Bohemian Rhapsody and How Does a Classical Music Represent the World of Pop Music

Abstract

The famous music live show Live Aid in 1985 was a milestone in the development of the 20th-century music industry and entertainment. The song Bohemian Rhapsody was featured as one prominent reason for this success. This study chooses the song as a research target with classical music analysis and pop music performance. The performance of this song differed in several live conditions while the core identity of the song remained the same. By depicting the attributes of this single as both a classical music masterpiece and modern music industrial production, this research also synthesizes the core motivation of whole complete album named Night at the Opera. It is argued that the design and plot for the original soundtrack were fundamentally classical with some tricks to mime a quasi-operatic style, however, the complexity did not agree with the style of live performance so several changes and adoptions were.