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Thread started 05/01/21 1:41pm

Krid

3 chains o’ gold - Bohemian Rhapsody

Just listened to the wonderful Symbol album again - and I always smile at the end because I feel Prince pays hommage to Queen with 3 Chains o’ Gold. If this isn’t inspired sonically by Bohemian Rhapsody I don’t know what is biggrin
What do you all think?
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Reply #1 posted 05/01/21 3:33pm

sambluedolphin

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Krid said:

Just listened to the wonderful Symbol album again - and I always smile at the end because I feel Prince pays hommage to Queen with 3 Chains o’ Gold. If this isn’t inspired sonically by Bohemian Rhapsody I don’t know what is biggrin What do you all think?

Think it was, i have heard that statement mentioned before. He liked music and Queen is big, i remembered he opened with 'we will rock you' at the superbowl.

Prince 2010 Good Luck for Future & Tour
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Reply #2 posted 05/01/21 5:05pm

TrivialPursuit

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Hard to say. Was Prince aware enough of Queen, and BR that he felt the need to, "I can do that better" it up? Regardless, the comparision is undeniable.

I think the prince album was the first album really delving into being overproduced (although stuff like "Daddy Pop," "Jughead," and "Push" served as a preview of what was to come). There are times when I think 3COG suffered from a bit too much this or that. The levels were weird, some of the keyboard sounds could've been less corny or cheap sounding.

It doesn't necessarily take from the song as a whole. It's well laid out and executed. But it feels like maybe it could've had a bit of a polishing in the final mix, or even the tracking itself.

And while he may have played "We Will Rock You" at the Super Bowl, that was 18 years after the fact. It's entirely possible he knew about Queen and the song. I'm still 50/50 on BR being a direct inspiration.

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #3 posted 05/01/21 6:11pm

rebelenterpris
e
I definitely believe Prince dug Queen alot. Among what's already been mentioned on this thread, some of his guitar lines sometimes reminded me of Brian May's. "Strays Of The World" is another one as well. Queen was a master of majestic or royal type music, and so was Prince. So, I'm sure they took notes from each other. I remember reading something about Freddie digging Prince alot as well at one point.
[Edited 5/1/21 18:14pm]
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Reply #4 posted 05/01/21 6:44pm

thebanishedone

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rebelenterprise said:

I definitely believe Prince dug Queen alot. Among what's already been mentioned on this thread, some of his guitar lines sometimes reminded me of Brian May's. "Strays Of The World" is another one as well. Queen was a master of majestic or royal type music, and so was Prince. So, I'm sure they took notes from each other. I remember reading something about Freddie digging Prince alot as well at one point.
[Edited 5/1/21 18:14pm]

Freddie had a Detroit 1986 concert and he would pause his vcr and tell friends "this u see that "
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Reply #5 posted 05/02/21 2:05am

antonb

I love the symbol album. I just find it very entertaining to listen too. I was listening to an old podcast juise episode where they were discussing princes 90s output. And they basically just slagged it off! I couldnt believe it! I think its great!

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Reply #6 posted 05/02/21 4:05am

RODSERLING
For the fist time I listened to it, I knew it was 100% inspired from Bohemian Rapsody.
This is the same structure, the same exact length, IIRC

Freddy Mercury just went to die, BR was a worldwide hit in 1992, sold millions singles and albums with the greatest hits, and were massively played on radio.
End of the story.
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Reply #7 posted 05/02/21 4:11am

dodger
I'm sure 3COG was a nod to or inspired by BR. Some say it's over the top or cheesy etc but you can't knock the ambition or balls of it. I'm sure Michael B has confirmed it was more or less recorded as a band in one hit, like a lot of the Symbol album, which is impressive in itself
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Reply #8 posted 05/02/21 4:45am

thebanishedone

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dodger said:

I'm sure 3COG was a nod to or inspired by BR. Some say it's over the top or cheesy etc but you can't knock the ambition or balls of it. I'm sure Michael B has confirmed it was more or less recorded as a band in one hit, like a lot of the Symbol album, which is impressive in itself

but it's not. for example first guitar solo in the song is Levi Seacer,second solo is Prince,lot's of overdubing

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Reply #9 posted 05/02/21 4:50am

bwaaatch
I had always assumed that this was driven by the success of BR as part of Wayne’s World. But princevault says initial tracking is January 92, but Wayne’s World not released until 14 Feb in US.

So I’d kind of written this off as Prince being influenced by a popular movie, rather than knowing the original song from before that point. But look like I was wrong. Not that it makes the song any less of a cheeseball, missing the sense of being fully grandiose the way that BR ‘succeeds’ in that regard.

