Queen‘s Bohemian Rhapsody has made history after becoming the first music video released prior to the 1990s to score one billion views on YouTube.
The video for the band’s most famous track is widely considered to be the first ever promotional music video. It opens with an iconic shot which sees the heads of band members Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May being contrasted against a black background.
To mark the occasion, a newly remastered HD version of the video is available for the first time ever to view on the band’s YouTube channel.
The rock giants have also announced the launch of ‘You Are The Champions’, a new campaign that will give fans the chance to take a starring role in three new videos for three of their most iconic tracks.
The campaign will see musicians, singer and instrumentalists getting the chance to take on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Dancers, meanwhile, will be able to deliver their own interpretations for ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and visual artists will get the chance to design any word or phrase from the lyrics of ‘A Kind of Magic’.
Fans can visit YouAreTheChampions.com to find out more and add their submissions. The finished videos will be posted later this year on the bands official YouTube channel.
Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor said: “We are honoured that Bohemian Rhapsody has just hit one billion views on YouTube. We want to thank you all and celebrate with our amazing fans all around the world by creating three new music videos to our songs, all featuring you! Whether you are a musician, singer, dancer, visual artist or you just want to have some fun. Go to www.youarethechampions.com to find out more and we’ll see you on the road somewhere.”
In other Queen news, it was recently confirmed that a previously unreleased version of Freddie Mercury’s ‘Time Waits For No One’ is getting a physical release later this month.