Finding an academic article about music from previous decades was a bit of a process. Going into the search, I didn’t have anything specific in mind that I was looking for; anything relating to older music would have cut it for me. When I couldn’t find anything by searching basic terms like "oldies music" or searching by specific decades, I decided to start searching by artists. One of the first that came to my mind was Freddie Mercury and Queen. With a few searches on various databases, I finally came across this article. While the specific topic of this article never crossed my mind, after reading it, I was intrigued by the premise and ideas presented.
This article discusses how, over time, opera has had a heavy influence on the rock music genre. It explores the ideas that the two genres appear to have extremely different sounds when listened to side by side. But, when examined more closely, one can see the clear parallels between the two styles and their artists. Through the years, there have also been many instances in which operatic styles are mimicked in classic rock songs. One of the most well-known examples of this can be seen in the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. McLeod gives an in depth description about how this song was created, backed up with quotes from members of the band and the song’s sheet music for reference.
Overall, I found this article to be a very interesting read. I was already aware of the operatic references from this specific song, but never realized how common this was in classic rock music. It gives great insight as to how one thing can have a huge impact on something that seems completely different from it. I think this idea applies to a lot of other things in pop culture as well. Even something that seems like a new and original idea was probably influences by something else, just with a new twist on it that creates a whole new style.
McLeod, Ken. “Bohemian Rhapsodies: Operatic Influences on Rock Music.” Popular Music, vol. 20, no. 2, 2001, pp. 189–203. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/853651. Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.
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