And by the time of release BR was fully wrapped in a layer of parody, which didn’t help the Prince interpretation land with much gravitas.
[Edited 5/2/21 4:52am]
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Reply #10 posted 05/02/21 4:52am

thebanishedone

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bwaaatch said:

I had always assumed that this was driven by the success of BR as part of Wayne’s World. But princevault says initial tracking is January 92, but Wayne’s World not released until 14 Feb in US. So I’d kind of written this off as Prince being influenced by a popular movie, rather than knowing the original song from before that point. But look like I was wrong. Not that it makes the song any less of a cheeseball, missing the sense of being fully grandiose the way that BR ‘succeeds’ in that regard.

Maybe because Prince took things on the serious side of things.i really believe that Queen wanted to make a mock piece,but out of it we got a serious song

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Reply #11 posted 05/02/21 10:11am

lust

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RODSERLING said:

For the fist time I listened to it, I knew it was 100% inspired from Bohemian Rapsody.
This is the same structure, the same exact length, IIRC

Freddy Mercury just went to die, BR was a worldwide hit in 1992, sold millions singles and albums with the greatest hits, and were massively played on radio.
End of the story.


Yes but I think the fact that BR was a hit in 1992 is a coincidence as according to Prince Vault, the basic tracking for 3COG was done in January 1992 and Wayne’s World wasn’t released until February.
If the milk turns out to be sour, I aint the kinda pussy to drink it!
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Reply #12 posted 05/02/21 10:25pm

RODSERLING

lust said:

RODSERLING said:

For the fist time I listened to it, I knew it was 100% inspired from Bohemian Rapsody.
This is the same structure, the same exact length, IIRC

Freddy Mercury just went to die, BR was a worldwide hit in 1992, sold millions singles and albums with the greatest hits, and were massively played on radio.
End of the story.


Yes but I think the fact that BR was a hit in 1992 is a coincidence as according to Prince Vault, the basic tracking for 3COG was done in January 1992 and Wayne’s World wasn’t released until February.


And Freddy Mercury died in December of 1991, so in January Bohemian Rhapsody/ Queen was already all over the place.
The song enjoyed a 5 weeks in a row at #1 in the UK ( for instance) from December of 1991.
The single peaked at #3 in Europe in January of 1992.

Who cares about Wayne's World?
This is so obvious that Prince was into Queen, as everybody else, at the time of Mercury's death, and then recorded 3COG in the process.
[Edited 5/2/21 22:31pm]
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Reply #13 posted 05/03/21 12:01am

lust

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RODSERLING said:

lust said:



Yes but I think the fact that BR was a hit in 1992 is a coincidence as according to Prince Vault, the basic tracking for 3COG was done in January 1992 and Wayne’s World wasn’t released until February.


And Freddy Mercury died in December of 1991, so in January Bohemian Rhapsody/ Queen was already all over the place.
The song enjoyed a 5 weeks in a row at #1 in the UK ( for instance) from December of 1991.
The single peaked at #3 in Europe in January of 1992.

Who cares about Wayne's World?
This is so obvious that Prince was into Queen, as everybody else, at the time of Mercury's death, and then recorded 3COG in the process.
[Edited 5/2/21 22:31pm]


I did see that it was charting in 91 in the U.K but would Prince have been listening to the U.K charts? He wasn’t even there in 91 when Blenheim Palace fell over.
Yes, Freddie’s Death may have been a factor but I doubt it had anything to do with contemporary chart success.
If the milk turns out to be sour, I aint the kinda pussy to drink it!
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Reply #14 posted 05/03/21 1:50am

Doalwa

thebanishedone said:

rebelenterprise said:

I definitely believe Prince dug Queen alot. Among what's already been mentioned on this thread, some of his guitar lines sometimes reminded me of Brian May's. "Strays Of The World" is another one as well. Queen was a master of majestic or royal type music, and so was Prince. So, I'm sure they took notes from each other. I remember reading something about Freddie digging Prince alot as well at one point.
[Edited 5/1/21 18:14pm]

Freddie had a Detroit 1986 concert and he would pause his vcr and tell friends "this u see that "


Yep, also read that before that Freddie was quite enamored with P…who could blame him?

I remember a story from one of the last Peach&Black podcast episodes with Leroy Bennett, Princes former concert manager.
LeRoy has the opportunity to work on Queens Magic tour in 1986. He later that year returned to the Prince camp and Prince must have made some funny remark about Queen and their Princes of the Universe song…

Back to the topic, I’m not sure if 3CoG was consciously inspired by Bohemian Rhapsody.
But some of Queens stuff must have been right up Princes alley.
They were one of the few rock bands that tried their hand on funk and succeeded, in my opinion.
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Reply #15 posted 05/03/21 2:32am

Darshy
Describing 3COG as cheesy is missing the point; it's meant to be OTT and grandiose, and I love it! Sonically, the whole Symbol album sounds fantastic and Push would be my favourite, what a fun song that is.

