name from a Marx Brothers film.

Opera produced several classic songs for the band, including “You’re My Best Friend,” written by John Deacon for his wife, and the lavish “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

What went on to be the band’s signature song, “Bohemian Rhapsody” was written entirely by Queen’s front man Freddy Mercury. Referred to as “Fred’s Project” by the other band members, Freddy wrote the entire song himself. He worked on the song daily, scribbling notes on a phone book. The title didn’t emerge until the final recording sessions.

To promote the single, Queen made one of the first conceptual music videos, a departure from the simple concert footage other bands were using at the time.