Queen's magnum opus Bohemian Rhapsody was universally panned by record executives who insisted that a six-minute operatic rock song about murder would never be played on mainstream radio.

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Queen's magnum opus Bohemian Rhapsody was universally panned by record executives who insisted that a six-minute operatic rock song about murder would never be played on mainstream radio. Elton John's manager famously told Freddie Mercury that the song was way too long and completely bizarre, suggesting they butcher it into a standard three-minute pop track. Mercury responded by leaking the full version to a friendly radio DJ, who played it fourteen times in two days and forced the record label to release it exactly as it was. It stands as a glorious testament to the fact that music industry executives have absolutely no idea what the public actually wants and usually actively try to ruin anything remotely innovative. The song became a cultural monolith, leaving a trail of utterly embarrassed suits who somehow thought a choir of overdubbed Mercurys singing about Galileo was a bad financial investment