

Stairway to Heaven or Bohemian Rhapsody? PART II
#1
Posted 25 November 2017 - 11:44 AM
What do you think?
#2
Posted 25 November 2017 - 11:57 AM

#3
Posted 25 November 2017 - 12:13 PM
Mick
#5
#6
Posted 25 November 2017 - 01:50 PM
I do love Stairway though, but come on.
#7
Posted 25 November 2017 - 01:57 PM
#8
Posted 25 November 2017 - 01:57 PM
Entre_Perpetuo, on 25 November 2017 - 01:50 PM, said:
I do love Stairway though, but come on.
Come on what? i'm not a musician. I don't know which song took more talent to write. Just because something sounds good doesn't necessarily mean it's better.
Edited by Lorraine, 25 November 2017 - 01:58 PM.
#9
Posted 25 November 2017 - 02:00 PM
There is no new ground being broken on either song.
Bohemian Rhapsody was almost a forgotten song, if not for Wayne's World.
Nobody ever forgot Stairway.
#10
Posted 25 November 2017 - 02:08 PM
#11
Posted 25 November 2017 - 02:10 PM
Lorraine, on 25 November 2017 - 01:57 PM, said:
Sorry, I shouldn't assume the difference in complexity is always obvious to everyone. To my ears as a musician, a great deal of skill and talent went in to the performance and execution and recording of both of these tunes, but Stairway had to be way easier to write, and that's the deciding factor.
The idea of Stairway is essentially a song that builds from a somber acoustic intro all the way to a euphoric blast of heavy metal and touches every base in between. Not necessarily easy to pull off, but easy enough to understand. Once you have the idea, it almost writes itself.
The idea of Bohemian Rhapsody is far less intuitive and requires a truly unique talent to imagine. It begins with an eery a Capella intro which fades seemlessly into a gorgeous piano power ballad. The ballad section escalates into a righteous guitar solo before crashing down into something more identifiable as opera than rock and roll. The opera section is thoroughly entertaining and dynamic, and ends with an astounding climax that immediately breaks into pure heavy metal thunder, which then slowly fades away (and how) into yet another gorgeous and somber piano led ballad section which closes out the piece with only a few lyrics and a perfectly placed gong. To even come up with this idea implies being some kind of madman musician who got carried away, but to make it work, to make it defy all expectations and actually touch the hearts of millions and become one of the most renowned songs of all time? That implies a genius musician who may have gotten carried away, but knew exactly what he was doing. That kind of compositional talent puts Freddie up there with Mozart and Beehtoven in my book. And the whole band are of course monstrously talented in actually being able to pull the thing off.
#12
Posted 25 November 2017 - 02:11 PM
Maverick, on 25 November 2017 - 02:00 PM, said:
There is no new ground being broken on either song.
Bohemian Rhapsody was almost a forgotten song, if not for Wayne's World.
Nobody ever forgot Stairway.
In America maybe. The rest of the world has never forgotten Queen.
#14
#15
Posted 25 November 2017 - 02:24 PM

#16
Posted 25 November 2017 - 02:36 PM
Entre_Perpetuo, on 25 November 2017 - 02:11 PM, said:
Maverick, on 25 November 2017 - 02:00 PM, said:
There is no new ground being broken on either song.
Bohemian Rhapsody was almost a forgotten song, if not for Wayne's World.
Nobody ever forgot Stairway.
In America maybe. The rest of the world has never forgotten Queen.
Wayne's World just served to cement what many of us already knew as a perfect song....'OHhhhh...Now they pick up on it.' I'd been singing along to BR for years before WW came out.
#17
Posted 25 November 2017 - 03:17 PM

#18
Posted 25 November 2017 - 03:28 PM
I love both but prefer Stairway. Couldn't give a shit about the Spirit song "Taurus" which LZ hardly took from. Is there any evidence that it was a blatant "steal", or was it just a coincidence? The same idea can arise in two thinkers without there ever being any interaction between the two.
#19
Posted 25 November 2017 - 04:28 PM
Mr. Not, on 25 November 2017 - 03:28 PM, said:
I love both but prefer Stairway. Couldn't give a shit about the Spirit song "Taurus" which LZ hardly took from. Is there any evidence that it was a blatant "steal", or was it just a coincidence? The same idea can arise in two thinkers without there ever being any interaction between the two.
I didn't say it was a party song...I said I'd been singing along with it for years, meaning I'd appreciated it for years. Yes, it's a serious song, seriously good, too. I agree that Wayne's World somewhat diminished that and turned it into something more trivial. Oh well, though. Overplay on the radio stations diminished Stairway as well, not that it's not a fantastic song (not my favorite LZ song, but up there), it is.
#20
Posted 25 November 2017 - 04:30 PM
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