It was bold. Maybe even a little bit insane. When Brendon Urie decided that Panic! At The Disco would cover "Bohemian Rhapsody" for the Suicide Squad soundtrack in 2016, he wasn't just picking a song. He was basically walking into a musical minefield. Queen's magnum opus is widely considered untouchable. It’s the kind of track that usually humbles even the most talented vocalists because of its sheer, ridiculous complexity.
But Urie did it anyway.
He didn't just record it for a movie, either. He made it a cornerstone of the band's live identity for years. If you went to a P!ATD show during the Death of a Bachelor era or later, you knew the piano was going to roll out, the lights were going to shift, and you were about to hear a high-tenor assault on Freddie Mercury’s legacy. It worked. Honestly, it worked better than it had any right to.
The Long Road to the Suicide Squad Soundtrack
Most people think the Panic! At The Disco Bohemian Rhapsody connection started with the 2016 DC film. That’s not quite right. The band had been flirting with the song for a long time before they ever stepped into a professional studio to track it.
Urie is a massive Queen fan. You can hear it in his songwriting—the theatricality, the layered harmonies, the blatant disregard for standard pop structures. Since at least 2014, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was a staple of the band’s live sets. They played it at Reading and Leeds. They played it in tiny clubs. They played it in massive arenas. By the time the Suicide Squad producers came knocking, the band had already "road-tested" the monster.
Recording it was a different beast entirely.
When you play a cover live, the energy of the crowd masks the imperfections. When you put it on a soundtrack for a multi-million dollar blockbuster, every single vocal layer is under a microscope. Urie reportedly handled almost all the vocal tracking himself. If you listen closely to the studio version, you’re hearing dozens of Brendons stacked on top of each other to recreate that iconic operatic middle section. It’s a technical nightmare. Most modern bands would just use a backing track or a synth to mimic those harmonies, but Panic! stayed relatively old-school with the vocal layering.
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Why This Specific Cover Divided (and United) Fans
Covering Queen is a gamble. You’re either a genius or a blasphemer. There is no middle ground.
Critics often pointed out that Urie’s version is almost a "carbon copy" of the original. Unlike many artists who try to "reimagine" a song by slowing it down or changing the genre—think of those eerie, slowed-down nursery rhymes in every horror movie trailer—Panic! stayed true to the 1975 arrangement. Some people found that uninspired. Why listen to a replica when the original exists?
But for the younger demographic of the mid-2010s, this was a gateway.
A huge portion of the Panic! fanbase in 2016 wasn't necessarily spinning A Night at the Opera on the weekend. For them, this wasn't a "copy"; it was a revelation. It showcased Urie’s four-octave range in a way that "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" never could. The song became a bridge between classic rock elitists and the "emo" pop-rock crowd. Even Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen gave it their silent blessing, often speaking highly of Urie's vocal prowess in subsequent years.
The Technical Difficulty of the High Notes
Let’s talk about that "Galileo" section.
In the original Queen recording, the high notes are shared among Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, and Brian May. Roger Taylor, in particular, was the secret weapon for those glass-shattering highs. In the Panic! At The Disco Bohemian Rhapsody studio cut, Urie hits those notes with a clarity that is frankly terrifying.
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He’s a natural tenor, but he pushes into the "super-head voice" territory effortlessly. Live, he would often play the piano part himself, which is another layer of difficulty. Singing one of the hardest songs in history while nailing the iconic piano riffs is a flex. There’s no other way to put it. It’s a pure show of musicality that solidified Urie as one of the best technical singers of his generation, regardless of how you feel about the band's shift into pop territory.
The Suicide Squad album ended up being a massive commercial success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. While the movie itself had mixed reviews, the soundtrack was a juggernaut. Having "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a centerpiece helped anchor the film’s "chaotic" aesthetic. It fit the Joker and Harley Quinn vibe—melodramatic, slightly over-the-top, and deeply theatrical.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Recording Process
There’s a common misconception that the band just took a live recording and polished it.
Nope.
They went into the studio with producer Butch Walker to build this from the ground up. If you compare the live versions from 2014 to the 2016 studio version, you’ll notice the studio version is much "cleaner." The guitars are more compressed. The vocals are tighter. It was a conscious effort to make a "modern" version of a 70s classic without losing the soul of the analog original.
Some purists argue that the Panic! version lacks the "warmth" of the original 1975 tapes. That's probably true. Modern digital recording is inherently more clinical than the multi-track tape machines Queen used at Rockfield Studios. But for a 2016 audience, that crisp, punchy sound was exactly what was needed to stand alongside tracks by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and Twenty One Pilots on the same soundtrack.
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The Legacy of the Cover After the Band’s Split
Now that Panic! At The Disco has officially ended—with Urie moving on to other projects and fatherhood—the "Bohemian Rhapsody" cover stands as a weirdly perfect epitaph for that era of the band. It represents the peak of the band’s theatrical ambition.
It wasn't just a song; it was a statement. It said, "We are big enough to occupy the same space as the legends."
You can still find the video of their performance at the American Music Awards in 2018. They broadcast it from a concert in Sydney, Australia. Watching Urie sweat through a suit while belting the "Mama, Ooh" section to a stadium of screaming fans is probably the most "Panic!" moment in the band's history. It was the transition point where they stopped being a "scene" band and started being a "legacy" act in their own right.
Real-World Insights for Musicians and Fans
If you're a musician looking at this cover as a case study, there are a few things to take away. First, respect the source. Urie didn't try to "fix" Queen. He honored the arrangement. Second, know your limits. He only recorded this after singing it hundreds of times live. He knew exactly where his voice would break and where he could push it.
For the fans, the song remains a highlight of the Suicide Squad era, often outlasting the movie’s cultural relevance. It’s a rare example of a cover that doesn't just feel like filler but feels like a necessary part of the artist's evolution.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge:
- Listen to the Stem Tracks: If you can find the isolated vocal stems for the Panic! version online, listen to the "Galileo" layers. It provides a masterclass in vocal stacking.
- Compare the 2014 Live vs. 2016 Studio: Notice the evolution of Urie's phrasing. He became more confident in the operatic sections as the years went on.
- Check Out the AMA 2018 Performance: This is widely considered the "definitive" live version of the cover, capturing the band at their most polished.
- Explore the Suicide Squad Soundtrack Context: Look at how the song was used in the marketing versus the film itself to see how "Bohemian Rhapsody" became the sonic identity of the Harley Quinn character.
The Panic! At The Disco Bohemian Rhapsody cover isn't just a curiosity in a discography. It’s a testament to what happens when a modern powerhouse performer decides to go toe-to-toe with his idol. It’s loud, it’s dramatic, and it’s unapologetically Queen—with a little bit of Las Vegas flair thrown in for good measure.