As for BR, it got my foot tapping a bit when I was a young person but now (well for decades actually) I'm just so bored of it; I always turn the dial to something else when it comes on.

On a similar vein but far far better, and one that I always listen to right to the end, is ELO's Mr Blue Sky which has a certain inspirational sweetness to it that's lacking on BR.
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Reply #16 posted 05/03/21 4:14am

RODSERLING

lust said:

RODSERLING said:



And Freddy Mercury died in December of 1991, so in January Bohemian Rhapsody/ Queen was already all over the place.
The song enjoyed a 5 weeks in a row at #1 in the UK ( for instance) from December of 1991.
The single peaked at #3 in Europe in January of 1992.

Who cares about Wayne's World?
This is so obvious that Prince was into Queen, as everybody else, at the time of Mercury's death, and then recorded 3COG in the process.
[Edited 5/2/21 22:31pm]


I did see that it was charting in 91 in the U.K but would Prince have been listening to the U.K charts? He wasn’t even there in 91 when Blenheim Palace fell over.
Yes, Freddie’s Death may have been a factor but I doubt it had anything to do with contemporary chart success.



Like I said the UK was just for instance.
Bohemian Rhapsody was a worldwide hit in December 1991/January 1992.

Mercury's death on December 1991 triggered a worldwide emotion, and a queenmania all over the world.
Their songs were massively played on the radio, so Prince knew it for sure.

Like when MJ died, Prince listened to MJ stuff a lot, and evenplayed it on his concerts. Lavaux was very Jacksonesque.
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Reply #17 posted 05/03/21 4:43am

dodger

Darshy said:

Describing 3COG as cheesy is missing the point; it's meant to be OTT and grandiose, and I love it! Sonically, the whole Symbol album sounds fantastic and Push would be my favourite, what a fun song that is.

As for BR, it got my foot tapping a bit when I was a young person but now (well for decades actually) I'm just so bored of it; I always turn the dial to something else when it comes on.

On a similar vein but far far better, and one that I always listen to right to the end, is ELO's Mr Blue Sky which has a certain inspirational sweetness to it that's lacking on BR.


Completely agree on 3COG and the whole Symbol album but some smart arse will come along soon and tell you Push is on D&P
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Reply #18 posted 05/03/21 6:01am

PURPLEIZED3121

It was a directly inspired by BR, already verified by 1 of the NPG.

A track only P could get away with..just about!

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Reply #19 posted 05/03/21 6:10am

RufusRawfield

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1991-92 was a time when Queen was all over the place and quite popular again.....some of y´all mentioned Bohemian Rapsody but y´all know Queen´s album and song

Innuendo was kina big in the charts in 91 too....Prince always soaked up what was going on around him much like Erotic City was inspired by Laid Back´s White Horse club hit maybe he was going through a lil Queen phase in 1991-92 with Strays of the World and Three Chains of Gold. They both admired and respected each other..Cream was on D&P and sounds like a Marc Bolan song so he wasprobly listning to a lot of 70s rock music who knows....

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Reply #20 posted 05/03/21 6:26am

Genesia

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Why are you all going one about Bohemian Rhapsody in 1991/92? That song was released in 1975 - when Prince was still in high school – and was a massive hit. There is no question he was (at least) familiar with it - everybody from that era was.

That is only reason it was part of Wayne's World - it had already been huge well before then. Mike Myers was 12 when the song came out - he and his middle school friends were absolutely jamming to it.

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #21 posted 05/03/21 6:48am

RODSERLING

Genesia said:

Why are you all going one about Bohemian Rhapsody in 1991/92? That song was released in 1975 - when Prince was still in high school – and was a massive hit. There is no question he was (at least) familiar with it - everybody from that era was.

That is only reason it was part of Wayne's World - it had already been huge well before then. Mike Myers was 12 when the song came out - he and his middle school friends were absolutely jamming to it.



It was released in 1975 of course, but it enjoyed a revival of a greater success in 1991/1992.
Is it so hard to understand the death of FM generated a huge worldwide interest in the song?
Didn't Prince' death generated a huge interest in Purple Rain?
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Reply #22 posted 05/03/21 6:53am

Genesia

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RODSERLING said:

Genesia said:

Why are you all going one about Bohemian Rhapsody in 1991/92? That song was released in 1975 - when Prince was still in high school – and was a massive hit. There is no question he was (at least) familiar with it - everybody from that era was.

That is only reason it was part of Wayne's World - it had already been huge well before then. Mike Myers was 12 when the song came out - he and his middle school friends were absolutely jamming to it.

It was released in 1975 of course, but it enjoyed a revival of a greater success in 1991/1992. Is it so hard to understand the death of FM generated a huge worldwide interest in the song? Didn't Prince' death generated a huge interest in Purple Rain?


