One thing I do like about Queen is their ability to combine experimentation and commercial orientation. Bohemian Rhapsody is the zenith of that approach, it sounds like nothing else, with a complicated arrangement and a melody catchy enough that everyone knows it by heart. It's a good song and it deserves to be respected.

Nevertheless, I try to avoid listening to it whenever it's on the radio and I have to roll my eyes whenever it's voted as the best song of all time. I don't think I ever really liked it.

Queen's music used to be ubiquitous in my youth, and they were a big name. I was brainwashed into considering one of their greatest hits albums to be my favorite record of all time even as I hardly liked any of the songs on it. They have some features which appeal to youngsters, if their lyrics were different and the music slightly neutered they could easily be a kid-oriented band.

I tend to have ambivalent feelings towards bands that I liked as a teenager, for instance I couldn't listen to Jethro Tull without torturing myself for years since I had obsessed about their music for a year when I was 15. Queen was another such band, although they date to longer ago, and I wanted to resolve my attitude towards them by listening to their albums with a fresh and more mature perspective, and I justified it by noting I hadn't actually listened to anything other than their hit songs anyhow. Verdict: a waste of time since there are hardly any hidden gems in their catalog. Even a night at the opera is rife with filler and songs which are unpleasant to listen to.

Anyhow, my favorite Queen song is "39", not because it's particularly amazing but because it is really a cover of a Bob Dylan song (an artist that didn't need gimmicks to create good music).