The first rule of the music industry: The critic is not always right. While some songs resoundingly deserve the torrent of hate they receive from the writing class, others have retrospectively earned their place in music lore. Here are some classic rock songs that critics hated at first—some with good reason.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Bohemian Rhapsody”, Queen (1975)
The lead single off the British rockers’ 1975 album A Night at the Opera, this sprawling, six-minute epic essentially thumbed its nose at music conventions. “Bohemian Rhapsody” has no chorus, instead consisting of an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock bit, and a reflective coda at the end.
Many bemused music critics didn’t quite know what to make of the song, with the New York Times dismissing it as “pretty empty, all flash and calculation.” However, music fans loved “Bohemian Rhapsody” for the same reasons that critics panned it—because it was nothing like anything they’d heard before.
The Queen song ascended to the top of the UK singles chart. Five decades later, most naysayers have re-evaluated their stance and declared “Bohemian Rhapsody” among the greatest songs of all time. And sure, it’s bombastic, strange and overwrought—but in the hands of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is also pure gold.
[RELATED: Revisiting the Meaning of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen]
“Idiot Wind”, Bob Dylan (1975)
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth, Bob Dylan sings on this brooding tune from his 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. You’re an idiot, babe / It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.
Harsh. Critics didn’t particularly love this abrasive turn from the songwriting titan. Rolling Stone slammed “Idiot Wind” for its “childishness (without any redeeming childlike wonder)”, bemoaned that Dylan sounded “like a shadow of his former self.”
Today, however, the fan favorite is regarded among Dylan’s best work.
“Don’t Stop Believin’”, Journey (1981)
Much like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” this anthemic power ballad off Journey’s 1981 album Escape may take itself a bit too seriously at times. Upon its release, the musical powers that be criticized its overproduction and perceived inauthenticity.
With time, however, the urge to belt the opening lines (Just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world) became irresistible—even for the most stoic of detractors.
“We Didn’t Start the Fire”, Billy Joel (1989)
This one’s place on the list has room for debate, as even its own writer sort of gets the hate. “If you take the melody by itself, terrible,” Billy Joel later said. “Like a dentist drill.”
However, Joel’s antipathy didn’t stop “We Didn’t Start the Fire” from becoming his third Hot 100 chart-topper. Don’t expect an updated version for the post-Internet world, though. “No, I wrote one song already and I don’t think it was really that good to begin with, melodically,” Joel said in 1994.
Featured image by Andrew Putler/Redferns
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