Of course, it isn't hard to understand. My point is that its influence on Prince, when he was no doubt fully aware of the song for almost 20 years prior, is being overstated.

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #23 posted 05/03/21 6:57am

RODSERLING

Genesia said:



RODSERLING said:


Genesia said:

Why are you all going one about Bohemian Rhapsody in 1991/92? That song was released in 1975 - when Prince was still in high school – and was a massive hit. There is no question he was (at least) familiar with it - everybody from that era was.

That is only reason it was part of Wayne's World - it had already been huge well before then. Mike Myers was 12 when the song came out - he and his middle school friends were absolutely jamming to it.



It was released in 1975 of course, but it enjoyed a revival of a greater success in 1991/1992. Is it so hard to understand the death of FM generated a huge worldwide interest in the song? Didn't Prince' death generated a huge interest in Purple Rain?


Of course, it isn't hard to understand. My point is that its influence on Prince, when he was no doubt fully aware of the song for almost 20 years prior, is being overstated.



Yes, but he did know the catalogue of MJ too.
But when MJ died he rediscovered it, and got hipped into it, to the point of playing it live and to inspire for some tracks he recorded that year.

Why do you believe million s people bought Purple Rain after Prince'death?
Because they didn't know the song before?

The fact BR was on geavy rotation + the emotion, got Prince into rediscovering it.
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Reply #24 posted 05/03/21 7:00am

RODSERLING

RufusRawfield said:

1991-92 was a time when Queen was all over the place and quite popular again.....some of y´all mentioned Bohemian Rapsody but y´all know Queen´s album and song


Innuendo was kina big in the charts in 91 too....Prince always soaked up what was going on around him much like Erotic City was inspired by Laid Back´s White Horse club hit maybe he was going through a lil Queen phase in 1991-92 with Strays of the World and Three Chains of Gold. They both admired and respected each other..Cream was on D&P and sounds like a Marc Bolan song so he wasprobly listning to a lot of 70s rock music who knows....



Innuendo was a #1 hit in 1991, that's true, and I would say it mimics the structure of Bohemian Rhapsody.
But that's definitely this very song, amd the emotion surrounding FM's death that inspired 3COG.
Everybody knows it, or can feel it from the first listening.
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Reply #25 posted 05/03/21 7:21am

Genesia

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RODSERLING said:

Genesia said:


Of course, it isn't hard to understand. My point is that its influence on Prince, when he was no doubt fully aware of the song for almost 20 years prior, is being overstated.

Yes, but he did know the catalogue of MJ too. But when MJ died he rediscovered it, and got hipped into it, to the point of playing it live and to inspire for some tracks he recorded that year. Why do you believe million s people bought Purple Rain after Prince'death? Because they didn't know the song before? The fact BR was on geavy rotation + the emotion, got Prince into rediscovering it.


Okay - now you are just throwing all kinds of shit at the wall to see what sticks. How did this get to be about Michael Jackson or Purple Rain?

I'm bored already. Bye.

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #26 posted 05/03/21 8:32am

RODSERLING

Genesia said:



RODSERLING said:


Genesia said:



Of course, it isn't hard to understand. My point is that its influence on Prince, when he was no doubt fully aware of the song for almost 20 years prior, is being overstated.



Yes, but he did know the catalogue of MJ too. But when MJ died he rediscovered it, and got hipped into it, to the point of playing it live and to inspire for some tracks he recorded that year. Why do you believe million s people bought Purple Rain after Prince'death? Because they didn't know the song before? The fact BR was on geavy rotation + the emotion, got Prince into rediscovering it.


Okay - now you are just throwing all kinds of shit at the wall to see what sticks. How did this get to be about Michael Jackson or Purple Rain?

I'm bored already. Bye.




Lol how full of bad faith you are.
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Reply #27 posted 05/03/21 8:53am

AZStreet

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PURPLEIZED3121 said:

It was a directly inspired by BR, already verified by 1 of the NPG.

A track only P could get away with..just about!



source?

"You know, this is funky but I wish he'd play like he used to, old scragglyhead son of a...*smack* OOH!"

"Who's the foo singing will it's would"
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Reply #28 posted 05/03/21 11:19am

ufoclub

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I always thought this track was also inspired by the hit musical style of The Phantom of the Opera, and then when he performed it live he wore a Phantom-eqsque outift with the facemask and cape and stuff.

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Reply #29 posted 05/03/21 12:00pm

dodger

ufoclub said:

I always thought this track was also inspired by the hit musical style of The Phantom of the Opera, and then when he performed it live he wore a Phantom-eqsque outift with the facemask and cape and stuff.



Good point but an opera was mentioned in the segues on the album so that could explain the Phantom-esque outfit in Ryde Dyvine
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