Obituary
“Roy Thomas Baker, whose intricate work on multiple albums by Queen — including “Bohemian Rhapsody” — the Cars, Foreigner and others made him one of the most successful and influential producers of the 1970s and ‘80s, has died. No cause of death was announced; he was 78.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” from Queen’s 1975 album “A Night at the Opera,” is currently the most streamed song to have been recorded in the 20th century and was named by the Guinness Book of Records as the top British single of all time.”
https://variety.com/2025/music/news/roy-thomas-baker-producer-queen-bohemian-rhapsody-dead-1236375218/
Top British single of all time?
What criteria? Sales I suspect?
Wouldn’t even come in my top 100, nay 200.
A quick Google suggests it is the third best selling UK single behind Reg’s Diana tribute and Band Aid, so perhaps it was until late 1984.
Variety is US-based, where it doesn’t even feature in the top 20.
No it had huge extra sales after Freddie’s death and then being featured in Wayne’s World film. Before Band Aid Mull of Kintyre was UK’s biggest selling single
And before that, it was She Loves You.
So Macca could claim being involved with first singles to sell 1 million, 2 million, and 3 million
(just … his voice message was on the B side of Band Aid)
I think when Mull became top selling single, Macca had the top 3 (also I Want to Hold your Hand) with both his bands
Legend has it that Roger Taylor made more from sales of the 7″ single than Freddie or Brian. He had sole writing credit for the B-side.
I believe the average Afterworder’s response to the death of Queen’s producer will be broadly similar to that to the death of Pope Francis:
“He seems to have been a good person, but I cannot condone the excesses of the organization to which he belonged”.
⬆️ Arf!
R.I.P.
Those first five Queen albums are my comfort listening, so it’s hard for me to be objective about them. I think his contributions may get a bit overlooked in the Queen story. He made them sound big, loud, but also warm. A lot of other acts were trying to do that in the mid 70s, but not many managed all three.
“Sound big and loud” – that, and the obvious Queen connection, got him the job on the second Darkness album
He produced my 3rd favourite album and I also loved his work on Futurama by Be Bop Deluxe, R.I.P. RTB