The music group Queen was popular throughout the 1980s. When I was a freshman in high school (1982-1983), a couple of the seniors on the wrestling team convinced Coach Hoopes and Coach Bruce to let us listen to the Queen Greatest Hits album during wrestling practice warmups. We would all sing along to "We are the Champions," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Will Rock You," and the rest of the songs while we did our warm-up exercises. "Ride My Bicycle" was a particular favorite for a couple of the seniors even though it was not nearly as popular as the other songs on the album. They would play over and over.
In our family, while I was growing up, we listened to the radio. Mom and Dad had a collection of record albums (Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, and a few albums from the late 1950s/early 1960s came from Mom and Dad's collection). We also had music by Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers, and others that were collected by my siblings.
We had a large stereo cabinet with a 33 RPM turntable (it would hold up to six records), an 8-track tape player, and a radio. Cade and I spent many hours playing records and singing along to the music. The album covers for Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle, and Saturday's Warriors had the lyrics to all the songs. We would sing along with the lyrics.
When the music industry transitioned to cassette tape as the main means of music distribution, we did not have a cassette tape player. Also, Mom and Dad were not overly enthused by the popular music of the era unless it was country music which we could hear on the local radio station. In addition, we did not have a lot of discretionary income to spend buying music.
A girlfriend gave me a copy of the Queen Greatest Hits album on cassette for my birthday in 1983. Later that year, Mom and Dad bought a new Dodge Caravan (one of the first generation models) for our family. In addition to AM/FM radio, it had a cassette tape player.
This was the same year that I got my driver's license. Sometimes, Mom and Dad would have me drive the van when Cade and I went to high school dances or church activities. I would bring my Queen album for us to listen to while we drove. One day, we forgot to get the cassette out of the van when we came home.
The van was Mom's primary means of commuting to work. I guess she had changed the stereo to play the radio but had not ejected my Queen album. At some later point, we were on a family trip. Dad was driving and, we were all in the van (Dad, Mom, Cade, Cory, Keri, and me). We lost radio reception as we traveled through a canyon. So, Dad reached over and changed the stereo to cassette.
My Queen album was still in the stereo and started playing. It did not play very long before Dad ejected the tape and asked how that tape got in the tape player. While I explained it was my album, Dad rolled down the window and threw the tape out.
He said we do not need to listen to that trash.
Fast forward to a Saturday morning in August 2022 ...
When Addison comes down from her bedroom to go with the boys to mow, she announces, "I have a new favorite song. Have you guys ever heard of 'Bohemian Rhapsody!'"
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