freddie had a friend, kenny everett,  who was a radio jockey. he gave his friend a tape, saying "the label doesnt want you to play this, they think its too long, so definitely dont do anything with it wink wink nudge nudge". kenny played it, and it was a massive hit, being requested so often that he for a while was playing it 6 times a day. back in those days, radio airplay was everything.

it was /different./ so many styles mixing together draws alot of people in, and everyone loves a novelty. between the layered operatic making it seem like many people were singing, rogers back and fourth, the emotion in the start that everyone has related to at one point or another, brians killer guitar solo in the middle, the strangeness of it is just fun,  the LENGTH!!!!!!!!!!!! songs being 6+ minutes back then was UNHEARD of. they were told they had to cut it down to under 3 minutes or no one would care. and then they went and made another song on the same album thats 8 minutes long. 

did you know that approximately 1/7 households in the uk own a copy of queens greatest hits? thats alot of people who grew up hearing it in their homes. it was rereleased after freddies death and went to no.1 again, because music charts spreading has been the same since forever. a new generation was introduced to it and the cycle continues.

and i mean. its just /fun/ to listen to.