No Bohemian Rhapsody! Denied.
It's hard to imagine certain scenes being omitted or drastically altered in certain movies. Such is the case for the "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene in Wayne's World. It's such an iconic moment in the film and it's really hard to imagine any other song being blasted through the speakers of that car while all passengers and driver lip-synced their hearts out. But Mike Myers has succeeded in creating a blurry but altered mental picture by revealing that a Guns 'n Roses song might have been used instead.
Via TheSoundLA, Mike Myers joined Marc Maron on the WTF podcast to talk a bit about his career. That included making Wayne's World happen on Saturday Night Live and the reveal that Myers had to fight "very, very hard" to get "Bohemian Rhapsody" into the movie for that scene. "They wanted Guns N' Roses," Myers told Maron. "Guns N' Roses were very, very popular. They're a fantastic band." Wayne's World came out in 1992, a year after Guns N' Roses released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, so the timing certainly lines up there. And as Myers notes, Queen wasn't exactly at the height of public interest at the time...
Queen, at that point — not by me and not by hardcore fans, but the public had sort of forgotten about them. Freddie had gotten sick, the last time we had seen them was on Live Aid, and then there were a few albums after where they were sort of straying away from their arena-rock roots. But I always loved ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ I thought it was a masterpiece. So I fought really, really hard for it. And at one point I said, ‘Well, I’m out. I don’t want to make this movie if it’s not ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.'
Sounds like he really put his foot down. In the end, the song made it into the movie and as we mentioned, it's one of the more memorable scenes from Wayne's World, and one of the more memorable Rock & Roll moments in film. Rolling Stone ranks it as #4 on their list of the 30 greatest Rock & Roll Movie Moments.
On a more personal note, I was a kid when Wayne's World came out, and while "Bohemian Rhapsody" certainly wasn't the first Queen song I'd ever heard by that point, I do remember the tune bringing Queen to my attention in a more direct way, beyond my default appreciation for hit songs like "Another One Bites the Dust," "We are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You." And given the song's re-rise to popularity after Wayne's World came out, which was actually just months after Freddie Mercury passed away, it may be safe to say I wasn't alone in developing a fast appreciation for Queen's music, due at least in part to Wayne's World. The song and its use in Wayne's World is a fine example of how popular film can expose great music to a new generation, who might experience it in a new and fresh context.
Go ahead and watch the scene after the jump...
